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How can the company improve motivation and organization justice for employees in workplace? Symptoms 1) The employees have feelings of job insignificance; they have expressed this view numerous times amongst co-workers. 2) Constructive feedback needs to be implemented with an emphasis on positive reinforcement and employee motivation 3) Reward and performance structure is skewed in favor of regional employment; rewards are not linked to job performance.
In this analysis, we will be looking at the level of employee motivation and organizational justice. Motivation refers to the force within a person that affects the direction, intensity, and persistence of voluntary behaviour. When referring to employees in this company, particularly Susan, we need to examine whether they are willing to exert a particular level of effort, for a certain amount of time and toward a particular goal. These individual behaviours and performances can determine the level of employee engagement and, as a result, affect the company’s competitiveness in the market.
Organizational justice also plays an important role in increasing an employee’s motivation when they recognise that they are being treated fairly. Alternatives #1 The organization must present an environment that motivates individuals to grow, and gives them the opportunity to achieve this growth. Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory states humans need to meet specific needs in order to reach a higher state of needs threshold. The first need everyone must achieve (as outlined in the theory) is physiological needs, these include necessities such as water and air.
The second and third levels are safety/belongingness, which incorporate the necessity of having a safe environment to prosper in and achieve love, affection and interaction with others. When all three of these needs are met humans move onto a level of esteem, whereby one searches for personal achievement through recognition and respect from others. Lastly, the culmination of these basic needs is fulfilled in the fifth step called self-actualization; this is an infinite growth stage where people attempt to realize their own self-potential.
By using Maslow’s Need Hierarchy theory we can see that the fifth step in the needs hierarchy is crucial in motivating employees and increasing job satisfaction. If employees are unable to reach self-actualization their motivation may decrease. Disadvantages- Maslow’s Theory does not have indefinite scientific support, while further being unable to account for regression within the need structure. Also, the theory is not universal; rather it varies from individual to individual. # 2 Four Drive Theory needs to be looked at as well.
Essentially the theory attempts to explain what drives employees and motivates them towards greater efficiency and diligence within the work place. The theory outlines four essential drives; the drive to acquire, the drive to bond, the drive to learn, and the drive to defend. Within this specific case, employees need to be able to learn new skills, and acquire further rewards. If they are not given these opportunities, employees may lack the status and recognition that are essential motivating characteristics. The main conclusion of the four drive theory is that these drives must constantly be fulfilled equally.
However, Susan and her co-workers are not receiving feedback or positive recognition from the organization (Mr. James), thus the opportunities to achieve these fundamental drives are not being met. Susan and her co-workers need to be recognized by the organization for their hard work, while they are given the opportunity to grow within the organization and to acquire new rewards. Disadvantage: The four drive theory ignores the fact that the needs can be strengthened through learning and it demonstrates a subjective viewpoint because one can never truly measure the drives and motivations behind specific employees. 3 Theory of Learned Needs is defined by the pursuit of certain needs within individuals; it includes the need for achievement, the need for affiliation and the need for power. Firstly, the need for achievement is expressed in people with a high level of motivation to accomplish reasonably challenging goals. The need for affiliation is representative of our constant desire to conform to others and seek their appraisal, while avoiding conflict. Lastly, the need for power is shown in people who strive to exercise control in their environment and are consistently motivated to be the leader of the group.
In the No fair play context the need for achievement is most applicable because the group that is located in British Colombia needs to be given the opportunity to work on new challenges. So, the organization needs to set goals for the employees to enhance their capacities to achieve new objectives, thus fulfilling their need to achieve. A specific example is implementing achievement motivation training programs for the employees to help maintain motivation. Disadvantage: The costs to run the achievement motivation training programs may be high because employees are being taken off their specific tasks and brought into an orientation. 4 The Expectancy theory model refers to how the work effort is directed towards behaviour that is believed to lead to desired outcomes. There are three individual effort levels including effort-to-performance expectancy, performance-to-outcome expectancy and outcome valences. In this case study the problem lies at performance-to-outcome expectancy factor. Susan believes her performance at work and her qualification in academic achievements, work experience and interpersonal skills should lead to more desirable rewards in the company.
However, the company does not provide any way of measuring employee’s performance. This leads to a distribution of rewards that are not valued and are not directed specifically to job performance. In the No Fair case Susan and her co-workers need to see a reasonable distribution of rewards which will help “increase the expected value of outcomes resulting from desired performances. ” Also, the organization needs to measure job performance more accurately, while definitively outlining outcomes resulting from successful performance.
Disadvantage: The Expectancy theory model ignores the role of emotions in the employee’s effort and behaviour. [pic] # 5 Goal Setting is the process which involves motivating employees and clarifying their role perceptions by establishing performance objectives. In the case study, role perceptions of employees are not clearly defined. Moreover, employees that are situated in BC feel that their work was treated as insignificant. When role perceptions are ambiguous, employees will be discouraged to exert effort towards behaviours that will improve work performance in the workplace.
The organization must clarify role perceptions to the employees by laying out specific goals and communicating with the employees the performance levels that are expected. Also, the organization needs to work with the employees to set these goals in order for the employees to understand why they are working towards a specific target. Individual goals should be established alongside team goals especially because Susan’s department is located in British Colombia and the organizations headquarters is in Ontario.
