04 Dec ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

COURSEWORK 2 – CASE STUDY (Individual) 10%

Instructions: Answer ALL questions in this section.

It has been established, based on newspaper reports, that a boss who works hard at giving job satisfaction to their staff benefit from better business performance. The reports also found that about 94% of workers in the firms surveyed with ‘Investors in People’ (IiP) standard liked their jobs and only 37% of the staff in other companies said the same. They also found that 9 out of 10 workers in the companies awarded the IiP standard said they felt valued and 2/3 said they had better promotion prospects leading to higher pay and perks. On the other hand less than half (45%) of those working in firms without the IiP accreditation said this.

The CEO of IiP is reported as saying that bosses are seeing the benefits in terms of higher profitability, productivity and reduced costs. The IiP is a government-backed project that is aimed at bringing about a skills revolution in the British industry by urging employers to take investment in people as seriously as they would take investment in plant and equipment.

The report showed that up to 33,000 UK companies representing approximately 1/3 of the country’s employers, employing over 7.5 billion people, have adopted that ‘Investors in People” standard. Some of these companies had the following individual success stories:

a) According to an Information Technology company A, profits were boosted by 40% over four years since gaining the award

b) One engineering company B reported that productivity quadrupled

c) A manufacturing company C managed to cut $2 million off its production costs following team-working improvements

d) Another company D replaced its performance related pay scheme with IiP instead and felt that it would motivate its staff better.

If the results are so good, it is amazing why the other 2/3 of the employers is not on this scheme. The CEO said that they should not worry about the costs, this scheme is not about spending more on training, it is all about making sure a company’s training fits its business needs.

One HR Director agrees and commented that it is more than just a plaque on the wall. IiP has helped to put a framework in place for motivating staff in that company in line with business goals.

No wonder the Jamaican government is planning to make $20 million available for training primary and high school Principals in the techniques of staff appraisal. This will be the first step towards introducing performance related pay for teachers by the year 2017. The main changes will be:

i. from September 2015 all teachers to be appraised each year by senior staff

ii. entitlement to pay increases will depend on meeting targets for improving students’ results

iii. government has set aside $1 billion for performance-related pay over the first two years

iv. the decisions of the appraisers will be monitored to avoid favouritism

The unions representing teachers are not in favour of the performance-related pay but the Education Minister and the Prime Minister said there can be no higher salaries without a test of performance. They both claim that if it were to be paid then this would have to be justified to the whole public. (Adapted from the Guardian 1999)

QUESTIONS:

Company D is of the opinion that IiP would motivate its staff better.

a. Outline the four (4) basic characteristics of motivation and why IiP proved to be motivating.

(5 marks)

b. Explain how McClelland’s Theory would prove beneficial to motivating staff. (5 marks)

c. Why do you think that motivation and other strategies such as IiP would not translate across the Jamaican culture as that of the UK’s? (6 marks)

d. Why do you think the other 2/3 employers did not participate in the IiP scheme?

(9 marks)