Motivation at Work - Coursework Example

A Case study on organization behavior Name Name of the institution 7 November 2015 A Case Study of Motivation at Work Introduction People spend more time of their lives at work henceforth; employees expect to be rewarded and contented with the type of work they perform. Motivation is all concerned with the reason why people do things and as well as what determine them to behave in a certain way. For the HR, it is important to understand what motivates employees in the place of work. Intensive research conducted by different scholars suggests that employees who are motivated are happier and determined at work. Importantly, motivation at workplace makes employees get satisfied, become less absent, tend to be loyal and carries out duties with more enthusiasm. This case study focuses on the way organizations motivates its employees. This case study further explores the motivational techniques that are used to assists the organizations to be a great place to work. Keeping every employee motivated at work is not an easy task. There are different ways that employees can be motivated so as to achieve the best from them. Values and motivation in relation to organization behavior In any organization, the value is referred to as the culture. Value is one of the best ways that organization can apply to motivate people at the workplace. Motivation at work is derived from the values and culture as the two component encourages every employee to work effectively. Values in organization influence the behavior of the people within the workplace hence making an organization the positive place to work. For the case of values and motivation, employees get encouraged to speak positively and share different opinion regarding the organization and the task assigned to them. The benefit of any organization investing in employees can be discussed by focusing on the different philosophers work. The philosophers identified different theories that are related to the subject of motivation. In this case study, the focus is drawn on some of these techniques that were identified by motivational theorists and explored the way the motivational techniques can help the organization in creating a great workplace. Ways and techniques of motivation at work Philosophers believe that for many employees money is the prime motivator. For instance, in any business employees are motivated by money alternatives such as the opportunity to sell and buy their holiday periods. However, more studies on this subject of motivation suggest that there are various alternative motivators that can drive employees to work positively and make the workplace a great place for the people. Elton Mayo, one of the well-known theorist, highlighted that employees are motivated if they perform their duties as a team. Mayo further clarified that people are more motivated if managers communicate with the employees. Communicating make the employees consult with the managers so as to share their interest and viewers regarding a particular issue in the organization. Communication Communication in any organization is a major technique to motivate people. For instance, the two-way dialogue in an organization is referred to as a key way to motivate employees as the communication program help in empowering the employees at the workplace. The two-way dialogue allows each staff to contribute his/her view regarding a certain matter. The communication program provides special recognition the best employees regard their performance and reward them. Motivating factors Employees are motivated by different factors at the workplace. The motivating factors allow an organization to ensure that it is perceived as a good station to work. Theorists have identified different factors that are connected to motivation at work, for instance, the hygiene factor. Some organization ensures employees motivation through implementing health programs such as fit for life programs whereby workers are allowed to access the fitness ground, health check-ups, and yearly fitness evaluation tests. Conclusion To some up this case study, employees’ motivation can improve the organization efficiency, productivity, and quality of the organization. In this case study, it is illustrated that communication and teamwork are some of the key techniques that organizations can use to motive the employees and make the workplace look great for all the stakeholders. Motivation at work help to make the staffs more committed to their obligations. Therefore, understanding the impact of motivation techniques and factors make any organization to make work more rousing and interesting. On the side of the organization, employees motivation make the business attract experienced staff, become more productive, profitable and more competitive in each department. A case study of building teamwork and group in the workplace Introduction In the organizations, people belong to different groups and teams. Some of the teams in the organizations are formal, and others are informal teams. In any organization, teams and group bring employees together with a similar goal and interest. Teamwork originates with and creates a relationship, within a group of employees who share a similar purpose or interest. Working in teams is an essential program as it allows various individuals from the different department with different obligations and perhaps from distinct organizations to carry out their mandate together as a team. Organizations use teams and group to find a solution to a shared problem within the organization. Teams and groups will always have a team leader. With range skills, team members contribute important effort to the overall performance of the business. This case study focuses on discussing the important of using teamwork to create a better working place. The case study will explain more on the subject of team behavior in organizations. Team and group behavior Within teams and group, the behavior of the members is influenced by the group norms. In organizations, the management style highly influences the way a team will work. Empowering the teams