The Confidence of the General Motors Corporation Employees - Research Paper Example

? Motivation Plan Executive Summary This motivation plan is being prepared to assist in the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) concept for the General Motors Corporation (GM). The purpose of which is to ensure that the Learning and Growth perspective will be fully supported by the manpower of the company. Initially, the target will be the plant employees as these personnel are the ones in direct contact to the products of the company. to do so, the fist 9 months of 2011 will be devoted to Job Design. However, this will be run along with the Profit Sharing and improvements in disciplinary measures within the GM plants. These efforts will then set the stage for the Job enrichment program. It is hoped that these efforts will generate the targeted measures. However, beyond those figures, it is hoped that these motivation plan will bring back the confidence of the GM employees to the company and help bring General Motors back to its pre-crisis stature as one of the most admired companies in the U.S. and one of the foremost automobile manufacturer in the world. Organization: General Motors Corporation (GM) General Motors Corporation (GM) was among the biggest casualties during the “Great Recession” that rocked the entire global economy. It is the biggest automobile manufacturer in the United States and one of the highest employers of the nation. GM manufactures Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and many other brands of cars and trucks sold to over 30 countries worldwide. Last June 2009, GM filed for bankruptcy wiping out jobs and share value in drastically affecting employees and investors alike. Also, retirees have been affected with some cuts in their health care benefits and pensions have been threatened (Isidore). Prior to the credit crunch of 2008, the historic surrender of one of the biggest and oldest companies was practically unthinkable. In fact, people have generally held the “General” in high regard. Thus, working in such a prestigious company has greatly offered security to the employees and their families. However, with the massive lay off that led to the ongoing restructuring plans, employees are still feeling insecure as to what the future will hold for them. This insecurity may immensely affect the motivation of the workforce of the giant car manufacturer. Need for a Motivational Plan, Benefits & Selection Process There are three important goals for employees namely equity, achievement and camaraderie. As such, employees need to feel that there is equal treatment which must apply to all the basics aspects of their job such as the compensation, the benefits accorded to them and of course the way they are treated. Also, they must feel secure about the job and this must be a general feeling within the whole organization. Likewise, employees ought to be able to take pride in what they are doing, what they have done and of course who they are doing these things for. At the same time, employees are able to be more motivated if they have a mutually beneficial working condition with their colleagues (Sirota, Mischkind, Meltzer). These have been practically decimated when General Motors Corporation (GM) succumbed to the recession. In fact, there remains an underlying uncertainty as to what the future will hold for these employees. Thus, this motivational plan is prepared to help improve the morale of the employees by designing a program that will help line leaders be motivated as well as their employees through a spill over effect. The motivation plan will be integrated on the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) so that it can be measured easily. This is a very important aspect to ensure that the motivational plan is followed through since having the capability to measure work affects employee behavior. Likewise, the BSC will enable the policymakers to have a quick clear view of what is going on in the organization. This is possible since the BSC not only focuses on the traditional measure of finance but considers other key perspectives as well such as the customer perspective, internal business perspective and learning and growth (Kaplan & Norton). For the motivational plan, the main focus will be on the learning and growth perspective. It is hoped that this will translate to improved performance that can be tracked through improvement in attendance and punctuality. This will redound to improvements in the way they do their work and hopefully to improved customer satisfaction leading to substantial financial rewards. The Motivation Plan Job Design (2nd Quarter 2011) The plan will first implement ways to ensure that boredom does not ensue with the plant employees. Hence, the plant managers and supervisors will be taught on how to improve on the Job Design of GM plant employees. To do so, the plant managers will implement Work Organization by making new teams or groups so that these employees will be able to interact with different people and have the chance for more interaction in and out of work. Likewise, aside from the supervisor, a team member will be assigned to assist in leading the team on a weekly basis. This will be rotated so that each team member will have the opportunity to practice leadership so as to motivated them (Bailey). Profit Sharing (Quarterly implementation along with the Job Design) Another approach will be to have financial incentives so as to be able to further motivate employees to jack up production. This will give them