Organizational Behaviour - Essay Example

The theories started a heated debate that is yet to cool down. While some managers and scholars perceive them to be helpful and practicable, others are asserting that the theories are just that- theories, and nothing more, and that they are not being used in real life (Foster, 2013). This paper, with a distinct focus on two companies; Google and WL Gore, will try to explore the validity of that statement. The paper will first discuss the employees’ state in both of these companies and the management activities and then try to tie or explain them using the various employee theories on motivation, participation, satisfaction and motivation.

If the managerial actions and employee behavior can be explained by the theories then the statement that they are mere theories will have been disproved. Managerial Actions and Employee Motivation and Performance In this fast changing business and economic environment, intellectual capital and knowledge have become very important for every management team. The employees are increasingly being viewed as the most important assets of the business (Chubb, 2008). The managers are frantically making efforts to attract and keep their best talents.

Many do this by providing incentives- monetary or otherwise. Theory X and Y of motivation provide useful insight into the nature of employees and what is likely to motivate them. They also empower their employee in order to increase job satisfaction and enhance self-actualization. The following two companies provide some useful insights into the role of management in enhancing employee motivation, empowerment and performance. The first one is WL Gore started by Bill Gore in 1958 and Google started by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

WL Gore and Associates This is a hi-tech company that has specialized in manufacturing products from fluoropolymers; fabrics and electronic connectors. As at now the company has ventured into various markets including the industrial, medical, pharmaceutical and electronic markets. Over the past ten years it has had average revenues of US $2.5 billion in sales. It was started in 1958 and to date it boasts of having around 10,197 employees spread in over 80 countries worldwide. It has featured in the Fortunes ‘Best place to work’ list for the last 15 consecutive years (Liberman, 2013).

The company is said to be one of the America’s best performing because it has consistently based its practices on tested and tried employee theories. Festejo (2012) asserts that WL Gore has the unique and world’s best collaborative system in the world; the lattice organization structure. This system is designed to promote employees’ performance and job satisfaction. For instance, the system has no hierarchical structure they are organized into teams; this means there are no bosses to provide supervision.

The employees are expected to be self driven and motivated to work. The company utilizes the goal theory by requiring the employees to set their own targets to meet in a specified period of time. However, they have team leaders known as sponsors to provide guidance (Liberman, 2013). The employees, known as associates, set the objectives for the company and try to achieve them and at the end assess one another’s performances. The employees enjoy a great deal of flexibility as