You Can't Change People
This was an interesting take on how to deal with employees and people in general. The article said that you can't change people, but you can motivate them to change their behavior. The article says, "no you can’t change other people. But what you can do is change what they are reacting too and change the rewards structure that they receive." So basically it claims that only a person can change themselves not an outside source, but an outside source can direct them to act a certain way with certain motivators. In the article it also tells about a young boy who is late everyday. The teacher told the class that every morning at the beginning of the day she would give a question and answer to the next test. The boy was never late again.
Motivation plays such and important part in the workforce. No matter where you work there is going to be lazy employees or unhappy people who are not performing their jobs to the best of their abilities. So the manager needs to think of some ways to motivate those workers. Here are some suggestions from the article. First you need to identify the behavior that needs to be fixed. Then figure out what motivates that specific person, such as praise, special assignments, criticism, and if possible financial incentives. The article goes on to explain ways you can fix certain employee problems such as whiners, attention seekers, and Procrastinating employees.
Overall, this article is really informative on ways on motivate employees and it was interesting because it was sort of a different way to look at motivation. Obviously motivation is important and all managers need to know how to get their employees to perform their jobs as best as they can.
Posted By: Jacob Cyscon
Dr. Sheep's feedback for your team:
ReplyDeleteIn general, you are off to a relatively good start on your blog. Your posts are interesting in terms of raising issues and questions related to motivation in organizations. However, I would encourage you to improve your blog posts in the following ways.
First, most of your posts can be much more specific and accurate in your application of OB course concepts. For example, the post that linked the article by Carmin Gallo makes the statement: “I know that motivation with incentive based techniques may soon lose focus for employees because once they achieve the incentive they have nothing else to motivate them so it's ends up being a temporary thing.” Well, that is a good point, but there are more precise terms given by our textbook to use for what you are describing in this post: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, as well as Herzberg’s two-factor theory.
In other posts in your blog, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Expectancy Theory are applied in very non-specific and ambiguous ways. For example, one post states, “This is similar to the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs where people need a feeling of belonging.” While this is partially true, it does not take into account that, according Maslow’s theory, people will NOT necessarily feel that need until their lower order needs have been met. The post about “Bonuses Are Not Always Motivating” could easily apply Herzberg’s two-factor theory because its subject matter is directly addressed by that theory; yet, the post does not mention or attempt to apply this theory at all. Later, another post finally does make mention of the relation of “hygiene factors” to job dissatisfaction (without specifying the theory from which it comes), but this post is not identified by giving the team member’s name. Thus, overall, more care in applying course concepts would significantly improve the accuracy and support of the conclusions you are drawing.
Finally, always be sure to reference the source of your posted material. The post about McDonald’s summarizes some points from “an article,” but it does not give the source or link to the article.
Overall, keep up the good work in terms or raising interesting issues, and then improve on your specific application of OB course concepts. This would make your blog a more valuable and reliable resource for the rest of the MQM 221 class in future posts.