added morale boost as their performance is clearly tied up to their incentives. The concreteness of this reward enables the employees to clearly see the benefit of their work (Kinicki and Kreitner). This will be done every quarter wherein a certain percentage of sales will be allocated as a bonus for the entire team. However, this will not be given as cash but as a funding for a small celebration which in turn will also be an opportunity for the team to bond with each other. This will form part of the initiatives for the learning and growth part on the balanced scorecard so that there will be a way for the plant manager and supervisor to measure the progress of this motivation tool. Job Enrichment (3rd Quarter) After being exposed to leadership roles through the work organization under job design, plant employees will then be gradually given additional capability to control his work and be increasingly responsible for certain outcomes of the job (George & Jones 95). The employees will not be sent unarmed though as they will then be trained in their respective jobs so that they may have additional skills. However, the respective supervisors will have to be trained first on how to coach and delegate in order for them to be able to provide coaching to their subordinates on how to improve their jobs. With the diversity on co-workers provided by as a result of globalization as well as the societal changes provided by modern technology, coaching is not as simple as it used to be. For example, in basketball, during the old days players had to know how to play the different positions so it is practically easy to coach. However, with the modernization of the game and on how players play as well as the emergence of specialization in various positions, coaching has become more scientific. Likewise, the team has to be managed properly to keep key players healthy. Thus, in management, coaching has had to adapt to the different employees in the new hustle and bustle environment that has become really fast paced and further complicated by the different cultures and different backgrounds of employees. To be effective, career coaches must be able to be sensitive to the different values that they may face and give more meaning to the coaching process. Likewise, since employees have also gone wiser, it would be advisable not to limit the possible outcome by giving it outright but instead make the coaching and learning process more interesting by making it somewhat like a discovery process (Stelter 207). Likewise, aside from career or job coaching, the need for a more meaningful coaching experience will integrate the moral and spiritual aspect of the employees. The bankruptcy of GM has a really strong impact on the individual employees feeling of security that greatly impedes the motivational plan. Thus, the inclusion of a touch on spirituality can pacify feelings of despair that may still be linering on the hearts of employees. Pay Review The motivation plan will also touch on the pay of GM employees. However, since this is a very tough issue and has to be carefully considered by management with respect to the cash generating capabilities of the company, this will only be a secondary objective of the motivational plan. However, it is important to note that the employees’ primary motivation to work is the salary that they receive. Likewise, the benefits is important to these employees as well. The problem is that most human resources (HR) managers and practitioners seem to fail to realize this importance. As such, these HR practitioners are unable to fully give the much needed concern to the needs to the employees with regards to the salaries that they take home. The issue does not entirely lie on the HR practitioners though, as few employees would try to communicate the discontent that they have on their pay slips. Still, it is this fact that must spur HR practitioners, as experts of human psychology, to really dig deeper and find out the true sentiments on their respective labor force (Rynes, Gerhart, Minette 381). However, the motivation plan recommends that the salaries of high performers and those that have shown leadership potentials in the job design and job enrichment parts be reviewed as these personnel would really deserve and expect some tangle reward for the ability that they have learned that they can do (Trank, Rynes, & Bretz 331). Thus it is highly recommended that the pay for these employees be reviewed and if warranted, be adjusted accordingly, so as to ensure that competitive edge with respect to employee competency and capability remain within the company. This issue is important as it is delicate as the organization must be expect that the employees that will emerge as the best in these motivation exercises will also be more informed of what they can do. Hence, these employees would logically expect some additional recognition from their performances. Also, the behavior of the employees is also influenced throughout the activities being implemented in the motivational plan by various expectations as to the result of such activities (Kreitner & Kinicki, 1998). Furthermore, these expectations are quite reasonable because of the higher effect of compensation over just mere money on the pocket. Compensations are probably the most direct and sincere way to say that the employee is appreciated (Rosseau & Ho 283). It is very important that after the foregoing activities, the proper compensation package is designed for the top performers. It is important for GM to remember that not only do these