Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Differences Between the Uk and China on Intangible Rewards

Better Essays
1201 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Differences Between the Uk and China on Intangible Rewards
Group A
Wenhan Wang (Vince)
Final draft
16/12/2011
Word Count: 1001

Admittedly, it is very complex to determine the precise incentives why people go to work every day. However, it is undeniable that reward contributes significantly to these incentives. Torrington, Hall and Taylor (2008) states that rewards can be categorized into three terms, namely direct tangible rewards, indirect tangible rewards and intangible rewards. As far as I am concerned, both direct and indirect tangible rewards are relatively easy to identify and there are not many differences existing. However, the intangible rewards are the most likely to be ignored in practical operations, so in this essay, the differences on this field between the organizations in China and UK will be discussed.

According to the definition of intangible rewards, those aspects that can be seen as a benefit by the employees while cannot be converted into cash or be consumed are intangible rewards. For instance, the opportunities to develop in career, the recognition from colleagues and managers for an outstanding work performance and the working environment can be regarded as examples of intangible rewards. As far as I am concerned, minimum wage and job satisfaction account significantly to the whole impact of intangible rewards, so in the following parts these two aspects will be discussed.

Firstly, there is a huge difference in the legislation of the national minimum wage between China and UK. Actually, China still does not have a national minimum wage law for now and each province or city has different regulations of minimum wage subject to different circumstances of economic development and standard of living. By contrast, the UK has a national minimum wage law which prescribes the minimum wage rate for workers aged 21 and over is £6.08 from 1st October 2011. On the one hand, there are some people who argue that if China should have such a law imposed on them, thus could have a negative effect on the comparative advantages of China. Furthermore it would damage the exports of China and ultimately slow the economic growth down. On the other hand, from the point of view of employees, to have a national minimum wage enables them to meet the basic needs of living. According to Steers and Porter (1991), money is one of the factors that help employees to meet the physiological level of needs. Consequently, the national minimum wage law provides them a relatively stable level of income and thus they will have enough food, water and a shelter, in effect that is a motivator. Moreover, for a new manager who was just entering an international organization, he needs to consider more about the basic needs of employees despite of whether there is a solid minimum wage law or not, since on the one hand, no matter where the employees come from, as human beings, they all have several needs to meet. On the other hand as a manager, concerning the well-being of workers should always of great importance to his daily work.

Secondly, job satisfaction can be regarded as another intangible reward. Fisher (2003) demonstrates that there is a positive relationship between the job satisfaction and the job performance, which means that a higher job satisfaction could yield a better job performance. Moreover, it could benefit the whole organization since individual level becomes more efficient. According to Liu (2007) a recent survey on job satisfaction of employees of a well-known state owned enterprise located in north-west China recorded average grades of 2.689 out of 5, which indicates a low level of job satisfactions of employees. Furthermore, there are several factors significantly contribute to this. First of all, 66.2% of employees were unsatisfied with the geographic work location. Secondly, 65.6% of them were unsatisfied with the opportunities of on job training, they thought that it is really hard to get a chance of training. Last but not the least, 57% of them was unsatisfied with the opportunities of promotion. The results illustrate that managers in China tend to ignore the effects of intangible rewards while it is really have a significant impact on the job satisfaction as well as the work performance in the same time.
In contrast, a recent research (Bauer, 2004) illustrates that most workers in the UK claims that they are fairly satisfied with their job. As far as I am concerned, the reason why this difference exists is that the UK has a much more strict employment law which could provides a much more comfortable working conditions for employees in many aspects such as fair opportunities of training, promotion and ‘equal pay for equal value’. Moreover, under such a law enable employees to feel more certain about the future as they have a clear sense that their job performances will certainly be recognized and they will have fair career opportunities. Generally, comparing with the circumstances of the UK, China still has many places needs to be improved and this should not only the obligation of the government but also of all the organizations. As the government have the power of legislation, it should make every effort to perfect the legal system and thus it could fulfill the expectations of people, especially of those workers. As for the managers of the organizations, they need to concern more about the concerns of employees instead of only concentrating on the profit. Furthermore, managers should always evaluate if all the employees are satisfied with their job as unsatisfied workers were very likely being unperformed workers as well, and consequently they would have a negative impact on the entire performance of the organization.

