The Engstrom Automirror Plant case study highlights the problem of poor employee performance and low employee morale. The company’s managers have implemented a bonus system that is based on the assumption that the employees will be motivated solely by extrinsic rewards. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory, the bonus system only appeals to lower-level physiological needs. Maslow’s theory identifies physiological needs as the need to sustain one’s basic life needs, such as housing, food, and clothing. (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2008). It is reasonable to assume that the employees’ base salaries are enough to meet these physiological needs. There is clearly a missing link between the additional compensation and the expectation of higher performance levels in the minds of the employees.
Furthermore, Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory identifies that organizational policies, status, security, base wages or salaries, and work relationships have a direct effect on job dissatisfaction. Factors such as achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, advancement and growth affect job satisfaction (Schermerhorn et al., 2008). The major weak points in the Scanlon system are the way bonuses are calculated and the fact that the system does not appeal to intrinsic sources of motivation. As it stands, the bonus system for higher performance is complicated and it only accounts for hard numbers. The system ignores qualitative factors and does not enrich the employees’
A Performance-Based Pay system is an increasingly popular compensation method used by organizations to increase productivity. A goal for all companies is to try and remain competitive and control costs, this is a reason for performance-based pay systems becoming more popular. This type of system attempts to link compensation to performance. (Gena Richter, 2002) These systems are directly tied to organization or individual performance and are most effective when based on objective measures of quantity or quality of performance. If we wish to have a direct impact on work motivation, it must be linked directly to the performance of desired behaviors. In order for to put this type of system into place, performance evaluations must be conducted regularly , as well as training and development for those with performance that isn't quite up to par. These additional resources will be necessary for our organization if we implement a performance based pay system. (William B. Bernathy, Ph. D., 2004)
In analyzing the brief case study Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant: Motivating in the Good times and Bad”, it was brought to light that the root of the organizational issues was that of productivity, motivation and employer dissatisfaction following the decline of the Scanlon Plan. The Scanlon Plan was an incentive system that provided bonuses to employees for their increased productivity within the plant. In the early 2000’s employee satisfaction, morale and productivity rapidly declined following the layoff of nearly 50 employees and the employees who remained were then expecting the bonuses that were incorporated into the plan without doing the
The best solution to the root causes of the issues at the Engstrom Plant would be to change the way management is addressing the employees. The employees do not believe that the managers at Engstrom is being honest with them about the numbers, or feel that they should get such a large portion of the payout (Beer & Collins, 2008). The managers should work on enhancers for their leadership to have a positive effect on the employees. The employees may have felt that they were more important when they were receiving a bonus, it was positive reinforcement. Now that they do not receive the bonus, the feel demoralized and have lost their self-esteem (Newstrom, 2015).
As the world changes, many organization may create changes to their company structure in order to remain successful and look good amongst shareholders. These organizational changes may be beneficial for the company overall. However, it may affect the remaining employee’s morale. Some organizations changes such as layoffs, reduce work hours, a stagnate in benefits increases and rewards may result in management trying to figure out a way to motivate and gain employees trust and loyalty.
When the plan no longer was enough to motivate the employees, Bent knew the plan needed to be revised. He had said, “A Scanlon program won’t perpetuate itself. You have to give it a shot in the arm every so often—whenever the work force needs it” (Beer and Collins, p. 6). To revise the plan, Bent needed to listen to the employee’s complaints. Part of the Scanlon plan was to listen to suggestions of the employees, so the complaints should have been just as important to listen to and evaluate. The employee complaints were about the distrust of bonus calculations and questions of fairness. Bent and his management team should have seen the complaints as a suggestion for improving the bonus plan.
Employees are motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. In order for the reward system to be effective, it must encompass both sources of motivation. Studies have found that among employees surveyed, money was not the most important motivator, and in some instances managers have found money to have a de-motivating or negative effect on employees. This research paper addresses the definition of rewards in the work environment context, the importance of rewarding employees for their job performance, motivators to employee performance such as extrinsic and intrinsic rewards, Herzberg’s two-factor theory in relation to rewarding employees, Hackman and Oldman model of job enrichment that
There are five major components of job satisfaction, one being monetary benefits (Ghillyer 2010). According to Ghillyer (2012) an employee’s behavior towards their pay may affect their work performance. The issue that arises with employee motivation is that management is unable to satisfy all (Ghillyer 2010). This becomes an even larger problem when employees being joining unions, resigning and being frequently absent (Ghillyer 2010).
