Saturday, February 19, 2011

A Little Chat Can Go A Long Way

 A Talk Can Go A Long Way

If your boss came up to you and chatted with you for a few minutes would that motivate you to work harder? Adam Grant a Wharton School of Business Professor believes this to be the case. He did a case where he talked to a group of telephone operators trying to collect money for a school. Before he talked to them they made an average of $185 per day. He briefly talked to them asking them about their studies and over the next month average sales were up to over $500. This may seem hard to believe, but these people were unhappy with their job, worked long hours, and were paid little money. Although, once Grant interacted and talked to his employees and that was all they needed to keep their motivation up.

This is similar to the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs where people need a feeling of belonging. People need to be able feel like they are wanted and that they have a sense that they are wanted. Grant also goes on to say that by showing the employees what exactly the money they are bringing in is going towards; it will also give them a reason to continue bringing in that money. This type of act can be part of the expectancy theory because the effort that these employees are able to put in will will show their performance and in return bring the employees a reward.

I think that this is a creative way to show keep employees motivated because by showing employees what they are really working for will keep them working and continue to do their jobs at a high level. Especially if they know what they are working to accomplish.

My question to everyone is do you believe by simply interacting with employees will continue to keep them motivated? Would this type of motivation motivate you to keep working? Why or why not?

-Brian Cullum team 7

1 comment:

  1. I think the best way to creative a positive work environment starts with being respective to your employee's. No one wants to feel that a person is "above" them even if they have a higher position. It starts with saying please and thank you, helping other with work even if you aren't assigned to that task. If managers and higher positions in a company came by and talked to lower level employees (LLE), the LLE would understand that the managers are not out there to punish or babysit them. Everyone is there to the make the company the best company it can be.

    -Matt Blachowicz

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