Motivation Strategy of ABC Consulting - Assignment Example

Organizational Behavior - Case study Analysis Student’s Name: Student’s Number: Assignment number: No of words: 2080 Question 1 Poor Motivation behaviour George lacks motivation at ABC consulting. He had reached a point where he vows to offer minimum input to company. Due to lack of motivation, the thought of quitting job comes to mind. Motivational behavior refers to the drive for an individual to satisfy a need that motivates him to work. The fact that employees have many needs lead to implementation of motivation that will enrich the quality of work while fulfilling these needs (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008). ABC consulting firm lacked well implemented motivational strategies. The firm had failed to realize that well implemented motivational strategies results in committed employees. For employees to work hard, there must be a motivational factor. In most instances, motivated employees end up utilizing the firm resources in a good way to achieve the outcome. Firms first identify the employees’ needs and motivates toward achieving. For example, if an employee feels he is not well paid, he will make sure more effort is put into work to secure pay increase. If this does not help, he may quit or request for a pay increase. ABC motivation strategy was based on the 10 percent bonus after three months of probation. They also promised to give employees an environment where they could show their creativity. But looking at George case, these motivational strategies were not followed by ABC consulting firm. All the ideas that George presented were never appreciated making him demoralized. Despite going through the report again, his ideas were criticized and put to shred. George had to contend with the fact that the company was not much interested in his ideas. When the 10percent bonus fails to materialize, George drive to work for the company diminishes. The firm lacked well organized strategy to implement this concept and employees drive was at stake. A creative environment was not available at the firm. For an employee like George whose one of drive was an environment that would offer him space for innovation, it becomes impossible to perform in ABC consulting firm. It’s clear that, the concept of motivation was a major challenge that George faced in this firm. The values which he expected to be in this company were not there. Recognition of Individual Differences George was not recognized for his abilities by the firm. Every person is different in physical and mental ability. At ABC consulting firm, the company fails to identify individual differences among employees. To get the best out of an individual, it’s important for the organisation to treat each person differently according to their personality (Cloninger, Ramamoorthy, & Flood, 2011). When George joined the firm, the company had seen he had what they were looking for but they could not define how to get that potential from him to help the company. The firm treated him in a manner that he could not deliver his full potential. He was not appreciated even after spending nights working on the report which is later shred. The treatment implied to him that his efforts were not valued. Treating George as if he was not putting efforts in his job became a problem to him. Despite the shortcomings in his ideas, treating George with respect and appreciation would have made him more productive to firm. Lack of whole person approach ABC consulting firm did not employ the employee on the concept of whole person approach. For George, his desires are left out by the company. The whole person concept requires that the employers not only employ the individual capabilities and skills only but also personal life, needs and the desires of employee (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008). On practicing good organisational behaviour, the firm should focus on the whole development of individual involved. George has desires to work in organisation that recognizes his skills and also ready to accept his innovative ideas. Analyzing ABC consulting, the firm main interest is performance without appreciating employee’s ideas and efforts. For an employee like George, having whole person approach behaviour by the firm requires his desires to be considered. This problem acts to demoralize him in his job. Lack of cohesion (weak social system) George faces a weak social system at ABC consulting firm. Relationship between team members lack cohesion. A social system defines a group of independent but interrelated individuals having distinct values and culture (Mayfield & Taber, 2010). The social system at ABC consulting lacked interdependence in undertaking duties. Being interdependence in an organisation implies that each team member works in close collaboration with others to achieve goals. A good social system requires complete cohesion by team members. At ABC consulting, George faced lack of cohesion in his project team. This team worked on the project report individually without consulting other team members. The team members only convened to give their final results. ABC consulting teams were supposed to be working together as a group so that they could help one another and come up with a final report that would have all members’ contribution. When a project team works together, they become more cohesive. This enables in creating a more comfortable atmosphere among the members. Thinking as a group leads to a counterproductive outcome. George was tense when he was to present his report. In his mind, the other team members seemed more acquainted with the project than him. This was a resultant of the team not sharing ideas and helping each other during the process. Being a new employee, the team could have helped him gain confidence were they working together. Lack of involvement At ABC consulting, George was not fully involved in the firm. His contributions were not given much consideration. Employees have great desire of being involved in the company decision making, as well share what they know and learn new concepts (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008). An organisation should make sure it involves it employees as much as possible. This gives them a chance to express their opinion and suggestion. In ABC consulting firm, there exists lack of proper involvement behavior in team work. The ideas presented by George were not considered worthy contribution to the project and Janet rejected them. This is a problem that George faced in the company related to involvement. When the employees are not well involved in the firm processes, they lack the sense of belonging. Question 2 Motivated employees have conscious decisions to put effort and achieve what they value. George attitudes and behaviour can be attributed to two theories of