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Root Cause Case Study

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II. Root Cause Case Study Analysis
Identify root causes of known organizational issues from a human behavior perspective.
There are several major organizational issues that have contributed to low productivity and lack of motivation at Engstrom. The events that commenced Engstrom’s organizational issues stem from the failure of the Scanlon Bonus Plan (Beer, 2008). The system was created so that employees became motivated to exceed the standard. Additionally, several aspects that contributed to a healthy work environment also reduced due to the failure of the Scanlon Bonus Plan; such as employee motivation, trust between individuals, and overall work culture. Identifying and analyzing the root causes of the issue will help assist in preventing …show more content…

The trust that once existed between employee and employer no longer existed. Since the incentive system became an expectation rather than a reward when work exceeded the standard, employees began to blame their employers when the system disappeared. Managers and employees created a psychological distance between themselves due to all the questions that were asked, yet were unanswered (Newsome, 2015). Engstrom workers became suspicious of the calculations used for their bonuses, due in part to the change in calculations to determine the bonuses (Beer, 2008). Additionally, workers began to believe that managers were receiving a larger bonus increase. Once the blame was pointed, a sense of trust no longer existed between the employers and employees at Engstrom. Open communication between employer and employee would have kept suspicions from rising and would have shed light on the bonus …show more content…

Similar to the equity theory, the expectancy theory has three elements that must be met in order for an employee to exert extra effort on a task. The first of the three elements of the equity theory is valence, which is how much an employee desires the reward at stake. It is based on an individual’s needs, goals, values, and source of motivation. Expectancy is the self-estimate of probability of obtaining the reward. It is the belief that an effort will result in attaining the desired performance goals. Expectancy is based on past experience and perceived difficulty of the goals. The third element of the expectancy theory is instrumentality, which is the belief that an individual will receive a desired outcome if the performance expectations are met. The outcome can come in the form of a pay increase, promotion, recognition, or a sense of accomplishment (Boundless, 2016). Instrumentality is low when the outcome is the same for all levels of performance. If all three elements meet a positive result, an employee will be motivated to give a greater effort for the task at hand. If the three elements of the expectancy theory were met regarding the Engstrom employees, more effort would be exerted for their daily tasks. Unfortunately, valence is the only element that was met which

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