Hertzberg's Theory of Motivation - Assignment Example

12 E-learning Activities Professor (Tutor) The Name of the School (University) The City and State Date 12 E-learning Activities Management by Objectives (Prof. Fredmund Malik) Section I: I tend to agree with Prof. Malik’s views on objectives and planning. Objectives are paramount for assessing performance in a manner that one can identify potential problems, mistakes, or challenges. This means that having objectives ensures optimal performance based on how well the identified objectives are achieved. Nonetheless, each idea or tasks must be undertaken through an open-mind rather than planning for the whole mechanization or a systematic flow of actions to get the task done. According to Malik (2013), it is important to set few objects or goals that are large. Having fewer, but large goals helps people to perform better. Another major idea that is clear in this activity is that objectives should not be ranked and focused on based on priority as Malik recommends that the first objectives should always be achieved firstly as the other follow (Malik, 2013). Objectives should also be measured, but in terms of value rather than money or profits. Nonetheless, the most important objectives for successful companies are less measurable or quantifiable. Lastly, the idea of management by objectives should consider which objectives have to be done away with in order to encourage creativity for new ideas Section II: My own personal experience in business school is based the ideas illustrated in this activity. I have been faced with numerous tasks in my life at school and outside school. This has prompted me to apply planning as well as setting objectives. I once set numerous goals on how to study and work at the time to meet the financial needs for paying my tuition as part of developing my overall ability for responsibility. Again, I can also apply the ideas from this activity to a company that I well know. I know of my small business of selling burgers in my hometown. The owner is a close friend of my dad and always offered me increased insights on management while I worked there over the holidays. The owner was also the manager and illustrated different styles of management including management by objectives. Overall, the idea of planning and objectives is of increased relevance. The fewer the objectives and the larger they are, the better people are able to perform and get desired results. Any company or manager looking to illustrate responsible management should not measure objectives based on profits or finances, but the intangible value that comes with achieving the objective. Product Lifecycle Section I The product lifecycle approach is an effective tool for determining the numerous stages products undergo in the market. Businesses develop products that gradually grow to major products in the market through the development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline stages (Mathur, 2008). One of the main examples that can be used to illustrate the product lifecycle is the VCR players. The VCR players were introduced in the 1990s as innovative products in the video entertainment industry. This represents the development stage as they were a product of increased development from using tape recorders for music to making video recorders and video players. The introduction came in as people increasingly related to increase video entertainment as a popular culture. The VCR player later entered into the growth stage where demand increased and competition began to grow. The player would later reach a maturity point with almost all homes of medium class residents having a VCR player and a collection of video tapes for movies or music. Nonetheless, the increased development of technology has resulted in decline of their use (Peters, 2014). It is in fact very hard to find a VCR player in many homes. This is because it has now been replaced by DVD players and disk drivers that have bigger capacities, better quality, and are cheaper. Section II: The product lifecycle theory is an interesting theory for determining the different stages a product undergoes before becoming obsolete. In my own experience, I have always wondered how different products such as the black and white televisions disappeared. I can now comfortably apply the different stages to understand that each product undergoes different stages in its lifecycle. It is from these stages that management must realize the need to change the product or find alternative uses of the product. Most companies I know of in the technology businesses have utilized this lifecycle approach through effective means. For instance, Samsung is a leading mobile and technology manufacturing company. The introduction of their smartphones is based on the rapid development of technology that has seen the company unveil new and upgraded products frequently. This ensures that the company determines where each product is in the lifecycle, thus enabling increased competition as well as success in terms of their products. Hertzberg's Theory of Motivation Section I Hertzberg's theory is based on the concepts of motivators and hygiene factors (AgCareers, 2010). The theory implies that there are definite aspects in the workplace that lead to job satisfaction while other aspects lead to job dissatisfaction. These aspects are divided into motivators and hygiene factors. Motivators are mainly intangible factors such as achievement, responsibility, participation in decision making, and personal growth among others (AgCareers, 2010). Hygiene aspects are more of tangible factors that include benefits, salary, and job security among others (AgCareers, 2010). This means that