Most part of people's lives gets spent at work, therefore it is natural that they expect to be satisfied with the job that they do and be rewarded for their achievement.
Why motivation at workplace?
Researchers have suggests that motivated employees are always happier at work. If employees are satisfied with from their work, then they work with more enthusiasm, remain loyal and tend to do less absent and hence do their best for the development of an organisation
Taylor & Scientific Management
Taylor developed his theory of "scientific management" .He made three key assumptions about human behavior at work: (Rose, 1975).
(1) Man is a rational economic animal concerned with maximizing his economic gain;
(2) People respond as individuals, not as groups
(3) People can be treated in a standardised fashion, like machines
If we evaluate what was happening in Telcordia in context of Taylor's approach was not working. No doubt Telcordia' s remuneration was at the top end of the market .Employees were rewarded all the time for their achievement but still most of the employees were not motivated or happy.
This clearly indicates that Taylor's theory can't be a silver bullet of motivation for everyone. People are different and hence their priorities are. Money could be important factor of motivation for few but not for everyone
Unfortunately scientific management could not be a process which contributes to the development of people rather It undermines their potential to take ownership of what they can do. In Telcordia, staffs need to be encouraged to be creative and use their ideas to bring revolutionary change.
Maslow
Maslow's hierarchy of need is a content theory ("A Theory of Human Motivation", 1943). His theory consists of two parts. First part concern with classification of needs and second part relates these classes with each other.
(Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs)
(Source:http://www.tutor2u.net/business/people/motivation_theory_maslow.asp )
He suggested that a person starts from bottom of the pyramid .When needs at one level is satisfied then need at next higher level becomes motivation for him.
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Maslow's theory however fits almost right in most of the organisation have few exception .The two main reason for the theses exceptions are:
The same need may mean different for different people and can be placed into different level into hierarchy. In contrary motivation factor for one could be demotivator for another.
In Telcordia most of the time employee has to travel globally on customer assignments. For few employees this is a factor of motivation as they see this great opportunity to travel around the world and gain multi country, multi culture work experience.
However for few employees see travel as a dark side of their job. It takes them away from their personal and family commitments. They hate their job when it comes to travel.
There is no method to measure when need at particular level is satisfied.
There are several examples in above context too. Few employees who initially were seen very excited about travel and had always found ready for it now no longer willing to travel anymore rather hates it. It was difficult to know precisely when this particular need was satisfied.
I will recommend following approach to be practiced with in Telcordia to motivate employees.
Physiological needs - Telcordia offers competitive salaries but there should be few performance related incentives/components.
Safety needs - Telcordia values the safety of all employees. Most of the people travel all the time. Travel policies should be made more flexible with generous allowance so that there is no hardship when people are performing their duties in a completely different environment.
Social needs - There should be frequent company get together and social events so that employee can meet and socialise when they are not travelling.
Self-Actualisation - Telcordia should provide employees with the opportunity to take on challenging and motivating responsibilities. For example, BU provides the opportunity for individuals to take ownership of projects. This enables them to develop their career.
Mayo
Mayo suggested that employees are best motivated when they worked in a team rather than as individual. Also they are also motivated when their manager communicates and consulted with them on work matters making them feel their value and importance.
It was very prominent in the Denson survey result. Departments which were identified has highly demotivated were consulting division where employees travel most of the time to customer sited and work individually on their work package.
The only department where employees were highly motivated was customer support organisation where all employees were co-located and working like a team. Their manager was interacting with them all the time .,consulting and guiding them on their day to day work.
Based on these analyses Mayo's theory seems very practical in work environment.
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I will recommend both elements of Mayo's theory to be adopted in Telcordia. Manager need to to be communicating more with team and team member should be consulted more in the decision making process.
Manager need to take greater interest in employee's wellbeing and views.
Herzberg
Herzberg in his article ("One More Time: How do You Motivate Employees", 1960), published Motivation-Hygiene Theory.
Hygiene factors also known as 'dissatisfiers' are the elements at the workplace, if not considered adequte by employees, could make employees unhappy, though motivation factors are those when exist create job satisfaction. He also pointed out that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are not opposites.
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http://www.tutor2u.net/business/people/motivation_theory_herzberg.asp
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_74.htm
Herzberg also pointed out that by management can keep employee motivated through job enlargement, job rotation and job enrichment.
In case of Telcordia Job enlargement cannot be motivational factor. As it was identified in Denison survey that employees were stressed and overloaded with work .In such scenario job enlargement could become de-motivator.
Job rotation also cannot be well received in Telcordia as an employee who is specialized in one skill cannot be equally productive in other areas. Also company has to incur extra cost on training if it has to implement job rotation.
However job enrichment can be proved beneficial for Telcordia and will help bring better performance to the workplace.
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I will recommend Telcordia to develop a number of motivating factors, to ensure that Telcordia is perceived as employer of choice and a good place to work. Few suggestions are:
Flexible Working, job sharing allowing working from home, part time working.
Career breaks, time off for dependents, parental leave, maternity and paternity leave
Subsidized access to local facilities, Child care voucher etc.
Motivating staff helps to make them more committed to the workplace. By understanding the effects of different motivation techniques, Kellogg's is able to make work a more exciting and interesting experience for employees whilst creating a more productive, profitable and competitive business.
VROOM
Vroom expectancy theory states that an employee's motivation to complete a task influenced by
E- (Expectancy) Probability that effort will lead to task completion.
I- (Instrumentality) Probability that task completion will lead to reward.
V-(Valance) Value attached to the reward
Vroom expectancy theory is very prominent in service industry. [IMAGE] demonstrate how a library service get influenced by VROOM's factors.
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http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1631030&show=html
In case of Telcordia, V Room theory was very prominent in sales organisation. Sales executives had guaranteed rewards attached to their accomplishment as per their terms of employment so they were highly motivated towards meeting their sales target. Same level of motivation was not seen in other parts of organisation.
Employee pay and benefit packages need to be reviewed .It should be re structured in such a way that there are more valued components linked to employee's performance and accomplishment of individual goal.
