Question

Review the discussion question and answer below. Do you agree with the answer? why or why not? Give your opinion.

Discussion Question: Please think of a position and propose a strategy to best motivate the employee. For example, you could say that a commission pay structure is the best way to motivate a Real Estate Broker and state why.

Answer: The position I will be talking about is the manager position of any kind of company or store you can think of. Although the manager is not the owner of the company they have a very huge responsibility to the place. It could be difficult to propose a strategy to best motivate the managers because they have to make sure that the employees below them are motivated and encouraged to come to work and be focused on the job. But, I found a couple ways that can be the motivation for all managers.

One of the top priorities of any person who works is, making a decent amount of money. Nobody likes to work for free when they have bills to pay in their house. So, the first motivation can be a pay raise. If not a pay raise then a cash bonus or some kind of cash reward if the managers do certain tasks like for an example: coming to work early for a long period of time, making sure the employees in the store are doing their tasks on time and another; handling customers who have a issue or need help with their best abilities.

Another way managers can be motivated is by the way the store is run. By having a peaceful work environment where everyone knows how to treat each other and speak to one another in stressful situations can motivate not just the managers but anybody in any kind of work place. It really takes a toll on you if you go to work every day and you have to argue with your co workers about things that can just be talked about. Having a hostile workplace does not make you excited to go to work, it will make you dread going to work and having to deal with curtain things. I am not saying that it has to always be sunshine and rainbows at work because some people will just be having a bad day and will not want to deal with things, but having a work place where you can just relax and do your work will be motivating to anyone.

Lastly, I believe that a good strategy that will motivate managers to come to work is being able to work toward more paid time off and vacation time. All managers have to come in on their sick days, days off, vacation days, just any day that they are not in the store and something is going wrong. The managers are always the first ones to be called no matter what the situation is and most of the time they have to come in to work to handle these situations. It comes with the position but it will motivate the managers to be more active when they can and help more when it is needed so they can generate some more time off they can spend with their families. It can be hard on families who have managers because they never have the time to spend family time and if they can go to work knowing they are working towards some more family time it will be better for them.

Answer 1

Critical analysis of answer

The answer provided contains information about monetary rewards to motivate managers. Certainly, employees feel motivated when they receive adequate compensation. The vroom theory of motivation states that a cognitive dissonance takes place in an employee when the employee feels that his monetary rewards is not matched with his or her efforts. Therefore, the answer rightly mentions that monetary rewards must be adequate to motivate managers.

The answer also contains importance of friendly and supportive work environment that motivates employees or manager. Respect and courtesy should be provided to each employee to motivate them. Therefore, it is rightly said that a workplace free of conflicts and has a teamwork approach motivates the employees.

But the answer mentions that managers are motivated when they work for long hours and do not devote time for their family. This suggestion is wrong because work-life balance that is often required by managers is missing here. Managers under such circumstances can become victim of mental and physical burnout and this can reduce not only their motivational level, but can increase a high turnover as manager may tend to leave the organization. Therefore, to motivate the employees or manager, it is imperative that work-life balance should be offered to keep employees or manager motivated. Work-life balance is found as an effective strategy to motivate workers as they do not face issues such as overburdened work, and mental and physical fatigue and burnout problems. Offering work-life balance to an employee can certainly eradicate these issues. Therefore, it is found that while the answer contains good strategies such as friendly work environment and adequate salary, it does not suggest work-life balance to motivate manager. Also the answer does not include intrinsic motivation factors such as recognition and challenging work to the managers, or learning opportunities through job enrichment as these strategies motivate employees. Thus, the answer is not completely correct.