Economic Theory of Motivation - Assignment Example

Q.3 There is no debate as to whether workers, both ordinary employees and managers should be compensated. The only debate is, whether the incentives and procedure for motivation to categories, managers and employees should be the same; should both categories be given same incentives. Whatever approach chosen, the management should seek to emphasize non-discriminatory approach within employees falling in the same category. Non-discrimination relate to employment terms as well as tax laws. the rational economic theory of motivation postulates that that human beings ,in this regard workers, derive motivation from things that give the most of utility and that why people will always seek to maximize utility by making use of option that give the best chance of utility maximization. The rational theory is complemented by Yerkes-Dodson Human Performance Curve. Through the curve explains that employees need some form of motivation in work place. That motivation is usually in the form of stress that would encourage them to work harder to achieve higher productivity in the work place. Through this analysis, it is clear that management of any organizations should motivate the employees so as to give them “stress”. Stress is also viewed from the perspective of the consequences (punishment) for fumbling while discharging one’s duties. From the graph (below) it is evident that whenever workers are under stress (either positive or negative) they work at some point reach the optimal point (Szentes 2005). Mangers in organization have an impact because they can influence fellow workers’ productivity by taking appropriate actions to ensure employee productivity. If given a chance to manage other employees, they stand a better chance of ensuring more efficiency at the work place. In this regard, it is important to ensure that mangers are given a different motivation frame work, different from that of the rest of the employees. Framework incentive framework adopted should be such that the workers are given that task of supervising other workers and their benefits arise from their ability to offer good leadership. This means that the organization must have heterogeneous schemes for employees at different levels. On the same note employees that fall within the same cadre should be subjected to the same framework. Research carried out in a leading UK firm, where employees were put into two categories affirmed the use of the concept described here. In that firm, top managers were given the mandate of managing fellow employees and their duties included picking the employees who would pick fruits as well as directing other employees who were not involved in actual picking of fruits. Those tasked with management (managers) were given fixed wages in one period. In another period they were given daily incentives that were pegged on performance (Szentes 2005). The bonus was on the basis of performance of the employees that they were tasked with managing. The findings of the study revealed that, during the period that they were given bonus efficiency increased, compared to the period when the payment was flat rate (Selcer 2004). From the graphs above, it is evident that at a given supply of labour (labour force that an organization may have at a given time), there is a like hood of increasing the production by altering the Marginal productivity of labour. It follows that any form of incentive whether monetary or otherwise has a positive correlation with productivity. Based on the graph as well as well as the practical experience on the UK firm it is evident that incentives increase productivity at the work place therefore organizations must use them to enhance productivity. Q.4 The Australian of the year awards has been prestigious awards to Australian national who have succeeded in various disciplines in the country. It was conceptualized in 1960 and has since recognized excellence. Whereas only few individuals are recognized the award, like many other similar awards of its calibre, has big impact in the community. The impact goes far beyond the respective countries where the awards are presented. Australian of the year award is given in various disciplines including: young, senior and local hero among others. In this regard, the award enhances the societal responsibility because it rewards those who participate in various aspects to uplift the wellbeing of the society. As a result of the recognition, the similar initiatives of the award winners are recognized and replicated. Given that the recognition is only given to few individual, the society hold those recognised with a lot of regard and many members of the society would love to be identified with the prospects that they stand for. Another significant award in the world is Miles Franklin Literary awards which was established in 1957 to a novel. Over the years, the award has been given yearly recognize good literary skills in Australia. The Award recognizes the significance of literature in showcasing the culture of different groups and as such seeks to encourage people to know their culture and heritage. The award only focuses on novels that depict any cultural attribute of the Australia people. It follows that different novelist and writers are encourage to focus their attention on highlighting the cultural heritage of Australians since that is one of the ways of encouraging patriotism in the country. Despite the fact that most of the novels recognized are fictional, the award has attracted a lot of interest since it recognizes the manner in which Australians understand different aspects. Future generations can only appreciate the cultural heritage through stories told of what happened in the past and this explains why the award recognizes the efforts of different people who tell the Australian stories through literal works. Since the wards are awarded to works that best describe various aspects of the Australian people, books that recognised get recognition and more people read them and that enhances the welfare of the society since people appreciate Australian culture. The order of Australia is an award system that has had a big impact since its inception many years ago. The significance of the award is that it recognises different people within Australian communities. The award is given to recognise members from within the Australian communities who have made different impacts