Intrinsic Work Value Reward Dissonance and Work Satisfaction - Case Study Example

Success for every business has some critical factors. It is important that these factors are molded. Motivation is one of them. Motivated people are more contend and have higher focus. Employees feel a part of the company if they are motivated and satisfied. An employee who is satisfied feels a part of the organisation. This helps to bring the best out of them. Using motivational tools on them reap beneficial results as they are satisfied which gets transformed into performance. Motivation thus is a continuous process where the effort of the management in the right direction brings the best out of employees. Organizations need to find the areas for each employee and working on them will reap better result. It is an observed fact that employees get motivated through intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Intrinsic rewards are rewards which provide growth and social status where as extrinsic rewards are money. Organizations need to find out those and use the appropriate tool to motivate the employees. A study in this direction shows that “when an employee is motivated the communication process passes without any barrier and information flows freely through the organisation as the employee feels a part of the organisation and share the same common goal”. (Alexander, Page & Wentling, 2003) This thereby benefits the organization and helps the organization to grow. The motivational theories developed till now can be divided into two. They are “Early Theories of Motivation” and “Contemporary Theories of Motivation”. (Robbins, Judge, Millet, Waters-Marsh T, 2008) Both this theories focus on the same i.e. motivation of the work force. One such motivational theory is the equity theory. It says that “employees compare their output to their inputs so as to evaluate the equity in the organization. They do it by comparing their efforts, experience, education to their salary level, and recognition”. (Robbins, Judge, Millet, Waters-Marsh T, 2008) While doing so they lay stress on the peers’ evaluations so that equity prevails when a comparison is done. The employees here compare their performance between the employees in the same organization, different organization, in the industry, based on gender and other mechanism to ensure that there is equity. In case there is no equity it creates a situation where employees feel cheated. This takes a toll on their performance and de-motivates them. (Chapman, 2005) This is a situation which was prevalent in Belcher Ltd. Emily Linden who had performed brilliantly in the first year was not recognized for her work. This created inequity as Paul Kennedy who didn’t perform as well as Emily Linden was given better rewards. This forced Emily to refrain from work. She knew her efforts would not be recognized which dipped her performance and made her think in line of leaving the organization. Equity is provided through a mechanism of organizational justice. Organizational justice looks towards providing fairness in the dealing. . It can further be divided into three i.e. “Distributive Justice (every employee got what one deserved), Procedural Justice (the process used to give justice was fair and free from biasness) and Interactional Justice (treating employee with respect and dignity)”. (Robbins, Judge, Millet, Waters-Marsh T, 2008) Organizational justice was lacking in Belcher Ltd. When we look at distributive justice we see that Emily Linden who deserved an increment of 10% didn’t get it but someone else got it showing that there was no distributive justice. Procedural justice was also lacking as Paul Kennedy got an increment which he didn’t deserve showing there was no set process to evaluate performance. Another highlight in Belcher Ltd was that Interactional justice was below par. This is seen from the fact the Emily Linden was not thanked or recognized for her work. Even a study reveals that “employee retention holds prime importance for the business units and by using the intrinsic rewards helps to retain the employees, improves satisfaction and creates a bright career prospect”. (Tymon, Stumpf & Doh, 2010) This was lacking in Belcher Ltd as Mr Smith didn’t recognize the importance of retaining employees through motivation. This was evident from the fact that Emily Linden was looking towards leaving the organization which would affect the future growth potential as a potential employee would be lost. Another theory is the expectancy theory. This theory says that “the performance of an employee gets enhanced if they know that their efforts will be recognized through appraisals like bonuses, promotions and so on”. (Stephen and Timothy, 2007) This will push the employees to work harder. It will also ensure that when an employee gets incentive their drive to perform better increase. This will make the hard working employees to put in more effort and the non-monetary incentive will further motivate the employees. This theory fits in Belcher Ltd. It is seen that Emily Linden performance were not realized. She had come up with excellent suggestions which helped the organization but instead Paul Kennedy who didn’t perform up to the same level was recognized. This made the performance dip in the second year. She started abstaining from work. She also started to take leaves citing various reasons and no longer used to come with new suggestions. The effect was to such an extent that she was looking towards another job. This highlights that her expectations were not met which was creating a negative impact and affecting her performance. A study reveals that “dissonance between work value and rewards indicates dissonance which spreads to the work culture and influences the satisfaction level of the employee thereby taking its toll on motivation”. (Porfeli & Mortimer, 2010) This was seen in Belcher Ltd where Emily Linden whose performance was not recognized was de-motivated and was looking towards alternatives. This indicates the importance of motivational theory in work place. Managers need to ensure that special tool and techniques are ensured to bring about a match between the two. This will help to achieve the desired result and help to achieve the personal and organisational