Disadvantage: Goals can become a problem when they are combined with monetary incentives because employees tend to set easily achievable goals instead of challenging their skills. Also, goal setting can force employees to focus on a narrow set of actions while neglecting important actions that can not necessarily be clearly measured. Feedback is important in goal setting and employee’s performance. The company did not provide sufficient feedback to Susan in communicating what behaviours can lead to more desirable outcomes and did not provide information in correcting performance problems.
This can be frustrating for Susan as she does not understand what she needs to improve in her performance in order to fulfill her satisfaction. Consequently, her frustration leads to negative behaviours which resulted in decreased motivation to perform her duties in the company. # 7 Organizational justice in the workplace is important since treating employees fairly and equally in a workplace can influence their motivation, loyalty and well-being. One of two forms of organizational justice is distributive justice.
This refers to the perceived fairness in outcomes we receive compared with our contributions and other employees. In reference to distributive justice, equity theory refers to how employees determine their feelings of equity by comparing outcome/input ratio of their own with other employees. In the case’s situation, Susan compared her outcome/input ratio with Helen and feels under rewarded. The other form of organizational justice is procedural justice, which refers to the fairness used to decide the distribution of resources. Procedural justice is influenced by structural rules and social rules.
Social rules are applicable to this case because they involve respect and accountability. Susan was not respected because she received only a vague explanation in why the inequity existed from her supervisor. Employees believe that they should be accountable to decisions, especially those that affect them negatively. As a result, the procedural injustice has negatively influenced Susan’s emotions and motivation. Susan’s response to the injustice is performing work at a lower level and engaging in less organizational citizenship behaviour. She eventually chose to quit her job.
The organization must implement a reward system that is based on individual performance so all employees are paid based on their achievements. Also, the organization must demonstrate that it is committed to equal standards of pay so that all employees trust the performance indicators and measurement guidelines. Disadvantage: Organizational justice falls short when we are attempting to establish performance measuring standards because most people have different opinions about the values we place on inputs and outcomes. # 8 When analysing the case through organizational point of view, we can use the Job Characteristic Model.
Under job characteristics, task identity and task significance is the problematic area. The employee situated in British Columbia feels that their work is being treated insignificantly even though their development of customer base in BC is critical to the company. Task identity of the work in BC is also unclear because employees are not aware of how their task relates to the work in Toronto. In order to increase positive outcomes in work motivation, work satisfaction and work effectivness, jobs will need to be meaningful, will need to be given autonomy and will need to provide adequate feedback.
Six Step Action Plan When looking at the issue outlined in the case No Fair Pay in This Place it becomes clear that an action plan must incorporate goal setting, four-drives theory and organizational justice to have any chance of successfully motivating the organizations employees. Step 1) The organization must analyze the workplace situation and establish what drives are critical for employee motivation. The organization will first hire an external consultant to commence an independent research assignment.
This assessment period will also include meetings with the employees to understand their opinions on what needs to be improved at the work place. The external consultant will attempt to understand the main motivational factors behind the employees while formulating specific recommendations to the organization on how to improve motivational factors. The recommendations that were extended by the external consultant will be discussed between all leaders and managers in order to understand what actions can be implemented.
The costs and benefits of implementing the recommendations will be analyzed in order to create cost effective techniques. Step 2) The company will institute a “fair pay equality charter” that will outline the basic tenets and fundamental rights every employee deserves. This charter will symbolize to the staff that the company takes distributive justice seriously. Step 3) Provide flexible learning opportunities by designing skills based training programs so that workers can fulfill their innate drives.
Examples can be customer service training programs, reducing stress therapy sessions and job rotation opportunities. This will increase skill variety and autonomy in jobs so employees are more motivated throughout the organization. Step 4) Implement short term and long term goal setting programs for employees in different departments that aligns with organizational goals. This will allow employees to participate in goals that can be reflected in the organization. Meetings to discuss these goals can be initiated monthly with other employees and managers.
These goal orientation programs will increase task identity and task significance for employees since they are able to contribute to the overall goal of the organization. Job recognition will increase in the workforce as there will be consistent goal achievement feedback from managers. Step 5) Restructuring will also take place within the goal setting framework, with an emphasis specifically on feedback. Feedback is critical in successfully motivating employees, so managers, peers, and even subordinates will take part in ‘Multisource feedback. Training sessions will help initiate the workforce with the reasoning behind the multisource feedback technique while demonstrating how fair judgment is important to the success of this technique. The multisource feedback technique will be initiated throughout the entire company, with reviews every six months of recommendations to ensure feedback is creating positive change. Step 6) A reward system will be designed that is measured by performance levels and offers all employees input on what these rewards should be. This will be effective in fulfilling different drives and needs for different employees.
Example can be scorecards which aligns rewards with several specific organizational outcomes. Rewards need to be valued and relevant. In conclusion, through the six step action plan the organization will be able to respond to the fundamental issue of motivating employees. Although initial costs may be high, in the long term overall motivation and work efficiency will be significantly increased. If this issue is not addressed workforce motivation may decrease even further, with absenteeism and low work levels occurring frequently. The six step plan will be initiated immediately with the benefit of all employees in mind.