members and as well the group members is a motivating step and it will influence the employees behavior by making them more committed to their obligations. Empowering teams and group members mean giving them the power to implement decisions and have their viewpoints considered in the management of the organization. Effective teamwork and group in organizations Research carried out by different scholars’ shows that there are several attributes that are required for the success of teams and groups in the organizations. For effective teamwork within the organizations, the team leaders or the management should identify the following attributes. Commitment- the leaders of the teams and groups in any organization should emphasize on members commitment to the teams and groups. Interdependence- team and group members in the organization should create an environment that allows them to contribute positively to the organization. A positive interdependence team or group is tipped to bring the out the best from the employees henceforth, allowing the organization to achieve its objective and goals. Interpersonal skills- each member of the group or team should pose certain ability to discuss issues openly with other members. The success of the team is based on the skills members of the organization have. This includes members being trustworthy, supportive, and respectful to other members and organization as well. Successful teams and groups develop quality product and make the working place become collaborative as each member is involved in the decision-making process. As team meeting are the midpoint of team management in the organizations, employees become friendly, and the teams and group encounter less problematic issues. Importantly, organizations get the best from the teams and groups as projects are developed and improved by each member contribution to the team’s operation. Unsuccessful teams and groups. As members of the organizations tend to come together in some context, the teams and groups will encounter problematic situation. As a result, the groups and teams built in the organization become dysfunctional and at a time the team split. The reason for unsuccessful teams and groups in an organization is caused by members being less committed to the team, lack of the required abilities and members not being an opportunity to contribute to the decision-making process. For the teams to be successful in the organization, the management should encourage and identify immediate solutions for the organization. A major technique that organization can use to solve teams’ problem and make them successful include holding several meetings with the group members and award each member a chance to share the issue that is hindering the success of the team. Conclusion The performance of the teams and groups in the workplace is mostly determined by the particular attributes. In particular, commitment, interdependence, and personal skills are some of the attributes that play a major role in the organization when it come to the management of the teams and groups. Essentially, teams that embrace the mentioned attributes and others work collaboratively toward the success if the business. Therefore, it is the mandate of the management to incorporate these attribute with the groups and teams within the organization. Consequentially, the employees working in teams and groups will enhance the development of the organization and as well quality products. A case study of decision making by individuals and groups in organization In any organization, decision making is the result of both the way employees or rather individuals implement decisions and the background in which these individuals implement decisions. As an integral task, organizations do not implement decision individuals and groups in the workplace do. Reports suggest that individual and group decisions are the essential part of the organization and the task by either an individual or the group influences the success of the organization. In organizations, people spent a lot of time attending meetings and in these meetings every single member is involved in the decision-making process either as an individual or as a group. This case study tends to discuss and explore the type of the decision-making process in organizations and the usefulness of the decision-making in any organization. Most of the decisions in organizations are made in meetings because meetings involve both the individuals and the organizations group. Types of decisions making in organizations Organizations have different reasons for holding group and individual meetings. Some of this reason is the decision-making agenda and problem-solving reasons. For the purpose of the organization, this case study explores some of the decision that individual and group meetings make. For appropriate decision, organization use SWOT analysis models. The first type of decision made in meetings by individuals or group include the organization mission decisions and the operational strategies decisions. This type of decision involves individuals and group members coming up strategic plans that organization will use to achieve its objective. Secondly, group meetings in organizations make the problem-solving decision as some problem may occur more often in the organization. This type of decision is necessary to the organization because it help an organization solve the problems that are in the organizations. Usefulness of individual and group decision-making As decision making is an essential task for the groups and individuals in the organization, the process is always important to both the individuals and groups. Decision-making will help the organization in different ways such as; Solve the instant problems within the organization departments. Organizational groups and individuals look at the current problem that is affecting the organization directly and indirectly. With such drive, any emerging problem is well solved as the individuals and group members take part in the whole process of making decisions. Solve long term problems. Importantly, individual and group decision