Motivational System in an Organization - Case Study Example

Motivational System in Organization College Motivational System in an Organization In the contemporary business environment, worker motivation is one of the critical roles of the management team. The management is not only responsible for setting up the organizational goals but also ensuring that they are implemented. Since the management work at the top level, they require to get their employees at the operational level on board their designed projects. Toa achieve this, the management team designs strategies to motivate their employees and align them to their pre-established goals and objectives. A motivated work team is effective and produces higher work out put which is vital in the implementation stage. Due to the complexity of organization systems, and existence of many departments, the management have been faced with the challenge of implementing different motivation systems within different teams of work. Due to variance in job characteristic, each team needs a different motivation program to ensure that the needs of the team are considered. Ford Otosan Company is a Turkish company that emphasizes on worker motivation for organizational success. Notably, while the organization’s motivation system has worked quite efficiently, it is clear that it has failed in some departments. As such, specialized motivation systems need be developed to achieve efficiency for departments with different job characteristics. Over the history of the organizational behaviour, great value has been placed on efficient motivation systems. Organization success depends on the ability of the management to develop an employee appraisal program that allows workers to remain loyal to the organization. Worker loyalty ensures that they have a long term association with the organization and hence allows organization to depend on their workers for both short and long term goals. Secondly, motivated workers work as a team and perform their worker more efficiently. Motivated groups know the business goals and work towards attaining them in the best way they can. They are able to give their best to the organization as they are able to associate the organizational success with their own success (Lauby, 2005). On the other hand, employees that are not motivated are sluggish in work, have low work output and have not loyal to the organization. Such employees are always looking forward to exit from the organization and hence cannot have their long term goals aligned to those of the organization. Research shows that organizations that fail to motivate their workers are bound to fail. On this note, ability to motivate employees is a necessary competence for the top level managers if the organizational goals are to be met and the organization has to perform optimally. Ford Otosan is a Turkish company that ventures in manufacture of motor vehicles for the global market. The organization has embraced the value of motivation systems to provide worker identity and to sustain strong working teams that can drive the goals of the organization. The organization has a complex organizational structure due to the existence of many departments that have specific needs. The management team in this organization has a role in goal setting and ensuring that the employees are motivated enough to work hand in hand with the management to drive the business into success both in the short and long term. In the contemporary motor industry, competition is evident as new market entrants invade the market reducing the company bargaining power. In a period of severe market competition, organization requires loyal employees to ensure that the organization operations run smoothly and that all goals are achieved (Mirvis, 2012). On the note, the Ford Otosan management team has designed effective motivation systems to overcome the straining market forces that threaten to push the organization out of business. New market characteristics have pushed the organization to evaluate the efficiency of its employee motivation system. One of the strategies that the organization has used to motivate its employees is designing an employee appraisal program that recognizes the employees’ achievements. Ford Otosan management recognizes the efforts of the employees and has a strategy to reward them. When the organization hits its profit mark for any year, it has a system to give the back to the employees for their contribution in the organization success. The organization allows the employees to share in the organization profits by organizing events and trips for the employees. These bonuses help the employees to keep working to achieve the organization goals. Research shows that for employees to be aligned to the organization goals, they should be allowed to share in the organization success (Murphy & Cleveland, 2005). This way, they feel that the organizational goals are along their own goals; the success of the organization is linked to their own success. As economists recommend, the organization must provide their employees with an opportunity to grow as much as the organization has grown. This way, the employees feel part of the organization, and work hard not only to accomplish the organization goals but also their own goals. Ford Otosan has won great employee loyalty from their workers for sharing their profits with them and providing them with the opportunity to grow as the organization grows. Another way that Ford Otosan management has provided employee motivation is involving them in the goal designing process. The organization allows all the employees to contribute their input in the goal design stage. Since employees have a wide range of experiences, they have their own opinions on how work should be conducted for optimal performance. As unique human beings, they have the way they prefer to do work, and they only feel comfortable to