employees need the trainings and the pats on the back but a tangible reward as well so as to further enforce the security that they feel for their company. This will then enable them to bring back pride into what they do and for whom they do it. Consequently, the top performers will provide real role models for the plant operators to emulate since these personnel are people that they can really relate to. Instilling Discipline However, the carrot approach is not the only way and must not be the only way to motivate employee. It is also important for these employees to appreciate the need for discipline to balance the mix. Although it is more pleasant to use positive reinforcements, there will always be times when the need for bringing a repetitive unruly behavior to a stop (University of British Columbia). Thus, enforcing discipline is key in bringing about motivation to employees. The most important aspect of this approach is to show employees that those that break the rules are kept in check so that the policy abiding personnel continuously feels the inherent need to abide by company rules and regulations. If star performers can inspire employees to do better, those that have a high need for disciplinary actions can influence adversely the team or even the entire plant workforce if they are not given the proper disciplinary action. However, in dealing with employees, the supervisors and plant managers must always keep in mind that they are dealing with human beings that have feelings and emotions. The behavior of these employees may be the result of stress or personal problems that may have to be resolved. Likewise, discipline is very important to keep teams intact and moving in the right direction. It is important to instill discipline in the team level as well as these groups of employees are able to perform better since there is a combined effort to accomplish a task. When empowered to do so, the efforts of one become a harmonious and united effort of many wherein the strength in numbers naturally has more power to move the team and then the plant and ultimately the organization forward – in this case General Motors (GM). In recognizing the inherent capability of teams to move farther forward, the plant managers and supervisors must then be able to ensure that the members within jive in order for this goal to be possible (Katzenbach & Smith). The motivation plan in action Conclusion In motivating employees, it is important that the needs of these personnel are considered and analyzed. If the pay of these employees cannot support their subsistence, no amount of motivation can make them stay with the company. Likewise, no amount of pay can spur a continued excellent performance in a morale empty employee. However, it is easier to push people forward if they are motivated. As the tiers of needs are slowly satisfied, employees that excel will have to be properly rewarded and compensated not just to provide additional purchasing power but to affirm the recognition by providing them with something tangible that they can use. However, this recognition not only affects them economically but emotionally as well because the pay effectively concretizes the claps and pats and the congratulations that the employee that excels receive (Abraham-Maslow.com). There must be a balance between rewards and punishments. Both carrot and stick approach however must be given carefully and calibrated properly to ensure maximum benefit to the whole organizations. The rewards give the personnel the passion to do more and strive to be better and must be a combination of intangible opportunities for leadership as well as tangible pay schemes or even cash gifts. Basically, the culture of the company must be ready and cognizant with such a system (Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee). Thus, it is important to ensure the success of the motivational plan for the benefit of General Motors. It is a gargantuan task to survive if only a quarter of the workforce is enthusiastic. However, that is basically the profile of most U.S. firms (Bates). Definitely, that is something that this motivational plan is targeting in order to ensure that employees are prepared for the learning and growth part to help move GM forward and restore its former glory. Works Cited Abraham-Maslow.com. A Theory of Human Motivation. 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Employee Motivation: A Powerful New Model. Harvard Business Review, 2008. Web. 25 March 2011. Rousseau, Denise & Ho, Violet. Psychological Contract Issues in Compensation. In S. L. Rynes & B. Gerhart (Eds.), Compensation in Organizations: Current Research and Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000. Print. Rynes, Sarah, Gerhart, Barry, & Minette, Kathleen. The Importance of Pay in Employee Motivation: Discrepancies Between What People Say and What They Do. Human Resource Management, 43.4 (2004): 381–394. Print. Sirota, David, Mischkind, Louis, Meltzer, Michael. Why Your Employees are Losing Motivation. Harvard Business School, 2006. 25 March 2011. Stelter, Reinhard. Coaching as a Reflective Space In A Society Of Growing Diversity - Towards a Narrative, Postmodern Paradigm. International Coaching Psychology Review, 4.2(2009): 207-217. Trank, Quinn., Rynes, Sarah, & Bretz, Robert. Attracting Applicants in the War for Talent: Differences in Work Preferences among High Achievers. Journal of Business and Psychology, 17 (2002): 331–345. University of British Columbia (UBC) Discipline in the Workplace. 20011. Web. 25 March 2011. Read More