Running Head: ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION MODEL
Analysis of Employee
Motivation Model
481-DL Leadership
Assignment 3 Session 6
Northwestern University
Submitted by Maria Almacen
11/3/2013
ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION MODEL
Table of Contents
Summary of Employee Motivation – A Powerful New Model .................................................................... 2
Analysis of Employee Motivation Model ..................................................................................................... 3
References ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
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ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION MODEL
Summary of Employee Motivation – A Powerful New Model
An inspired employee leads to improved work performance (Nohria, Groysberg, and Lee, 2008).
However, motivating others to perform the best of their abilities, especially at the most vexing moments,
is one of the most challenging endeavors of a leader (Nohria, Groysberg, and Lee, 2008). According to
Paul Lawrence and Nohria’s 2002 book “Driven” there are four underlying drives in everything we do,
the drive to: “acquire” rare things and “intangibles such as social status;” “bond” “with individuals and
groups;” “comprehend” in order to “satisfy our curiosity and master the world around us;” and “defend”
ourselves or those important to us “against external threats and promote justice” (Nohria, Groysberg, and
Lee, 2008). Satisfying all four of the employees’ basic emotional drives is crucial to a company’s
success. Nohria, Groysberg, and Lee (2008) identified four distinct organizational levers to fulfill each
of these drives: reward system, culture, job design, and performance-management and resourceallocation processes.
The reward system was identified to satisfy the drive to acquire. It is directly “tied to
performance” discerning high and low achievers in order to give the best performers a chance for
advancement (Nohria, Groysberg, and Lee (2008). Culture, on the other hand, will help fulfill the drive
to bond. Stimulating a strong sense of fellowship creates a culture that endorses solidarity, cooperation,
ingenuousness, and friendship. Culture also emboldens partaking of best practices. The sense of
attachment with co-workers and the organization fulfills that desire of belongingness thus bringing joy
while working.
Job design helps satisfy the drive to comprehend. Designing jobs that are meaningful and
challenging stimulates creativity and interest among employees. Making employees feel that their ideas
or contributions to the job are important satisfies their sense of belonging in this job design. In addition,
training and rotating staff help in maintaining and gaining knowledge, skills, and attitude that could
enhance job performance. Performance-management and resource-allocation processes that are “fair,
trustworthy, and transparent” help fulfill people’s need to defend (Nohria, Groysberg, and Lee, 2008).
Company transparency and fairness help build trust among employees no matter how much they disagree
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ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION MODEL
with the results of the company’s granting of rewards, allocation of assignments, and/or giving other
forms of recognition (Nohria, Groysberg, and Lee, 2008).
Analysis of Employee Motivation Model
Subject to a multifarious “system of managerial and organizational factors,” motivated employees
can enhance “company performance” (Nohria, Groysberg, and Lee, 2008). The employee motivation
model created by Nohria, Groysberg, and Lee (2008) suggests that “insights into human behavior” may
benefit leaders in getting “the best out of employees by fulfilling their most fundamental needs.” This
article was selected to analyze the most important objectives of path-goal theory: to enhance employee
performance and employee satisfaction by way of employee motivation.
The drive to acquire is best satisfied by a reward system throughout an organization. In a
healthcare organization, a reward system can be offered in terms of yearly percentage evaluation and pay
raise based on attendance and performance. Further, rewards can be offered in terms of a one-time
percentage raise upon meeting raised level (RN level 2 to RN level 3) requirements such as a combination
of continuous committee involvement, project leads, community service involvement in addition to the
employees’ regular job requirements. Rewards can also be offered as recognizing efforts made in
preventing errors that promote patient safety by way of awarding certificates, announcements through
local media, and a one-time payment incentive.
The culture model in a healthcare organization can help shape employee camaraderie. In a
healthcare organization where mutual support is promoted, employees may not feel alone when faced
with a challenging task, such as a difficult assignment, heavy patient-nurse ratio, or an unusual procedure.
There is a big difference between working in a unit where a culture of mutual support exists and where
people feel they are expected to succeed on their own, without any assistance from others despite
overwhelming circumstances. Culture is also promoted by way of remembering people’s birthdays, or
minor celebration of people’s special occasions.
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ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION MODEL
Job design model is promoted in a healthcare organization by rotating staff between low and high
critical cases. This is to ensure that employees are able to practice the necessary skills and maintain or
obtain the necessary knowledge needed in performing their jobs. Currently, there are many instances
where new and selected older nurses are kept in highly critical or admission areas. The other nurses
assigned to care for the low critical patients are left with deteriorating high-intensity and even routine
procedure skills. Management can prevent employees from feeling inadequate and avert the perception of
managerial apathy by constantly rotating nurses to help maintain their basic skills and to gain specialized
knowledge for other demanding assignments. Performance management and resource-allocation model
can be promoted in a healthcare organization by providing transparency and promoting fairness. Fairness
is reinforced in any organization where a raise in pay is allocated not only to a group of young individuals
but throughout the whole organization. Transparency is emphasized when an announcement is
accompanied by a written explanation as to why and how raise in pay is given to certain individuals. This
will prevent negative situations where employees are left to guess as to how raise is awarded.
Overall, employees are motivated to perform extraordinarily when assured that their efforts and
contributions are compensated, valued, and acknowledged by the organization, as an outcome of a
successful implementation of employee motivation model.
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ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION MODEL
References
Nohria, N., Groysberg, B., & Lee, L. (2008). Employee motivation. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved
from http://www.stanford.edu/group/designx_lab/wikiupload/b/bb/HBR_Employee_Motivation.pdf
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