A telecommunication firm is facing difficulties in the financial year 2002-2003 and I am the line manager of the software development group in this company. Chapter 4, in the book "Essentials of Organizational Behavior" by Stephen P. Robbins states that motivation theories are culture-bound (Page 53), hence to give this paper and the situation described in the question a different perspective I am going to set this telecommunications company named BPL Mobile in India and I am going to take into account the cultural factors affecting motivation and productivity and explain them in this paper.
My software development group has 15 employees working under me and we lost 3 employees due to lay offs. We supply software and training to about 25 stores in Bombay, India and those are specialty stores supplying only BPL cellular phone handsets and call plans (contract and prepaid) to the customers. Overall BPL Mobile is one of the major cellular phone companies in India, its main competitors being Orange (the British Telecommunications giant). In India Orange and BPL Mobile have a fair and equal share in the market of about 30% each and the rest belongs to the smaller companies. As chapter 2 describes the framework for assessing cultures, I would apply the following characteristics to Indian employees and customers (Page 18). The power distance in India is largely unequal, there exists an equal blend of individualism and collectivism, it is the quantity in life that has more importance and that is because India is a poor country, as far as uncertainty avoidance is concerned they prefer structured situations and finally people are long term oriented. Hopefully this gives you an idea of the corporate life in India. I will now go on to explain how I will handle the situation described in the question.
There are many people fighting for jobs in India but since I have collected a good team, which is now demoralized, it is my job to motivate them to perform better. According to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory (Page 43) the need for physiological needs will be primary but in the work environment safety and security needs will be of growing concern. The reason for this is that, since there is a vast population of qualified people waiting to be hired, people who have jobs are under pressure to maintain them. In such a situation, knowing that I have a qualified and valuable team with me, I would not like to hire different people and train them.
Maslow’s theory is simple, if your basic needs our met you will strive to achieve your next level of need. As you achieve human needs you will desire greater needs until you reach self- actualization or transcendence. Throughout this paper first I will be discussing Maslow’s theory and the different levels of achievement. As well as the changes he made to his theory in the 70’s. I will talk about the grouping for these achievements and where they fit in the hierarchy of needs. Secondly, we will talk about how Maslow’s theory motivates and how we use it in our careers. Lastly, I will bring up how this theory fits into the fire service. I will also show how to use it as a motivational tool as a manager. In my conclusion I will discuss the differences we can make just by fallowing this platform of motivation to create the most motivated firefighters.
Aspects of the perceived culture in an o organization, such as, level of communication among members, the level of support in regard for new innovations and technology, as well as the amount of support by upper level management all have a positive influence on the manner employees behave and interact with each other as well as how they treat consumers and suppliers. If employees emulate a manager that does not share the same values and beliefs of others within the organization, or that does not share a good work ethic, employees will not complete tasks and fail to be productive. It works as well in the opposite manner; when employees see a manager who supports a company’s mission, its goals, and business strategy, the organizational culture of the company will aide in providing a clear direction for employees to follow and strive towards. Ultimately, the culture supports desire business strategies and the overall mission of an organization, and the capacity of the culture is dependent on just how intensely employees share the values and basic assumption of the
In the 1940s Abraham Maslow created his famous theory of needs and set the groundwork for David McClelland who in 1961 launched his book, “The Achieving Society” (Mind Tools, n.d.). McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory explores the thought that “needs are acquired throughout life…needs are not innate, but are learned or developed as a result of one’s life experiences” (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2007, p.27). In this theory are three types of needs: need for achievement-desire for success, mastering tasks, and attaining goals; need for affiliation-desire for relationships and associations with others; and need for power-desire for responsibility, control, and authority (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2007). Therefore, management, hospitals, and organizations must determine what the needs of their employees are in order to properly motivate
There are personality types that a person can bring to an organization. Looking at these types of personalities can be detrimental to the type of behavior that a person brings to the organization as a leader or even as a person that is taking orders. Some people might look at rewards and promotions as a motivation to do better which is a big part of their personality type. There are a lot of key factors that can play a role in how behavior works in an organization. It is important to understand the personalities of employees because it helps determine the working relationships between everybody because there could be some similarities and non-similarities amongst people. So by taking the Pearson Prentice Hall Self-Assessment test itself determine
The report is directed at presenting a case study on Organizational behavior that revolves around Scania, the leading manufacturers and marketers of trucks and buses in the world with globally administered operations. Several models and theories of organizational behavior will be highlighted and discussed in this paper.
