Gilvy & thr Ltd Company Background - Case Study Example

Organizational Behavior: A Case of Оgilvy & Маthеr Ltd Name Institution Course Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Оgilvy & Маthеr Ltd Company Background 3 Motivation Theory 4 Application of the Herzberg's Two-factor Theory 5 Critics of the Herzberg's two-factor Theory 7 Weaknesses 7 Strengths 8 Other Theories that Influence the Organization 8 Conclusion 9 References 10 Organizational Behavior: A Case of Оgilvy & Маthеr Ltd Introduction The study of organizational behavior has attracted a lot of interest in the recent past. Organizational behavior involves the study of the attitudes and behaviors of persons and group of people in an organization (Chen, Lawler and Bae 2005, p. 237). Motivation is one of the most important aspects of organizational behavior that managers must understand and promote to ensure business success. For this reason, there are a number of motivational theories that have been developed that attempts to explain how people are motivated key among them being Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory. Оgilvy & Маthеr Ltd is one of the companies that use motivation as a strategy for encouraging its employees to increase their efforts. This paper will begin by providing the background of Оgilvy & Маthеr Ltd and proceed to analyze how Herzberg’s two-factor theory is applied by Оgilvy & Маthеr Ltd in motivating its staff. Оgilvy & Маthеr Ltd Company Background Ogilvy & Mather is a New York-based multinational marketing communication firm. The company was founded in 1948 by David Ogilvy and has since grown to become a global brand having presence in more than 210 countries across the globe (Ogilvy 2013, p. 3). The company provides a variety of marketing communication services, which include advertising, public affairs, retail marketing, public relations, branding and identity, healthcare communications, promotion, and relationship marketing. Despite the challenges that the company has faced over the years in its different markets of operations, Ogilvy & Mather has maintained leadership in the marketing communication serving huge clients such as IBM, American Express, Adidas, Nestle, Ford and Cisco just to name but a few. In 2013, the company reported pre-tax profit of €1.14 million (Slattery 2015). The company also ranks among the top employers in the marketing and communication industry as the firm currently employs about 175,000 people. Its main competitors include Bbdo Worldwide Inc., TBWA Worldwide Inc., Deutsch, Inc., Publicis, Inc., Ddb Worldwide Communications Group, Inc., and Leo Burnett Company, Inc (Ogilvy 2013, p. 11). Motivation Theory Motivation is a critical force that drives performance and ensures organizational success. Beck (2004, p. 4) defines motivation as the process that drives an individual towards a goal. As such, building a highly motivated is critical to the success of an organization since it helps increase the satisfaction level of workers. Wong (2000, p. 3) observed that, when employees are motivated, this results in increased satisfaction, that in turn lead to increased productivity of the employees. It has also been shown that motivation is important to an organization because it helps ensure increased commitment level of the employee, which results in reduced turnover rate and absenteeism. By contrast, when employees are not motivated in their work, this is detrimental to a company because low morale results in declined productivity of employees, increased rates of turnover and absenteeism and increased incidences of employee resentment (Adair 2006, p. 13). Therefore, Beck (2004, p. 14) suggested that human resource managers should ensure that they build a highly motivated workforce to ensure that a company benefit from the advantages associated with having a motivated staff. However, different people are motivated differently. Because of this, a number of theories have emerged that attempt to explain how people are motivated. One such theory is Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory proposed by Fredrick Herzberg in 1959. In his two-factor or motivator-hygiene theory, the behavioral theorists noted that there are certain factors that increase job satisfaction where there are others that prevent dissatisfaction (Elwood 2013, p. 11). Herzberg went ahead to make it clear that the opposite of ‘satisfaction’ is ‘no satisfaction’ whiles the opposite of ‘dissatisfaction’ is ‘no dissatisfaction.’ According to Herzberg, a hygiene factor denotes the factors that are promote motivation in the workplace. The author noted that although hygiene factors do not necessarily lead to positive satisfaction in the long-run, there absence in the workplace results in dissatisfaction (DuBrin 2008, p. 381). In other words, hygiene factors are needed in an organization not to increase satisfaction but to prevent dissatisfaction. Examples of hygiene factors are pay, fringe benefits, company policies, physical working conditions, job security, status and interpersonal relations (Richard 2013, p. 22). On the other hand, Herzberg noted that it is the motivational factors that produce positive satisfaction and are inherent to work (DuBrin 2008, p. 381). The provision of the motivational factors induces motivation in employees, which consequently result in improved performance. Herzberg calls motivational factors, ‘satisfiers’ and are directly involved in executing a task (Richard 2013, p. 23). The motivational factors include recognition, growth and promotional opportunities, responsibility and meaningfulness of the job. Application of the Herzberg's Two-factor Theory Оgilvy & Маthеr is a classic example of a giant marketing and communication company that has perfectly applied Herzberg's two-factor theory in ensuring that its employees are motivated and to increase their commitment levels to ensure the accomplishment of the company objectives. Herzberg in his two-factor theory argued that before a company can embark on motivating its staff, it needs to start by focusing on eliminating job dissatisfaction. Accordingly, to ensure the success of Оgilvy & Маthеr, the HR managers of the company eliminate dissatisfaction by doing a number of things. First, the company eliminates job dissatisfaction by offering competitive wages and salaries for its workers. An average employee at the company takes home an average of $175,000 annually, which is above the industry average (Lieber and Meltzer 2004, p. 175). Besides, the company also offers a number of attractive benefits to its employees that include allowances. Second, Оgilvy & Маthеr has been eliminating dissatisfaction in the job in line with two-factor theory by cultivating a culture of respect and dignity for all the members of