What’s the Best Motivator?
During mergers when faced with challenges of not knowing what the future will hold, managers must motivate employees, It is a manager’s responsibility to know what motivates their employees and be able to implement the necessary steps to keep each member motivated.
Integrating Company Culture
Integrating two company cultures can be a difficult task. The main question all senior executives need to ask themselves is “How do I motivate my employees during this merger” What is motivation? A simplistic definition is “People who are motivated exert a greater will to perform than those individuals who aren’t motivated”. Motivation for employees during any mergers can best be described, as there are many highs and many lows. The two approaches for motivation are Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory and David McClelland’s theory of needs.
Maslow suggests that within every human being is a hierarchy of five needs. The needs are physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self -actualization. During a merger of different cultures the first issue that arises is an individual’s psychological needs. Employees of both companies question will they have the ability to pay for their home and feed themselves due to possible layoffs? This need ties in with Maslow’s second theory of need for security. “Will this combining of companies leave me with a job?” All employees ask this question their companies. The emotional roller coaster that everyone goes through in this type of situation can be a demodulator. Social needs are affected because employees loose a sense of belonging due to the new management hierarchy and new work groups being established. One’s esteem and self-actualization of needs are affected through the way an employee shakes out on the newly created organization hierarchy. Employees' needs can derail their self-actualization needs. In this new capacity, the employees do not see themselves as growing and achieving their potential because of the merger.
David McClelland has a more contemporary theory that can also describe the affects of integrating two company cultures. The motivational motives McClelland suggests are the need for achievement, the need for power, and the need for Affiliation. The affects of a merger can have a good and bad affect on employees who have a need for achievement. The decisions made for the company’s hierarchy can potentially position a high achiever in a better position to excel because of their past work and the odds are better for them to be noticed in this environment. The bad can mean the employee is not placed or noticed in the position where they cannot be seen and challenged. Individuals who have the desire, need to be in control and be influential are quite good at surviving a merger in a powerful position because of their affiliations. Their affiliation need satisfies the need for power employees because their networking has placed them in a position to consider as a player in the new company. There are no right or wrong theories on how employee motivations are affected during a merger. What is known shows that every employee’s motivations and situations are different from the other during the life change we call a merger.
Determining Integration Team Hierarchy
Roles and responsibilities change when companies merge. It may not be clear who is in charge or who makes decisions and what authority people have. Aggressive types seize the opportunity and assume they are better off asking for forgiveness than for permission. Passive types wait until someone in authority clears the confusion. Without clear roles and responsibilities, productivity suffers as people postpone work until they know who is supposed to do it. As a manager roles and responsibilities need to be established up front. When faced with individuals on the team that are use to functioning in a management capacity and now due to the merger have to take a individual contributor role on a team it is a managers responsibility to understand how to keep this employee motivated. First, make sure the employee personality traits are well defined and then understand what his /her motivational strategy is. Because if approached the wrong way, the employee’s morale may diminish causing problems with in the team.
If approached using Manslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, which states that every human has five hierarchy of needs and as each need, is achieved the next need has to be addressed. Therefore, a manager needs to approach the employee making sure that each level is addressed. The best approach would to make sure that the employee knows that he or she knows that their job is secure and their role as an individual contributor is really needed. Then benchmarks need to be set to make sure the employee is meeting the desired goals and when they are met the employee needs to be rewarded with recognition. There is no need for compensation rewards for this employee. As stated in the article "How to Motivate Problem Employees,” the most overlooked source of compensation for an employee is a simple "Thank you.”
On the other hand, if the employee were approached using McClelland’s Theory of Needs as a motivating tools the process to boost morale would be a little different. If the employee motivator were power with in the workplace, the manager would need to work at making sure the employee status, as an individual contributor is a short one. Because the employee is driven by power and achievement to take a step back from management will cause serious problems.
Fear of Loosing Job
A merger threatens workers’ jobs. Downsizing and consolidation of workforces are normal after mergers, as management tries to eliminate redundancy. Because the merger threatens their careers and jobs, workers worry about their future. It also affects their family and social lives. People often attach their identities to their jobs. When faced with loss of employment, they may suffer identity crises. The prospect of loss of employment, relocation, demotion, and career changes puts stress on the family, and can tear apart a weak family structure. Consequently, some workers view the merger as a catastrophic event.
Today’s society is challenged with economic crisis due to many factors. One in particular is low un-employment rate throughout the globe. Because of this current dilemma, many people are in fear of losing their jobs. The job market places are not as stable as they should be which is creating an alarming rate of companies merging to stay a float. Even when this change happens, it creates an atmosphere of in-house employees fearing of losing their jobs because they realize that down sizing is something that is going to take place.
When down sizing happens, employees who are prepared will survive because of planning? According to Maslow’s theory self-actualization, this process will be helpful to those who are in transition to stay ahead. Self-Actualized employees still need to eat and drink which means a person’s level of gratification within the hierarchically integrated framework would be represented by horizontal line across all needs and that horizontal line moving upwards through all needs would represent growth. People in our society have a need or desire to be stable. The need for self-actualization is to become everything that one is capable of becoming.
Decrease in Power
A merger can signal the start of a battle for control and authority. If the takeover is hostile, power struggles take the form of warfare. Even with friendly mergers, workers and managers jockey for position and advantage. Management within the merged organizations may try to usurp power over employees from the other company. In this event, motivating an employee to remain focus throughout the merger will be very challenging. How does management overcome this challenge? As stated earlier, management needs to have a good understanding of the individual needs of the person. For instance, let's take a look at two theories to help put this in perspective.
Of the managers who took the survey, 80% like being in charge and having control. With any merger or acquisition, redundancy of positions exists; thus, the need for upper-management will decrease. The fear of loosing power will cause most managers that are being affected to have low moral and decrease motivation. Why is this?
Maslow’s Hierarchy needs tells us that self-actualization is of utmost importance to most individuals. Self-actualization is the desire to become more of what one is (p.108). The fear of loosing power is in conflict with Maslow’s theory. Because most managers will view this change as negative, and may feel that they are no longer valued. Maslow’s theory is set up on such a way that when the most important need is met the other needs will follow. Senior management will need to address where on the pyramid each of the managers are and try to make sure the individual’s needs are met.
Another theory that can be applied to the fear of loosing power is McClelland’s Theory of Needs. This theory states that there are three essentials motives in the workplace. Senior-level management has to find a reward system that will motivate the employees. By incorporating this incentive program, it will cause the employees to have a desire to achieve. In addition, management should allow the employees to design their own incentive program, this will allow the employees think they have power and control and it allows them to be a part of a group setting.
Perception
Hidden agendas, egos, and personality clashes produce conflict. A merger is like a marriage and produces similar fights over responsibilities, spending and priorities. Conflict between merging companies can resemble parents arguing over how to raise their kids. Integrating two organizations creates tension between the two systems and management structures. Initially, the two systems compete for viability.
During a merger, the acquiring company develops its own perception parent company. All the rules and management styles they have been following are about to change. The “big brother” syndrome is now in effect. The parent company is being perceived as the “big brothers” that will change all their rules, and keep a close eye on them so they will conform to the rules that have been set forth. The company believes it has been operating successfully without participating in a merger. The company believes their employees were adequately trained with knowledge to efficiently operate their company. The acquiring company can relate to McClelland’s Theory of Needs because they need to achieve in relation to their company’s set of standards. There is a desire to be friendly and cooperative, but not to the point where their views are not taken into consideration.
During a merger the new parent company has its own perceptions of the acquiring company too. Sometimes the parent company makes abrupt rules, and believes they have acquired a company that obviously could not operate efficiently on its own. They put rules in place and make them enforceable immediately. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs must be met to keep employees of the acquiring company. Managers need to motivate the employees to grow, and achieve one’s potential and show them self-respect for their previous achievements with their company. Employees need to believe they are still included in the company’s future. Communication needs to be clear and concise, so those employees are not unintentionally harmed by the rumors.
Summary
After careful analysis of the data, the team found there to be a strong correlation with the number years of work experience with the company to what motivates individual employees. The team found that 100% of the sample group was task and goal oriented, enjoy challenge, like difficult tasks, and want to improve past performance. This analysis can be correlated with the fact that 90% of the sample has been with their company for 3-5 years and 10% less than two- years. Another observation, that was found that 80% of the sample population likes to be in charge and have control over their situation. Subsequently, of that 80% female workers make up 20%. One could correlate this with that for so long women were in a role that would not allow them to be in charge. With the turn of the workforce, this percentage will increase.
References
Human Relations and Organizations Behavior. (2002). Unimodule University of Phoenix Online Resources.