goal. Another theory in the same direction is the Hierarchy of needs theory. The theory states that every individual has certain needs and wants and they work towards accomplishing those called the Psychological need. When a person achieves these basic needs he moves higher up in the hierarchy and wants Safety. Once this is satisfied he needs a Social status and he starts to crave for it. He wants respect in the society, and a sense of belongingness. When he achieves this he wants to move higher up and crave for Esteem needs. He continues to work harder until his last need i.e. the need for self Actualisation is achieved. (Robbins, Judge, Millet, Waters-Marsh T, 2008) It is imperative that organization use different measures to motivate employees. Management needs to ensure that different employees are motivated differently as per the requirements. This will ensure that individual employees are paid attention to. This will give employees individuality and being recognised will motivate them. This will ensure that the performance improves and the organisation reaps better results. (Smith & Robert, 1994) This was lacking in Belcher Ltd. Emily Linden who had helped the organization through different suggestion was not recognised. This made her lose her social status. It is evident that the physiological needs of Emily were met to a certain extent but not fully as she wanted a higher increment than 6% showing her want. Also the fact that her efforts were not recognized by Mr Smith made her lose on the social status. She was losing self respect and it was making it difficult for her to be part of the organization. Another study in the same direction reveals that “ensuring proper work life balance helps to motivate the employees as it helps to remind the employees continuously about the vision, mission and goals they need to accomplish”. (Jay, 2010) This was not prevalent in Belcher Ltd as Emily was not given proper recognition which had affected her self-respect and her desire to work with the same effort for the organization. Another survey shows that “as compared to 2009 where 35% of the employees expected higher employment level the percentage has risen to 50% in 2010”. (Kootungal, 2010) This presents the fact that employees are looking towards being part of the same organisation through development of their career. This is associated with motivation and will help to ensure that employees remain loyal. This goes against Belcher Ltd as Emily Linden was not getting what she deserved through recognition of her work. This had affected the work culture and made her lose focus from the work. This had reduced her engagement with the work highlighting reduction in employee engagement. Another theory in this direction is Herzberg Two-Factor theory. It says that that “satisfaction and dissatisfaction are driven by motivation and hygiene factors and motivation factors makes the people work and provides him satisfaction for growth opportunities thus motivating him”. (Robbins, Judge, Millet, Waters-Marsh T, 2008) The employees here look towards the work environment to guide and motivate them. This was seen in Belcher Ltd. The working environment in Belcher Ltd was not very pleasing for Emily. The company didn’t have a prescribed norm for performance appraisal. This created a situation where the performance was not seen as a criterion for appraisal. Instead the company favoured Paul Kennedy for reasons beyond performance. This created an environment where Emily wasn’t able to deliver better result. Creating an environment where the performance was looked upon as a factor could help the organization as the suggestion of Emily can be used to develop the organization. This was not the case and it was exactly opposite which dipped the performance of Emily and made the organization loose vital opportunity to grow. A study presents the same view and highlights the fact that “motivation holds importance as it helps to decide the employees association with the organisation both in the long & short run”. (Yamamura, Birk & Cossitt, 2010) This could be seen in Belcher Ltd where not using performance as an indicator was creating an environment where employees like Emily were looking for alternatives. Thus it lays stress on motivation and organization like Belcher Ltd needs to ensure that strategies are in place which will motivate the employee and guide employees to improve their performance. The organization needs to have in place a mechanism where the performances of employees are evaluated in a manner where the person deserving appraisal is provided for. This will help to ensure that the employees are high on motivation and remains the part of the organisation. The organization should also look for people like Mr Smith and ensure that they are dealt seriously with as they can have a bearing on the organizational culture and lead towards a situation where employees like Emily leave the organization. References Alexander A, Page V & Wentling T, 2003, “motivation & barriers to participation in virtual knowledge sharing”, Volume 7, Issue 1, MCB UP Ltd Chapman A, 2005, “Adam’s equity theory”, Leadership & management, Business Balls Porfeli E & Mortimer J, 2010, “Intrinsic work value reward dissonance and work satisfaction during young adulthood”, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Volume 76, Issue 3, page 507, Orlando Jay J, 2010, “Lead & Motivate: not just your team but yourself too”, Super Vision, Volume 71, Issue 6, page 11, Burlington Kootungal L, 2010, “Survey: Rise in Optimism”, Oil & Gas Journal, Volume 108, Issue 7, page 1, Tulsa Robbins S, Judge T, Millet B, Waters-Marsh T, 2008, “Organisational Behaviour”, 5th edition, Pearson Education Stephen R and Timothy J, 2007, Organisational Behaviour, 12th Edition, Prentice Hall of India Private Limited, New Delhi Smith, Robert D, 1994, “the psychology of work and human performance”, 2nd edition, New York, Collins Tymon W, Stumpf S & Doh J, 2010, “Exploring talent management in India: The neglected role of intrinsic reward”, Journal of World Business, Volume 45, Issue 2, page 109, Greenwich Yamamura J, Birk C & Cossitt B, 2010, “Attracting & Retaining Talent: The importance of first impression”, The CPA Journal, Volume 80, Issue 4, page 58, New York Read More