Management And Organisational Behaviour : APL Companies Employee

APL Company, or Advanced Programming Limited, has been experiencing high turnover ratios of late as a lot of employees have been resigning from the company on the grounds that they need to restore their work life balances and take out more time for their personal lives. After resigning from the company, the same employees have been joining start-up companies that have greater working hours and require them to work for as much as 16 hours a day.

When Vivian Sullivan arranged for a meeting with Paul Bolton, Bolton already had an idea that she, like many other employees, will present her resignation in the meeting. When the meeting took place, Bolton’s gut feeling came out to be true and Vivian presented her resignation on the grounds that she was exhausted and she required time for her to rejuvenate. Bolton, to get a better insight to the problem, presented her a number of offers that could make her change her mind, such as an unpaid leave, a bigger office on returning, a raise in salary, etc. but nothing was motivating enough for Vivian to change her mind.

The problem that exists in the company is high turnover ratio of employees because of employees becoming millionaires even before they reach 40. As pointed out by Bolton, most of the employees that were leaving the company had already become millionaires because of the stock options and stocks rising like a rocket in the stock market. Further, such employees had enough money at their disposal, which is more than what they can spend. As a result, they are not motivated by monetary benefits anymore and as retirement is not a good option at such an age, they tend to join start-ups that offer them a greater potential and an exponential increase in the stock prices.

Analysis/Evaluation:

When Vivian Sullivan (one of the most valued employees and working with the company since four years) presented her resignation, Bolton’s offers, such as an increased pay, unpaid leaves, etc. were not able to motivate to her to change her decision because she had already achieved her needs when it came to money. She was being paid higher than the market average and had more money than she could spend. As suggested by Maslow in his need hierarchy theory, people are motivated to work more when they have a set of needs to be achieve or fulfilled. In her case, she had already fulfilled her need for money (Learning Theories, n.d.). As a result, money did not prove to be a key factor in motivating her to change her decision and she now desired fulfilment of needs that were greater than monetary needs.

In a case like this, where the employees are relatively wealthier than the industrial average, money can never prove to be effective in motivating the employees. It is obvious that providing the employees with something that they already have will not motivate to work harder or perform better at all. They have already met their economic needs and they can only be motivated if there needs related to self-actualization, esteem needs, etc. are fulfilled.

Four-drive theory and McClelland’s Learned Needs Theory are one of the pioneer theories of motivation. McClelland proposed in his theory that there are three basic factors or needs that motivate people, which are achievement, affiliation and power (Mindtools.com, 2016). On the other hand, the four-drive theory proposes that there are four drives that derive people’s efforts and motivates them to work harder. The four drives are drive to acquire & achieve, drive to bond, drive to learn & comprehend and drive to defend (Kurt Nelson, 2016). If the case is analysed by taking into account these two theories, it can be easily observed that money, as a motivational factor, is one of the very basic needs of people. In four drives theory, money comes under the very first drive while in the McClelland’s need theory too, economic needs are covered in the very first factor (Managerwise.com, 2016). Thus, it is obvious that the economic needs of the employees at APL are already fulfilled and there is nothing left with the management to motivate their employees with. As a result, the employees see less future prospects and have been joining start-up companies that offer them future prospects and a better career growth.  

Organisational commitment is defined as the bond that exists between the employees and the organisation (Mindtools.com, 2016). Vivian Sullivan had an organisational commitment that showed lower levels of continuance commitment, normative commitment and affective commitment. Even though Vivian Sullivan loved her job and had shown high performance over the past few years, she did not have any kind of obligation towards the organisation and wanted to leave the company on the basis of made up reasons as she later on joined a start-up company (Effectory, 2016). If Sullivan had higher forms of commitment towards her job or towards the organisation, it would not have been easier for her to leave the organisation even when the management of the organisation was ready to offer her additional benefits to help her in changing her mind.

In the case of APL Company, it is evident that there is an urgent need of a proper job design in order to retain and attract talented pool of employees. In this particular case, it can be clearly identified that Vivian Sullivan, like many other employees, has left the company even though she was given a lot of options, such as monetary benefits, a larger workspace, etc. but nothing was enough for her to change her mind. It is also evident that her decision to join a start-up company later on was governed by her needs of developing her career. She presumed that her career would bloom in a better way if she would join a start-up company that offers her a better potential rather than APL that just had more monetary benefits and offers for her. Therefore, it is important that the management of the company designs each and every job properly and also mentions the future prospects of the jobs and the duration after which an employee would be considered for a promotion. When employees perceive growth of promotion in an organisation, they are likely to become more committed towards the organisation and show high levels of loyalty and commitment towards the organisation and their work.

Recommendations:

First of all, it is important to understand that Vivian Sullivan, like many other employees, already had enough money and monetary benefits or an increment would never be able to motivate her in any way. Vivian Sullivan is a hard work and she has now desires for the fulfilment of higher forms of needs rather than just economical needs. She wants to be associated with a company, realize her capabilities, be respected at the workplace and develop her career in the longer run. Therefore, Bolton should ensure that Vivian Sullivan is offered a better job profile or an upcoming promotion if the management is interested in motivating her to change her decision of leaving the organisation. Further, it is also important that the human resource management of the organisation carefully identifies the needs of their employees so that they can take necessary steps to keep them motivated and to retain their talented pool of employees in the longer run.

References:

Effectory. (2016). 3 Key Types of Organisational Commitment. [online] Available at: https://www.effectory.com/thought-leadership/blog/3-key-types-of-organisational-committment/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2016].

EmploymentCrossing.com. (2016). The Three Types of Organizational Commitment of Employees. [online] Available at: https://www.employmentcrossing.com/employers/article/900006766/The-Three-Types-of-Organizational-Commitment-of-Employees/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2016].

Kurt Nelson, P. (2016). Four Drive Model: New Theory on Employee Motivation - Leader's Beacon : Knowledge is Power. [online] Leader's Beacon : Knowledge is Power. Available at: https://www.leadersbeacon.com/four-drive-model-new-theory-on-employee-motivation/ [Accessed 28 Nov. 2016].

Learning Theories. (n.d.). Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - Learning Theories. [online] Available at: https://www.learning-theories.com/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs.html [Accessed 29 Nov. 2016].

Managerwise.com. (2016). The Four Drive Theory in the Workplace. [online] Available at: https://www.managerwise.com/article.phtml?id=687 [Accessed 28 Nov. 2016].

Mindtools.com. (2016). McClelland's Human Motivation Theory: Discovering What Drives Your Team. [online] Available at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/human-motivation-theory.htm [Accessed 28 Nov. 2016].

Mindtools.com. (2016). The Three Component Model of Commitment: Improving Commitment and Engagement. [online] Available at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/three-component-model-commitment.htm [Accessed 28 Nov. 2016].