Employee motivation and group cohesion
Employee motivation, as well as group cohesion, is among the most essential factors for an organization to succeed. Motivating employees involves creating a favorable working environment and ensuring the employees’ needs such as finances are met. Group cohesion is the harmony between employees in an organization. Employees must understand one another, create a working rapport and communicate efficiently to remain cohesive. Motivation involves keeping employees happy and willing to work at their level best for an organization. There are companies that have managed to successfully develop group cohesion and motivate their employees. The common thing about such companies is that they have realized a lot of success. Examples of such companies are Google, Mercedes-Benz USA and Boston Consulting Group. The three companies have even been listed in the Fortune Magazine among the best 100 companies to work for.
Google was ranked first in the latest list released by the magazine. The company improved from fourth place in the previous rankings. Google realized increases in profits, revenue, price of shares and the jobs also grew significantly. Furthermore, employees of Google were found to be the most group cohesive and motivated. The employees relished the company’s culture, mission and the great working environment and resources. The company boasts facilities like the popular perks of the plex: a bowling alley, bocce courts, eyebrow shaping in New York offices. Google also has wonderful food in over 25 cafes spread across the company.
Therefore, the motivation for employees is majorly the company’s modern resources and facilities. Employees tend to enjoy the company’s organizational culture, resources and the mission. The motivation could be as a result of being part of a great company that appreciates it employees as part of it success. The group cohesion arises from the common mission of the company which is shared by all employees. The modern facilities that the company allows its employees to utilize provide a good environment to interact. Employees get time to understand one another both at work and during leisure in the company’s facilities hence; group cohesion. This employee motivation and group cohesion are proof of the George Homan’s theory of exchange. This is because the individual psychological behavior forms the group’s psychological behavior. Each employee loves the company and enjoys working there. The employees have a common feeling about the company.
Boston Consulting Group
The company is historically a top performer according to Fortune Magazine. It has ranked among the top 5 companies perennially and the latest ranking places it at second. Boston Consulting Group is a global consultancy company. It invests over 100 hours and huge amounts of dollars to recruit consultants. The recruited consultants get hefty payments averaging 139000 dollars annually. Therefore, it is easy to tell that the main factor behind employee motivation at Boston Consulting is the financial benefits. Employees would work hard just to be part of the consultancy team in order to get the fat payments. The employees gain group cohesion on the basis of the company’s objective of offering quality consultancy to its clients. When a company invests so much time and financial resources to recruit employees, it shows that only individual with specific qualities and qualifications can be employed. The company hires individuals with a common vision of providing quality services to clients.
Boston Consulting Group’s system of group cohesion and employee motivation could be based on Thibaut and Kelley’s theory of interdependence. The theory states that organizations and Employees have a mutual relationship whereby they both benefit from one another. In exchange for the high quality consultancy skills from the gifted employees, the company offers all its employees very high earnings. Therefore, there is interdependence between the employer and employees.
Mercedes-Benz USA
One of the oldest companies in history with 125 years has recorded stellar financial performances. The company made huge profits, revenues and it also employed more people. It was ranked 12th by the Fortune Magazine in the latest rankings. Notably, Mercedes Benz awarded bonuses to employees on the basis of their tenure. For instance, employees in America who had been in service for over 14 years were awarded 1400 dollars. The company adopted a system of employee motivation whereby the longest serving and loyal employees were given large financial benefits. This is meant to promote employee loyalty and to motivate those who had worked for the company over the years.
The company seems to adopt the George Homan’s exchange theory to motivate employees and foster group cohesion. Employees are given individual benefits that influence their psychological behavior hence; all employees become united and are motivated by one factor.
Conclusion
Companies adopt different ways to motivate their workers and make them gain group cohesiveness. Some use financial benefits while others emphasize on organizational culture, well defined missions and modern facilities for their workers. Mercedes Benz, Boston Consultancy Group and Google have all used employee motivation and group cohesiveness to achieve their objectives. These companies adhere to theories such as the interdependence theory and the exchange theory by George Homan.
References
Fortune. (2012). 100 Best Companies to Work For. Retrieved September 03, 2012, from CNNMoney Fortune: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/2012/full_list/
Porter, L. W., Angle, H. L., & Allen, R. W. (2003). Organizational Influence Processes (2, illustrated ed.). New York: M.E. Sharpe.
Pravin, D. (2011). Human Resource Management. New Delhi: Pearson Education India.