companies wishing to motivate their employees should consider all these factors to enable effective employee motivation. Most of the companies that are considered best employers or best companies to work for apply both motivators and hygiene factors in their employee and employment activities and strategies. Employees need to be offered challenging tasks that require then to be creative and innovative. Moreover, this creativity and innovation should be recognized through awards or promotions. Companies also need to make their employees feel valued by developing their skills through training and development. Additionally, employers must also balance the hygiene factors by ensuring that employees are compensated for the work they do and their needs are met through salaries and benefits. All these factors balanced in the right level can lead to effective motivation. Section II Motivation is an element or concept that is in all humans. I believe that even as an employee, my employer should be able to balance these factors for me to be motivated in given my best at what I do. I have worked in different companies with different approaches to motivation. I found one of the companies to be the most effective in motivating their workers. The employer ensured that all workers received ample day offs to deal with emergency issues. Moreover, the salary was increased on an annual basis with the option of bonuses when profits grew by certain percentages. Nonetheless, Hertzberg's theory of motivation could not be applied more effectively in a company than in Google Inc. Google is a leading technology giant and runs the biggest search engine in the world. The company is rated as among the top best companies to work for. Workers in the company are offered unlimited benefits and salary increments (Cook, 2012). Moreover, the job environment is also tailored to meet their needs as it includes plenty of room and facilities such as gyms, PlayStation, table tennis, and massage rooms (Cook, 2012). Again, Google has developed a culture where innovation is encouraged by offering employees the autonomy and involvement in decision-making of new projects (Cook, 2012). All these issues illustrated in Google’s strategy and approach of handling employees best illustrates what Hertzberg's theory of motivation is all about. Privacy Rights and Employee Tracking Section I The current information and technology age has brought with it numerous contentious issues among them privacy rights. According to KPBS News (2013), employee tracking and issues of privacy rights by their employer arises in an attempt to address productivity and misconduct. Most employees may seem to be working while on their desk, but they may be engaging in others activities that are not in line with their duties. This tends to reduce the overall productivity of the organization and the employee as an individual. Moreover, employees using a computer may be engaging in illegal or immoral activities that is considered misconduct or in violation of an organization’s code of conduct. Most laws allow for employers to publicly track or monitor their employees in all manners such as checking or monitoring personal computers as well as GPS monitoring (KPBS News, 2013). Employers have increased rights to monitor or track their employees without any court orders, but based on notifying their employees of possible monitoring. Despite all this, an employee still has their right to privacy and may challenge any tracking or monitoring from their employer based on infringement of privacy rights. Nonetheless, the issue of privacy rights is still a hot topic that has many perspectives. Section II Privacy rights and employee tracking are important issues in the current employment field. I believe that employees should be offered their privacy rights. Nonetheless, employers also have a right to monitor what employees are doing during working hours to curb wastage or time (lack of productivity) and misconduct. My personal experience as an employee in various companies illustrates the need for employee tracking in some cases. While working in most companies, I believe that I spend over two hours of the work time doing other stuff such as social media, chatting, or just wasting time with irrelevant activities. Having in mind that the company I worked for employed at least 20 employees, this would translate to 40 hours of work lost per day, which may translate into reduced productivity for the company. Most companies that require their employees to use computers face increased misconduct and losses in productivity. Companies that focus on ensuring increased productivity and ensuring ethical conduct must rely on employee tracking (Ciocchetti, 2011). Employee tracking is not a necessity in most cases, but the nature of most work environments. Employees should be monitored in most cases to avoid increased misconduct and reduced productivity. Definition of Culture Section I Culture is a popular term in modern organizations, but there lacks a comprehensive or general definition. However, culture can be simply defined as how organizations daily activities. According to Watkins (2013), culture is the regular and observable patterns or arrangements of behavior in organizations. However, culture may also mean the values and rituals that enable members of an organization to integrate together. Most people have different definitions of culture based on the amount of details and factors that can be observed in terms of behavior. The way people behave differs a lot in terms of their shared similarities in behaviors. Nonetheless, culture is a wide topic that encompasses different aspects of human behavior and social construct. Based on this it is easy