For this discussion, you will first read the following articles and watch the following video.
Article: How Google Motivates Their Employees With Rewards and Perks
Employers such as Google are going to great lengths to provide extrinsic and intrinsic motivators to keep their employees engaged, create a motivating culture, and attract the best talent.
Article: How Good Are Your Motivation Skills?
Read this article and take the self-assessment on key factors for building a motivated team. The results of your self-assessment can assist you with the discussion question for this module and provide a good overview on your motivation skills. This article supplements the textbook reading for this module.
Library Article: Power Is the Great Motivator
This article, from the Harvard Business Review, describes the different ways managers may be motivated and how these motivations align with an organization’s goals.
Harvard Business Publishing does not allow direct linking to articles in the Harvard Business Review from course management systems. To locate the article, begin with the Shapiro Library database Business Source Ultimate. Type in the title of the article using the quotation marks “Power is the Great Motivator”. The article by David C. McClelland will appear and click on the PDF Full Text to read, download or print the article. This article supplements the textbook reading for this module. As you read the article, consider the following:
What are the motivational factors for a manager from a personal and organizational level?
What motivational techniques can a manager use to manage and lead?
Consider which of the three motivational categories you might fall into.
Video: The Puzzle of Motivation
This TED Talk by Dan Pink challenges the traditional system of rewards and incentives and offers a different viewpoint that managers should consider related to intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. This video supplements the textbook reading for this module.
Next, imagine that you are a manager of a start-up company with limited cash and resources. In responding to your 2 peers, comment on the motivators they might employ. Offer suggestions based on your own experience or based on research. Peer 1: “When considering different types of motivators that I might employ as a manager for a start-up company with limited cash and resources I would first look to psychological motivators as those can be low cost and require little resources. These motivators may look different for different companies and industries but to be general the psychological motivators would include creativity such as casual Fridays, bring your pet to work, regular motivational meetings to make sure needs are being met and ideas can freely flow, snacks or beverages would be available to employees to show appreciation and lessen time outside of work to maximize production. These motivators are low cost and the resources used are mainly time such as the meetings mentioned- but they inspire creativity and self-expression which could influence talent to choose my company.
I would hope to develop a creative, employee-focused business model that gives employees some freedom within the mission and vision goals which as we’ve seen in previous assignments, is proven to be successful for the company and its employees. I would prioritize feedback, and tailor the desires of communication for feedback on a case-by-case basis. From verbal praise to celebration of success, these methods of feedback are desirable for most employees and can increase work satisfaction which can results in higher productivity while remaining low cost and requiring minimal resources. We see that employees want to be valued and in a world where that is not common practice for businesses, I think these methods could set my business apart from the rest to attract talent with similar goals.
In the onboarding process I would institute various questions or prompts to ensure that our goals are aligned and needs/wants can be applied so that employees understand the company and they ways in which we prioritize them and their skills. I would take the responses into great consideration and apply concepts to ensure low turnover and place high importance on workplace satisfaction. Motivated employees with their needs met are more likely to perform better – with their physiological, social and esteem needs met we can began to harness their self-actualization needs so that they may thrive in learning new skills and satisfy their life goals within the company.” Peer 2: “Since the business is a start up with little cash and resources I don’t want to get them accustomed to anything that the company may not always be able to fulfill like extrinsic motivators. “Extrinsic motivation is when you use external factors to encourage your team to do what you want. Pay raises, time off, bonus checks, and the threat of job loss are all extrinsic motivators – some positive, some less so.” (Mind Tools). Using these motivators can have a negative impact later on if we can no longer fund these things. This is why I think Intrinsic motivators will be the way to go. “Intrinsic motivation is internal. It’s about having a personal desire to overcome a challenge, to produce high-quality work, or to interact with team members you like and trust. Intrinsically motivated people get a great deal of satisfaction and enjoyment from what they do.” (Mind Tools). Because there are so many negative things going on in the world I would first prioritize everyones mental health and this can be done in multiple ways. Dedicating a space to be a “quiet room” that employees can use to regroup whenever they are feeling overwhelmed is cost effective way to focus on mental health. I want everyone to be free and express them selves as they wish as long as it is work appropriate so allowing the employees to decorate their own space/desk area in a way that helps them feel good at work is also i would implement. It can be as dull or bright as they would like. By doing this it eliminates the money that the business has to put out for decor beside necessities like office supplies/chairs/desk but also lets the employees know we accept and support their own individuality. Also, focusing on mental health I want to eliminate as much unnecessary stress as possible so I wouldn’t impose a strict dress code as long as it is appropriate for work like jeans etc. even though this isn’t much it can be one less thing they have to worry about. Once a month or once a week I would like to have fun, inspiring and inclusive team building exercises or challenges that can be done with as little funds as possible. It can be something as simple as having an ice breaker to get everybody engaged before a meeting or a challenge like start a conversation with a coworker you do not know. This can help everyone network with one another and build social skills that can help boost their performance at work.
Mind Tools. (n.d). How to motivate your team. https://www.mindtools.com/ak2l8nc/how-to-motivate-your-team.”
: 1-Article: How Google Motivates Their Employees With Rewards and Perks (https://discover.hubpages.com/business/How-Google-Motivates-their-Employees-with-Rewards-and-Perks). 2-Article: How Good Are Your Motivation Skills?(https://www.mindtools.com/a6eg6vk/how-good-are-your-motivation-skills). 3-The puzzle of motivation (https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_the_puzzle_of_motivation). In each peer, you only need to write 4-5 sentences replying to each post., only 1 page (275 words) needed to reply to both peers. Feel free to use any sources (in APA7 format) to support your response(s) if you need to.