Applying motivational goals to companies - Free Essay Example

The organisation EZY CYBER CAFE PTE LTD is a popular company in Singapore and India. The deliverables of this organisations are Designing Adds, AutoCAD drawing, Net Cafe, Web designing and construction works. The organisation has two branches in Singapore and five branches in India. The organisation is getting business from many clients such as getting bulk orders from major corporate companies like Book publishing, company web designing, Electrical AutoCAD drawing and construction work. The Analysis shows the performance growth of the company in a motivational point of view with motivational theories. The performance of the individual employees is calculated by the companys own goal setting process. The salary and all other benefits are related to this goal setting process. The goal setting process contains the following five steps. A manager is set the goals of every individual twice in a year. The goals are related to employees experience and work ability. The goal setting process is owned only by the managers of the organisation. The goals are varied for each and every individual. There is no standard procedure to set the goals for employees those who are having same ability and experience. No one has the authority to reject and redo the goals . Terms of Reference: How to provide the good satisfaction for their clients? If the staffs need some training or support to the output of their work then the company provides them (Beck, 2000) to get an excellent output. The company identifies the talent of an individual, skills set, time consuming, creativity of their work and it encourages them to participate in company contribution, give an appropriate promotions, and give them Bonus, rewards, gift voucher and incentives. The company considers the individual work to be meaningful, valuable and worthwhile. The company pays their pay to the staff in hierarchy orders. The company assumed that it provided sufficient requirements to create job satisfaction (Latham, 2006). Overview of the organisation: The Overview of the performance analysis shows, the quality of the deliverables, customer satisfaction with the company deliverables and employees satisfaction. The chart shows the productivity of the company in percentage against the production years (2004 to 2008). The productivity of this organisation in the years 2005 to 2008 is decreased when comparing the productivity of the year 2004 and achievement in production profit is very less. As a result we can easily find there are some major issues existing within the organisation. The analysis begins with this type of issues against motivation. Issues (Motivational) Vs Organisation: The issues of this organisation are analysed in a motivational point of view. The Human Resources Department met their employees to investigating their problem and needs. They did the analysis to find out the solution to improve their company. And also they find the issues of low productivity. The main reason of low productivity is employees and clients dissatisfaction. The employees are moving frequently from this company to other. The following questions are raised during the analysis. Why the employees are resigning their jobs? What is the reason for looking new opportunity in another company? What is the main reason for delayed deliverables? Why the company facing the slow down process stage? How to handle the staff more effectively? How to motivate the staff to come up from the slow down process? How could increase our working environment? What type of contribution could be need for the company development? How to increase the company profit? Howe ver, the company motivates their staff using the motivational terms, if these terms are not work properly then the company growth, profits, benefits will slow down. As a result some of the talented staff wants to resign their jobs, some of the staffs are looking good opportunity in other companies and some of the staffs are not interested to work within this company. Because of this the company productivity will slow down again and again by recruiting new people to work and provide the appropriate training to them. These processing time and cost of recruitment process will give the time delay to deliver the deliverables of the company. It gives the major misunderstanding with clients. After that the Human Resources Department went to deeply analyse the slowdown process of the company. There are so many factors of needs, come out from the staffs. The Human Resources Department find out the fundamental needs are not fulfilled by the company and the performance goal setting process was not satisfied the employees. Many of the employees are discouraged by their fundamental needs and goal setting process. As a result of this analysis we can easily identifies the importance of the motivation. When the people join an organization, they bring certain needs with them that will affect on job performance. Some of these needs are developed and explained in motivational theories. In addition motivation is affected by peoples perceptions, including their feelings in different situations. Managers should spend considerable time to motivate their employees. A well motivated work can provide better productivity, good reputation, product quality etc. If the same work cannot be motivated it will affect the productivity, reputation etc. Maslow (1908-1970) theories of needs, Clayton Paul Alderfer (1972) of ERG Theories, J.Stacy Adams in Equity theory, Edward Chase Tolman (1886-1961) of Expectancy theory, Edwin A. Locke (1968, 1975) in Goal setting theory and the American ps ychologist Frederic Herzberg (1966, 1968) Job enrichment Two-Factors theories are the developed motivational theories. We can analyse the fundamental things of motivation about this company like how can we motivate the staff to work harder, or smarter? by using the following motivation theories Maslow (1908-1970) theories of needs and goal setting theory Edwin Locke (1968, 1975; Latham and Yukul, 1975). Motivational Factors (Issues): Following are the 11 major factors mean that the Motivational issues which are analysed and determined by Human Resource department. Salary, rewards Security, freedom Personal needs self-esteem needs racisms, Freedom of enquiry, expression Time Management, Responsibility Prestige, promotion, appreciation, recognition, Identification of individual Health, Insurance, Company Policy Supervisory style, communication relationship Profitable Ratio Feedback controls Goal setting process The above factors are mainly related to Maslow (1908-1970) theories of needs and goal setting theory Edwin Locke (1968, 1975; Latham and Yukul, 