to define culture through different perspectives. Culture can even be defined as a company’s immune system that prevents wrong people and wrong thinking (Watkins, 2013). If a company has a definite culture, it means that all people are likely to behave in a similar manner. Moreover, culture can also be defined as an evolving aspect where people realize that at no one time will there be a stable “destination” or set of accepted behaviors within the organization. All definitions of culture cannot be complete without learning and developing. Section II In my own personal experience, I have never thought of the definition of culture. Nonetheless, I believe that I have held an observation that culture develops overtime. Moreover, culture is based on the different behaviors and features that can be identified in the society. The way people behave in a certain manner over a period of time tends to become a habit. These habits soon result in increased adoption of such behaviors as common and accepted. The result is the development of culture. I believe that culture within the organization should be first defined by the behaviors that can be observed and are consistent. Although culture changes with time, it should be consistent and observable. These are the paramount aspects that can define culture. Companies such as Google have a definite culture that is based on increased innovation as well as autonomy (Kim, 2013). The behaviors shared by employees at Google offer all the different definitions of culture within the organization. Corporate Culture instilled in HRM practices and customer satisfaction Section I Zappos is among the leading online-based on e-commerce companies in the world. Its approach in terms of corporate culture is creative and unique in numerous ways. The company undergoes a rigorous process of recruiting its employees through different hiring and recruitment processes. The core business of the company is selling shoes online, which requires a great deal of customer satisfaction to ensure increased business growth and success. As such, most employees in the company are involved in the challenging task of dealing with customers especially through communication over social media and online-based platforms. Zappos also spends a great deal of investment in training employees for one month on how to effectively handle customers to ensure increased customer satisfaction. Nonetheless, the company offers newly employed an option to quit the company and get paid for the days they have worked as well as an additional bonus of up to $1000 (Taylor, 2008). According to Taylor (2008), this is done to ensure that only the right people or people with a certain level of commitment remain in the company. In other words, it means that employees who choose to quit their jobs are not committed enough or do not integrate into the Zappos culture. This illustrates how HRM practices and customer satisfaction can help in developing corporate culture. Section II Not so many businesses have the unique strategy utilized by Zappos in terms of developing corporate culture. There are different ingredients needed for an organization to develop their corporate culture. This can be illustrated through HRM practices and customer satisfaction. HRM practices have a means of ensuring that only the right people are employed and remain in the company. These are the kind of employees who believe in what the company does and can relate to the behaviors, values, ethics, and beliefs of the company as a whole. For a company to develop its culture, it must find the right people or employees. This requires increased creativity on the part of HRM to ensure that the right employees can be identified effectively. Moreover, the company must have its unique set of behaviors or a habit that is based on a single or several, but important goal. In this case, a company can focus on enhancing their customer satisfaction, which means that all their employee believe and work together to achieve increased customer satisfaction. These are just some of the strategies and elements needed to ensure that corporate culture works. Repatriation Integration Program Section I Repatriated employees face numerous challenges upon their return to home countries, thus the need for repatriation integration programs. Most repatriates who come back home face increased culture shock having identified and integrated with the culture of their host countries (Cartus Corporation, 2014). In this case, it is hard to automatically integrate into their previous cultures having just come from a different culture. Moreover, the issue of reverse culture shock is also a major challenge. Repatriates who come home also face challenges in re-establishing a home life as well as changes in home office structure can also be major challenges for repatriated employees (Cartus Corporation, 2014). The repatriation integration program should offer numerous benefits to address both logistical and psychological concerns of repatriated employees. These benefits include but not limited to flights and shipping, storage, temporary accommodation, and disturbance allowance (Cartus Corporation, 2014). Training is also relevant for repatriated employees in terms of integrating into their previous cultures as well as understanding how to capitalize on their new skills and knowledge. This ensures that the company capitalizes on their return on investment by finding suitable positions for repatriated employees. This ensures that repatriated employees can capitalize on their employees’ talent. Section II The repatriation integration program is an innovative strategy for companies to use in terms of capitalizing on the costs and time consumed by