from community levels and by extension to the upper echelons of the society. This award is particularly recognised because it allows any member of the community to nominate a person who they feel has had a positive impact at the community level through any undertaking. Since its inception, this award has paid tribute to different people who have impacted the society through their efforts to change the country to make it a better place. Like other forms of prestigious awards, this award is given to only those who have excelled in various aspects and that means that it encourages community service by encouraging people to bring change in the society through ordinary things that they do on daily basis. Many of the people who have won the order of Australia are ordinary people who have focused on changing the communities through engaging in ordinary things but which seek to make their communities a better place. Once recognise many members of the communities are aspired to further enhance their achievements by replicating in other parts of the communities. In that regard, communities get positive change in the long run. Different people who are recognised various awards take a leadership role in the communities because people emulate their actions with a view to making the communities better. This explains why a lot of scrutiny is advanced before the prizes are awarded so that they remain coveted since they are preserved for the very best in the society. Through different incentives the world stands better changed given that recognition are made in different aspects of life as demonstrated above. Q.5 The Noble peace prize for 2006 was jointly awarded to Yunus and Grameen for their effort in advancing social and economic development from below. That award advanced certain norms in the community. That reminded the society the need to fight poverty and bring social and economic liberation from below so that a majority of the world’s poor can be liberated from compulsive suffering. in this regard, the award advanced a concerted effort from the entire community from all levels to ensure the society develops from the very bottom parts and the change would be replicated towards the top most part of the society. If the society emulates the works and achievements of both Yunus and Grameen Bank, poverty and social economic liberation can be advanced all through the society. The positive attribute of that approach was evident in the efforts of the Nobel laureates who were able to advance growth and development from the bottom most parts of the society and that contributed to the uplifting of the entire community. Yunus , through Grammen bank encouraged loans to the poor people in the society through micro credit. In course of time the small loans that the poor people improved their life and that in turn changed the larger society in the long run. The concept advanced by Yunus has successfully brought change to many countries especially to those who have used to enhance the plight of women who are vulnerable. As such, it advances the norm of self-reliance through which, even the poorest people in the wold can change their lives by using microcredit facilities to enhance their lives. Even though poverty cannot be eliminated by only micro credit, there is a lesson that, even small, efforts like micro credit count. Environmental protection is imperative in the modern society but as life continues environmental degradation is a serious concern. It follows that humanity must devise strategies to identify the manmade negative practices that encourage environment degradation as well as initiatives to counter the harmful effects. it is such initiative that the Noble peace committee sought to advance by recognizing the joint efforts of intergovernmental panel on climate change(IPCC) and Albert Arnold Gore. It is common knowledge that, in order for sustainable development to be achieved environment protection is essential. IPCC showed that there is a correlation between human activities and global warming despite the threat that global warming has on the society. in that regard, if the every member of the society plays a role in eliminating negative effects of environmental degradation, the society would be saved from imminent conflicts and wars brought about by scarce resources. Peace prize, therefore, encourages a focus on concerted effort from all communities to ensure protection of world resources since that would reduce wars and conflicts that limitation of resources would bring to the world (Alford 2008). The story of Desmond Tutu, a South African Nobel laureate, demonstrates the impact that prize has on the person and the activities that the person has advocated for. Desmond, upon receiving the revered prize, stated that as a result of the recognition the tasks he did before and immediately after the recognition were brought to more light through media coverage and other forums. The foundations that the Nobel Peace laureates advance create a legion and people love to associate with them because they are considered as justified course (Alford 2008). The positive attributes of the prize continue even after death of the laureates. For example, Nelson Mandela, an African icon is model of immortality with regard to the recognition. Even in death, world leaders called for a world full of the ideals that Mandela fought for in his life. The ripple effect of the norms advanced by the laureates can shape the world positively because the awards are given to people who advance different ideas; all that form to make the world a better place. Unlike other types of awards Nobel peace Prize targets people from all walks of lives and who deal in different kinds of trades. Once the laureates are recognised they seek to further advance their life choices, only now they are given a bigger platform to change the world. References "Ideological Profiles of the Economics Laureates", 2013, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 255-n/a. Selcer, A.D. 2004, Structuration, discourse, and power: How corporate employees construct meaning in their organization, Fielding Graduate Institute. Szentes, T. 2005, "Interpretations, Aspects and Levels, Decisive Factors and Measuring Methods of Competitiveness", Society and Economy, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 5-41 Alford,R.2008, “The Nobel Effect: Nobel Peace Prize Laureates as International Norm Entrepreneurs”,Uio Read More