Mr. Alok Banarjee is the Chief Executive of a medium- sized pharmaceutical firm

Question

Mr. Alok Banarjee is the Chief Executive of a medium- sized pharmaceutical firm in Calcutta. He holds a Ph D in Pharmacy. However, he has not been involved in research and development of new products for two decades. Though turnover is not a problem for the company, Mr. Banarjee and his senior colleagues noticed that the workers on hourly basis are not working up to their full potential. It is well known fact that they filled their days with unnecessary and unproductive activities and worked only for the sake of a pay cheque. In the recent past the situation has become quite alarming as the organization began to crumble under the weight of uneconomical effort. The situation demanded immediate managerial attention and prompt remedial measures. Mr. Banarjee knew very well that the only way to progress and prosper is to motivate workers to peak performance through various incentive plans. One fine morning, Mr. Banarjee contacted the Personnel Manager and enquired: “What is the problem with the workers on hourly basis? The wage bill shows that we pay them the highest in the industry. Our working conditions are fine. Our fringe benefits are excellent. Still these workers are not motivated. What do they require really?” The Personnel Manager gave the following reply: “I have already informed you a number of times, that money, working conditions and benefits are not enough. Other things are equally important. One of workers in that group recently gave me a clue as to why more and more workers are joining the bandwagon of ‘non-performers’. He felt bad that hard work and efficiency go un-noticed and un-rewarded in our organization. Our promotion and benefit plans are tied to length of service. Even the lazy workers, accordingly, enjoy all the benefits in the organization, which, in fact according to workers, should go only to those who work hard.” Mr. Banarjee then wanted the Personnel Manager to look into the problem more closely and find out a solution to the problem of workers on hourly basis. Answer the following questions Q. 1. Explain the motivational problem and state the theory relating to Motivation in this case. Q. 2. If you were the manager, how would you assess employee satisfaction in this organization? Q. 3. State the different methods adopted to motivate the employees and suggest the method you would prefer to make the employee work better in the given case.

Explanation / Answer

Motivation problem –

It seems to be a problem of lack of intrinsic motivators. Intrinsic motivators are Achievement, responsibility and competence, motivators that come from the actual performance of the task or job -- the intrinsic interest of the work.

Pay, promotion, benefits, working conditions – these are things that come from a person's environment, controlled by others. These are extrinsic motivators.

As per Cognitive evaluation theory, intrinsically motivated individuals perform for their own achievement and satisfaction. If they come to believe that they are doing some job because of the pay or the working conditions or some other extrinsic reason, they begin to lose motivation.

The belief is that the presence of powerful extrinsic motivators can actually reduce a person's intrinsic motivation, particularly if the extrinsic motivators are perceived by the person to be controlled by people. In other words, a boss who is always dangling this reward or that stick will turn off the intrinsically motivated people.

As a manager, I will implement motivational programs that reward achievement and competence.

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