Motivating Employees Case Study

Motivation is derived from an internal force that provides an individual the opportunity to achieve their needs or goals. People are motivated by a variety of things and often have different motivating factors. Employers should be mindful of individual motivating factors when attempting to motivate staff to increase performance. While some people may be motivated by money, many are motivated by things like: recognition, promotion, and increased responsibility. Once an employer has identified motivating factors they are able to analyze a variety of motivational theories to design and implement a program that will motivate employees to go above and beyond what is expected of them.

Motivation is a main point in which I am interested and in order to understand more about the topic I have based my review in 2 different sources: Forbes article “Motivation Mystery: How to Keep Employees Productive” and Daniel Pink Ted Talk “The Puzzle of Motivation”.

Chapter 12 of our textbook is titled “Motivating Employees,” and it encompasses much of what was in Drive. An extrinsic reward is defined as the “payoff, such as money, a person receives from others for performing a particular task.” Extrinsic rewards are what drive the old economy and still influence management techniques within organizations today. These rewards have many benefits but are becoming more and more obsolete in the twenty-first century workforce. The textbook defines intrinsic rewards as the “satisfaction, such as a feeling of accomplishment, a person receives from performing the particular task itself.” Offering only extrinsic rewards is what Pink refers to as “carrots and sticks.” These rewards work well for routine tasks. However, these rewards often stifle creativity (as seen in the candlestick experiment). Modern jobs are increasingly relying on creativity and innovation. Managers can use this knowledge by acknowledging the importance of intrinsic rewards when dealing with employees engaged in more complex

According to Bateman & Snell (2009), Motivators to employee job performance are centered on extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards are characteristics of the workplace that attract and retain people. They revolve around organization and management policies, working conditions, pay, benefits, and other so-called “hygiene” factors. Intrinsic rewards are motivators that provide employees personal satisfaction in the performance of their jobs such as opportunities for personal and career growth, recognition and the feeling of achievement in the successful completion of a task. (p. 486). Herzberg’s two-factor theory suggests

This particular incentive would hit a homerun in my book. Flexible work scheduling is another great perk because it would allow employees to schedule activities from their personal life into a time frame that works for them without creating an issue with attendance at work. The six week paid sabbaticals is yet another great benefit that could keep employees from feeling overwhelmed with work and sometimes home activities that could decrease employee morale.

The success of any business depends on the productivity and satisfaction of its employees. Employees need to be motivated to work. Motivation can be defined as the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals. Motivation can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. For an individual to be motivated in a work situation there must be a need, which the individual would have to perceive a possibility of satisfying through some reward. Intrinsic motivation stems from motivations that are inherent and arise from performing the task of the job itself, which the individual gets a feeling of either positive or negative motivation as a result of

SAS Institute of Cary, North Carolina is an organization that fosters innovation, employee loyalty, and customer satisfaction. Over the past three decades, SAS Institute became the largest private software developer and enjoys a history of continued growth in every year of its existence. The success of SAS Institute is a result of its primary resource—its creative capital—which is entrenched in the company through its culture, Human Resource practices, communication, and employee motivation.

Health care organizations in recent decades have found they must do more with fewer resources, in particular fewer human resources. Economic instability in the United States coupled with governmental changes in health care reimbursement structures have compelled considerable reductions in force in health care organizations and in some instances elimination of services previously provided. In this economic environment, dedicated and motivated employees in health care facilities are the most valuable resources of the organization. However, for employees to be valuable to the organization they must be engaged in the goals,

SAS Institute is the world’s largest privately held software company based in North Carolina and is rated as one of the best places to work. The founder and CEO, Jim Goodnight, created the company into a fun and friendly environment where employees can have a good life at work. Goodnight says, “If you treat employees as if they make a difference to the company, they will make a difference to the company” (case). SAS Institute’s friendly culture encourages creativity and productivity of their employees. SAS Institute leases software to its customers and puts tremendous effort in enhancing customer satisfaction. They analyze their feedback and make technological advancements solely based on customer needs.

the Closing Case “Motivating Employees at the SAS Institute” in Ch. 6 of Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior. MGT 312 WEEK 3

“Bottom-up” decision management philosophy was followed in SAS. Customer and employee feedback lead to many new product innovations. Internal promotion and employee referral were prominent in SAS.

Staying employed - More likely to stay employed longer because of more experience of following directions and following through.

The SAS institute was founded in 1976 by Dr. James Goodnight and Dr. John Sall, both professors at North Carolina State University, SAS Institute, Inc. provides business intelligence (BI) software and services at more than 40,000 customer sites worldwide, including 90 percent of the Fortune 500 companies. SAS, which stands for “statistical analysis software,” is headquartered in Cary, North Carolina. It is the world’s largest privately held software company, having over 100 offices worldwide with approximately 10,000 employees. With an unbroken record of growth and profitability, SAS had revenue of $1.18 billion in 2002 and invested about 25 percent of revenues into research and development. SAS has been widely

Even though the culture looks so strong that it would survive a change in leadership, the new CEO would not only have to possess business leadership ability but also shares the same values as Goodnight so that SAS does not deviate from its current approach to its business and management. Hence, with no formal succession planning and still being heavily involved in almost all aspects of the organization, the SAS institute approach to its business and management is heavily dependent on Goodnight’s continuation.

One of the first authors that dealt with the sources of motivation was Frederick Taylor who focussed on the overall productivity of an organisation. He linked this productivity to the effort an employee puts into their work which in turn is dependent on monetary rewards (Taylor, 1911). This theory was established in the context of the industrial age and thus is outdated for today’s analysis but it still provides a basic assumption which is often referred to by other authors. The total neglecting of a worker’s intrinsic motivators is a starting point for discussion for authors that conducted research in that area after Taylor.