Managing People and Performance - Essay Example

Running Head: MANAGING PEOPLE AND PERFORMANCE Managing People and Performance Submitted by: XXXXXXXX Number: XXXXXX XXXXXXX University of XXXXXXX Date of Submission: XX – XX – 2010 Philip’s Motivation: Based on the case study, it is clear that Philip was working in a company with a good salary and excellent benefits. The case clearly implies that Philip clearly follows the process of motivation and all of his steps and decisions in terms of his career are based on the following cycle. Process of Motivation The one theory that applies to Philip well in the case is Maslow’s Content Theory. This is clear as at the start, Philip left the option of continuing with the doctorate, for a job which paid well and provided him with a chance to fulfil his needs. Abraham Maslow named this theory as the needs hierarchy of people (Slocum & Hellriegel, 2006, p. 54). He developed that there is a difference between the motives and drives and every individual has nine main needs and motives to work. He developed a hierarchy of the needs and expressed them as featured in the diagram below. As seen in the above diagram, Philip has reached the eight level of this theory and is now looking for a chance to improve him and reach a level of self actualisation. Self Actualisation is the highest form of needs in an individual’s life (Robbins & Judge, 2008, p.34). These refer to the need of individuals to have a clear need to know them completely and develop to the full potential. Maslow argued that each of these needs required to be fulfilled in the order of the hierarchy since the needs would not be effective motivators unless the needs lower were completely satisfied. However he also noted that a satisfied need was not necessarily a motivator and it is human tendency to keep moving up to a higher level of need once the lower level is satisfied, and a person who reaches the self actualization stage, would need up with a desire for more in life (Slocum & Hellriegel, 2006, p.61). He argued that once a person had attained self actualization once, would want to keep aiming at achieving another. Maslow has not expected this theory to be rigid and the hierarchy to be a rigid form of the human development. His theory has received a lot of criticism and a number of authors have pointed out the fact that the individual behaviour is such that it can respond to a number of different needs at a given point in time. Also similar needs tend to be responded to differently by different individuals (Robbins & Judge, 2008, p. 28). The human nature is such that a level cannot be set as a level of complete satisfaction and thus making the theory very vague. Considering the case of Philip, he is also being faced with the same issue. He decided for a career change as he was looking for something to motivate him and help in improving his overall skills and to develop himself to his full potential. I feel the motivation to reach the self actualisation level to a great extent impacted Philip and led him to change his job. Number of Words: 504 Key Issues being faced at Newhaven University: Having shifted to Newhaven University, Philip has been faced with a number of issues which include the following factors. Philip is faced with a major concern of being perceived as incapable of completing the job and not being accepted in the workplace whole heartedly. This is mainly due to the fact that he overtook another individual for the post and he is seen to be facing one of the most common perception issues. Here Philip is being faced with the issue of ‘The halo/horn effect’. The halo effect is one where a single attribute of a person is recognised and this is used to claim that the person is a high performer in all aspects of the job. Here there is a clear level of being judgmental and managers tend to look at employees with a bias. The exact opposite is the case of a horn effect. Here all aspects of an individual are recognised to be negative and in most cases this is baseless or simply based on a single event (Creighton Education, 2010). This is also an equally bias form of behaviour. In the case of Philip, he clearly is being faced by this issue. Despite all of his experience and the high levels of qualifications, Philip is still being looked at negatively and this is a clear example of the horn effect. Although Philip has been able to prove himself and has achieved the job, the colleagues and the bosses did not accept him within the team. Here Philip is clearly being treated with the ‘horn effect’ (Creighton Education, 2010). Although his ideas are new and strategic, Philip has not been given the freedom to implement the ideas and to assist the business school to improve the overall working. There is a clear tendency where Philip is being looked down upon since he is open with his ideas and his views. There is clearly a lack of compatibility among the boss, colleagues and Philip and since Philip does not seem to agree with all ideas which being put forth, he is considered to be non compatible with the rest. A very common issue is seen in performance evaluation as explained by Creighton Education, “This is the tendency to rate people whom we find pleasing of manner and personality higher than they deserve on all factors, not just interpersonal skills. Those who agree with us, nod their heads when we talk, etc., get better ratings than their performance justifies” (Creighton Education, 2010). In the case of Philip, he does not simply follow ideas and prefers to imrpovise and bring in more strategic views to the decision making. This is one of the major issues that Philip has been facing at the Newhaven University. Also, another very important aspect of the job is the need to be able to fit into the groups and work in accordance with the team (Cherry, 2010). Here in the case of Philip, the most appropriate theory that affects him can be clearly understood by the theory set down by Kohlberg. Although the theory has been developed based on children, it is essential to note that the various stages as explained by Kohlberg fits the lives of adults as well. The diagram below provides an overview of the levels of the theory as well as the various stages that has been introduced by Kohlberg. As seen in the diagram above it is clear that the Kohlberg has divided the theory into three main levels based on the responses that have been received from the research. It is important to gain an understanding of the various stages and levels. Level 1: Pre - Conventional Mortality: Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment: This is the first stage of the process and is most applicable to young children. However this kind of reasoning is also possible for adults as well. The rules that are set down in this stage are regarded as the full and final and there are no arguments that could be made by the children at this stage as obeying the rules are important to avoid punishments. Here Philip currently requires being in sync with the bosses to avoid punishment in the form of performance evaluations. Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange: this stage is where the individual gets to give their point of views and can judge based on their individual needs. Philip is currently in the previous stage and is working towards reaching this stage. It is clear that Philip is looking for a way to show off his individuality in his work and to use all the experience and knowledge he has to help improve the university with his team. Level 2: Conventional Mortality Stage 3: Interpersonal Relationships: As explained by Cherry, “Often referred to as the "good boy-good girl" orientation, this stage of moral development is focused on living up to social expectations and roles. There is an emphasis on conformity, being "nice," and consideration of how choices influence relationships” (Cherry, 2010). Stage 4: Maintaining Social Order: Here at this stage people tend to make decisions keeping in mind the entire society as a whole and the main focus here is to maintain the laws and rules and respecting the authority and surroundings (Cherry, 2010). Level 3: Post – Conventional Morality Stage 5: Social Contract and Individual Rights: This stage is where the individuals tend to become more accountable for the differing values and opinions and also start respecting the beliefs of other people as well (Cherry, 2010). Stage 6: Universal Principle: This is the final level of the theory and is based on the universal ethical principles and also on the abstract reasoning. This stage involves the people to follow the internalized principles (Cherry, 2010). Hence in conclusion it is clear that Philip is clearly facing issues that relate to personality and perception to a great extent within his organisation. Number of Words: 1042 References Cherry, K. (2010). Kohlbergs Theory of Moral Development. Retrieved July 20, 2010, from About.com: http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/kohlberg.htm Creighton Education. (2010). Errors to Avoid in Performance Evaluations. Retrieved July 16, 2010, from Halo/Horn Effect: https://www.creighton.edu/fileadmin/user/AdminFinance/HumanResources/docs/Compensation_Performance_Mgmt/Errors_in_Performance_Evaluations.pdf Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2008). Organizational Behavior (13th Edition). p. 25-62. Prentice Hall. Slocum, J. W., & Hellriegel, D. (2006). Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour. p. 50-62. USA: Thomson South-Western. Read More