Theories Used to Increase Work Motivation

Theories Used to Increase Work Motivation INTRODUCTION Employees are organizations, best asset as stated in American Psychological Association, 2006. The businesses of todays market emphasize on how to motivate subordinates in order to create productive and high-quality work environment. The case study states different methods to advance staff motivation for the satisfaction and increase in work performance of changing work environment. In Part A, the study involves the application of Herzbergs Two-Factor theory, Lockes Goal-Setting theory and Job design theory in a telecommunication firm called O2. O2 is a leading provider of mobile and broadband services to consumers and businesses in the UK To understand the theories of work motivation, the case study interprets the structured interview of an O2 sales advisor. After analysing the interview; suggestions were made to enhance the sale advisors work motivation. In Part B, there is a discussion on identifying the national culture differences and compare whether they would be effective for the Indian working environment from that of Part A. The theories are compared to a sales advisor of an Indian telecommunication industry named Airtel. According to Konsik et al (2007), Airtel is Indias largest telecom industry. JOB DESCRIPTION The sales advisor at O2 in the UK is responsible for the promotion of the companys products and its brand to potential customers, including solving their problems and tackling their complaints. The job role is designed to meet the targets and the person should possess good communication skills and should be confident (Randstad, 2010). The daily duty for the position is consisted of client reception, product and service introduction, selling phones and business contracts signing. THEORIES TO INCREASE WORK MOTIVATION In order to understand more about the job role, we interviewed Mr Ademola Abimbola who presently works as a sales advisor in O2 (see appendix exhibit 1). From the interviews, it can be seen that numerous methods of improving work motivation has been applied in O2, yet there is a possibility to increase it by using Goal-Setting theory and Herzbergs two-factor to enhance performance and satisfactory need. In this part the three theories will be analyzed and evaluated. HERZBERG Creating a good working environment internally and externally is essential for a personnel. From the interview, it appears that the environment for O2s workplace is likely to be improved by adopting Herzberg two-factor theory. This theory was proposed by Frederick Herzberg in 1959, who introduced five motivators, such as achievement and recognition, to contribute people toward satisfaction and another five hygiene factors containing company policy, supervision and other elements, associated with peoples unsatisfactory in their jobs (Robbins and Judge, 2001, pp.212-214). It is suggested that businesses should use intrinsic motivators to increase subordinates satisfaction that improves extrinsic working conditions not to make people dissatisfied. Nevertheless, it seems that job satisfaction does not contribute to job productivity; but the theory assumes that there is a relationship between job satisfaction and productivity (Robbins and Judge, 2001, p214). JOB CHARACTERISTIC MODEL Mr. Abimbola is given responsibility and autonomy to some extent, yet job characteristics model (JCM) may make him reach a higher level and thus Job Design will be introduced. Hackman and Oldhams JCM is based on job enlargement and job enrichment to address five core dimensions skill variety, task identify, task significance, autonomy and feedback to lead to favourable work motivation, performance, satisfaction and low absenteeism and turnover by cultivating experienced meaningfulness, responsibility and knowledge of results (Grant and Parker, 2009, p.320). Accordingly, this model can be introduced to improve satisfaction and performance. Whereas it seems powerful among work design theories, there are critique and limitations. Aldag, Barr and Brief (1981) argued that relationship between job characteristics and work outcomes was not strong. Furthermore, one paper addressed that the model did not obviously lead to job satisfaction when the employee concerned more about welfare (Robb ins and Judge, 2001, p.271). GOAL SETTING Goal Setting is an effective method to lead a positive effect over a period of time (Tolchinsky and King, 1980, p.455). Goal Setting is introduced to motivate employees at O2. According to Locke and Lathams Goal Setting theory (1990), staff setting is clear and difficult goal will improve higher performance than staff setting their own goals (McCracken and Brown, 2010, p29). When employees are assigned to their targets, their behaviour towards it depends on the degree of their conscious acceptance (Yukl and Latham, 1975, p.824). Therefore, the theory concludes that personnel performs better in the job when they receive feedbacks (Judge and Robbins, 2001, p.220) and suggests commitment to goals. However, there is criticism of this theory that it might be effective for simple jobs with few goals than a managerial