To sum it up, it is undeniable that many people have ignored the effect of intangible rewards in practical operating while the impact of it is actually tends to be very significant somehow. By comparing the differences between the organizations of China and the UK gives new managers a new aspect to consider and thus could get a more thorough understanding of the workers as well. What is more, a better understanding could lead to a right decision, which is essential to a manager.

References:

Bauer, T.K., ‘High performance workplace practices and job satisfaction: Evidence from Europe’, Discussion Paper No. 1265, Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA), 2004.
Directgov, ‘The National Minimum Wage rates’ [internet] Available from: <http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/TheNationalMinimumWage/DG_10027201> [Accessed 11 December 2011]
Eurofound, ‘Measuring job satisfaction in surveys - Comparative analytical report’ [internet] Available from: <http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/reports/TN0608TR01/TN0608TR01.pdf> [Accessed 12 December 2011]
Fisher, C. D. (2003), ‘Why do lay people believe that satisfaction and performance are correlated? possible sources of a commonsense theory’. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24: 753–777. doi: 10.1002/job.219
Hinton, G. & Ruscoe, D. (Eds.) (2011). People and Organisational Behaviour within the context of Human Resource Management. Harlow: Pearson

Liu,J.Y.,2007. ‘Survey of the satisfaction on job on the employees of a state owned enterprise in North West China’, Science, issue 22, pp.15-16.

Torrington, D. Hall, L. And Taylor S. (2008) ‘Human Resource Management’ seventh Edition Harlow, FT/Prentice Hall. (pages 593 -667)

References: Bauer, T.K., ‘High performance workplace practices and job satisfaction: Evidence from Europe’, Discussion Paper No. 1265, Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA), 2004. Directgov, ‘The National Minimum Wage rates’ [internet] Available from: &lt;http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/TheNationalMinimumWage/DG_10027201&gt; [Accessed 11 December 2011] Eurofound, ‘Measuring job satisfaction in surveys - Comparative analytical report’ [internet] Available from: &lt;http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/reports/TN0608TR01/TN0608TR01.pdf&gt; [Accessed 12 December 2011] Fisher, C. D. (2003), ‘Why do lay people believe that satisfaction and performance are correlated? possible sources of a commonsense theory’. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24: 753–777. doi: 10.1002/job.219 Hinton, G. &amp; Ruscoe, D. (Eds.) (2011). People and Organisational Behaviour within the context of Human Resource Management. Harlow: Pearson Liu,J.Y.,2007. ‘Survey of the satisfaction on job on the employees of a state owned enterprise in North West China’, Science, issue 22, pp.15-16. Torrington, D. Hall, L. And Taylor S. (2008) ‘Human Resource Management’ seventh Edition Harlow, FT/Prentice Hall. (pages 593 -667)

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Busn311 Unit 1

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages

    One of the most prominent studies in many companies whether big or small is about job satisfaction. Job satisfaction as described by many is a degree of contentment of an individual employee or worker. It could be on specific, few or many aspects of a relationship between employee-employer relationship, salary pay, benefits, administrative services for employees and many others. Job satisfaction is usually measured by the use of rating scales where employees describe their feedbacks to their job environment, salary pay increase, nature of work, employer-employee relationship, seminars and trainings, promotional opportunities, bonuses (required and incentive bonuses), fringe benefits, amount of authority to run programs, administrative supervisors, and level of challenge and opportunity for growth provided by the job, health and safety among others. Some studies require an employee to response on “yes” or “no” options and some studies require him to rate himself on the basis of the scale 1-5 (where 1 is considered no satisfaction at all while 5 is considered most satisfied). Job satisfaction is important to companies large and small. Some companies considered this as basis of their hiring or terminating an employee but some considered this as essential tool of strategic planning and development.…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Judge, T., Thoresen, C. J., Bono, J. E., & Patton, G. K. (2001, May). The job-satisfaction-job…

    • 5769 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Torrington, D., Hall, L., Taylor, S. and Atkinson, C. (2011) ‘Human resource Management’ (8th ed.) London: Pearson…

    • 3121 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Employee Satisfaction

