...SAS institute Employee Motivation Ashley Smith MGT/312 04/27/2015 SAS Institute: Employee Motivation Keeping employees motivated has never been as significant as during the current economic we live in today. Motivation is what energizes, maintains, and controls behavior. As such, it is clear why it plays an imperative role in the workplace. With over 11,000 employees, SAS Institute has been named Fortune Magazine Best Company in America to work for (“Closing Case Motivating Employees at the SAS Institute”).. Bringing in approximately $2.3 Billion in revenue, SAS Institute is the biggest privately owned software company in the world (“Closing Case Motivating Employees at the SAS Institute”). In this case study, we will take a look at, how does SAS Institute motivate its employees? What factors are likely to contribute to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? And lastly, how might SAS long term focus affect employee motivation. How Does SAS Motivate its Employees? SAS Institute plays a big part in motivating its employees. It has always been their top priority to make sure that, their employees enjoy coming to their workplace each and every day. Even more so, motivated to do a good job on their work, that they are given. At SAS Institute managers want employees to feel that the contribution, which they are making is important to the company, and that the company appreciates the work they are providing to them. SAS believes in keeping business inside the company (“Closing...
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...their task. There are two main forms of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is the desire to do the task right out of the satisfaction of a job well done without any ‘rewards’. Extrinsic motivation comes from external sources such as incentives programs. Both can be equally effective in the right situation. SAS Institute has gained a high reputation for their ability to motivate its employees with a balance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. How Does SAS motivate its employees? The SAS Institute has long since set the standards for the ideal workplace. Focusing on both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational methods, SAS strives to ensure its employees enjoy what do and continue to stay interested in their work. SAS also encourages their employees to occasionally switch areas of expertise, gaining additional training if it is required. Using this approach, SAS keeps their employees from getting bored and losing interest in their job. In addition, “The SAS Institute also cares about its employees and their families’ well-being both on and off the job.”(George, Jones 2012) At its headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, SAS Institute also offers employees and their families 200 acres of luxuries activities as well as on-site childcare, healthcare and many other fitness and recreational benefits. What factors are likely to contribute to intrinsic motivation at SAS? The intrinsic motivation at the SAS institute can be attributed to many work and personal...
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...Motivating Employees Durrell L. Burkes MGT/312 November 24, 2014 When it comes to motivation, there are many things that set people apart as far as what motivates them. For some, it’s the feeling they take in after they have accomplished a daunting task. For others, it’s simply what rewards or accolades they will receive after they have accomplished their feat. Whatever the motivation, top companies are finding that having the right mindset and figuring out what keeps employees motivated to perform at their highest abilities is proving to keep them successful as well. A company that has picked up on finding ways to keep their employees motivated to perform efficiently is the SAS Institute. Their growing numbers accompanied with a low turnover rate shows the company is doing something right in getting and retaining the best people. Since its inception in 1976, the SAS Institute has grown into the largest privately owned software company with over two billion dollars in total revenue. While many software companies experience high turnover rates in the 20% range, SAS has been able to keep their turnover rates at less than five percent. The way they have done this is how they are able to keep their employees motivated to perform at a high level while still enjoying their work. SAS allows for much autonomy on the job, encouraging employees to enjoy what they do. They do much development of new products in house, which encourages the employees to be creative and open-minded...
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...Motivating Employees Case Study How Does SAS motivate its employees? The SAS Institute has long since set the standards for the ideal workplace. Focusing on both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational methods, SAS strives to ensure its employees to enjoy what they do and continue to stay interested in their work. SAS also encourages their employees to occasionally switch areas of expertise, gaining additional training if it is required. Using this approach, SAS keeps their employees from getting bored and losing interest in their job. SAS encourages their employees to be creative and to experience the thrill of developing successful products. They offer their employees great pay and bonuses are lined to their work performance. SAS emphasizes on their fair treatment to all of their employees with their own private office. SAS believes that managers should treat their employees the way the manager wants to be treated themselves. In addition, “The SAS Institute also cares about its employees and their families’ well-being both on and off the job.”(George, Jones 2012) At its headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, SAS Institute also offers employees and their families 200 acres of luxuries activities as well as on-site low cost childcare, summer camp, healthcare, putting green, Olympic size swimming pool, and many other fitness and recreational benefits. Employees have access to all kinds of services ranging from book exchange to, dry cleaning, car detailing and messages. With...
