Essay about MGT 311 Motivational Action Plan

Submitted By scotthicok
Words: 1431
Pages: 6

Motivation Action Plan
Course/Number
11/4/2013
Motivational Action Plan

Motivation is more than making employees do more work. It goes beyond higher paychecks or new titles. The very best motivation is in fact motivation that comes from inside the employee. This can create a challenge for management as motivating employees must become a more thought out and deliberate process than it used to be. Research must be done into the employees on an individual level in order to understand how to push them to achieve more. The eventual goal is employees who feel a sense of importance within the company. As Longeneker says in his paper, “How the BEST motivate workers”, the goal of management should be “to develop and implement management practices that cause people to feel a sense of ownership and pride in their work” (2011). This paper will examine the portfolios of three employees and recommend strategies for motivation that are based on academic theories of motivation.
Employee Portfolio: Motivation Action Plan

Team Member Name
Summary of Individual Characteristics
Motivational Strategy and Action Plan
Relevant Theory

Monique
Monique has high satisfaction and positive feelings, which contributes to her generally happy and collaborative demeanor in the workplace. She can exhibit low engagement and can become distracted during task she doesn’t find challenging or compelling. In general remaining focused and utilizing herself fully is an issue that can be improved for Monique. Her high emotional intelligence and moderately low emotional intelligence could potentially be problematic in the workplace as she struggles with intense emotions and a difficult time controlling them. These emotional issues can also pose challenges to working on team or group projects and personal conflicts are more likely to occur through miscommunications or misunderstandings. Her deliberate decision making style is detailed but sometimes slow and could another source of tension in group or team environments.

To help Monique become as productive, effective and collaborative as possible there are several steps and strategies management can use. To begin it will be important to use a strategy that will address low engagement and potential for distraction and procrastination. Developing goals will be a very important strategy in this regard. Management should work with Monique in developing goals that will help her to feel challenged as well as respected and valued. Management should also focus on helping to increase Monique’s self –efficacy. As her new goals are set she should be given time to gain relevant experience in new areas, or to spend time with peers who have skills in an area she needs to grow in.

Goal setting theory is an excellent fit for Monique because she already has high levels of satisfaction and positive feelings. The task for Monique is to increase engagement and this can be done by increasing her connection to the work she is doing. Robbins and Judge says that “people who pursue work goals for intrinsic reasons are more satisfied with their jobs, feel like they fit into their organizations better, and may perform better (Chapter 7, 2011). Furthermore, clustering projects into goals that are attainable makes projects seems less overwhelming and can diminish procrastination (Robbins & Judge, Chapter 7, 2011). Finally, by focusing on self-efficacy management can help to prevent Monique from having emotional issues as she feels more confident and comfortable with her work and position in the company.

Kat

Kat had some very good positive indicators in her portfolio. She has high satisfaction, fairly high engagement, and general positive feelings. This means that currently Kat is working well and most likely accomplishing a lot in her position, though her portfolio does note that she can tend to stay inside her comfort zone. Kat’s portfolio also shows though she has high emotional