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Long-established rewards systems usually have had a large proportion of the total package as base pay and just a small portion tied to performance. In today’s world new and more strategic rewards systems, have come to be implemented which are more aligned with overall organizational strategies. These new rewards include a performance based variable pay, skill base pay and recognition pay. In researching this new trend it has been shown to have a very positive effect on employee productivity and firm performance.…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    6. Guzzo, R. A. 1979. ‘Types of Rewards, Cognitions, and Work Motivation’, The Academy of Management Review, vol. 4, no. 1, 75-86.…

    • 3298 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Best Essays

    Employment and Total Rewards

    • 3882 Words
    • 16 Pages

    The concept of rewards has developed over the time to represent more than just to pay cheque an employee at the end of the month. The concept of total rewards was emerged in the 1990s as a new way of thinking about the deployment of compensation and benefits, combined with other tangible and intangibles ways that company seek to attract best people.(Richard val del Walt 2010) As defined by Manus and Graham (2003), total reward ‘includes all types of rewards-indirect as well as direct, and intrinsic as well as extrinsic’. (Michael Armstrong 2006) The direct reward is what an employee receives from the employer in bank account such as base wage, bonuses, commission. Indirect rewards, often called “benefits” refers to that part of the total reward package in addition to direct pay, such as health & life insurance cover, retirement & pension plans, health care, company car and mobile phone (Koala Consulting and Training 2008). “There are extrinsic rewards, which cover the basic needs of income to survive (to pay bills), a feeling of stability and consistency (the job is secure), and recognition (my workplace values my skills). On the other hand, there are intrinsic rewards, the most important of which is probably job satisfaction, a feeling of completing challenges competently, enjoyment, and even perhaps the social…

    • 3882 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    How to Avoid High Turnover

    • 3117 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Brief, 1998 cited in Weiss, H. M. 2002, ‘Deconstructing job satisfaction: separating evaluations, beliefs and affective experiences’. Human Resource Management Review, 12, 173-194, p. 174.…

    • 3117 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Pay and Rewards – pay and rewards attract, motivate and retain staff. The employment contract which, amongst other things lists rewards, whether it is pay, bonus or benefits, can remove animosity amongst employees and employers. However, recent…

    • 3926 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Armstrong, M. and Murlis, H. (1991). Reward Management. 2nd edn. London: Institute of Personnel Management.…

    • 2788 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Total Rewards

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Total rewards are the monetary and non-monetary return provided to employees in exchange for their time, talents, efforts and results. The phrase “compensation and benefits” has given way to “total rewards”—which encompasses not only compensation and benefits but also personal and professional growth opportunities and a motivating work environment (for example, recognition, valued job design, and work/life balance). Stiffer competition in business has made it difficult for cost-conscious organizations to offer higher wages and more benefits each year. Employers have had to find alternative forms of rewards that cost less to implement but that still motivate employees to excel. Organizations have become much more strategic in their management of human resources, including integrating their various human resource functional areas.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    Work Place Equality

    • 2821 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Petty, M.M., G. W. and Cavender,J.W(1984) ‘A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship between Individual Job Satisfaction and Individual Performance’ , Academy of Management Review,9(4)712-21.…

    • 2821 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Human Relations movement, of Elton Mayo and others believed that job satisfaction had beneficial effects, including increased job performance (Argyle, 1988). Although some researchers used to believe that the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance is a management myth, a review of 300 studies suggested that the correlation is pretty strong. This paper strives to see how the job satisfaction has correlation with job performance.…

    • 8766 Words
    • 36 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Case Study of The CRA Case

    • 1719 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Stephen P. Robbins., Bruce Millet., Terry Waters - Marsh (2004). _Organisational Behaviour_ (4th. ed). Australia: Pearson Prentice Hall.…

    • 1719 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    Impact management practice

    • 3869 Words
    • 16 Pages

    A reward may be anything tangible or intangible that an organisation provides it employees either intentionally or unintentionally in exchange for the employees’ potential or actual work contribution, and to which employees as individuals attach a positive value of satisfaction (John Shields, 2007 p30-31). For any company to meet its responsibility to employee and the society, it must exist a relationship between its employees that will the organisation will grow with time. An employee reward system consists of an organisation’s integrated policies, processes and practices for rewarding its employees in accordance with their motivation, contribution, skills and competence and current market worth. (Michael Armstrong, 2003 p.4)…

    • 3869 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Torrington, D., Hall, L., Stephen, T. (2005) Human Resource Management.6th edition. England: Pearson education limited.…

    • 24604 Words
    • 99 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics