2.2 Growth needs - The importance of job design
Many of the employees who leave APL, work in highly specialised roles. This leads to gains in efficiency because each employee concentrates on a small set of tasks which they become very efficient at performing (Ivancevich & Matteson, 1999). However job specialisation can lead to problems with job satisfaction and motivation. A reason for this is that employees find that their jobs become “tedious, trivial and socially isolating” (McShane & Travaglione, 2005, p.197) because they have to perform similar tasks every day in a repetitive manner. While theoretically job specialisation should lead to increased productivity and therefore increased profits, in the long term profits are likely to be negatively affected. This is because the motivational potential of a job is sabotaged by job specialisation which means that employees will leave the company in favour of a more challenging and interesting position. This is the case at APL where it has been reported that many of the people who leave the company end up joining a start up company, where they will be performing a much wider variety of tasks in a much less structured and routine environment. This demonstrates that Mrs. Chalmers and others who have left APL to join start-ups are striving to fulfil their strong growth needs (mentioned earlier) which includes self-actualisation (working to their potential). They are better fulfilling these needs by performing a range of challenging tasks rather than a small set of tasks which they can perform easily.
Having established that growth needs are better fulfilled by having a job that is interesting and varied, we will now discuss ways in which this can be achieved. Job design theory recognises that a good way to increase job satisfaction and motivation is through job enlargement and job enrichment. Job enlargement involves increasing the number of tasks that employees perform within their job. Job enrichment involves giving employees more responsibility for planning their time themselves in a way in which they feel will optimise their performance (McShane & Travaglione, 2005). By giving employees more tasks and more freedom to perform these tasks, APL can increase the motivation employees have within their jobs which will lead to them wanting to stay in their jobs.
2.3 Rewards and Incentives
Rewarding employees for their work can be a strong motivating factor, but care needs to be taken to ensure that the conditions and the rewards being offered will result in the desired outcome. The most common and effective reward to offer employees is a monetary reward, because “money is probably the most emotionally meaningful object in contemporary life” (Mitchell & Mickel, 1999, p.568). In the case of APL however, the motivating effect of monetary rewards is significantly diminished by the fact that most of the employees are millionaires due to their share options. The offer of a pay rise was not enough to cause Suzanne Chalmers to stay with the company. This is because due to her wealth, the offer of a higher salary was not enough to offset her job dissatisfaction. Offering more share options also did not work. This is likely to be because the size that APL has grown to makes it difficult for individual employees to perceive that their actions have any significant effect upon the value of the shares which are probably more influenced by factors beyond their control such as competition and the economic environment. This is not the case in a small start-up company where potential for share growth is immense and is greatly affected by the people helping to grow the company. There are also equity issues that are involved in this situation. This is because people employees tend to compare their own situations with other people who have similar skills and backgrounds. APL employees such as Mrs. Chalmers, are likely to compare themselves to people working in start up companies. The people in these start-up companies are able to earn huge amounts of money because of the huge growth potential or their share options. This may cause feelings of inequity which can cause employees to put less effort into their jobs or leave the organisation (McShane & Travaglione, 2005).
Because of the considerable wealth of most APL employees, it would be more effective to offer incentives other than money. Today’s IT companies who are serious about retaining their employees and keeping them happy are providing them with incentives other than money. Google was recently named the best company to work for by Fortune magazine (www.money.cnn.com). One of the most popular benefits that Google offers its staff is free food at their numerous cafés. Another software company that made the list is SAS, which offers gymnasiums for their staff to exercise in and also free healthcare for employees and their families. For both companies the extra cost of providing these services is easily covered by the savings by retaining employees. SAS has an employee turnover rate of just 4% in an industry with an average employee turnover of 18%.
3. Conclusions
3.1 Everyone has needs which cause them to be motivated towards doing actions that will result in the satisfaction of these needs. Understanding employee needs is an important part of fostering motivation and improving employee retention.
- Job specialisation can lead to boredom and job dissatisfaction. Motivation is derived from the tasks which a person’s job requires them to perform and also the freedom in which the person has to decide how these tasks are must suitably accomplished.
- Most of the APL employees are very wealthy and therefore offering them money does not have much motivational value. Employees compare themselves to people in start-up companies who have potential to make massive gains from their shares which causes feelings of inequity. Many of today’s software companies are having success in using ‘perks’ other than cash as an incentive for employees to stay with the company.
4. Recommendations
4.1 The management of APL should gain an understanding of employee needs by learning about needs and motivation theories. They should then use this to develop strategies which will effectively satisfy employee needs.
4.2 APL needs to address the problems caused by job specialisation. This can be done by enlarging and enriching the jobs of the staff who are currently working in highly specialised roles. This would mean giving these employees more tasks to perform and more freedom with which to perform these tasks.
4.3 APL needs to provide other incentives rather than money in order to encourage staff to stay with the company. Introducing a café with free food would be a perk that would be much appreciated by the staff. Introduce health benefits for employees and their families.
5. References
Ivancevich, J.M., & Matteson, M.T. (1999). Organizational Behaviour and Management (5th ed.). United States of America: McGraw-Hill.
McShane, S., & Travaglione, T. (2005). Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim (enhanced ed.). Australia: McGraw-Hill.
Mitchell, T. R. & Mickel, A. E. (July 1999). The Meaning of Money: An Individual Difference Perspective. Academy of Management Review, 22 p.568-78.