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...Motivating Employees Case Study MGT/312 June 22, 2015 Gregory Lucht Motivating Employees Case Study How Does SAS motivate its employees? The SAS Institute has long since set the standards for the ideal workplace. Focusing on both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational methods, SAS strives to ensure its employees to enjoy what they do and continue to stay interested in their work. SAS also encourages their employees to switch occasional areas of expertise, gaining additional training if it is required. Using this approach, SAS keeps their employees from getting bored and losing interest in their job. SAS encourages their employees to be creative and to experience the thrill of developing successful products. They offer their employees great pay and bonuses linked to their work performance. SAS emphasizes on their fair treatment to all of their employees with their private office. SAS believes that managers should treat their employees the way the manager wants to be treated themselves. Also, "The SAS Institute also cares about its employees and their families' well-being both on and off the job."(George, Jones 2012) At its headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, SAS Institute also offers employees and their families 200 acres of luxuries activities. As well as low-cost on-site childcare, summer camp, healthcare, putting green, Olympic-size swimming pool, and recreational benefits. Employees have access to all kinds of services ranging from book exchange, dry cleaning...
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...more than money.” This is the belief of The SAS Institute, the largest privately owned software company in the world. At the heart of SAS are its people. While some companies drive their employees through commissioned sales and a competitive environment, SAS stands in contrast as a company that takes pride in caring for their employees and giving them a workplace that is more egalitarian than authoritarian. While it can be argued that this structure has been successful at SAS, we believe that the organizational structure is flawed from a long term perspective and creates a climate that inhibits both motivation and innovation. As a whole, SAS promotes innovation by endorsing different methods to motivate their employees. The core corporate belief is that satisfied employees will create satisfied customers. The company rewards innovation, encourages experimentation, and cares about employees’ personal needs and professional growth. Based on this corporate belief, SAS has created an environment to align employees’ personal needs with company’s business objectives. SAS Institute’s fundamental desire is to “create a corporation where it is as much fun for the workers as for top management”.(O’Reilly P.106) All employees in the company are treated equally. Many practices are created to support this philosophy such as not having reserved parking spots for executives and offering private offices for every employee. Everyone within SAS is treated as a stakeholder and thus critical...
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...SAS Case Study In 1976, James Goodnight, John Sall, Anthony Barr, and Jane Helwig established SAS Institute, a privately owned software company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. SAS prides itself in creating a utopian environment for its employees by offering unique benefits such as an on site gym, cafeteria, preschool, medical care, casual dress code, private offices, and flexible work hours. These benefits have led to a less than 4% turnover rate for employees, which is well below the average for the competitive software industry. SAS believes it is providing an environment that frees its employees from outside distractions and will allow them to be as efficient and creative as possible. The focus is on teamwork where everybody is an equal and nobody is a stand out. Individuals who desire praise, promotion and status need not apply. However, when we take a closer look at the culture being generated, concerns begin to surface. The environment SAS is creating could actually be detrimental and less innovative without additional intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and by changing the egalitarian workplace. Intrinsic motivation is based solely on the interest or enjoyment of the task itself, apart from any external incentives or forces. While the current environment at SAS is designed to eliminate outside forces and allow the employee to focus on his work, this does not meet the true definition of intrinsic motivation. We learn from the article “Motivating Creativity in Organizations...