its workforce. The company has created an environment where all employees irrespective of their cultural background are treated with dignity and respect. Additionally, Оgilvy & Маthеr eliminate job dissatisfaction by fixing obstructive company policies, and provides meaningful work for all the job positions in the company (Ogilvy 2013, p. 61). Besides, the company has always ensured that job dissatisfaction by offering job security for its new hires. Job security is one of the major issues that most employees look for in a company. Fortunately, Оgilvy & Маthеr is one of the companies that hire most of its staff on permanent and pensionable terms, thus offering employees the job security that they need, which effectively eliminates job dissatisfaction in line with Herzberg's two-factor theory. Other than eliminating job dissatisfaction, Оgilvy & Маthеr has also created job satisfaction conditions in the firm by adopting motivational factors proposed by Herzberg in his two-factor theory. First, the company creates conditions for job satisfaction by recognition. The company has made it part of their culture to praise and recognize the contributions made by individual employees (Lieber and Meltzer 2004, p. 174). For instance, employees who demonstrate exceptional performance are not just praised in public, but are also recognized through gifts and promotion among other methods and this has helped not only increase the satisfaction level of the staff, but also motivated staff to always increase their efforts. Second, in line with Herzberg’s two-factor theory, Оgilvy & Маthеr create conditions for satisfaction by giving its staff responsibility as much as possible. The leaders of the company are democratic and usually not only delegate work to employees, but also involve the workers in decision making (Ogilvy 2013, p. 68). Giving its team members responsibility has not only increased the satisfaction of its staff, but also motivated them and increased their commitment to the company because it shows that the company values their contributions to the company success. Additionally, the company provides career growth and advancement opportunities through internal promotion. Besides, Оgilvy & Маthеr provide its employees with training and development opportunities so as to enable its staff to seek positions that they may want to occupy in the firm (Lieber and Meltzer 2004, p. 174). Accordingly, this has helped increase the satisfaction of its staff, thus increasing their efforts and commitments to the company. Critics of the Herzberg's two-factor Theory Weaknesses Although Herzberg’s two-factor theory is widely applied in organizational contexts, the theory has a number of limitations that needs to be taken into consideration when using the theory. In particular, a situation might arise in the organization where as much as the HR managers do their best to motivate the staff, lack of proper coordination between the firm’s senior management and the subordinates might cause misunderstanding between them and this is likely to make the workers unhappy with the performance management policies of the company (DuBrin 2008, p. 386). Therefore, it is critical that, other than motivation as a factor for enhancing the satisfaction level of staff, other factors also needs to be understood as this would help in ascertain the right performance review process to adopt that not only help address the issues, but that which the staff are comfortable with. As such, it is important that the Ogilvy & Mather’s HR department look at all the issues to do with cultural differences, conflicts and other factors that affect the employees’ satisfaction levels (Lieber and Meltzer 2004, p. 176). Additionally, the HR department of the company needs to provide training to the employees and make them understand the value of organizational culture. Strengths Herzberg's two-factor theory has a number of strengths that make it suitable for use in addressing satisfaction and motivational issues in a company. First, the theory has strength in the sense that it promotes networking in an organization. Second, the theory promotes teamwork and minimizes conflicts, thus ensuring good organizational performance. Third, the theory will help the HR managers in creating training and development programs that suits the needs of each department of the firm (DuBrin 2008, p. 382). Other Theories that Influence the Organization Other than Herzberg's two-factor theory, there are many other organizational theories that are applicable to the company. The theories include performance management, structure formation and ethical principles. These theories have a massive impact on the behaviors of employees. For instance, if a company rewards a worker for accomplishing a task, this has the effect of motivating the employee to increase his/her efforts. Besides, their level of job satisfaction and commitment also increased (Martoccio 2011, p. 14). However, instilling ethics through implementation of ethical principles in the firm with help promote the values of trust, honesty and ethical behaviors among workers. Conclusion Having a highly motivated staff is critical to the success of an organization. As indicated, motivation help increase a worker’s productivity, increased commitment to a firm’s goals, low absenteeism and low turnover. As such, HR managers must ensure that employees are motivated at all times. However, because different employees are motivated differently, a number of theories have been developed that attempts to explain how people are motivated chief among them being Herzberg's two-factor theory. The theory proposes that there are factors that increase job satisfaction where there are others that prevent dissatisfaction. Ogilvy & Mather is one of the firms that has effectively applied this theory by implementing various strategies to eliminate job dissatisfactions, such as providing job security and creating conditions for job satisfaction and this has enabled the company build a highly motivated, satisfied and committed workforce. References Adair, J. E 2006, Leadership and motivation: The fifty-fifty rule and the eight key principles of motivating others. Kogan Page Publishers, Los Angeles. Attridge, M 2009, “Employee work engagement: best practices for employers,” Research Works: Partnership for Workplace Mental Health, vol. 1, pp. 1-11. Beck, R. C 2004, Motivation: Theories and principles. Pearson/Prentice Hall, Mason. Chen, S. J., Lawler, J. J., & Bae, J 2005, “Convergence in human resource systems: a comparison of locally owned and MNC subsidiaries in Taiwan,” Human Resource Management, vol. 44, pp. 237-256. DuBrin, A. J 2008, Essentials of management. Cengage Learning, London. Elwood, D. 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