Assignment Case: Thanks for Nothing Though receiving praise and recognition from

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Assignment Case: Thanks for Nothing Though receiving praise and recognition from one's company is a motivating experience, many companies are failing miserably when it comes to saving "thanks" to their employees. According to the Gulf News, 71 percent of workers in the Gulf are "disengaged" essentially meaning that they could care less about their organization. "We're operating at one-quarter of the capacity in terms of managing human capital. It's alarming" Employee recognition programs, as the UAE economy changes from energy economy to service based, can be an effective way to motivate employees and make them feel valued Take Ram - a 35-year-old Indian IT software employee in the modia city Dubai. His company proudly set up a rewards program designed to motivate employees. What were the rewards for a job well-done? Employees would receive a badge which read "U Done Good" and, cach year, would receive a medium price mobile phone as a means of annual recognition. Once an employee received 10 "U Done Good" badges, he or she could trade them in for something bigger and better-an all paid weekend hotel stay for couple even if you are unmarried. Ram states that he would prefer a salary raise. "It was patronizring There wasn't any deep thought involved in any of this." To make matters worse, he says, the badges were handed out arbitrarily and were not tied to performance. And what about those phones? Ram states that the company instilled a strict phone code, so employees couldn't even use the mobile at work if they wanted Even programs that provide employees with more expensive rewards can backfire, especially if the rewards are given insincerely. Eric, an English employee of a major auto brand company in Abu Dhabi, recalls the time when one of the friends achieved a major financial goal for the company, he received a new Rolex wristwatch but sent through a courier. A mere month later, his friend sold the Rolex on Dubizzle. Eric felt "It had absolutely no meaning for his friend. Finally, Gulf News survey found that 61 percent of employees stated that they haven't received a sincere "thank you" from management in the past year. Findings such as these are troubling as verbal rewards are not only inexpensive for employers to hand out but also are quick and easy to distribute. Of course, verbal rewards do need to be paired sometimes with tangible benefits that employees value-after all, money talks Read the Case and Answer the Below Questions 1. Analyze strengths and weaknesses of each of the above incentive situations 2. If you were the manager in the above situation, what steps would you take to motivate your employees after observing them perform well? 3. If praising employees for doing a good job is fairly easy motivational tool, why do you think companies and managers don't often do ir? employee incentive program followed by an Emirati company an

Explanation / Answer

Q1) Below are the strengths and weaknesses of the incentive solutions -

1. Receiving a badge for recognition and reward in the form of a mobile phone

Strengths - Provides both recognition and reward for the employees who perform well in the job and is a motivating factor to perform better to get more badges. Relatively inexpensive for the employers.

Weaknesses - The way the badges are handled to anyone or everyone will be demotivating to the employees who deserve a special appreciation for their performance.

2. Expensive rewards for employees in the form of luxury watches or gadgets

Strengths - The luxury gift would be a motivating factor to perform better as the individual might not purchase it on his/her own.

Weaknesses - The gift would just be viewed as something of monetary value rather than an object of recognition for the employee.

Q2) Below are the steps a manager can implement to motivate the employees based on their performance -

1. Employee productivity is an issue in the workplace. This can be increased by offering rewards and recognition in the workplace as well as the additional benefits like special bonuses based on consistent performance over years. This helps in rewarding the employees not only based on their work for the performance year but also tracks how consistent the employee is. Employee productivity increases when the employee feels he/she is recognized in the workplace.

2. It might help the firm by taking an opinion or feedback from employees on an anonymous basis regarding the way they can be recognised by providing the most opted option.

3. By highlighting the employee's contribution infront of other employees while offering the reward is critical to make the employee feel that he/she is special.

Q3) Below is why companies and managers don't often praise employees for doing a good job rather prefer to offer rewards in one or the other form -

1. Praising employees for their performance might result in the other employees feeling ignored as words mean a lot when said before a group.

2. It might lead to employees thinking that there is favouritism involved between the manager and the employee

Q4) Below is an excellent employee incentive program followed by an Emirati company -

Performance consistency based rewards and incentives program where the employee performing consistently would be rewarded a special bonus where the leader directly calls the employees and offers the rewards.

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