1. MOTIVATION IN PRACTICE
IB Business & Management

2. MOTIVATION IN PRACTICE
Many organizations devise complex payment systems in order to reward and motivate their employees.
Unfortunately there is no such thing as a perfect payment system and the table below identifies some of the major issues that need to be considered.

3. Motivation in Practice WAGES (Time Rates)
Description
Job Satisfaction & Motivation
Potential Impact on Productivity
Employees are paid an hourly rate or for a number of hours per week. It is possible that overtime rates of pay are used too.
The main benefit is likely to be the security of receiving a regular income & the opportunity to receive overtime pay
It is possible that an employee will work slowly since his pay is not based on output.
If overtime rates apply then an employee could benefit financially from ensuring that the work is extended to cover time over the usual hours of the working day.

4. Motivation in Practice WAGES (Piece Rates)
Description
Job Satisfaction & Motivation
Potential Impact on Productivity
Employees are paid for each unit or (batch) produced.
The main motivator is likely to be the fact that increased output will bring a measurable benefit.
However, this might involve tedious and repetitive work.
Also the employee may not have control of his results (and thus income) if he relies on others, for example, to supply materials.
An employee may work quickly to get as much money as possible.
It may be that a system of checks with have to be put in place to ensure that quality standards have been met.
There may be an emphasis on quantity rather than quality.

5. Motivation in Practice SALARY
Description
Job Satisfaction & Motivation
Potential Impact on Productivity
Employees are paid a sum of money per fortnight or per month.
The main benefit is likely to be the security of receiving a regular income.
The employer is typically relying on the professionalism of the staff to provide the quality and quantity expected.

6. Motivation in Practice COMMISSION
Description
Job Satisfaction & Motivation
Potential Impact on Productivity
Employees are paid for results.
For example a flat fee or a percentage for each item sold.
The main motivator is that employees will be rewarded by results.
However, employees may not have control over results (and thus income) For example, during a recession sales commission will fall in many industries.
The employee may be tempted to sell products which are not in the best interests of the customer or business and this would create problems for the organization. For example, a bank employee that sells a mortgage to a customer will receive the commission, but the bank may suffer financially if the customer subsequently defaults on the loan.

7. Motivation in Practice PROFIT RELATED PAY
Description
Job Satisfaction & Motivation
Potential Impact on Productivity
The amount an employee receives is linked to the amount of profit the business makes.
Sharing the financial rewards of a business may encourage a sense of belonging and a desire to contribute to its success.
If profits fall then the employee could experience a demoralizing loss through no fault of their own.
Productivity may be a consequence of the profitability of the business, rather than the cause.

8. Motivation in Practice PERFORMANCE RELATED PAY (PRP)
Description
Job Satisfaction & Motivation
Potential Impact on Productivity
The amount an employee receives is linked to the performance of the employee. The performance is typically assessed by a line manager.
The recognition and reward that this system can provide will be motivating.
However employee expectations may be unreasonable and resentment can result, if an employee feels that his performance has been underestimated.
The impact is likely to depend on a line manager making a correct assessment of performance and the system being transparent, fair and substantial.

9. Motivation in Practice EMPLOYEE SHARE-OWNERSHIP SCHEMES
Description
Job Satisfaction & Motivation
Potential Impact on Productivity
Employees may be issued shares or offered the opportunity to buy them at a discounted rate.
Owning part of the business may encourage a sense of belonging and a desire to contribute to its success
If share prices fall, then the employee could experience a demoralizing loss through no fault of their own.
Productivity may be a consequence of the share price of the business rather than the cause.

10. Motivation in Practice FRINGE BENEFITS
Description
Job Satisfaction & Motivation
Potential Impact on Productivity
Employees may receive benefits such as subsidized transportation, education, housing or health care.
The status and security that results from these schemes may be motivating.
There may also be tax benefits for the employee.
However, it is possible that the employee would prefer the cash rather than the benefit.
It is also possible that employees may resent the fact that they do not qualify for certain benefits
(Eg: A person with no children cannot benefit from subsidized school fees)
It would be extremely difficult to assess the impact of fringe benefits on productivity.

11. Empowerment & Motivation
The term empowerment describes the level of economic, political and spiritual power than an individual holds.
Empowered individuals are likely to have confidence in their own ability.
Empowered individuals will have power in decision making, access to resources and information and a belief that they can part of the change process.
If managers can empower their employees that can make positive change a never-ending process in the workplace.

12. Disempowerment & Motivation
Disempowered individuals will feel economic, political and spiritual inadequacy
In some countries the feeling of disempowerment may be very strong because individuals have be accustomed to repression and have been deprived access to resources, information and opportunity.
It is hardly surprising that these disempowered individuals do not feel motivated to take on new challenges – experience suggests to them that there will be low levels of what Vroom called expectancy, instrumentality and valence.

13. Teamwork & Motivation
If you have ever worked cooperatively with a group of people to achieve a goal, then you will have experienced the joy of teamwork.
On the other hand, if you have worked with a group that can’t “click” then you will have experienced the frustrations of team failure.
Team members that can’t help, listen, share or communicate are likely to undermine the performance of the team.
The success of teams can be crucial to an organizations performance so the organization will strive to have high performance teams.

14. R Meredith Belbin’s Team Inventory
Belbin developed a personality test (1981) to identify perceived roles that people have when they are working in a team environment.
Belbin identified the following character types that all perform a useful role in contributing to successful teams.
Belbin developed a personality test to identify perceived roles.

15. Belbin – Character Types
Belbin identified the following character types:
Plants
Resource Investigators
Coordinators
Shapers
Monitor Evaluators
Teamworkers
Implementers
Completer finishers
Specialists

16. Belbin – Character Types PLANTS
Plants describe individuals who have lots of ideas and solutions and who look at things differently.
They are usually bright and feel comfortable being separate from the crowd.
A team made solely of plants is likely to be big on ideas but may not be so good on seeing them through to completion.

17. Belbin – Character Types Resource Investigators
Resource investigators are people who have the contacts outside the team to add resources that will get the job done.
Resource investigators are therefore incredibly useful since their network of contacts and resources adds another dimension to the team.
A team made up entirely of resource investigators will have lots of contacts, but may struggle to get the job done because everyone is trying to add their contacts rather than do the work.