Carl Denton is the engineering manager at a small manufacturing company. His job
ID: 392388 • Letter: C
Question
Carl Denton is the engineering manager at a small manufacturing company. His job is to solve any problems with equipment that the production department might have and to develop new systems of production. He got in charge of the department 6 months ago to replace Bob Dylan with the instruction of improving the department’s efficiency, but still things have not been working very well since the complains from the production department have not decreased. The production manager is complaining that the new equipment that they installed is not working correctly, and consequently they are not meeting the production and quality standards for this quarter.
Carl believes the main problem in his department is that people is not motivated to do a good job. He sees that his employees work as little as possible and he is wondering what he could do to motivate them.
His department consists of 5 people, Cody, Ben, Melanie, Ethan and Anne.
Cody is a 35 year old single male with a degree in engineering. He started working for the company 5 years ago, and he was rated as a growing star for the company when he was transferred to the department because he always was coming up with new ideas to increase efficiency, but now he seems to only follow orders.
Ben is a 45 married man with 5 kids. He started working in the company 15 years ago in the lower levels of the organization, and has grown with it.
Melanie is a 21 year old engineer that started working for the company 4 months ago. She is single and this is her first job in engineering. Carl was part of the interviewing team when she was hired, and he remembers how she seemed very proud her personal achievements in the interview.
Ethan is 40 years old and used to be Bob’s right hand. He has been working for the company for 2 years and oddly his salary has some bonuses attached, therefore he receives $300 dollars more than all the other members of the team (every month). He is married and has 2 kids.
Anne is a 35 year old mother of 2. She is married, and her husband also works in the company in the department that Carl used to work. Carl remembers her husband telling him how Anne loves to have friends over their house and how she is the one that always keep in contact with their friends.
Carl knows that Bob (former engineering manager) was known for not communicating well with his people; in fact, he heard some employees referring to that department as the Library, because speaking up was considered disruptive.
On top of that, the HR department is planning on modifying the benefits the employees receive. The most important change is in health insurance. The HR department claims that in the long run, the changes will improve the services that the employees get, but the overall sentiment of the employees is that their safety net is being weakened.
Analyze this scenario and explain how you propose to motivate people from the following frameworks:
Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
Alderfer’s ERG Theory
McClelland’s Need theory
Herzberg’s Two factor theory
Adam’s Equity theory
Vroom’s Expectancy theory
For each theory, fully explain the things you would do to motivate people (you can be creative, but keep it real), and how those actions are based on the specific theory.
Explanation / Answer
These bunch of 5 peoples are in different phase of life and all of their motivating factors are different. On one end there is a 21years old fresh engineer who has first job and on the other end 45 years old man who have not great performing history. Motivating factors of the members are drastically different.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs- This theory is about a pyramid and how people attain one goals after another. I will use this theory based on the current needs which the employees are aiming to achieve and try to motivate them to perform well so that they can achieve that need quickly.
Alderfer’s ERG Theory- This theory condensed Maslow’s theory into three categories namely Existence, Relatedness and growth. I will use this theory in same manner to tell them where these employees exist now and where they should target and for this motivation is important to do the job properly.
McClelland’s Need theory- There are three needs of the people Power, affiliation and achievement. People perform their task and duties for aspiring these needs. The same process will be applied to the employees to know what expectation they have and what they want to achieve in their life. Accordingly, I will motivate them to focus on the work.
Herzberg’s Two factor theory- There are motivation factor and hygiene factors. I will analyze these factors of the employees and try to give more of the motivation factor through attractive incentive, other non-monetary and monetary compensation decided by the human resources department and motivate the employee in that way.
Adam’s Equity theory- This theory believes that individuals are motivated by fairness so maintain the equity between their input and output. I will show each of them what are their input and output. If one has negative figure I will motivate them to achieve the positive and show how the group is performing. If an employee is giving more output them the input, he/she receives I will compensate accordingly to keep the motivation level.
Vroom’s Expectancy theory- This theory tells that an individual has expectation and they try to behave in that way through instrumentality so that expectation will be fulfilled and they motivate when they are in the path of achieving their expectation. In this case also each employee has different expectation and I will show them the instrumentality i.e. to work harder and upto the expectation of the company so that they can achieve their expectation.