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...Motivating Employee Case Study MGT 312 Organizational Behavior July 23 2015 Prof. Gabriel Medina-Medina Motivating Employee Case Study SAS is a software company who have been placed in the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America. The main reason for this is that they have a highly motivated workforce. Thanks to this, the turnover is only 2 percent which saves from $60M to $80M every year in expenses related to turnover ("SAS Institute", N.D.). When we see this enterprise which cares for its employees, we wonder how so many other companies failed in understanding the basic of human care and loyalty. Who couldn’t be loyal to a company who pays 100% of the employee’s medical bills and 80% in specialist? As well, it has unlimited days of sick leave. It has been proven that by spending 4.5million dollars on medical bills, the company saves another 5 million is productivity lost. When they think of a way to allow a benefit for employees they use this three criteria: will it benefit the company culture? Will it work for a significant number of employees? And will it save money to the company? It is surely a model to follow. Every year they have a summer camp for the employee’s kids and since it is on site, the employees may as well have lunch with them. As well, the employees may run, exercise or have picnics on the grounds. Normally they have child care for a third of the normal cost, gym and an Olympic size pool. Other services which permit an almost on site...
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...CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND I. INTRODUCTION Phenomenology is a qualitative research method originally developed by the philosopher Edmund Husserl.[1] The termed phenomenology is both a philosophy and a research method. As a philosophy, phenomenology is a particular way of approaching the world and apprehending lived experience[2]. As a research method, phenomenology is a rigorous process of reexamining what Husserl termed “the things themselves.”[3] The question of phenomenological inquiry is about the meaning of human experience and asks, “What is it like?” Phenomenology is a way of thinking about what life experiences are like for people[4] and is primarily concerned with interpreting the meaning of these experiences. Phenomenological research “explores the humanness of a being in the world”[5]. Bergum refers to the phenomenological research method as an “action-sensitive-understanding” that begins and ends in the practical acting of everyday life and leads to a practical knowledge of thoughtful action. Phenomenological research is an introspective human science, the intent of which is to interpret and to understand as opposed to observing, measuring, explaining, and predicting)[6]. The intention is to go beyond the aspects of life taken for granted and “to uncover the meanings in everyday practice in such a way that they are not destroyed, distorted, decontextualized, trivialized or sentimentalized”.[7] To answer the question, “What is it...
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...Study: SAS Institute In November of 2012, SAS, a multinational analytics software company based in Cary, North Carolina, was named "the world's best multinational workplace" (Crowley, 2013). How does a company achieve such a high level of success in such a competitive and high-stress marketplace like information technology? Keeping employees satisfied and motivated is something that SAS has apparently mastered. Of paramount importance to organizational success and effectiveness is maintaining a high level of employee satisfaction and motivation. This focus on employees ensures that the organization will attain its preset goals and objectives. SAS uses both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators to achieve the highest level of results from their employees. SAS's productivity and profitability can be directly correlated to its successful motivation of its workers. Happy v. Unhappy According to Crowley (2013), there has been a lengthy discussion of whether “happy” workers are more productive and engaged that their “unhappy” compatriots. Furthermore, the question of whether or not a company reaps benefits from programs and practices that enhance or increase employee motivation and satisfaction as well as organizational effectiveness and profitability between these happy and unhappy companies is also part of this debate. SAS has proven that there should not be a debate. They have “irrefutable proof” that successful companies must invest in their employee’s motivation. SAS has had...
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...MEMORANDUM TO: Accounting Staff FROM: Junior Accountant DATE: September 23, 2013 SUBJECT: Replacement of SAS 112 with SAS 115 The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) Number 115 supersedes SAS Number 112. Going forward, auditors are to use rule SAS 115 when performing internal control audits. The rules have some similarities. However, the key differences in the rules are the definitions for control deficiency, significant deficiency, and material weaknesses. The change in rules also creates more opportunities for accounting firms to offer services. Similarities between SAS 112 and SAS 115: Similarities exist between SAS 115 and SAS 112. The rules require auditors to look at deficiencies found during an audit. The auditor must continue to identify the deficiencies found as significant deficiencies or material weaknesses.1 SAS 112 and SAS 115 require auditors to determine if internal controls can prevent and detect errors. Management receives written communication of the findings, as before. Both rules require management to become more aware of the weaknesses in the organizational internal controls. The differences in rules SAS 112 and SAS 115 are as significant as the similarities. Differences between SAS 112 and SAS 115: The differences between SAS 112 and SAS 115 are subtle but important. The major difference between the two rules is the definition of control deficiency, significant deficiency, and material weakness...