Norman Brinker has become known as an entrepreneur, pioneer, visionary and mentor in the restaurant industry. He has been involved in the industry for over 40 years. In the 1950’s Norman Brinker started his career in restaurants as partner in the Jack-in-the-Box restaurant chain. Here Brinker found a new love for the restaurant business.
Motivation is an important concept which is critical for understanding of and improvement in organizational behaviour and performance. It is therefore important for the managers to understand motivation. It is an important tool which they can use to get more out of their employees and increase organizational performance. Motivation can be defined as the factors, both internal as well as external which arouse in individuals the desire and commitment for a job (Mele, 2005, p. 15). Organizational performance on the other hand refers to the degree to which the organizational objectives have been achieved.
Organisational culture originated in the 1940’s but became more popular in the early 1980’s. Organisational culture was focused on measurable aspects such as employee attitudes and how they perceived working conditions. This research was known as Organisational Climate Studies and was conducted in the 1960’s and 1970’s. A bigger interest in organisational culture was shown in the 1970s when books such as “The Interpretation of Culture” (Clifford Geertz, 1973) were written, describing in more detail the role, importance and characteristics of organisational culture. More research was focused on organisational culture and it became a tool to be used in achieving a competitive advantage. (Baker, 2002)
According to Robbins, DeCenzo, and Coulter (2011) “motivation is the process by which a person’s efforts are energized, directed, and sustained toward attaining a goal” (p. 267). Organizations are always looking for new ways to motivate employees. In a global economy it is important to understand that cultural differences can impact how an organization can motivate its employees. Geert Hofstede (as cited in Sledge, Miles, & Coppage, 2008) believed there are five dimensions of culture. These five dimensions are power distance, individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity versus femininity, and Confucian dynamism (p. 1670). This paper will discuss each dimension of culture and how they could effect employee motivation.
What drives motivation? How far will one go to achieve their goal? Does it mean compromising their ethical beliefs or will they succeed following their ethical compass? For many, they will do just about anything, include being unethical. No boundary, no barrier, no obstacle will stop them. A great example is Margaret Tate, an Executive Editor in Chief of a book publishing firm from the movie “The Proposal”. The movie depicts various management and observation behavior concepts covered in Organizational Behavior such as communication process model, power and counter power, the MARS Model, and values and ethics.
It is a “pattern of beliefs, values and learned ways of coping with experience” (Brown 1994) that manifests itself into three layers: artefacts at the shallowest, values and beliefs in the middle and basic assumptions at the deepest. It is inseparable from the organisation that cannot be easily manipulated as it is fundamentally non-unitary and emergent. Finally, organisational culture is important as it is one of the main determinants as to whether a firm can enjoy superior financial and a comparative advantage over firms of differing cultures.
Motivation is therefore the force that transforms and uplifts people to be productive and perform in their jobs. Maximising an employee's motivation is necessary and vital to successfully accomplish the organisation's objectives and targets. However this is a considerable challenge to any organisation's managers, due to the complexity of motivation and the fact that there is no ready made solution or an answer to what motivates people to work well (Mullins, 2002).
Organizational behavior is important to many organizations because it helps management understand their employees’ attitude as well as behavior while they interact with one and other at the work place. There are several aspects of organizational behavior and attitude is one that can hinder and help job performance. In the past, organizations were defined almost exclusively by the products produced or the services provided. This has changed a great deal over the years. They are now defined by the way they provide their products and services. Attitude plays a major role in and outside of the workplace as it does in most aspects in everyday life.
Organisational culture is one of the most valuable assets of an organization. Many studies states that the culture is one of the key elements that benefits the performance and affects the success of the company (Kerr & Slocum 2005). This can be measured by income of the company, and market share. Also, an appropriate culture within the society can bring advantages to the company which helps to perform with the de...
Motivation is an important function in organizations to motivate their employees for their ability to perform well, improving their skills, increasing productivity, job satisfaction and employee extension. Employees also are not a machines that we could just program their task in their brain and they will do it automatically, they require motivation to actually do their job properly. And so, after discussing the process models of the Maslow’s “Hierarchy of needs”, Douglas McGregor theory X and Y, and also the Herzberg’s “two factor motivation hygiene theory.” understanding the ways of motivating people, the human nature, and the substance of nature. I believe that the true motivation can only come from within and also managers can actually motivate all of their employees.