...Running Head: EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK AND MOTIVATION 1 Effective Teamwork and Motivation Teboney D. Torrence Strayer University Business 520 Leadership and Organizational Behavior Dr. Keith A. Graves November 14, 2014 EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK AND MOTIVATION 2 Introduction Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Nike, all of these companies have a common goal. That goal is to produce a valuable product that consumers will buy. In order to do that each of these companies must have an effective and capable workforce. A company is only as good as its weakest link. If employees perform well, then the products that they produce will reflect that. The question for any CEO of a manufacturing firm must ask themselves is how they can motivate employees to perform to the best of their ability in order to produce an effective product. After working with a small group of people and running our own “mock” company, we evaluated together the best way to successfully motivate employees in a work environment. This paper will seek to evaluate these methods and the possible outcomes of each. A Plan to Motivate Employees What is exactly that motivates employees? Is it money, benefits packages, prestige, or power? To effectively answer what would motivate a human employee, it is important to understand human behavior. Effective motivational plans first understand the human before implementing...
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...Teamwork and Motivation November 11, 2014 This paper will provide insight into how motivation is used in business. It will provide details on an organizations motivational plan, the theory used within, how to motivate a minimum wage worker and the affects of a diverse team. The diverse team’s culture, communication, attitude and behaviors all affect the desired outcome. Finally, it will touch on the experience of working in a team for the project. Identify significant elements of an organization motivation plan that encourage high job satisfaction, high productivity, high quality work, and low turnover (i.e., job flexibility, training, recognition). Motivation is defined as forces within the individual that account for the direction, level, and persistence of a person’s effort expended at work (Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, & Hunt, 2012). A company’s motivation is the organization’s life-blood; but it is not always the focal point in the company’s strategic thinking. Many organizations think of motivation as an afterthought and don’t put much effort into it until something starts to go wrong or goes wrong. Unfortunately, pain and chaos gets people’s attention. Motivation is difficult to harness, it is intangible energy source that drives all human actions. Everyone has an interest in motivation, but few, know how to manage it and provide an overall game plan to capitalize on it. The ability to motivate employees is essential in today’s business....
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...Organization and Leadership Teamwork and Motivation November 17, 2014 Abstract Demonstrate organization motivation program using training and development, job design, compensation, benefits, recognition and rewards. Discuss the Herzberg theory to support my motivational plan. Three ways to motivate minimum wage service workers through training, rewards and promotion using Adam’s Equity Theory. Outline a guide to lead a cross-functional work team. Explained my work experience as a team leader at Duke University. Group motivation program that encourages high job satisfaction, productivity, quality of work and low turnover. It is important for managers to find significant elements to motivate and retain employees. Training and development, job design, compensation, benefits and recognition and reward programs are crucial for high job performance. Training and development increase the opportunity for staff to learn new things and upgrade skills. It helps individuals to expand their skills and reinforces the behavior that supports the company’s goal. Job design such as job enrichment, job enlargement and job rotation not only satisfy staff needs but also encourage high motivation, enhance morale, endorse low absenteeism and promote increase productivity. Job design can increase employee’s involvement, satisfaction and productivity. Organizations can provide innovative benefits curriculum...
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...Teamwork and Motivation Leadership and Organizational Behavior; BUS 520 Dr. Antoinette Bridges Strayer University August 10, 2014 Teamwork and Motivation Within a business, the employees or the team are a vital component. They are responsible for doing most of the work that keeps the company going. When employees are not motivated, production can decline which adversely affects the organization. Motivated employees are key in keeping an organization moving on a forward, profitable path. One of the best ways to motivate employees is through teamwork. When employees feel 'included' as part of a team and part of a work family, they can be more productive and more efficient. The information below will examine how a motivational plan works positively, what motivational theory is the basis for the motivational plan, how managers can motivate minimum wage employees, team performance, and my individual experiences working with a team. Job Flexibility as a Motivational Plan Workplace flexibility programs such as telecommuting, flexible hours and flexible start and end times have a positive effect on employees’ motivation, engagement and satisfaction. According to a recent study conducted by WorldatWork, 85% of employers who have a flexible culture in their office reported that the flexibility has had a positive effect on engagement, 84% reported a positive impact on motivation, and 92% reported a positive impact on employee satisfaction. Additionally, the survey...