making help the organization to solve long-term problems and to surface the solution for the future purposes. For instance, if customers are being served by a defective product, the group decision may involve implementing the solution such as the way the non-defective product will be offered to customers in present and in future. The role and importance of individual and group behavior are emphasized by the behavioral theory of decision making. There are different behavioral theories that influence the decision making by individuals or the groups in organizations. All the models talk of one thing the decision-making techniques that are used by individuals and groups in organizations. The models further discuss the things that affect the mentality of individuals in the organization and the way an individual feelings and emotions affect the decisions that an individual make. Involving the employees in decision-making situations is an essential thing to the organization. Increasing staff’s participation in decision-making impact not only to better understanding of the organization situations but help employees to identify other solution that can be used in solving any future problem within the organization. Conclusion Conclusively, individuals in the organization are said to creative with the process of identifying solution regarding a certain problem. In any organization, individuals possess the ability to create innovative solutions and alternatives regarding organizational problems. On the other hand, decision-making in a group is one of the most important ways an organization can implement its decisions. Making decisions in a group involves different phenomena. This means that making organization decisions requires the group to groupthink and as well as differentiate the group decisions. The two phenomena make the group members shift their perspectives and reinforce their decisions. The whole idea of the individual and group decision-making can be viewed as advantageous to all the stakeholders of the organization. It makes the employees and organizations nullify dysfunction impacts of both individual and group decision making. A case study of Learning and Performance Management in Organizations In organizations, performance management is a model that seek to get the best out of the human resource or rather the employees. Usually, rewards are related to performance, and some form of appraisal structure depend on the performance management. Learning and performance management refers to the process of establishing a shared employees understanding regarding the organization objectives and goals. Mostly performance management involves aligning the organization objectives with the workforce skills and competence. For improved performance management in any organization learning and development are necessary so as to ensure that the overall business strategies are accomplished, and the workforce performance is high. This case study focuses on exploring and discussing the link that exist between the performance management and learning programs in organizations. Learning programs in organization Many scholars argue that the key goal for learning programs in organizations is to assist in providing the knowledge and skills to the workforce. Other argues that learning programs are all concerned with staff empowerment and improving the bottom line employees. The impact of learning on organization outcomes is represented by the business education that is linked to the staff’s performance. Performance management In any organization, efforts to improve performance management are designed to assist the employees so as employees in turn deliver the best to the organization. For such to be effective in organizations, the management should implement innovative performance management programs. Importantly, performance management aims at creating a high-performance culture for both the management and the employees in the organization. Therefore, organizations tend to bring jointly together learning programs and performance management. Performance management in modern business is tipped to a major approach that is crucial to the organization and help organizations in accomplishing its goals. Relationship between learning programs and performance management Learning and performance are important to the organization as the two determine employees’ performance toward achieving the organization goal. The two programs communicates to each other as they are valuable to the organization and the workforce. Although learning is scheduled, it serves key HR objective of understanding and knowing the top performers. Toa better understanding, learning make the performance process to break the long chain of the management cycle. The two processes are linked in a way that they develop the organizational plans and strategies. Performance without learning and training without performance is totally not an achievable program. The two need to be integrated together as they are part of the organization’s development and growth plan. Once the two programs are integrated together within the organization, the HR manager can hire qualified employees and retain the employees who are competent. Management influence on the employees learning and performance Managers in the organization have different perspectives regarding the much training that is needed for employees. To achieve performance outcomes, it is essential for the management to understand that most workers lack adequate knowledge and experience that is needed to carry out a certain task perfectly. Workforce learning is a tool that organizations can utilize to workers so as to bridge the gap between the present level of performance and the targeted level of performance. In the organization, managers offer a different type of learning. This includes general training that is conducted with the purpose of adding new knowledge and skills to the employees. Also, employees in organizations are trained through being offered skills regarding a certain product or work processes. Conclusion Performance and training are vital to the organization