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... 2 How does SAS motivate its employees? The company has a reputation as a pioneer when it comes to the perks it offers employees, but these perks are not given with a mentality of offer everything but the kitchen sink. There is careful thinking and planning behind the choice of perks the company offers. SAS conducts regular employee satisfaction surveys, and any future benefits and perks offered are planned in response to the results. The company wants to eliminate stressors and anything that dissatisfies from people’s lives. To keep employees healthy and fit, there are athletic fields; a full gym; a swimming pool; and tennis, basketball, and racquetball courts on campus. Plus, the company offers free on-site health care for employees, covers dependents at their fully staffed primary medical care center, and offers unlimited sick leave. The company understands that employees have a life and encourages employees to work reasonable hours and then go home to their families. In fact, a famous motto in the company is, “If you are working for more than 8 hours, you are just adding bugs.” (SAS website) SAS is truly one of the industry leaders in leveraging its treatment of people for continued business success. What factors are likely to contribute to intrinsic motivation at SAS? They relied explicitly and completely on the intrinsic motivation of the people to guide the company. But something must be missing–by...
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...Motivation, Stress and Communication Research a company at which you would like to work Introduction This paper is a research on motivation, stress and communication on a company chosen to work for. It details a job and how the employee will build motivation and set goals after accepting the job. Stressful situations on the job can decrease an employee’s motivation, which is why steps to managing stressful situation are also pointed out in the paper. The paper also mentions a few ways to cope with non-verbal and cultural barriers to communication, which is essential factor in maintaining employee satisfaction and motivation to help achieve the company’s goals. The Company SAS Institute Incorporated is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions, SAS helps customers at more than 55,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. SAS specializes in software used for business analytics, data warehousing, and data mining activities employed by corporations to gather, manage and analyze huge amounts of data. Clients, mainly financial services firms, government agencies, and telecom carries use its applications to find pattern in customer data, manage resources and target new business. SAS also offers software and support packages for other segments such as leisure, manufacturing and retail. SAS employees 12,701 people around...
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...At first glance, SAS Institute looks like the perfect organization. It boasts an incredibly low turnover rate, amazing facilities and a work environment that is fun, egalitarian, and reliant on trust and intrinsic motivation. Although the case itself states no obvious organizational problems, it does not mean problems within the organization do not exist. Potential Cognitive Traps at SAS SAS has such a strong company culture that an observer went as far as to call it “the Stepford software company.” This robot-like behavior and high retention rate suggest that SAS does not have a very diverse employee group and is likely to fall into cognitive traps, such as groupthink and selection bias. In the Columbia Accident Investigation Board case (Chapter 7: The Accident’s Organizational Causes), NASA, like SAS, possessed a strong culture and optimistic organizational thinking. At NASA, this groupthink undermined their ability for effective decision making and led to the oversimplification of the threat of the foam debris, and ultimately, the disintegration of the Columbia upon re-entry. It is unlikely that SAS’s cognitive traps will lead to the catastrophic loss of human lives, but it is more than possible it could lead to complacency and lack of innovation, which would destroy its business model. SAS will need to be sure their culture is working for them instead of against them. SAS is the largest privately owned software company in the world. Employees spend their time working...
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...success in any organization. This type of motivation can be categorized into two categories. Intrinsically motivated and extrinsically motivated people. Employees can be one or the other or even both, neither of these define employees as good or bad it simply defines them on the levels of working motivation they have. Intrinsically motivated employees perform work and tasks simply because that's what they like to do and that alone keeps them motivated. They strive to improve themselves and that's what makes them happy. Extrinsically motivated employees only seek out work that they can benefit from one way or another. Showing up just to collect a paycheck or abuse the generosities the company offers are some examples. The SAS organization does a great job keeping their employees motivated and ready to work. There are several factors they may lead to both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated employees at the SAS organization and some that may also lead to long-term motivated employees. How does SAS motivate employees Motivation is term that explains people's behavior and what drives them. Peoples actions, needs and desires play a big part on the way people get motivated to do things that will benefit them in return. The well known software development called SAS devotes allot of time and resources making sure there employees stay motivated. In return their employees offer the best they can for their place of employment. SAS Institute does allot of new software development...
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