The Importance of Pay in Employee Motivation by Sara Rynes, Barry Gerhart, Kathleen Minette - Article Example

ARTICLE CRITIQUE xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Instructor xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date ARTICLE CRITIGUE Sara Rynes, Barry Gerhart, and Kathleen Minette in “The Importance of Pay in Employee Motivation: Discrepancies between What People Say and What They Do” discuss the aspect of pay as one of the motivating factors to employees. The article tries to explain why most decision makers and human resource practitioners tend to underestimate the notion about monetary compensation being a motivator to most employees. The title of the article “What People Say and What They Do “shows that there are inconsistencies between what is reflected in the studies ,what people actually say and what they do. This is based on what is observed in the surveys of real workers behavior as far as the importance of monetary compensation and its effects on performance is concerned. Rynes Sara et al argue that not every employee is motivated by money and neither is monetary compensation the primary motivator but strong evidence suggest that pay is a significant motivator for the most of employees. The article concludes that there is enough evidence which shows that studies where employees are asked to rank order pay and other motivators, there is a general lack of an accurate reflection of the important effects that changes in pay levels and determination have as far as workers joining and leaving an organization is concerned. Rynes Sara et al feel that most of the survey ranks conflict with the behavioral evidence on the effects that pay incentives have on the objectives that employees chose to pursue within their workplaces and the commitment shown towards these objectives. Sara Rynes et al propose that managers should consider both monetary nd non monetary tools to attract, motivate and retain employees but it would be wrong to assume based on the general studies which have been conducted in the past that pay or financial incentives are not highly significant. Sara Rynes article shows that the important of financial rewards in any organization can be evaluated through considering individual variables such as performance levels and situational variables such as pay variability. (Connolly, Conlon and Deutsct 1980) The strength of the Sara Rynes et al argument is well in line with motivational views that were presented by the former chief executive officer of General Electric, Jack Welch. The chief executive officer is well known for the revival of the sleeping giant through using tactics which are modeled towards recognizing that monetary rewards are crucial factors in motivating the employees. The pay system that he introduced rewarded higher pay to those who performed well. This well rhymes with the evidence presented by Sara Rynes et al in their article, which pay is an important motivating factor and should always count among the top for every organization which is looking forward to increasing its performance. In support of the article thesis Sara Rynes et al presents evidence showing the gap between what people say in the surveys and what their actual behavior as far as the pay is concerned. The paper stresses the points through showing that journals which are published by the practitioners show a total discrepancy and inconsistent with the research which has been published about the real motivational effects of the monetary rewards. All these journals and studies appear to suggest that pay is not a very strong motivator. Sara Rynes et al argue that if this notion is believed there could be a serious underestimation of the motivational potential of a well structured compensation system. In explaining why there are discrepancies as far as people’s response during the survey and their actual behavior are concerned Sara Ryen et al seem to be in agreement with Nunnally and Bernstein (1994) who argue that at times people give responses which are in line with that the society has approved. This is a tendency which is referred to as socially desirable responding where those who are responding lack a self insight and openness. What the responders are trying to do here is to give answers which are viewed as favorable. Some of them do not want to be seen as bad or undesirable. When it comes to the pay some of them do not want to give the clear picture as they might fear being reprimanded by their employees. This tendency has been a serious threat to research especially those which require self reporting. The bias greatly interferes with the interpretation of what can be referred to as central tendencies as well as personal differences. When it comes to surveys which are measuring pay incentives as one of the motivating factors there is likelihood to misjudge their reaction. They will tend to give answers that make them appear good in the eyes of the public. Through basing their argument on this premise Sara Rymes seems to suggest that we should not rely so much on research or studies which are likely to be affected by socially desirable response tendency as they present a picture which does not depict the real picture on the ground. While there is some truth in this a dismissal of studies where self reporting is the main method of collecting data might not be based on facts. Sara Rymes et all seems to suggest a solution when a study is faced with this challenge, they propose that managers should find a balance so that they can get a more valid information to help them in making a decision as far as motivating factors are concerned. Some researchers seem to have recognized the problem with the studies which conclude that pay is not an important factor, they have not relied on the self reporting technique alone, they have gone further to examine the workers behavior change ,for example the rate at which the employees join and leave the organization. This is an indicator that is bound to give a clear picture, it has shown that the pay in an incentive motivation for most employees. (VanDuinkerken and Mosley, 2011) Saral et al have clearly demonstrated that there is a problem with the studies which depict that pay is not an important motivator. The article has presented enough evidence to show that the respondents in most cases are biased and just as one would expect in a research that involves self reporting, there s a possibility of giving information which is favorable as far as what is accepted socially is concerned. They have given a good example where they have compared results in a study which involved asking what the respondents feel about others motivation. Surprisingly most of the respondents placed pay at the top of the rank when it came to others but on them it did not feature among the top. Therefore the proponent that the findings of the studies should not be solely be the source of information when making decision concerning the employees motivation. There is a need to complement with other findings especially those that use behavior change observation as the methodology in data collection.(Towers 2003) (Mann 2010) Pay is a strong and important motivator, as Sara et al observes, pay plays a big role in helping the individuals get the things they desire in life. Apart from helping the employees or individuals from getting the basic needs it is also used to improve the social status (Turban and Keon 1993) Use of financial incentives to motivate the employees is mainly based on the reinforcement theory. This theory mainly looks on the relationship between a a behavior that is being targeted and the consequences. Organizations use behavior modification framework to identify the employees’ behavior. Here measurement and analysis of the employees’ behavior is done and interventions developed using principles which are based on reinforcing rewarding performances. This has been done in many organizations where deferred payment based on the performance greatly improves self selection when it comes to recruitment. Performance pay has been seen to improve on a company production level as it basically encourages the employees to use their talents, skills and knowledge towards the realization of the organization goals and objectives. This basically shows that pay incentives greatly motivates the employees to put more effort towards the realization of the organization objectives. Although it is not the only motivating factor, it plays a great role in determining whether the employee will join or leave a company. (Latt 2008)Although the paper has put much emphasis on the pay, it does not dismiss other motivators, it only recommends to the managers to take pay as one of the motivating factors as it influences a substantial number of employees to behave in a given way. (Manzoor 2012) (Feldman and Arnold 1978) Based on the evidence that is presented by Sara et al and other literature which have been reviewed it is evidently clear that most of the studies which asked the employees to rank the motivating factors in order failed to recognize the problem that can be presented by the employees need to give favorable answers. It has been shown that some of the responders when asked about others, they put pay as the main motivators but when to them it ranks lowly. This can be far from the truth, there is a need to collaborate this with findings from studies which observe behavior as Sara et al have identified. Pay is a strong motivator; people leave and join organization on the basis of the pay promise. Although there are other motivators which are equally important ignoring pay as a key motivator will be suicidal to an organization. References Connolly, T., Conlon, E. J., & Deutsch, S. J., (1980). 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