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...Teamwork and Motivation BUS 520 Teamwork and Motivation As the owner of WooWoo limited there still exist challenges especially when it comes to dealing with the company’s human resource. The sales are doing well but as the management we need to evaluate any strategies that we can implement to further motivate our employees. The first step is to pin point the problems currently being encountered in the human resource department and the level we want to achieve in the future. After evaluation of the problem, I will conduct research on modern workable policies that can be employed at WooWoo. Then the next step is the formulation of the policy complete with its implementation timetable. Finally, is the implementation stage which is extremely crucial? In researching the problems it is important to include members of the staff since the problems affect them directly (Mitchell et al., 2003). In order to accomplish high job satisfaction the first important step is orientation into your firm. This creates the first impression of the company to the new employee. The human resource department will craft up and implement an Orientation and On-boarding program that shows the new member of the staff that WooWoo is a company that recognizes hard work and rewards effort competitively. The company will set up standards to measure effort of individuals and reward them appropriately (Pinder, 2008). The rewards...
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...Teamwork and Motivation Frankie Evans-Dees Dr. Jelena Vucetic Leadership and Organizational Behavior (BUS 520) February 22, 2014 The success for organizations in today’s economy can be traced through their successful process in the motivation of their employees. “Motivation refers to forces within an individual that account for the level, direction, and persistence of effort expended at work.” (Schermerhorn 2012, p. G-6). The process of motivating our employees can be difficult and without motivation at some level, we can’t get anything started, much less complete a task and/or goal at hand. There is no magic formula to motivating individuals, motivation is a personal matter. The factors that motivate one employee may very well be factors that de-motivate others. The motivation of employees requires creativity and a high and deep understanding of the fields and areas where the employee performance is low and where it exceeds the company’s expectations. Motivation may also come from addressing the areas which need improvement before they become a problem for the organization. Both are the strategies that convey the messages that your company values the human capital and that the company is very much interested in helping the employees achieve a high level of performance and excellence. A motivational plan provides guidelines for the management to motivate and lead the employees and also provides a structured deriving force for the employees to complete the agreed...
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...Teamwork and Motivation Cynthia D. Morris Strayer University Dr. Rufus Robinson Business 520-Leadership and Organizational Behavior February 23, 2015 Teamwork and Motivation This paper was developed under a variety of motivational theories and job design considerations. To analyze the formation and dynamics of group behavior and work teams, including the application of power in groups. Identify significant elements of an organization motivation plan that encourages high job satisfaction, high productivity, high quality work, and low turnover. In order to encourage employees to become and stay motivated, a company has to offer some type of intangible rewards. These rewards can come in many forms. It is the company’s responsibility to ensure that all employees have a clear job description. This is entailing a clear concise description of the employee’s job and all functions associated with the job the employee is hired for. Employees expect to receive job related education and guidance. This could be in the form of sending an employee back to school to receive certifications or degrees that one may need to remain successful on the job. Your employees need to know that they matter to the company that the company cannot function without their knowledge and expertise of the job they are performing. There has to be an open line of communication between employer and employee. No one wants to be blindsided about unexpected changes. All employees are to be compensated...
