Managing Individual Performance

Managing Individual Performance

Motivation is an essential factor in managing the individual performance of employees to attain desired individual and organizational results. In this paper I will be defining the concept of motivation within the context of the workplace. I will also explain criteria utilized to evaluate and select candidates in order to form an effective work team. And finally, I will discuss additional factors and theories taken into consideration to solve problems affecting employees to obtain desired outcomes.

Motivation refers to the forces within a person that affect his or her direction, intensity, and persistence of voluntary behavior (McShane & Von Glinow, 2005). Motivated employees exert a particular level of effort (intensity), for a certain amount of time (persistence), toward a particular goal (direction) (McShane & Von Glinow). Motivation involves furnishing people with a reason to do what they are asked to do and managers need to understand and use motivation (Langemo, 1985). Individuals have different needs priorities so managers must customize the fulfilling of needs (motivation) to each individual (Langemo). Motivating each individual will result in improved morale throughout the group and achieving desirable outcomes (Langemo).

Going through the "Managing Individual Performance" simulation my first task as manager was to select four company employees to work as volunteers on a social project. The project involved helping substance abusers go through rehabilitation. Based on the understanding that what motivates an individual is linked to the person’s personality I assigned each volunteer to a particular job by matching their profiles with the job descriptions. For example, the job supervising confrontation sessions required a strong personality capable of motivating as well as good communication and conflict management skills (University of Phoenix, 2002). I found that Daniel was the best fit for this job since he is aggressive yet his personable nature helps in resolving personnel problems and motivating production teams (University of Phoenix).

According to the simulation results I achieved an ideal personality-job fit in selecting the team members and assigning them to the appropriate jobs (University of Phoenix, 2002). Still, problems arose over the course of the project that demanded the consideration of other factors to select strategies to keep the team motivated. For example, a friend of Nicola informed me as manager that her brother had died of a drug overdose and that lately she felt very depressed thus affecting her performance (University of Phoenix).