1975). Application and Basic concepts of Motivational theories: 1. Maslow Hierarch theories of needs (1908-1970) Abraham Harold Maslow suggested (1908-1970 P242) Motivation aims to resolve the confusion between drives and motives according to the Maslow the people are motivated by the hierarchy needs. Biological needs Example of Food, water, rest and oxygen, sunlight, sexual expression and basic pay. Safety needs Example of Comfort, tranquillity, freedom from fear, for shelter, order, for security. Affiliation needs Example of affection, love, relationships Esteem needs Example of confidence, achievement, self esteem, prestige, recognition, attention and appreciation. Self-actualization needs the development of our full potential Satisfaction needs Freedom of enquiry and expression 2. Goal setting theory Edwin Locke (1968, 1975; Latham and Yukul, 1975) Goal theory has established four main propositions which are well -supported by research Challenging goals lead to higher levels of performance than simple an d unchallenging goals. Difficult goals are also called stretch goals because they encourage us to try harder (unless the goal is beyond our level of ability). Specific goals lead to higher levels of performance than vague goals such as try harder or do your best. It is easier for us to adjust our behaviour when we know precisely what is required of us, and goal specificity avoids confusion. A popular acronym states that goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-related. Participation in goal setting particularly when this is expected, can improve performance by increasing commitment to those goals, but managerially assigned goals that are adequately explained and justified can also lead to high performance. Knowledge of results of past performance feedback is necessary for effective goal achievement. Feedback contains information and is also motivational. Critical analysis: The critical analysis starts with the result of HR management factors and employees feedback against the motivational theories. The analysis explains how the company issues (Motivational factors) are related to the motivational theories. Comparison between Maslow Hierarchy theories of needs with Motivational Factors of analysed organisation. Biological needs Factor 1(salary and rewards) and Factor 4 (self esteem needs) The company is not increasing the salary (basic pay) of the employees those who are having experience with good working ability. The company knows very well about their working skills and perfect output of their work. The Company forcing them to work hard and the employees are put their full effort in the work more effectively and constructively. But there are no any rewards. So, they are looking a good challenging company which can utilise their skills and talent with more salary and rewards. It clearly shows the company is not satisfied the biological needs of their employees by not increasing the salary based on their experience and performance. The basic pay is the one of the major component in salary. The experienced persons of the company didnt get any proper promotions and other needs like transport, food, vacations and leave etc based on their experience and skill sets. The company is not taking care of the employees self-esteem needs. Safety needs Factor 2 (Security, Freedom) Factor 8 (Health, Insurance, Company Policy) The employees expect the security of their job. But the company is not having any policies or rules to fulfil the security of jobs. The environment is not comfortable to work; it is look like fear able. It explains the employees are expecting the security of their job. The environment is not securable to work; it looks like fear able. The company rules and regulations are very good. But the company is not taking care of employees health. There are no company policies to their employees like health insurance, provident fund, retirement scheme etc. If the employee dies during the work time, the company could not provide anything like money or employment opportunity or anything else to their family. So the company is not satisfied the employees safety needs. Affiliation needs Factor 3 (personal needs) Whenever the company needs to satisfy their client requirements, the company send the employees to client location and there are no opportunities to do a work in offshore. By the way the employees are missing their family members, relatives and childrens. So, the company is not considering the employee personal needs (love needs). Affiliation needs are called love needs. Most of the company is not concentrate of these needs. So the company is not satisfied the employees affiliation needs. Esteem needs Factor 7 (Prestige, Appreciation, Recognition) The higher experienced employees are putting their high effort to produce a high grade on company deliverables on long period. And they are expecting their promotion, recognition, appreciation and the identification of individual for long time. But the company never consider their effort in work and due to some indirect reasons they are not getting these. They are not recognised by the company in a proper manner and it gives the prestige issue with other employees. The senior people are having so many issues related to their Prestige, Appreciation and Recognition. Satisfaction needs Factor 5 (racisms, Freedom of enquiry, expression) The company is extremely depends on Indian customers. The rules and regulations of the company are common to all employees. But indirectly the company was dominating by Indians. So if the employees came from any other countries they are not getting the benefits or favours like Indian employees. The partiality is happening within employees and managers indirectly. It will affect the freedom of employees to express their thoughts. So, racisms are one of the main issues of this company. Because of this the employees who came from other countries are not interested to continue their jobs. It shows the company is not satisfying the employee satisfaction needs. Comparison between goal setting theories with Motivational Factors of analysed organisation The employees are not satisfied with their goal setting process which is used to calculate their individual performance. The employees are discouraged by the way of goal setting process. The issue Factor 12 clearly explains the issues related with the goal setting theory. Challenging goals The goals are assigned by the managers twice in a year. The performance of the employee is calculated based on this average. The salary, promotion and other benefits are purely based on this performance average point. But the goals which are assigned by the managers are not having the standards. It depends on managers thought. The