Academic Integrity: tutoring, explanations, and feedback — we don’t complete graded work or submit on a student’s behalf.

1. Motivation and Incentives 1. Chris Rivard is the general manager in the human

ID: 384085 • Letter: 1

Question

1. Motivation and Incentives

1. Chris Rivard is the general manager in the human resources department of a software firm. Unlike most other software firms, the company does not have a turnover problem. However, the issue with the firm is productivity. People do not seem to work hard enough. The output is just too low for the time they spend in the office. Chris is wondering what the problem could be. The company pays near the top in the industry, the fringe benefits are very attractive, and the work conditions are satisfactory. As he discusses the issue with his colleague, Ryan, in the HR department, he discovers that people want “other things.” Some of them are also discouraged as they feel that no matter how hard they work, they get the same pay. Chris’ goal is to increase the performance of the employees. What should he do? Using the theories covered in class, discuss 1) What the “other things” are to which Ryan might be referring? and 2) Why would the people in Rivard’s firm feel discouraged by the same pay?

Explanation / Answer

1)     Question: What the “other things” are to which Ryan might be referring?

Answer: Chris and Ryan are discussing the low employee performance case of the organization and they are exploring the ways to improve the performance of the employees at the organization.

Chris said that the organization is paying near the top in the industry, fringe benefits are attractive, work conditions are satisfactory, even though the performance of the employees is not satisfactory. Then Ryan told that the employee might need other things. There is no difference if the employees work hard or not, they will get the same pay.

So this is the important point brought by Ryan in the discussion that the employee wants “other things”. The “other things” stands here as they pay structure with respect to the performance of the employees. The pay structure needs to be aligned to the performance of the employees. The employee who work hard, needs to get high pay and the employee who works less, needs to get less pay. The performance based pay differentiator will be good technique for increasing the performance of the employees. This is what the Ryan wants to communicate to Chris that employees wants the performance based pay differentiator. This will be right option for motivating the employees.

2)     Question: Why would the people in Rivard’s firm feel discouraged by the same pay?

Answer – The people in the Rivard’s firm feel discouraged by the same pay, because there is no benefit in the pay if they work hard or less. The pay is fixed either works hard or works less. So the pay is not a motivator at the firm. The people or employee at the firm looking for the performance based pay differentiator, so that if they work hard, they will get more pay. So performance based pay structure will be more appropriate at the firm and it will motivate employees for better performance.