However, because human behavior suggests that rewards motivate people, the manager – Bent - implemented an incentive plan, Scanlon, to boost productivity and sales. Identification and Analysis of Root Causes of Known Organizational Issues The manager chose the Scanlon plan because it engages the employees in decision-making processes and rewards their creativity. Since human beings find it difficult to accept significant changes, the employees showed little enthusiasm in the plan (Wagner III, 2014). Nonetheless, after engagement with workers from another firm that implemented the same plan, it was accepted.
Finally, the current Scanlon plan, while initially successful, has many design flaws. The plan currently pays out bonuses so regularly that workers began to perceive the bonus as part of their regular paycheck, instead of associating the bonus with their own increased efforts (“Engstrom”, 2008, p. 2). Thus, the plan, which originally was designed based on positive reinforcement, used a method of continuous rewarding, which reduces the durability of its results (Bauer & Erdogan, 2013, p. 112).
Root Cause Case Study Analysis Name Institution Root Cause Case Study Analysis a). One of the main aims of creating a plan like the Scanlon plan is to build the capability of a financial management process among the employees. This is done by providing an attitude that result in employees helping the company in achieving its goals. However, the financial behavior changes with time as employees feel that they are denied that which they are used to getting.
As the labor force becomes more highly developed and demanding, rivalry between organizations for talented employees is drastically increasing. It is extremely important that organizations make their company more enticing as an incomparable career opportunity. Instituting a total rewards system into an organization can do much to help it invite the paramount talent available and significantly condense turnover. The longevity of an organization’s employees is contributed to its total reward system. According to Heneman (2007), total rewards is defined as all of the tools, whether intrinsic or extrinsic, offered to the employer that may be employed to attract, motivate and retain employees. This could
This article examined the necessity of changes required to traditional reward systems in order for employees to remain motivated and productive in the workplace (Lawler & Worley, 2006).The changes that must occur are in response to shifting environmental demands, with reward systems and motivational tactics holding exceptional importance to the ongoing success and longevity to the organization. The article then emphasizes the ineffectiveness of traditional reward systems, such as merit pay. This is largely attributed to how merit pay salary increases are small and become a permanent part of an individual’s pay (Lawler & Worley, 2006). As a result, the relationship between pay and performance is weak and not particularly motivating. As a more effective alternative, companies should look to implement reward systems such as bonuses in the form of short-cycle business periods, as they have shown to be effective motivators as well as flexible enough to compensate for organizational changes. Lawler & Worley (2006) concluded that “traditional reward systems lead to lack lustre performance, and that in order to create a high performance organization, companies must employ different reward systems that motivate performance, reward change, and encourage the development of individual and organizational capabilities” (p.5).
“While Mangers complain about lack of motivation in their workers, they might as well consider the possibility that the reward systems they’ve installed are paying off for the opposite”.
Keeping employees motivated in addition to creating incentives and/or additional ways for employees to receive more compensation will create better performance overall within an organization. Contrary if company B gives their employees incentives to perform, without any motivational tactics they probably will not have as many top performances as company A, in addition the company may only seek short term rewards verses have long term success. Lack of motivation for employees within an organization, can cause long term damage for the company’s success. Different things motivate everyone; therefore there should be a system in place to keep employees motivated for the long term success of the company. In the MBM textbook under the concept of incentives, compensation, and motivation, there are a couple of different views of how it should be applied within an organization. We will discuss The Social Role of Profit, Personal Profit and Losses, and the way Market-Based Management view how incentives, compensation, and motivation should be applied and the things that effectively drive employees’ actions while at work.
It is difficult to satisfy individual demands because everyone would move to the next more advanced platform of the hierarchical pyramid that Maslow created frequently once the prior need is met, especially in modern society. Meanwhile, when setting Maslow’s model into the business to understand the motivation behind employees’ behaviours, it is not amazing to find that there are also have similar five levels of needs which including wages, safety, social belongingness, self-esteem and finally self-actualization. Maslow and Stephens (2000) have posited out that individuals will not spend an inordinate amount of time to think about their salaries if they are fairly paid. After being paid adequate salary, employee seeks safety physically and mentally on the jobs. And then the stage of needs moves to the third level subsequently-seeking social