What need theories would explain why Samuel Gibson was unhappy despite his high income?
People (employees) are the most valuable asset to any organisation; consequently, management of people in the workplace is a fundamental part in the management process. It is essential to have an inclusive harmonization between the human element and the organization in order to understand the critical importance of people. Many organizations have realized that average worker is the major source of productivity and quality gains. Organizations that have mastered the art of motivating their employees have the most powerful tools for achieving extra-ordinary results. Satisfied employees arm themselves with confidence that induce them to stay longer, commit more to the business, and work harder (Kachaner, George, & Bloch, 2012).
Gibson was unhappy despite earning large salary. This section will critically analyse the Gibson’s case using Frederick Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory. He developed the Two-Factor theory of motivation. According to him, some factors were motivators or satisfiers. Conversely, the absence of hygiene factors created dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction factors could be prevented by improving hygiene factors, but these improvements alone could not alone provide motivation. Herzberg’s research showed that creating conditions that make an employee feel fulfilled in the workplace are the true motivators. Gibson is unhappy despite high pay because the company does not pay attention to hygiene and does not enable satisfiers.
Gibson seems to have drifted into being a teacher. Given his needs and motivations, do you think teaching is an appropriate profession for him?
According to Herzberg, jobs should have sufficient challenge to utilise the full ability of the employee (Keyton, 2010). According to the case, Gibson complained that “he had to keep saying the same things over and over again in his seminars, and business memos were not interesting as the literature he had been trained on” (Case Study). Evidently, the job did not give Gibson the challenge he had prepared himself for while in college. Gibson performed a job that kept repeating itself thereby making him lose interest in the job. He had to perform jobs that required less creativity as compared to literature he studied in school. As such, I would agree that teaching is not the best profession for Gibson. In addition, Gibson feels that some employees no longer need his services, which makes him feel rejected.
Herzberg also suggests that employees who have demonstrated some level of ability should be given increasing level of responsibility (Griffin, Texas, & University, 2009). As in the case of Gibson, he started training the management staff before starting to train junior employees. He feels that this job lacks a sense of growth because he had to accept a cut in his pay in order to train floor workers. An organization should also ensure that jobs are designed in such a manner that they use the full potential of an employee. In the case of Gibson, the management failed to use his full potential, which resulted into motivation problem.
References:
Daft, R.L. (2009). Organisation theory and design. Cengage Learning.
Griffin, W. R., Texas, A., & University, M. (2009). Organisational behaviour, 6th ed. Cengage Learning.
Kachaner, N., George, S., & Bloch, A. (2012). “What you can learn from family business.” Harvard Business Review.
Keyton, J. (2010). Communication and organisational culture: a key to understanding work experiences. SAGE.
