Q No.1: What evidence is there that employee award schemes can help meet the
need and expectations of people at work outlined in figure 1?
Reward does not always mean pay and employee benefits it should also include nonfinancial benefits like recognition, learning and development opportunities and
increased job responsibility.
Money is not the answer to all the questions similarly in case of reward the employer
should not only focus on money but should also provide the employees with the intrinsic
satisfaction on the job means that employee should be able to enjoy their work, the
work they are doing should be based on their interest in this way the employee will
perform better and perform his/her responsibility efficiently. This does not mean that
economic reward is not important along with the intrinsic satisfaction the economic
reward should also be given in order to motivate the employees and also the social
relationship is also really important to motivate the employees because a person will
work more comfortably in an environment where he/she is socially comfortable. Like if
the whole group is performing well the whole group should be rewarded rather than one
person this will affect the social relationship of that one person and will demotivate him
because if the whole group is working hard then whole group should be rewarded. Like
in this case study they gave the example of an employee who left the job because only
he was rewarded in the group and also the reward is not up to the level of his work.
Therefore in order to motivate the employees it is really important that the reward
should not only be based on money or financial benefits but the employee should have
intrinsic benefit and that reward will not affect his/her social relationships.
The reward system should be based on following points:
1. Reward people according to the value they are creating in their job.
2. Align reward practices with business goals and with employee’s value and need.
3. Reward the right thing to convey the right message about what is important in
terms of outcomes and behavior
4. Help to attract and retain high quality people who are useful for the company
5. Motivate people and obtain their engagement and commitment
6. Develop a high performance culture.
Rewarding employees is always a good option to attract and retain high quality
workforce but it is important that the reward should not only be based on financial
benefits but it should also include intrinsic benefits to the employee and also the reward
should not affect the social relationship of the employee because with financial benefits
the other two factors are equally important to retain the high quality workforce. If you
provide the employee with high financial reward but the employee is not satisfied with
his job that is intrinsic satisfaction is not there the employee can leave the job similarly if
the employee is not socially comfortable in that case also he/she can leave the job so all
the three factors are important to motivate and retain the employees.
Q No. 2: Explain which two motivational theories you think are most useful for the
manager who is planning an employee reward scheme both to decide what to
include in the scheme and what to avoid?
Motivation process is basically associated with the consious or unconsious recognition
of unsatisfied needs.Goals are established that are based on fullfilling those needs. If
the goals are achieved the need is satisfied and behavior is likely to be repeated the
next time. There are different types of motivation intrinsic motivation and extrinsic
motivation. Intrinsic motivations is created from the work itself hat is if the work is of
employees interest it will motivate the employees to work hard and extrinsic motivation
is what is done to motivate the employee this includes increased pay, recognition,
praise or promotion. There are various motivational theories to motivate the employees
like:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Instrumentality, behaviorists, and reinforcement theories
Needs or content theory
Herzberg`s two factor theory
Process or cognitive theory
Instrumentality theory is based on the concept that people only work for money it states
that people will be more motivated if rewards are tied to their performance and it focus
on the fact that if one want to motivate the employee they can simply do that by giving
them financial reward and not focusing on the other needs of the employee.
Need (content) theory is based on the fact that unsatisfied needs create tension and
disequilibrium and in order to achieve the equilibrium it is necessary that the needs of
the employees are satisfied. Maslow was the well-known contributor of the theory. This
theory means that to motivate the employee it is necessary that their needs are satisfied
only then an employee can perform well in an organization.
Herzberg`s two factor theory stated that factor that lead to job satisfaction are distinct
from the factor that lead to job dissatisfaction. The factors that lead to job satisfaction
are achievement, recognition and the work itself, responsibility and growth and the other
type of factors that are the dissatisfaction avoidance or hygiene factors includes pay,
company policies, personal relations and status these factors cannot motivate the
employee but they can be served as the preventive action. The basic focus of this
theory was on the fact that money is a motivator but the motivation attained from money
is short lived.
Process or Cognitive theory they are referred as a psychological process or forces that
effect motivation as well as basic needs, the process covered by the more relevant
theory that are the expectancy theory, goals achievement and feeling about equity.
Expectancy theory is based on two factors 1. The reward should satisfy the needs of
employee that are need for security, social esteem, autonomy and self-actualization and
2. The probability that the rewards depends on efforts as perceived by the employees.
Goal theory states that the performance is higher when the individual set specific goals
and equity theory states that the people will be better motivated if they are treated
equitably and demotivated if they are treated inequitably
So therefore according to my analysis the reward system should be based on both
intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction and not only the financial need of the employee
should be cater but also the other needs of employees should also be taken in to
account when rewarding the employee.