job with many tasks; particularly when the tasks were difficult to be measured (Yukl and Latham, 1975, p.842). Moreover, another study argued the effectiveness of Goal-Setting that might be from different culture; but it may be effective for cultures with low power distance but not workable for countries with high uncertainty avoidance (Judge and Robbins, 2001, p.220). In addition, satisfaction, turnover and absenteeism are not stated in the theory; which is another limitation. Goal setting has many limitations while it may be one of the most influential theories of motivation. Only few studies dispute that setting a specific and difficult goal contributes to higher productivity (Judge and Robbins, 2001, p.236). CHOICE OF PREFFERED CHANGES HERZBERGS THEORY OF MOTIVATION Frederick Herzberg conducted various studies on the working environment of employees and factors leading to their satisfaction and dissatisfaction. With the help of these studies, he found out that factors that were causing job satisfaction were not the same as the factors causing job dissatisfaction. He termed the factors causing satisfaction as motivators and the factors causing dissatisfaction as hygiene factors. Motivators include factors such as growth, achievement, recognition, advancement, work itself and responsibility. Hygiene factors include supervision, company policy, salary, work conditions and internal relationships shared with employees (Robbins and Judge, 2009, p.212) It is essential for every organisation to satisfy both; the psychological and physiological needs of an employee. Psychological needs are connected to the emotions of an employee that are important to succeed and achieve the goals. These needs motivate an employee to grow in the organisation. Physiological needs are the materialistic needs of an employee. They can be fulfilled by providing material benefits. After conducting interviews (see exhibit 1), it is observed that the working environment of O2 includes various forms of motivators as well as hygiene factor. At O2 the psychological needs of an employee are satisfying, as the working environment is very informal and friendly. The employees have a direct communication at their workplace. O2 provides employment opportunities by introducing them to numerous people thereby increasing their networks. This is one of the utmost motivating factors for an employee. On the other hand, O2 is unable to fully satisfy the physiological needs of an employee. According to the structured interview (Exhibit 1), Mr. Abimbola claims that there are various benefits provided to him such as 25% discount on handsets, vouchers for retail stores such as River Island and Top man, pension schemes, eye test, 28 days annual leave and various other benefits for friends and family. However, he is not satisfied with these perks and tends to compare them with the benefits provided by other organisations. They look up to organisations like Virgin, which provides a lot of additional benefits such as good commissions and free holidays. GOAL SETTING THEORY Setting specific goals and targets give a direction to the work achieved by an employee. O2 provide Mr Abimbola an estimate of the task that he is expected to achieve. Once he is committed to the goal, he makes sure to achieve it. Thereby it can be said that goals are a great source of motivation for an employee. Moreover, setting difficult goals make an employee put in a 100% effort and results in better performance and higher productivity (Robbins and Judge, 2009, p.219). In this organisation, the staffs are included in setting of the goals. According to the interview (see exhibit 1) these goals are revised and reset every three months. However, O2 maintains a policy of setting up very challenging targets but also making sure that they are attainable. This way of functioning makes the job very stressful for the employees; nevertheless it also improves their overall productivity and performance. Justification of the choice After analysing the interview of Mr Abimbola, it appears that he is not satisfied with the perks and benefits that O2 have been offering during his time of working for the company. Due to this, his physiology needs were not fully met. Mr Ademola states that he admires mobile companies such as Virgin, who provide far more benefits such as joining UK Tribe, which is joined by only employees of Virgin and provides them numerous deals and offers. Recommendations such as vouchers for retail stores should be exchange with a discount card of a certain percent off, discount on travel insurance, discount on holidays, discount on restaurants and bars and discount on leisure and amusement organisations such as Alton Towers and Madame Tussauds. These recommendations should be reinforced with the benefits that the staffs of O2 are currently receiving. With these changes, the job performances of the staff in O2 will enhance, providing them motivation in providing good service and most importantly satisfying their physiology needs. The addition of the recommended benefits should not give a negative effect to the performances of the staff. However the employer should not provide too many goals and targets that are not attainable by the staff. Even though according to the Goal Setting Theory, setting difficult goals can make an employee put in a 100% effort and result in better performance and higher productivity, setting over the extreme difficult goals can cause the staff to not achieve the goals, which will result in bad performances and lower productivity. O2 is one of UKs leading providers of mobile and broadband services to consumers and businesses. 