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...Motivation is the internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in a person to be continually interested and committed to a job, role or subject, or to make an effort to attain a goal (Business Dictionary, 2013). The main priority of an organization should be its people. They are the ones who help maintain the mission and the vision of the organization as well as keeping the business flowing. This paper will provide a design of an organization motivation plan, identify two methods that motivate employees and propose three ways to motivate the minimum wage worker. Additionally, this paper will analyze the relevance of the individual work and finally provide design a individual work to team chart. Design an organization motivation plan that encourages: a. high job satisfaction b. low turnover c. high productivity d. high-quality work As the manager of Small Manufacturing Company, high job satisfaction, low turnover, high productivity and high quality work are synonymous with motivating employees and the business as a whole. A motivation plan should include the basic of job design, job enrichment, rewards and alternative work schedules. Implementing and identifying a job design is a process through which managers plan specified job task and work arrangements that needs to be accomplished (Schermerhorn, 2012). Job enrichment is the building of high-content jobs that involve planning and evaluating duties. Through job enrichment creates a valued...
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...Some may argue that it’s not a manager’s responsibility to motivate their staff while others believe the total opposite. In order to maintain a positive and productive work environment managers must be able to empower their staff. There are many ways leaders can motivate employees whether it’s verbally, small incentives, or recognition awards. The key to great leadership is preparing individuals to become successful. Teamwork is characterized by recurring cycles of mutually dependent interaction (Morgeson, DeRue, & Karam, 2010). A less motivated workforce can do damage to a small business by not providing the quality of service required to maintain clients or build product that is of a quality customers expect. A motivated workforce, on the other hand, can be trusted to hold the reins of the organization at a level the owner can depend on (Dana, 2008). This assignment helped to examine the pros and cons that of working in a group setting. We were able to experience firsthand how creating a teamwork environment could change productivity within the company. My group members and I were randomly selected to collaborate with one another on our non-existent Widget manufacturing company called Woo Woo that has only fifty employees. Woo Woo produces a less expensive clone of a nationally known widget. Although Woo Woo sales are presently at an all-time high there has been a many defects and delivery delays reported. Leadership defines the mission, attitudes and culture (Llopis, 2012)...
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...Teamwork and Motivation LaToya R. Portis Business 520 Strayer University As a small manufacturing company of the very popular Woo Woo, we have ran across significant problems with the upgrade that will affect our future production, sales status and profitability. The following information is that the company executives have introduced as plan of actions to circumvent any more delays as well as encourage further innovation for the success of the company and that of its employees. Upon further research and review, we revamped the organization’s motivation plan so we could better benefit the areas in which needed work. We were missing vital elements that would allow continued success, satisfaction of our employees and managers. Motivation serves the organization as well as that of its employees. Motivation has been defined as, ”the psychological forces that determine the direction of a person’s level of effort, as well as….persistence in the face of obstacles (Anonymous, 2010, p. 1)”. In order to create a valid plan we had to identify what the organization needed as well as what motivated our employees. The assumption is that money motivates workers and gains their loyalty. However, research has found there are more valid motivations out there than money. A motivation plan has to be included in a company’s vision or mission statement. Employees at all levels should be aware of the expectations of not only them but the management as well. Every plan should at a...
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...BUS 520 Week 7 Assignment 3 Teamwork and Motivation Introduction Out of the many factors that form the driving force behind a successful organization, human resource is one of the most critical ones. A successful organization needs to have the right set of people doing the right kind of jobs. With every profile of work comes an expectation of appropriate compensation. It is more often than not decided based on industry standards. As the company under consideration faces the problems of increased cost and delayed delivery due to increased defects in the product WooWoo, there seems to be a drop in the motivation level and reduced team work between the employees. Organization motivation plan Following are some of the measures that can be taken in designing the motivation plan for the organization – Invest in compensation packages – Since the organization has only 50 employees and considering that the sales of its widget are high, a slight investment in the compensation packages of the employees can be considered to increase motivation, satisfaction and productivity. Increasing the scope of the variable component in the compensation package can serve a good purpose wherein the individual employee and the entire team can be incentivized to increase production and improve product quality Flexible working environment – Employee satisfaction levels can improve by creating a suitable and flexible environment at work. Incentives such as flexible working hours and telecommuting...