expatriates in other countries. Repatriated employees may have numerous skills as well as knowledge under their sleeves that can take a company to the next level. Moreover, it can help employees to reintegrate effectively and avoid increased job turnover due to the challenges faced by most repatriated employees in their home countries. A company such as Wal-Mart has numerous branches all over the world and has the tendency to send expatriates to other countries to oversee their business. Nonetheless, the repatriation part of it may not be well developed. The idea of having a repatriation integration program is increasingly important in all aspects. Such a program can ensure that the repatriated employees have an opportunity to apply their skills and knowledge effectively both professionally and personally. This does not only enhance the overall organizational composition, but it also helps build on the talent pool of the company. Companies should not concentrate on only sending employees overseas and ensuring that their needs are met, but also managing their expectations as well as needs once they return from their assignments. Online tool to explore different countries’ 5 dimensions by Hofstede Section I Hofstede’s cultural dimensions tool for countries is a helpful tool for most people. It enables one to understand the basic culture of each country and make comparisons. For instance, it is clear that Australians are more individualistic than the Chinese (Hofstede, 2015). This means that people in China take care of each other as a whole while people in Australia take care of themselves and their family. Additionally, Australia has a low long-term orientation while China has a high long –term orientation that illustrates the numerous ways each culture or country thinks about the future (Hofstede, 2015). This illustrates the general applicability of this tool in terms of understanding the cultural compositions of different countries. The overall rating given to Australia’s 5 dimensions is correct in some way. This is because people in Australia tend to be individualistic in nature where they focus on taking care of themselves and their immediate families. Moreover, Australians are also known to be open when it comes to matters of power. There is increased democracy that illustrates that there is no great power distance among leaders and followers. Moreover, Australians do not focus much of their energy on controlling the future. Section II In my experience, I never through that there was a means to compare the general culture of Australia to other countries. This is because Australia is multicultural with numerous cultures and people. Nonetheless, I do support the focus on the dominant cultural dimensions observed in the country. By comparing different countries, businesses and employees can easily understand the culture or necessary cultural aspects to expect once in different countries. It is through this type of learning tool that people can be better prepared to handle themselves in new countries. Most companies operating internationally may not recognize the need to recognize or learn the overall culture or cultural extents of each country for successful integration. Nonetheless, the 5 cultural dimensions offers a unique opportunity for organizations to understand the expected behaviors rather than risking to integrate without prior knowledge of international cultural diversity of each country. Additionally, the culture of each nation is a critical element in understanding how well multinational or international management can be successful. Managers working internationally, must utilize such tools to grap a basic idea of the cultural constructs of each country. References AgCareers, 2010. Herzberg's Theory of Motivation. Viewed 3rd October 2015, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ub8R5c6tkE> Cartus Corporation, 2014. Repatriation | Mobility Insights | Cartus, viewed 3rd October 2015, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vISO9Hldhv0> Ciocchetti, CA 2011, 'The Eavesdropping Employer: A Twenty-First Century Framework for Employee Monitoring', American Business Law Journal, vol. 48, p. 285. Cook, J., 2012. How Google Motivates their Employees with Rewards and Perks. Available at: < http://thinkingleader.hubpages.com/hub/How-Google-Motivates-their-Employees-with-Rewards-and-Perks> [Accessed 3rd Oct. 2015]. Hofstede, G., 2015. Australia Cultural Dimensions Scores. Available at: http://geert-hofstede.com/australia.html [Accessed 3rd Oct. 2015]. Kim, J., 2013. 7 Secrets of Google’s Epic Organizational Culture. Available at: https://www.officevibe.com/blog/7-secrets-of-googles-epic-organizational-culture [Accessed 3rd Oct. 2015]. KPBS News, 2013. Privacy Rights vs. Employee Tracking. viewed 3rd October 2015, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-mqdz-20Xs> Malik, 2013. Prof. Dr. Fredmund Malik on Management by Objectives. Viewed 3rd October 2015, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX7m8J-rGDc> Mathur, S., 2008. Product life Cycle. Viewed 3rd October 2015, < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edug_Z2mACc> Peters, C., 2014. The Life Cycle of the VCR, DVD and Blu Ray Players. Available at: < http://www.carapeters.org/uncategorized/the-life-cycle-of-the-vcr-dvd-and-blu-ray-players/> [Accessed 3rd Oct. 2015]. Taylor, B., 2008. Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit–And You Should Too. Available at: < https://hbr.org/2008/05/why-zappos-pays-new-employees/> [Accessed 3rd Oct. 2015] Watkins, M., 2013. What Is Organizational Culture? And Why Should We Care?. Available at: < https://hbr.org/2013/05/what-is-organizational-culture/ > [Accessed 3rd Oct. 2015]. Read More