Essay on Motivation and Performance Thesis

The paper is divided into three sections, the first of which will establish a timeline of events. This project background will serve as a case study for the analysis in the following section that will be structured such that each of the previously mentioned facets will be independently analyzed and contrasted with project management principles. Finally the paper will conclude with a summary of the analysis and recommendations based on

In a matrix structure, each employee answers to two immediate supervisors: a department supervisor and a project manager. The department supervisor is charged with overseeing employees in a functional area such as marketing or engineering. Project supervisors manage a specific and often impermanent project. They absorb employees from various functional areas to complete their project teams. This kind of organizational structure has several advantages especially if the project managers identify their team strengths and weakness early. Directing the staff with effective leadership skills is a key role as a project manager. A clear direction of the project from start to completion is vital. Therefore, the project managers must carry top notch planning and organizational skills. To follow the WBS and have a clear understanding of the importance of remaining on budget throughout the entire project is mandatory. The experienced project manager must keep planning, staffing, budgeting and scheduling and other control techniques under wrap, by utilizing their administrative skill according to Project Management, (Kerzner, 2013). Although the administrative and other techniques are important, in this particular project, each project manager must work closely as a team member and example. Building the team and each departmental manager into a working cohesive team, could be the true

In the current business environment, the demand for project managers is ever growing. In short, project management is a provisional project constrained by time, cost and scope (A guide to the project management body of knowledge, 2013). Between the immense organization, optimization, and communication assets skilled project management brings to a project, it is easy to see why project management is a booming field of study. Furthermore, project management can be both financially and personally rewarding when long term milestones and goals come to fruition.

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

Goal setting is when people set “specific challenging goals can powerfully drive behavior and boost performance” (Ordóñez, Scheitzer, Galinsky, Bazerman, 2009, p.2). There are a lot of pros and cons to a lot of topics in life. Goal settings have a lot of pros and cons as well. After reading the three articles there are many more cons than pros to goal setting. Goal setting is very useful to mangers, but the attackers are blowing things out of proportion.

In this paper, I, a student of University of Phoenix will explain and discuss project management. I will address three main points. I will first answer what is a project. Secondly, I will discuss what are the basic phases of the project lifecycle and their purpose. Finally, I will explain why it 's important for organizations to use project management to accomplish tasks.

Extrinsic motivation e.g. Money is the critical incentive to motivation in today's work environment However , motivation differs from individual to individual and with their respective beliefs and values, circumstances and culture. It is important for mangers to identify which motivation factor works with which employee and apply it respectively In any environment, both Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivations are needed for work satisfaction and work performance

Larson, E.W. and Gray, C.F. (2012, p. 214). Project Management: The Managerial Process, 5th Ed. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions. Boston, MA.

This project manager determines specialists, performance requirements, etc. The company is results-oriented therefore, efficiency is imperative (Gray, & Larson, 2008). Flexibility concerning resources and expertise amongst human capital provides any employee with the right skills an opportunity to become a valuable member to the team. The matrix structure is stressful, and dysfunctional. Conflict does occur when project managers and functional management disagree. The company structure preludes to the culture of an organization and how teams work together (Gray, & Larson, 2008).

According to Gray and Larson (2008), a matrix type of organization is one in which a hybrid organization form of a project management structure is placed directly over the functional order of the normal business operations. Typically, this type of organizational structure has two chains of command and the project participants have to report to two separate chains of command. This type of structure is designed to use resources efficiently. It is also intended to provide an optimal solution while being able to accomplish multiple projects at the same time. According to Gray and Larson (2008), there are several advantages and disadvantages to this type of organizational structure. The advantages of this type of structure are that it allows multiple projects to go on at the same time by sharing resources. It also allows the project managers to focus on coordinating and integrating different units or resources that can be integrated into several functions within the organization. Also,

Motivation in the workplace is one of the major concerns that managers face when trying to encourage their employees to work harder and do what is expected of them on a day-to-day basis. According to Organizational Behavior by John R. Schermerhorn, James G. Hunt and Richard N. Osborn the definition of motivation is "the individual forces that account for the direction, level, and persistence of a person's effort expended at work." They go on to say that "motivation is a key concern in firms across the globe." Through the years there have been several theories as to what motivates employees to do their best at work. In order to better understand these theories we will apply them to a fictitious organization that has the following

Job satisfaction and motivation are to the key to a good organizational culture. Employee uncertainty is a main ingredient to poor project teams and bad organizational culture. People need some type of motivation to remain active during the failure of a project. The secret to any successful project is keeping important key players in place to help aid out the transition to the next project team (Jernigan, L., Hammond, L., and Robinson, T., 2003).

Abstract This paper aims at providing a grounded theoretical foundation on which to base a better understanding of organisational project management. This paper delivers empirical evidence that project management offices (PMOs) and organisational project management can be understood as

Project management is the discipline of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing the work done by a team to complete specific goals and meet specific success criteria. By definition, a project is a temporary work service with a defined start and end which will produce a unique product or service to bring valuable changes. Most of the time, projects are provided with limited resources in the form of time and/or funding. The nature of projects is opposed to the operations of a business which are repetitive activities to produce products or services. They support the businesses growth and need different types of management. The main challenge when managing a project is to reach a satisfying level of completion

Motivation is one of the most discussed topics in the present era’s organisations, especially since renowned psychologists like Maslow and Herzberg are dedicating their efforts to understanding it. Companies are investing a significant amount of resources in improving productivity in order to maximise profits. One of these important resources is of human nature. In order to get the very best out of employees, some motivational approaches need to be used. But what is motivation and how do I successfully motivate? I will try to relate one of my personal experiences with a friend to some of the most influential motivational theories. After introducing my story and making a definition of motivation I will address the ideas of Taylor,