Question

1- You are the section chief for the customer service training arm of a large insurance company. How do you foster a culture of service within your section?

2- How would you motivate an employee who simply did the minimum of work? This employee has limited education, works for a fairly low salary, does not seem very interested in the job. He is active in Little League and has three young boys. He is very religious.

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) (1) Inspirational Motivation – Inspire his colleagues to adopt a method that is in the best interest of the employee as opposed to a dogmatic method that is adopted by the hierarchy.

This inspiration can be derived from different sources. A leader does not have to adapt to obsolete methods of managing a workplace by running a tight ship. Employees tend to get more creative and work assiduously when they feel that they are in a free environment.

Therefore, relaxing activities like a common tea time break for every employee to simply talk to each other, relax and have a good time, might be something that keeps their spirits up in the workplace.

A small weekend getaway trip for the most efficient employee is also a reward based motivation that might help boost productivity. Generally, when there is a reward presented periodically, employees might be more interested in adding a lot more effort.

(2) If this employee is putting in a minimum effort, it is probably because his pay is not equivalent to the job he is doing. In such a situation, even if it were a different employee, it might result in the same problem, since it wouldn’t be an issue with the person but rather with the job itself.

This is when it would essential for the manager to put in a word to increase the pay for that position. Furthermore, if this particular employee has children, the workplace might consider a small sponsorship for his child’s little league team. Basically, it would be essential for the employee to feel that the company is a part of his life and something that gives him a feeling of belonging. By doing this, the employee is likely to not be apathetic about the job and actually be motivated to be a part of the process.