Motivation Case
The situation outlined in the case takes place in a software company. When the company founder and CEO, Cindy, realized that her profits have stagnated, she decided to increase employee performance by restructuring. While the company employees used to work individually, Cindy has established small teams of 8, starting with IT department. Teams have been created based on personality inventory and consisted of both “millennials” and more experienced “gen-Xers”. Employees have been informed that they will be evaluated as a unit. As a result, several months later Cindy has registered that performance of IT department has substantially reduced, deadlines on tasks have been failed and customers have been dissatisfied. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the atmosphere within teams was often hostile and non-productive, and some employees have been less motivated.
In the given case study we are going to describe two ways in which Cindy could use rewards to help curtail these motivational declines. We will also touch upon how each of these two approaches would increase motivation and which type of motivation would be impacted.
The teams have been organized based on personality identity.
The goals have been defined only for the team in a whole, no individual goals have been set up.
Two generations, which had demonstrated difficulties in getting along, have been mixed in the teams without additional external efforts to encourage their collaboration.
Teams seemed to be self-organized but not structured, without clear duties assigned.
As a result of this actions, the company got frustrated employees, whose work environment has changed dramatically. They were forced to change usual work-style and perform in dependence of people they had tension with, without any external organizational guidance or support.
We believe that this situation could be avoided by applying a more solid approach to teamwork creation.
It was a sound idea to start teams creation with personality inventory, but the emphasis should have been done on employees skills. After assessing employees strengths and weaknesses, the management should have built the teams as the best combination of skills. Diversity is the key factor here, as it creates an opportunity for variety of ideas and solutions.
Team members should have both individual goals and common goals. Recognition based on common goals achievement is reasonable, but there should be a process to evaluate individual contribution as well. It will allow to avoid ‘slackers’ in the teams.
Each team should be well-organized, otherwise the chaos will rule it. It may be a solution to appoint or select a team leader out of employees, who will distribute tasks and define responsibilities. The team leader can change periodically, which will allow employees practice their managerial skills.
Collaboration within team should be very much promoted and encouraged, especially in a situation of existing tension. Moreover, encouragement should not be just verbal, but should supported by various programs. For example, a sort of “Thank you” program can be created: when an employee gets some help or a piece of advice from a teammate, he sends out a “Thank you” message throughout the company. Periodically the number of such messages can be calculated and the best-collaborated team can be recognized.
If some employees are really more experienced professional than others, it would be wise to take advantage of it. Asking “experts” to share their tips and knowledge in a sort of local training can make them feel honored and important, and put end to informal professional competitions.
The teams created based on these principles can be a breeding ground for robust motivation program. As it was quite correctly done by Cindy, motivation program should be applied to the whole team based on common performance results. In our opinion effective motivation program should trigger both intrinsic and extrinsic values.
Speaking of intrinsic motivation, each skilled specialist values opportunities for professional development. They can have various forms: from local and external trainings to participation in cross-functional projects which allow to grow “vertically” or acquiring the most challenging and interesting IT projects.
Although extrinsic motivation usually has a supporting function and is not recommended to be used without an intrinsic one, it shouldn’t be neglected as well. Extrinsic motivation can be triggered by a variety of reward forms. However, these rewards have different value for different people. Therefore, it can be a good solution to offer employees a choice of rewards: cash bonus, gift card, company shares.
It is undisputable that fair salary level is the strongest stimulus of extrinsic motivation. But in our opinion it should be based on individual performance evaluation process and shouldn’t depend on the team results only.
Summing up the considerations, we can state that creating productive teams is a very difficult task. It requires patience, time and continuous support, which shouldn’t mixed up with micromanagement. In their turn, reasonable motivation programs can increase teams productivity and prove that switch from solitary performance to teamwork has undeniable advantages for both the company and employees.
Works Cited
Lau E. Why and where is teamwork important? Forbes. 2013. Web. 10 Apr.2016.
Whitehurst J. Ways to Encourage Smarter Teamwork. Harvard Business Review.2015. Web. 10 Apr.2016.