2. According to O2, they had more than 40 million fixed and mobile customers across Europe and in the UK they have 18.4 million customers. So with these facts, the opportunity of employing extra benefits for their staff is possible. With their high and impressive reputation, O2 can negotiate deals with other organizations to implement discounts for their staff. If O2 can invest money and time to ensure that these extra benefits are made for their staff, they will witness a soar in work performance from their staff and overall productivity. Consequence of the change Based on the preferred changes that have taken action, the employees should be satisfied with their psychological and physiological needs, leading them to succeed and to achieve the goals set by the O2. Satisfying the employees needs will increase their work performance and work commitment. At the same time, O2 should witness a soar in work performance from their employees and their overall productivity. However, everything could be double edge sword, as the changes are applied, there are resistance problems which will rise in the process of implementing new changes which may result in change failure or even a negative effect on both employees and O2. Resistance to changes According to Mr Abimbola, it is not ambiguous to see that he resisted against potential changes. The possible action he may take to resist the change will be meeting up with other employees in his working environment and negotiate with his manager. Although he believes that most of the other employees in O2 will accept potential changes in the future, it is considered that Mr. Abimbola will not be the only one who resists changes in working environment. Resistance to changes usually exist in organisations, that are threats to the originations, and every firm is striving to overcome them. Researchers are also working hard in find a way to minimise the resistance. Richard Derwent Cooke (2009), who is a specialist in developing and implementing plans for deflating resistance, developed a framework to overcome resistance to changes, which is shown below (Figure 1): Cooke (2009) stated that in order to deflate the resistance of change, the managers should understand what causes the resistance to occur. There are different reasons why people resist changes, they are differentiated regarding to industries, job position, place, time and many other aspects. Hellriegel and Slocum (2007) Suggested that there are two types of resistance in the organisation which are individual resistance and organisation resistance. According to this case, individual resistance is the key situation for O2. These two authors list six common reasons why people resist changes: the first one is perception; second is personality; and job habit could be one reason. However, the most 3 common reasons are: Threats of power and influence, and fear of unknown, as well as economic reason (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2007). According to the situation, Cookes framework of method is considered to be the appropriate solution for the case of O2s situation. Therefore, in this case what the manager needs to do is to understand the reason behind the resistance. However, in order to do this, the manager needs to communicate with his subordinates and listen to what they think of the change. Finally the manager should do something in response to solve the problems, such as make employees know what exactly will happen if the changes take place or the manager could guarantee employees in advance with certain unchanged after change. PART B INTRODUCTION In order to understand the differences of the work environment in India, we proposed to conduct a structured interview of a sales advisor in Airtel. According to Konsik et al (2007), Airtel is Indias largest telecom industry. The basis of the interview was the same that was conducted for the sales advisor at O2 Company. This allowed us to compare and understand the way of working and applied culture for the same job role in India. JOB DESCRIPTION According to the structured interview conducted, the job of Mr Mayur Goyal is to achieve the required sales target and deal with the queries of the customers approaching him. The daily duty of the sales advisor in the UK (O2) is similar to the daily duty of the sales advisor in India (Airtel) (see exhibit 3). THEORIES OF MOTIVATION HERZBERG TWO FACTOR THEORY According to Herzberg two factor theory, Mr Mayur Goyal is satisfied with the kind of working environment which can be also seen from the interview conducted (see exhibit 3). The communication between the management is followed by a rigid hierarchy and is not comfortable. According