work in a given way. Also, since they are the people who do ground work, they have the ground experience that is desired in designing projects in an organization. For this reason, it is crucial to involve them in the planning stage so that their opinions are represented in the final project. Gathering employee opinions during the planning stage helps to get them on board during the implementation stage (Wang, 2013). Employees feel motivated to work on projects that take account of their personal input. In addition, allowing employees to contribute gives them an identity in the organization as they feel as an important part of the organization. This keeps them motivated during the implementation stages and allows them to work in tandem with the management plan. The employees in the Ford Otosan are motivated to work in the long due to the employee appraisal systems that the management has designed. Ford Otosan management takes care of the long term needs of the employees by providing a promotion scheme that is dependent on the employee hard work and the time that the employees have worked in the organization. To start with, the organization provides a salary increase each year depending on the position of the employee. At the end of each financial year, the employees’ monthly salary is increased by 2% per cent as a sign of appreciating their loyalty over the financial. This additional salary allows the employees to remain satisfied and to rise in class as they continue working for the organization. In addition, the organization promotes employees after a certain period of time for higher positions in the organizations. For instance, an employee at the technical level is likely to raise the supervisor level after a period of five year. This keeps the employee loyal as they work towards their promotion (Podmoroff, 2005). Promotion is also awarded on the basis of handwork and contribution to the organization success. That is, employees who show exceptional hard work and skills are likely to be promoted before their colleagues. By designing transparent promotion schemes, the organization is able to align its long term goals with the employees’ long term goals. Ford Otosan has paid particular attention to the development of employee feedback program by opening channels for intercommunication. The management team has modelled channels through which employees can express their needs, challenges and any problems that they encounter in the line of duty. Employees find it easy to associate with organizations that are concerned with the challenges facing them and those that give attention to their input in the project implementation (Kruse, 2012). The Otosan Management allows the employees to discuss their problems and communicate them to their leaders who in turn forward them to the management. The organization has also developed a team to investigate into the problems of the employees and find the best way to handle them in the shortest time possible. When the management are concerned with the employee problems, the employees are satisfied and feel motivated to work whenever their problems are resolved within the shortest time possible. Failure to handle employee complains demotivates them and reduces their work output considerably. In worse cases, the employees may down their tools of work and or strikes against their work (Liff, 2007). This wastes time and resources and leads to business loss at a time when projects are time constrained and goals require to be met in time. The ability of the organization to tackle employees’ problems efficiently has contributed to the formation of a motivated team. Since the organization has many departments, Ford Otosan management have strived to provide worker identity by creating an inter-departmental collaborative approach to project implementation. The organization has motivated the employees to work together by bringing them together during their work to perform their tasks in a united fashion. Although the organization has different departments, the management recognizes that the organization is as single team that aims at achieving the same goals. In organizations, all departments are interrelated and they have to work together in moments of needs (Foss, Minbaeva, Pedersen & Reinholt, 2009). Creating a smooth relationship between different departments is the role of the management that ensures that there organization remains cohesive and that departments become productive entities in the organization. For instance, the technical department has to link with the procurement department when they require obtaining materials for their work. On this note, establishing a smooth relationship between these departments helps them to get along easily and hastens their work. If there is friction between departments, they will try to pull each other down, which eventually costs the business performance. The ability of the management to foster cohesive relationships between departments directly impacts on the organization performance and overall goal accomplishment. The efforts of Ford Otosan to create healthy interdepartmental relationships helps have been successful for many departments. For instance, the finance department has successfully enjoyed the value of strong interdepartmental relationships. The finance department works hand in hand with the finance department in developing good financial plans when procuring materials for the organization. In addition, the finance department has learnt to liaise with the organizational management in complex finance matters. This strong bond has seen the procurement finance department emerge as one of the most motivated department in the organization (Muhammad, 2012). The organization has benefited from effective finance management over the years that has reduced wastage and saved on spending in the organization. Finance is one of the limited resources in an organization