Written Discussion: Organizational Behavior Homework

As contextualized by our reading material, employee responsiveness could coalesce when administered clear, specific, and attainable goals — all the while averting goal difficulty. However, this occurrence only happens if — and only when — a worker is motivated to work.

A good employee does their work, and a great employee is one who does their work while motivated. This phenomenon relates to a principle of basic economics known as the invisible hand. Therein, the invisible hand serves as the impetus to work-related self-fulfillment.

When people have jobs that provide security, above-market salary, and excellent benefits, one can expect a general increase in motivation to attain organizational goals.

Suppose I am offered a menu of flexible benefits, I would consider choosing an extended work schedule. I would choose this because I have many side projects that need 12–14 hours of attunement per diem. Then, perhaps, I too would be privy working for a company that offers telecommuting to work, rather than a physical presence.

Such benefits could indeed deter employee motivation. Perhaps managers struggle to administrate goals and motivate employees when restricted from physical communication, i.e. when managing via telecommunication.

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Being a hard worker, I believe compensation should be meritocracy-based; therefore, I would seek new employment if the company’s benefits structure were not egalitarian. Nepotism, cronyism, and favoritism do not belong in the office.

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Michael, your position on what is most important to yourself seems fairly justified, as incentive and salary-based come with many caveats.

Failure to adequately compensate employees could lead to employee marginalization, which in effect deteriorates employee output. Moreover, inadequate compensation plans tend to attract those who perform at suboptimal quality and standards. A business having such a workforce would serve as a deterrent to my being interested in their employment. I do not particularly appreciate working with those whose standards are below what the golden standard is within the industry.

However, on the other end, another issue may arise wherein an organization only compensates workers based on incentives. This may brood grounds where malfeasance becomes the norm, and compensations are namesake.

The issue may arise in an organization where incentive-only plans lead organizational members to commit unscrupulous acts, such as fraudulent P&L submissions, puffery on sales calls, or omission of details from closed sales contracts.

Thanks — Adel Al-Aali

Week 5 Discussion Forum — TOPIC: Motivating Behavior with Work and Rewards

For managers to take full advantage of the symbolic value of pay, there must be a perception on the part of employees that their rewards are linked to their performance.

Organizations must ensure that pay differences are based strictly on performance (including seniority), and not on factors that do not relate to performance (such as gender, ethnicity, or other discriminatory factors).

Because it is really quite difficult to differentiate among all the employees, most firms use some basic compensation level for everyone.

They might also work to provide reasonable incentives and other inducements for high performers while making sure that they don’t ignore the average employees.

The key fact for managers to remember is simply that if they expect rewards to motivate performance, employees must see a clear, direct link between their own job-related behaviors and the attainment of those rewards.

Question: What positive and negative elements could you foresee in employee motivation if an employer’s pay structure only included a “menu of flexible benefits”, whereby you get to choose only a limited number among many? (Refer to Chapter 6’s “Types of Rewards” sections on differences in compensation packages and their consideration as a “benefit”, p. 234). What benefits would consider the most important for you and/or your family, if applicable? What types of deficiencies in total rewards would cause you to seek other employment?

Please post 1 original response by Saturday at 11:59 pm and then respond once, (1) time, to another classmate’s answer by Tuesday at 11:59 pm. Please make sure to move the dialogue forward as if in an in-class conversation and abide by the Discussion Forum Rubric attached. Your responses must move a dialogue forward in the topic area similar to simulating a class discussion. Just reiterating what someone else said or responding with “I agree with you” is not enough to warrant full credit.

It is IMPERATIVE that you post 1 original AND!!!! 1 response to a classmate for full credit. Failure to do so will result in a large decrease in your score.