to Handy (1996), the working environment is categorised a Role Culture which involves getting the targets achieved quickly and creatively. The operations are carried out by following a certain set of rules and regulation as decided by the company. The communication between the management is complex where they can not directly reach the mangers. Head of Department Team manager Sales Assistant On the other hand, the working environment in O2 is categorised as Task Culture where the targets are achieved quickly and creatively. Moreover the communication between the management is flexible. In other words, the lower management staff can directly approach and communicate the manager. Sales Assistant Head of Department Salary and benefits are one of the crucial internal factors in any organisation as mentioned in the Herzbergs two factor theory environment (Robbins and Judge, 2001). As for the interview conducted in India, Mr Mayur is not satisfied with the kind of salary offered by Airtel but is satisfied with the benefits (see exhibit 2). Whereas on the other hand, Mr Abimbola at O2 is satisfied with the salary offered but he would like to have increased margin of commission and also the increase in the benefits from the company. Moreover as seen from exhibit 1 Mr. Abimbola says that there is lack of staff, due to which the work load increases. This makes the job tedious and the efficiency as a whole reduces. On the other hand, Mr Mayur works efficiently as there is appropriate staff. Hence it makes it easier for him to achieve targets. Hence it can be concluded team work is an important aspect of the internal environment of Herzberg which results in motivation at job. JOB DESIGN The structured interview (exhibit 2) shows that Mr. Mayur has no pressure of working environment, moreover he achieves more than the desired targets. Hence it clearly shows that there isnt any work load on Mr Mayur. In addition, he is working in the industry since 3 years and yet was not given any kind of promotional benefits. Ironically, although the job of Mr Abimbola is target oriented and he struggles with the kind of load set to him due to the shortage of staff as said by him in exhibit 1. Still Mr Abimbola claims to be satisfied from the working environment and also with the kind of responsibilities and benefits provided to him (exhibit 1). Hence it can be observed though the job is same in both the countries, but the working environment is satisfying in UK as compared to India. GOAL SETTING As seen Goal Setting deals in identifying of various goals that are effective in producing the improved levels of motivation and performance in a job environment (Locke, 1968). According to exhibit 1 and 2 it can be clearly seen that the jobs of both sales advisor are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Bound. Therefore it can be concluded that both are given a similar type of goals to achieve but, Mr. Mayur completes more than the desired targets set to him giving an optimistic opportunity if compared to the job design of Mr. Abimbola. Hence it can be assumed that Mr. Mayur is more motivated and focused towards his job as compared to Mr. Abimbola. As seen in exhibit 1 Mr Abimbola is given a responsibility of getting involved in setting of the targets with his managers but if compared with Mr. Mayur the case is not the same. Therefore it is observed that there is a communication gap between Mr. Mayur and his managers. As a result he cannot provide any suggestions or recommendation in the setting of targets. Therefore in conclusion from above analyses of theories, it can be stated that there is a difference in organisation structure. In other words Indian job environment is functional structured organisation where there is inappropriate communication due to rigid hierarchy. Whereas the UK environment is a Boundary less structure organisation where the chains of command are eliminated and this results in flexibility. Conclusion The case study majorly considers the different ways in which the work motivation of employees doing a job role can be improved to lead to increased job satisfaction and work performance. It is essential for every organisation to satisfy both; the psychological and physiological needs of an employee. The theories that were used in the research are Herzberg Two factor theory of Motivation, Job Design theory and Goal setting theory of Motivation. With these theories we made recommendations and the results showed that following these theories increases the job satisfaction and work performance of employees. In addition the similar kind of job was taken into consideration in India, and studied the cultural differences in the motivating factor of both the jobs of a same kind but in a different working environment. After the analysis conducted by the use of motivational theories, it was experienced that there was a magnificent amount of culture difference in the job. As a conclusion we can say that the UK job was more satisfying in terms of exposure and responsibilities to be performed in the job as compared to Indian environment which had satisfied Mr. Abimbolas psychological and physiological needs.