motivation. These theories are content and process theories. The content theory stress the satisfaction of the employees needs while the process theories looks at importance of the reward system. Content theories Using the content theory, George had a need to work in an organization that would give him freedom to be creative and have supportive and collaborating colleagues. George had put a lot of effort to gain recognition and support from his team, he developed what he thought were creative ideas and spent several nights reviewing the project. The main goal that George pursued was to have his creative ideas appreciated. When his ideas were not appreciated by Janet, George loses the enthusiasm he had in his work. It’s at this point that George decides to do the absolute minimum for the company. His behaviour and attitude changed toward the firm. Content theories tries to look at specific individual needs and their strength together with goals pursued to satisfy these needs (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008). In the content theories, it’s assumed that the employees respond in the same way to motivation. This leads to another assumption that there exists common method to motivate every employee. The main aim of content theory is to find a way in which managers can increase productivity. One of content theories is Maslow’s theory. Maslow’s theory Using Maslow’s basic theory, George as an individual is the determinant of his motivation and behaviour (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008). His expectations are social since he wants a compatible work group which is also friendly. He wants a team that is easy to work with and appreciate his ideas. To him salary is not a major factor of motivation. That is the reason why he chooses to work for ABC consulting instead of Big 4 organisation which offered a better pay. This is one of the qualifications in Maslow’s theory that makes it to be of use. He was more attracted to higher needs such that the basic needs are unnoticed. When George failed to achieve what motivated him, he lost his interest in job. Process theories These theories emphasize on goals and processes rather than needs for employees motivation. These theories put emphasis on reward. George behaviors and attitudes can also be explained using these theories. On joining ABC consulting, George had been assured that he was to get 10 percent bonus after three months’ probation. On his part, this target was achievable and acted as a goal. Despite lack of recognition in his efforts, the goal of the 10 percent reward kept him in the firm. His attitude changes drastically after learning that he was not to get the bonus even after completing the three months. In the process theory, the variables involved are incentive, expectancy reinforcement as well as drive (Cloninger, Ramamoorthy, & Flood, 2011). Money is a major motivator for employees. Looking at George case, though money was not the prime drive in his job, he still stayed in the company expecting the 10 percent bonus. Expectancy theory The expectancy theory is found under process theory. In this theory, several themes appear. These are employees behaving in certain ways consciously, expectation on the level of effort that will achieve a specific result and the expectation on probability of reward for gaining a desired outcome (Cloninger, Ramamoorthy, & Flood, 2011). George was expectant that he was to get the bonus after three months. When the ten percent bonus is not awarded, it’s clear that George loses his expectation and his motivation ends. Question 3 Motivated behaviour Preventing turnover among new consultants is an area that the organisation needs to strategise on. Looking at the present situation, ABC consulting is failing to maintain new talents in the field due to lack of motivation. The organisation needs to implement motivational behaviour so that new employees can act in a manner to help the organisation. Positive motivation strategies ought to be implemented such as incentives and bonuses. The firm bonus system is a good motivational strategy but lack of fulfillment leads to employees being frustrated and quitting. George for instance becomes more frustrated when he learns that the firm was not willing to give him the bonus despite the promise. The strategy of motivation forms an important part in managing a firm. When the employees are highly qualified and motivated, the company achieves its objectives with ease (Cloninger, Ramamoorthy, & Flood, 2011). Motivated employees are loyal and devote their time to the organisation. This leads to employees having good job turnover and avoids being absent. Mutual interest ABC consulting needs to evaluate their mutual interest strategy so as to retain new consultants. In the firm, there is lack of mutual interest among the teams. George ideas were not incorporated in the project by the team members. Janet who was the client manager did not appreciate the ideas but critisised them without even meeting George in person. He dismisses his ideas through email. Organisations relationship becomes strong where different members can come together and negotiate their strategies (Kong, 2009). By sharing their ideas, the organisations are able to create trust. Views of the team members may be different but by sharing them, there is increased mutual cooperation. Value of the person Another recommendation that ABC consulting firm should follow is value of the person. ABC should value all employees as well as their contribution. People have to be treated with respect and dignity irrespective of their position in the organisation. New employees like George ought to be accorded respect and dignity to perform their duties well (Bowling, 2010). The firm should make sure that every work that is done in the organisation entitles those who perform it, recognition of their abilities and respect. When an employee feels that there is no recognition in the efforts put, there is tendency of reduced commitment. References Bakker, A.B. & Schaufeli, W.B. (2008). Positive organizational behavior: Engaged employees in flourishing organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29: 147–154. Bowling, N.A. (2010). Effects of Job Satisfaction and Conscientiousness on Extra-Role Behaviors, Journal of Business Psychology, 25(1): 119-130. Cloninger, P.A., Ramamoorthy, N. & Flood, P.C. (2011). The Influence of Equity, Equality, and Gender on Organizational Citizenship Behaviors. S.A.M. advanced Management Journal, 76(4): 37-47. Kong, Y. (2009). A Study on the Job Engagement of Company Employees. International Journal of Psychological Studies, 1(2): 65-68. Mayfield, C.O. & Taber, T.D. (2010). A Prosocial Self-Concept Approach to Understanding Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Journal of Managerial Psychology, 25(7): 741-763. Read More