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...Teamwork and Motivation 8/11/2014 BUS 520 Leadership and Organizational Behavior Teamwork and Motivation Identify significant elements of an organization motivation plan that encourage high job satisfaction, high productivity, high quality work, and low turnover. There are as many different methods of motivating employees today as there are companies operating in the global business environment. The best employee motivation efforts will focus on what the employees deem to be important. Many organizations today find that flexibility in job design and reward systems has resulted in employees' increased longevity with the company, improved productivity, and better morale. The elements I will discuss are Empowerment, Creativity and Innovation, Learning, Quality of Life, Monetary Incentive, and Other Incentives. Empowerment means giving employees more responsibility and decision-making authority increases their realm of control over the tasks for which they are held responsible and better equips them to carry out those tasks. Creativity and innovation at many companies, employees with creative ideas do not express them to management for fear that their input will be ignored or ridiculed. Company approval and toeing the company line have become so ingrained in some working environments that both the employee and the organization suffer. When the power to create in the organization is pushed down from the top to line personnel, employees who know a job, product, or service...
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...Assignment 1: Teamwork and Motivation BUS 520 - Leadership and Organizational Behavior 11/15/14 Abstract How do you compete with a recognized brand and widget? Sure yours is less expensive and more readily available; but how will you and your company break into the market fully when you are having defect issues? One of the key factors to consider to help fix this problem is come up with a motivational plan for your employees that will cause them to want to build and create the best widget for which they will get compensated accordingly. In order to complete such a task to break fully into the market you must have employees that are motivated to get the job done, and in the best possible manner. Our WooWoo widget is the product in question, and through our new motivational plan and added concepts we will be able to succeed in taking more market share. Elements of a Motivation Plan to Encourage Our Employees Our company is small but our company objectives and mission statement is big. We want to create the best widget on the marketplace that gives our customers 100% satisfaction with the product and our employees 100% job satisfaction making the product. However, this is no simple task and it starts in the hearts and minds of our employees. If we do not help foster and grow employees to love their work, feel motivated to work hard, and in tern receive acceptable compensation for their work, then our products will never succeed in the marketplace. As the saying...
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...Pomona L. Seay BUS520 - Assignment #1 Teamwork and Motivation Strayer University Dr. Thomas Schaefer February 12, 2015 Imagine that you are the owner of a small manufacturing company. Your company manufactures a commodity, widgets. Your widget is a clone of a nationally known widget. Your company’s widget, WooWoo, is less expensive and more readily available than the nationally known brand. Presently, the sales are high; however, there are many defects, which increase your costs and delays delivery. Your company has fifty (50) employees in the following departments: sales, assembly, technology, and administration. 1. Identify significant elements of an organization motivation plan that encourage high job satisfaction, high productivity, high quality work, and low turnover (i.e., job flexibility, training, recognition). An employer must take the proper steps to create an incentive program that rewards their employees. How managers lead their team can have a significant and lasting impact on the employee, turnover and the company’s bottom line. Engaged and motivated employees learn, grow, and display strong leadership skills, even becoming exceptional leaders of tomorrow. B.F. Skinner, an American psychologist, behaviorist, and social philosopher is known for his reinforcement theory of motivation. This theory proposes that behavior is a function of consequences, which is also known as the law of effect. In his famous studies, Skinner found that when an employee...
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...independence, achievement, mastery, status, dominance, prestige, self-respect and respect for others (McLeod, 2007-2014). Use positive reinforcement Always tell you employees what exactly they need to do. Be very explicit and polite in specifying to them what they need to do to the job done right. Do not focus on the negatives but rather, the positives. Managers should enforce goal-setting guidelines by encouraging their workers to do their best so as to achieve higher level of job performance (Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, & Hunt, 2012). Rewards Rewards can be monthly or yearly bonuses which can serve as motivation for not just minimum wage workers but workers as a whole. It could even be just recognizing the good jobs the workers do, such as employee of the month, service, or production rewards. Being flexible and creative in ways of motivation can go a long...
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