MOTIVATION

Motivation is one of the main factors that determine the work performance of employees. A person is motivated when he or she wants to do something but notice that the reason to do something does not represent the same thing as the stimulus.

The most influent theory is the one of Maslow´s hierarchy of needs, which classifies people’s needs in 5 levels:

Source:Maslow´s hierarchy of needs. Retrieved February 28,2011, From:http://www.selfmademiracle.com/prosperity/maslow

Frederick Herzberg´s two factor theory: He found out that satisfaction factors were related to elements of professional activity (achievements, promotions, responsibility). Dissatisfaction factors involved the context of their work: company policy, management, salary, work conditions. (This theory was criticized because it does not make any evaluation of the relationship between satisfaction and performance)

Theory X and Theory Y (Douglas McGregor): Separates employees in two categories. The following chart shows the difference of x and y theory:

Source: Theory X & Theory Y. Retrieved February 28, 2011, From: http://www.ccel.us/hans.ch5.html

The 2 theories above are content theories; they actually focus on specific factors that motivate the employees regarding certain necessities and aspiration.

The following theories are focus theories this means that are concentrated on the process, on the psychological forces that have an effect on motivation. These theories are more useful to managers because they offer more realistic principles regarding motivation techniques.

The expectancy theory (initially elaborated by Vroom, and then developed by Porter and Lawler): The motivation is only possible when there is a clear relation btw the work performance and its results, and the results are means to satisfy a certain need.

The goal setting theory (Lotham and Locke):  motivation and performance is higher when there are specific objectives that even if difficult are accepted and receive performance feedback.

The fifty-fifty rule (new theory of motivation): The theory says that a substantial part of motivation lies within a person while a substantial part lies outside and beyond its control. The 50-50 rule covers both the 1) Internal perspective of an individual and its inner motivational factors and also the 2) External perspective, when the employee motivation is influenced by others and the instant.

DISCUSSION: is economic retribution enough to motivate employees?

I believe that economic retribution is a huge step to motivate employees but is not enough, since from one side is very difficult to keep that kind of arrangements with all the employees plus not everyone has the same interests, maybe some of them want to ensure self-actualization or physiological needs, it all depends of the person its personality, behavior and needs.

Reference:

Viorel, Lefter, Manolescu Aurel, Marinas Cristian Virgil and Puia Ramona Stefania. 2009. "Employees Motivation Theories Developed At An International Level". Annal of the university of Oradea, Economic Science Series 18. 

Personality, Perception and Attribution/Attitudes and Values

A brief definition for personality is that it is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that make a person unique. Personality arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life. Some of the fundamental characteristics of personality are: self-concept (self-efficacy, self-esteem, self-monitoring), positive or negative affect, locus of control (internal: person controls its own destiny and external: belief that things happen because of other people, luck). Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information. It´s important to have cleared that people’s perception is affected by internal factors such as: stimuli from environment and context in which they operate.  Attribution is a concept that people make sense of their surroundings on the basis of what they consider is the cause and what is the effect of a phenomenon. It suggests that individuals observe their own behavior or experience, try to figure out what caused it, and then shape their future behavior accordingly. Explanations of behavior fall into two categories.  One is internal attribution, which is associated with personal factors such as personality, ability and motivation. And the other is external attribution, which is related to environment factors such as organizational rules, luck and natural environment.

The attitudes are the feelings about certain situations or people and it’s highly related to one’s behavior. The ABC model explains three main components of attitudes, such as the affect (the feelings and verbal statements), the behavioral intentions (how the person behaves and the verbal statements about the intentions) and the cognition (attitudes and beliefs). The attitudes are created mainly by two reasons: direct experience and social learning.

Values are those beliefs about some conducts that are accepted and are divided in two main categories: instrumental (how to achieve goals) and terminal (the goals to be achieved). In the organization there are some values generally accepted, such as concern for others, honesty and fairness.

Source: Bryan Eisenberg.2008.Retrieved February 28, 2011, From: http://www.semvironment.com

They Pygmalion effect is how a perception about the performance of a person affects its behavior and performance.  

Retrieved February 28, 2011, From: http://www.accel-team.com/pygmalion/index.html

DISCUSSION: Why is important for managers and employees to be able to understand different types of personalities?

Understanding the different types of personality is helpful for appreciating that while people are different, everyone has a value, and special strengths and qualities, and that everyone should be treated with care and respect. Both employees and managers can become tolerant by recognizing the different types of personalities. Also are useful for management, recruitment, selection, training and teaching. 

References:

- Takao Inamori, Farhad Analoui, "Beyond Pygmation effect: the role of managerial perception", Journal of Management Development, Vol.29 Iss:4.

- Martin de Castro G., Navas Lopez J., Lopez Saez P., Alama Salazar, E.(2006) "Organizational capital as competitive advantage of the firm" Journal of Intellectual Capital, Vol 7 Iss:3.

NATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Culture is one of the factors that influence on how the organization makes decisions, communicates and structures its roles and relationships. The national culture is a culture that characterizes a national group and influences the behavior of individual members, it distinguished members from one human group from others and it includes a system of values. While the organizational culture are all the whole collection of attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values of an organization. (Aspects of corporate culture: symbols, norms, ceremonies). There are six factors that determined it: dominant characteristics (first thing you see), organizational leadership, the management of employees, the organization glue (what joins together employees in an organization “loyalty, friendship”), strategic emphases (what do really aim for) and criteria of success. It’s important for me to mention some characteristics of corporate culture: first it provides compromise about organizations values, second it gives a sense of identity, guides behavior and provides controls for desirable behavior and finally it is very common to found that the values were established a few years ago, when it was founded the company. 

The following picture shows the relationship between culture, identity and image:  

Source: Hatch & Schultz, 2002. Retrieved February 27, 2011, From: Your Building, Prospering From Sustainability: http://www.yourbuilding.org/Article/  

culture: "the way we do things around here"

Identity: "how we see ourselves"

Image: "how we want others to see us"

This video will helps us understand a little bit more the definition of organizational culture:

DISCUSSION: Do you think that is possible to change corporate culture? How would you do it?

I believe that is possible to change organizational culture, but there are certain challenges that managers have to affront to be able to create this kind of change in their organizations. First they have to take in mind that culture change is neither easy nor quick, since creating and implanting significant change may well be a five year exercise. Second, managers have to understand that some people are more receptive to change than others, it is important to always keep in mind that different people, and different parts of the organization, are likely to be more receptive to cultural change than others. Because of this, change will not occur in a uniform way across the organization.  A way to do it is by implementing powerful leadership managers, which can lead people to commitment to the organization, also the leadership have to take in mind that depending of the job that the person is doing the risk that they see in change is different from one to another.  

Reference:

- Mead, Richard,2004. International Management: Cross-Cultural Dimensions London: Blackwell Publishing.Chapter 1. 

                                             THE CORPORATION

1. How can we ensure corporations are held accountable for their actions “ethically” and “legally”?

R// According to the documentary a corporation is a group of individuals working together to serve a variety of objectives the principle one is to earn large,growing, legal returns for the people who own the business, sometimes is quite difficult to ensure that they will act ethically and legally, since their main motivation is to generate profit even though there are several politics involve like national and international regulations and also the civil society (consumers) are an interest instrument that can establish limits, for example: by stop the purchase of goods or services that the company provide, forcing them to stop doing inappropriate things.

2. Should individuals (directors, employees, shareholders) bear any responsibility for the actions of a corporation? If so, to what degree?

R// I think that directors, employees and shareholders are in some way responsible of the actions of a corporation, because as I mentioned before, a corporation is a group of individuals that work together to obtain a goal. Also is important to clarify that all the decisions are not only taken by the CEO; their partners are also involved. Besides, an individual can be good person outside the institution he/she is just themselves but at entering at the institution the role changes in some cases since they have to act very aggressively (role of a monster CEO) if they don’t do so the competition will bring them down.

Milton Friedman (novel prize winning economist)said that corporates are an artificial legal structure, that actually a building can’t have moral opinions or social responsibilities but people that are involve with the corporation (employees, stockholders) should have those moral responsibilities.

3. What are the benefits of the corporate form? Could an alternative model offer these as well?

R// some benefits of a corporate are:

·         Owners' personal assets are protected from business debt and liability

·         Corporations have unlimited life extending beyond the illness or death of the owners

·         Tax free benefits such as insurance, travel, and retirement plan deductions

·         Transfer of ownership facilitated by sale of stock

·         Change of ownership need not affect management

·         Easier to raise capital through sale of stocks and bonds

They offer a way to increase standards of living of people that are from underdeveloped countries, gaining a lower cost in production (China & Bangladesh).  For citizens there is another way to obtain a better life quality “the government” if they provide opportunities people might have a better way of life without giving almost for free their work.

4. Search for a foreign multinational corporation that has operations in Colombia. Research if they are run under Colombian rules or regulations or if they have special regulations?

R// an example of a foreign multinational is BBVA from Spain, the regulation of FDI, one can say that Colombia has a very favorable legislation for foreign investment, which for all purposes is treated as national investment. In addition, to facilitate exports were placed ten zones, which offer tax benefits and in which there are no taxes on imports and exports, five special economic zones that provide incentives export-exchange, prosecutors, customs and labor-and Vallejo Plan, offering tax breaks to multinationals and guarantees for the commercialization of products and raw materials.

5. Should economic efficiency (Main argument for privatization) be the primary concern for commons and public services? Are there other criteria to determine who should own or operate them?

R// I believe that corporation (private institutions) brings efficiency to the economy; also it helps to make a good image of the country in terms of competitiveness. Somehow private institutions created a wealth and when they open a branch in another country this brings opportunities of work for the people but also are the public institutions the ones that creates very good benefits for people for example in periods of recession most of this institutions tried to keep their employees in good conditions but as corporations are mainly concerned of profits most of them make quick decision like firing people.    

References:

-Mark Achbar, Joel Bakan, y Jennifer Abbott (producers). (2003). The Corporation [DVD].

Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pin8fbdGV9Y&feature=BF&list=PLFA50FBC214A6CE87&index=1

- Kine, John M. 2006. "MNCs and Surrogate Sovereignity" Brown Journal of World Affairs. 

- [authors of the film]. retrieved 2003 from: http://www.nodo50.org/tortuga/Documental-The-Corporation