Workplace Motivation Paper

As corporations strive to boost earnings in an increasingly competitive environment, they inevitably turn their attention to the issue of employee productivity. When employees are unsatisfied with their current work situation, productivity decreases, tension builds in the workplace, and morale becomes very low. Companies have known historically that morale affects productivity, yet management has struggled to come to terms with the factors that can create positive morale and an environment that attracts and retains workers and encourages them to produce.
When I first started working for Acroprint, I did not see any type of motivational techniques. Production personnel were not permitted outside the production or break room area. Office personal and all but one warehouse personnel were not allowed in the production area. All employees were assigned a specific position and that is what each did all day, every day. Evaluations and pay raises were given every six months with no sign of advancement. This type or work motivation is called extrinsic, employees work for the pay, sick & vacation time, and insurance benefits. It was a quit, slow paced work environment. After a few years engineering designs improved to the product, which made assembly easier and faster. However, the increase in productivity was minimal. This invoked the managers to force employees to work faster by giving them a quota to meet and if their quota was not met, punishment would range from a warning to time off without pay and eventually dismissal. By doing this, employees started looking for employment elsewhere causing a tremendous amount of turnover.
Mr. Robbins, the owner decided to put a more decisive measure in place by allowing those employees willing to learn different positions and those who showed improvement promotions and an increase in pay. This type of motivational strategy is called intrinsic. Eventually, employees were able to apply for jobs in other departments. After a few