as it offers various benefits to the organization. The two processes are interrelated and assist the organization in developing management plans and other strategies. For the organization to deliver and support performance that is based on learning, the management should play a crucial role in the two programs. Managers are linked with the identified learning results and together with the employees need. When the two programs converge, a true talent in the organizations is developed in organizations. As the world of business becoming competitive, it is relevant for the organizational management to support both strong and formal and informal learning programs. This will make the organization performance improve, and organization achieve its goal. As a result of combining learning and performance management, employees performance in the organization become actionable and feasible. A case study of organizational culture Organizational culture refers to a system of shared conventions, values, and beliefs that administer how people act in given institutions. As such, these shared beliefs forms the basis upon which the staff in any given organization acts accordingly. Therefore, it is for this reason that every organization cultivates and preserves a unique culture that provides guidelines and limits for the behavior of the members of staff within the organization. Regarding this, it is equally important to entrepreneurship contains diverse organizational culture that influences how individuals behave and perform their duties. People dress differently according to the occasion that they are attending. For example, one would dress differently when attending a golf event as when he or she would be attending a soccer event. This case study focuses on understanding the organizational culture of any organization. Organizational culture, therefore, has varied unique and distinct features that range in order of priority either from low or high. These characteristics are helpful as they enable individuals in any organization to make judgmental values concerning esteemed values placed by the organization thereby, adjusting their behavior in response to the perceived set of values. These characteristics are therefore as follows. Innovation, to start with, plays a pivotal role in the overall performance of individuals in an organization. Organizations that place a high value on innovation have a tendency of hiring or promoting the most innovative individuals who make exemplary performance in the overall success of that organization. They encourage their employees to take risks in the innovation of the most fulfilling self-acquaintance investments to help them improve their career performance. On the other hand, organizations that embrace a culture that holds onto low value about invention do not inspire their employees to indulge in innovation. Staff perform their duties the same way they have been taught without making efforts towards improving on their duties. Also, payment attention to the detail is another important feature that is prevalent in the organizational culture of any given institution. According to this characteristic, employees are entitled to ensuring a high degree of precision of their work. The organizational culture that upholds a high value on attention to details supposes that their employees perform their duties with emphasis on accuracy. The organizational culture that holds onto low value using of not emphasizing on accuracy to details do not exert pressure on their staff members concerning precision on their works, and this may result into frauds in the outcome of the organization. There is a lot of emphasis on the outcome that distinguishes between the organizational cultures that have a low or high perception about the final result. Regarding this, organizations that focuses on means rather than the methodology of production to arrive at the result places a high value on achievement orientation of the company than those that do not emphasize on the outcome. Furthermore, some organizations upholds the characteristic of fairness to its employees while others do not. As such, companies that embraces high value on this characteristic gets into concern about the various ways how its decisions will impact on its employees thus, focuses on fairness to its workers who contribute the greatest share of the organization. Companies that do not embrace this characteristic do not accord their employees with dignity and respect they deserve which may result in poor relationships in workplaces. Way organizational culture characteristics influences organization behavior In conjunction with the above characteristics, companies with a culture that place a high value on teamwork rather than individuality tend to create a positive relationship between people and their co-workers and their managers thus, creating a feeling of togetherness and completeness by an individual. On the contrary, those companies with a culture that places a low value on teamwork create a negative relationship with its workers creating diverse attitudes towards each other. Competitive orientation is another organizational culture that distinguishes a company that places a low or high value on whether group constituents are expected to be assertive or easygoing when dealing with competitive organizations in the marketplaces. Companies with a culture that upholds a high value on competitive orientation embrace this characteristic at all costs. On the contrary, those that have a culture that place a low value on this characteristic do not bother on competitiveness. Conclusion Conclusively, companies with an organizational culture that endorses a high value on stability are predictable and unbending in nature. As a result, such companies are not affected by the poor market conditions as they are typically predictable and consistent in their output production capacities. This contradicts the organizational culture of companies that holds a low value of stability as they are unpredictable and inconsistent in output production hence, affected adversely by varying market conditions. Read More