Executive Summary:
This report is a critical analysis on how effective motivation of employees can improve organisational effectiveness on a company such as Junction Hotel. It will also include recommendations that Simon Chance should incorporate into Junction Hotel in order to improve organisational effectiveness, and thus improve profits.
Introduction:
This report will cover a number of motivational theories ranging from Taylor’s Scientific Management Theory to Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory and will outline the advantages and disadvantages of using each theory. The report will deduce the effectiveness when used by a hotel company such as Junction Hotel. Furthermore, each theory will be altered slightly and tailored to work with Junction Hotel and Simon Chance will be able to effectively follow this report and decide which theory he would like to use.
Motivational Theory 1: Taylor
Taylor’s scientific management theory was theorised at the start of the 20th century and heavily influenced production methods around that time such as Henry Ford’s mass production techniques in the production of cars. Taylor’s theory states that ‘what the workmen want from employers beyond anything else is higher wages’, essentially Taylor believed that workers were only motivated by money. As a result, workers don’t necessarily enjoy work and thus need to be closely monitored, as they had a tendency to slack off whenever they could, Taylor called this natural soldiering. To combat against this, Taylor states that managers should give workers all workers training and that the tasks should be bite sized so they are more manageable to complete. Furthermore, Taylor devised a new wage method called Piece Rate. This pays workers on how much they produce so workers that are more efficient will be rewarded with better pay. This creates a win-win situation for Junction Hotel and the workers as the employees would be incentivised to work harder thus increasing overall efficiency and production for Junction Hotel therefore, increasing their overall profits.
Some advantages to using Taylor’s motivation theory is the increase in production due to increased motivation from piece rate leading to increased profits. Although Junction Hotel would be spending more on wages, the increased production would increase revenue and thus increase Junction Hotel’s profits overall. Another advantage is the increased control managers get over employees, this is due to employees becoming specialists in their field as they do the same tasks repeatedly.
Some disadvantages however are that managers take full control of employees in an autocratic management style. This leads to less creativity within the employees as they repeat the same monotonous tasks over and over again, making their work tedious and thus potentially leading to reduced employee motivation. Furthermore, this theory treats workers like they are machines leading to workers losing skill level thus they are not suitable for difficult and highly skilled roles. Another disadvantage to this motivation theory is the effects that it has on the employees. Due to the incentives to get as much work done as possible, employees would tend to rush their work leading to a potential decrease in quality of work and quality assurance. This can then lead to dissatisfied customers and thus can decrease Junction Hotel’s brand reputation resulting in less customers in the future. Rushed work also adds stress to employees as they push their bodies to increase production as much as possible also leading to other health impacts in the long run.
Motivation Theory 2: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory puts forward a pyramid of needs in the following order: Physiological, Safety, Social, Esteem and Self-Actualisation. He suggests that once a lower level of need has been fully met, only then would an employee be motivated to by the opportunity of having the next level in the pyramid fulfilled. A business that uses this theory should then offer different incentives to workers in order to help them satisfy each need in the pyramid. However, a limitation to this theory is that managers should be wary that not everyone progresses up the hierarchy at the same pace and are also not all motivated by the same things. Managers should therefore offer different sets of incentives at the same time for every worker so that they may chose the best one from themselves.
Some advantages of using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs include the fact that human nature naturally follows this concept anyways. For example, a hungry person given the choice between food or a new pair of jeans, would always demand the food first then the pair of jeans second. This follows the Hierarchy of Needs as food falls under Physiological needs whereas jeans fall under esteem needs. Therefore, due to the fact that humans naturally follow this theory, managers at Junction Hotel should be able to easily implement incentives that allow employees to satisfy the above levels of the hierarchy.
Some disadvantages however, is that fact that every employee is unique therefore, think differently and thus may order the hierarchy differently. For example, some people may find that self-respect which is an esteem need, is more important to them than being a part of a team which is a social need. Therefore, when Simon Chance creates incentives to motivate his employees to the next level, he must be aware of the order his employees view the hierarchy in. Another drawback is that people satisfy each need at different times and different paces therefore Simon Chance would need to know when each employee is ready to move on and which still need more time. This could pressure and add stress to Simon which would affect his other work and the decision he makes.
Motivation Theory 3: Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