managers are set the goals based on their own perceptions. So the managers set the challenging goals which are beyond the employees ability levels. By this way the management is reducing the salary hike and other benefits of the employees. Based on the goal setting theory, the goal should be a challenging goal which is used to motivate the employee to work harder and set goals for work performance at levels which will stretch employees, but which are not beyond their ability levels. When the employees are joined in the company, it promised that if the company get more profits, then it will give the bonus according to their company profitable ratio and the achievement of goal setting process. But the company is not giving that ration. The organisation is trying to avoid this kind of benefits by setting the challenging goals beyond the employees ability level. Specific goals The goals which are assigned to the employees are not specific or measurable goals. For example the goals are differed when the employees are in same experience with same technology. There are no common standard specific goals and the goals are not having quantifiable terms. The managers set the goals based on their own perception with the employees which are vague and ambiguous goals. Because of this the managers set the partiality goals. The goals are not specific or measurable with any standard parameters. The supervisory style of goal setting process is not good. According to goal setting theory the goals should be a smart, specific, measurable, attainable and realistic. Then only we can motivate the employees to work hard with peaceful mind. Participation in goal setting The employees and Managers are come to the office based on their work and they never maintain their responsibility and importance to others work. So the communication between the employees was really poor and processing time for a single step takes huge time. Because of it lot of misunderstandings are happened between the employees, the major time delay occurs to get the initial requirement itself. The communication gap occurs within managers and employees. The communication gap is a major disadvantage to set the goals. The managers are not giving much more important in goal setting. It was done by the end of the time. And also the goal setting process itself there is no interaction or discussion or goal acceptance between the managers and employees. So the employees participation in goal setting process is avoided by this organisation. But allow the employees to take part in the goal-setting process is to increase the acceptability of and their commitment to goals. By this way the company can improve the performance growth. Knowledge of results of past performance feedback Feedback is very much important to know the status of the company and employees satisfaction. The company superior are not interested to take feedback from any of the employees. They are only interested to make their control to push work harder. The feedback will give the best results of slowdown process. Conclusion: Motivation is an important role player of the organisation to full fill the employee requirements in the correct path to improve the business in an organization. So, EZY CYBER CAFE PTE LTD however they have improved their potential for company, there are much more lake of motivation were there. Because of these, the company went to the slow down process. According to the Maslows theory the above said company have ensure aware of the hierarchy needs of Maslows. The company must concentrate the biological needs, social needs, love needs, self-actualisation and physiological needs. We cant say that the company is not concentrating Maslows needs. The company must improve some of the other needs like salary, rewards, healthcare policies, time management and good working environment. According to Goal setting theory, the company must improve the procedures to set the goals. During the goal setting process the manager should concentrates the following to motivate the employees to give higher performance. Set the challenging goals which are used to stretch the employees at performance level but Which are not beyond their ability levels? Set the goals in specifically means in a clear way. To use standard and clear quantifiable terms For set the goals. Avoid vague and ambiguous goals. Allow the employees to take the equal part in the goal setting process. Introduce the goal acceptance process. The participation of the employee in goal setting process will produce smart way for communication. By the way the employees will accept and achieve the goals shortly and smartly. Explain about the goals to the individuals adequately. Then the employee will understand the goals quickly and they implement their full effort happily. To get the feedback from each and every employee will give the detailed analysis about the goal setting process. The identification of success and failure is very easy by analysing the results of employees feedback. The compan y needs to understand the employee feelings to motivate them in correct path. Make them enjoyable movement to reach the company goals with safely manner. The high level managers should understand the individual talent and utilize them to enjoyable movement to setting the company goals. So, when the company motivates the people to work peacefully according to the motivational theories definitely the company will achieve the goal easily. Recommendation: In the Globalization economy, the company should aware of the competitor. Competition of the business must grow more potential high volume of quality and quantity. How to produce more products to with quality and quantity? Getting the new employee to give them appropriate training and motivate them to produce more product. The main reason for slow down process is employees and clients dissatisfaction. Follow the reference (Beck, 2000) and (Latham, 2006) to satisfy the clients and employees respectively. Motivate the employees to give rewards, good atmosphere, good pay, removing the controls, give the employee to self decision making, good relationship with employee, safety working environment, understanding the employee feelings, provide the transport, provide the housing rent and arrangements for family get together. Put the suggestion box to get the feedback from the each and every employee through that the company understands the employees feelings and thoughts and it can find and change demerits into merits. If the employees are satisfied with the motivational factors then the employee will work harder and smarter without any compulsion. By the way the company will utilise the employees skills with effectively and more productively.