and its management is crucial to the company. Otosan Finance department has optimized on spending and works along with the other departments to ensure that wastage is minimized and that the organizational resources are used efficiently. Resultantly, Ford Otosan has seen its expenditure reduce, which in turn increases the organizational profits at the end of the accounting period. On this ground, it is clear that the Ford Otosan motivation system has assisted majority or the departments to perform optimally contributing to the overall goals of the organization. On the other hand, the Ford Otosan motivation system has failed for the technical department. The efforts of the management to create a healthy inter-department relationship have failed for the technical department. The nature of the technical workers and the nature of their work make them rather unique and quite different from other departments in the organization. Unlike other departments, technical employees work for long hours and perform hard labour that needs physical energy. Resultantly, they are withdrawn from the other employees and prefer to keep away from other groups (Murphy & Cleveland, 2005). Unlike the finance and procurement department who work in offices, technical department work in workshops and sometimes end up in field work. This keeps them a distant from other workers making it impossible to form a strong link between them and other departments. Secondly, the fact that the management team has little understanding on the mechanics of their work, they prefer to be left alone and do not like interference from the management (Podmoroff, 2005). Therefore, the strategy of the management to motivate them by encouraging them to work along other groups has failed considerably and the organization needs to rethink a strategy of handling this group. Since Ford Otosan’s strategy to motivate its workers has not worked the same way for all the departments, it is crucial for them to rethink their motivational strategies (Lovewell, 2013). Specifically, the motivation system has failed to work for the technical department making it hard for this group to work along others in accomplishing the overall management goals. Therefore, the organization needs to redesign its motivation system to take care of the special needs of this unique group. Economic researchers recommend that the management team seek to understand the job characteristics of their workers so as to design effective management systems that work for the organization. It would be recommendable for the management team to find new ways to motivate the technical department. For instance, since this group work for longer hours than any other group, the organization should compensate them generously during the extra work hours. This will motivate them to work well during the extra hours as it is to their own benefit. In addition, the organization can organize social functions that help them to interact with the other members of the company. Social functions provide avenues where people can make friends and foster the social relationships between departments. In conclusion, motivation systems are crucial aspects of the organization that are directly linked to organizational success. The ability of the management team to motivate their workers determined the ability of the organization to position itself in the market. Motivated worker align to the management goals and objectives and work hard to ensure that they are attained. Also, motivated workers have high labour output and have are satisfied enough to set their long term goals within the organization. Ford Otosan provides motivation to its employees by giving them an opportunity to grow along the development of the organization by sharing in the company profits. The management has formed channels to handle employee problems to ensure that their welfare is good and to win their loyalty at all times. To give their workers an identity, the company allows the employees to present their opinions in the project planning stage, which gives them the motivation to work along the goals they have set themselves. However, the efforts of the company to form inter-departmental coordination have failed for the technical department. Since the technical department, due to nature of their work, are withdrawn from other groups, they find it hard to associate with them. On this note, it is crucial for the organization to define new strategies to motivate this group and to make them feel part of the larger congregation. References Foss, N. J., Minbaeva, D. B., Pedersen, T., & Reinholt, M. (2009). Encouraging knowledge sharing among employees: How job design matters. Human Resource Management, 48(6), 871-893. Kruse, K. (2012). Employee engagement 2.0: How to motivate your team for high performance : a "real-world" guide for busy managers. S.I.: Kevin Kruse. Lauby, S. J. (2005). Motivating employees. Alexandria, Va: ASTD Pres Liff, S. (2007). Managing government employees: How to motivate your people, deal with difficult issues, and achieve tangible results. New York: American Management Association. Lovewell, D. (2013). Debbie Lovewell: Rethink motivation approach. Employee Benefits, 17. Mirvis, P. (2012). Employee Engagement and CSR: Transactional, Relational, and Developmental Approaches. California Management Review, 54(4), 93-117. doi:10.1525/cmr.2012.54.4.93 Muhammad Ikhlas, K. (2012). The Impact of Training and Motivation on Performance of Employees. IBA Business Review, 7(2), 84-95. Murphy, R. & Cleveland, J., (2005). Understanding Performance Appraisal: Social, Organizational and Goal-Based Perspectives. Calif: Sage Publishers. Podmoroff, D. (2005). 365 ways to motivate and reward your employees every day-- with little or no money. Ocala, Fla: Atlantic Pub. Group. Wang, J. (2013). The Best Motivators in Business. (cover story). Entrepreneur, 41(10), 36-47. Read More