Motivation System of Microsoft
Dsicuss about the Effects Of Nonfinancial And Financial On Employee.
The motivation refers to the commitment of the employees towards their organization. It is the willingness of the employees to go beyond their normal job description to achieve the goals of the company. Employee motivation is important for the organization to achieve its regular goals. Therefore, the companies are concerned about motivating their employees. There are several methods of employee motivation such as creating an incentive system or involving employee in the operations of the organization. The employee motivation is specifically challenging for small business organizations as they are not aware of the motivation strategies or find them very costly in the implementation. Motivating the employees should be a regular routine of most of the business organizations. There are several reasons of employee motivation such as it allows the employees to meet the goals of the organization (Kuppuswamy, Saminathan, Udhayakumar, et al. 2017). If the atmosphere of the organization is not motivating, it overall productivity of the organization is reduced. There are several benefits of committed and motivated workforce, such as increased employee commitment, employee satisfaction, employee development and employee efficiency. In this regard, the present report will evaluate the employee motivation system of two multinational companies, namely, Microsoft and Google. The report will discuss different types of motivation techniques used be the companies and the overall evaluation of the motivation management system of the organization.
Microsoft is one of the largest business organizations dealing with the IT system and computer hardware. Over the years, the company has been the pioneer in the industry and has been the inventor of many novel technologies and technological products. The growth and productivity of the organization has been the result of high engagement and motivation of the employees. In the organization, the employees are motivated to the extreme degrees. The employees work overtime for the organization, even when they are not forced to. There have been several cases, in which the employees work for 10, 14 and 18 hours for their company. The company provides several facilities such as cots, couches and sleeping bags to their employees (Mikkelsen, Jacobsen & Andersen, 2017). It can be stated that the company is doing an excellent job at motivating its employees. Microsoft has set a benchmark by keeping its employees highly motivated. It can be analyzed that Microsoft focuses on the morale of the employees. The company has created a morale budget, which is used for the development and the implementation of the strategies, which can be used for boosting the employee morale. The organization also establishes group activities so that the employees remain engaged with the organization. When the employees perform group activities, it creates a bond of the employees with the organization (Cable, 2018) Different project teams go on different outings and team activities. The company has established equilibrium between the financial and non-financial incentives. Microsoft has established a positive work environment, in which the employees work towards achieving the organization’s goals. The company has made provision and stock for common and rare office supplies. The employees can ask for anything, and they need not sign or notify any authority. Other supplies can be obtained by sending a formal email to the facility management department. There is also a computer helpdesk through which the employees can call computer technician to fix any problems in the computer.
SWOT analysis of the motivation system in Microsoft
The focus of Microsoft is on non-monetary rewards. The company fosters team spirit by offering items with the symbol of the team. The team is also treated well by giving them special treatment at several large-scale hotels. Microsoft also gives emphasis to the personal lives of the employees. The employees are given time so that they can fulfill their personal responsibilities. The company has established a corporate culture in which, the employees motivate each other (Njoroge & Yazdanifard, 2014). Although the company does not exclusively ask the employees to commit for a project; however, if the employees are losing a deadline, it asks the employees, if they are completely committed to a project.
Further, Microsoft does not take use of phony motivational speech; but it relies on other non-financial incentives. Further, the managers emphasize team morale in all aspects of organization’s operations. It makes use of methodological purity, programming discipline and control over for the morale of the employees (Shaw, 2004).
Regarding non-financial incentives, the company provides comprehensive healthcare coverage, membership and discounts to the health clubs and access to 24 hours helpline number. It also offers benefits related to family and parenting such as reduced adoption fees, maternity leaves, paid leaves for the new parents and in-home care services for the employees. It also assists the employees in making investment and future planning. The employees have developed a program so that the employees can purchase the stocks of the company at discount rates (Shaw, 2004). It has established a program, in which the company links the contribution of the employees with discount on the stock purchases. It has also established a financial education program, in which the company assists the employees in taking an informed decision and establish a strong financial portfolio.
The company has established a comprehensive learning and development program so that the employees of the organization remain sharp and up-to-date with the latest technologies in the market. The company also provide tuition assistance for the so that the employees can pursue higher level of education. It has also established an internal training program for the instructors so that the knowledge of the employees can be enhanced easily. The employees can undertake various types of training related, available at different modes, such as online medium, virtual classes and classrooms. The company gives attention to the career growth of the employees, which motivate the employees to work hard for their career growth (Microsoft, 2018).
Motivation System of Google
With the analysis of the motivation strategies and tactics of the organization, it can be analyzed that the motivation approach of the organization is inspired by Mayo motivation theory. According to this theory, the motivation of the employees is not influenced by money, but the social needs of the workers. According to this strategy, there are several strategies, namely, better communication, high involvement of management and team work which can positively influence the motivation of the employees (Sirota, & Klein, 2013).
Strengths · It includes combination of financial and non-financial incentives · Emphasize team work · Recognizing and rewarding good work · Financial incentives |
Weaknesses · Creates excessive competition · Gives importance to employee morale which gives employee laid back attitude |
Opportunities · Creating an innovation organization culture of the employees (Lau & Roopnarain, 2014). |
Threats Excessive competition from other IT companies |
Google is considered as one of the best company due to its happy workforce. In its short lifespan, the company has established a unique place for itself in the international community due to the huge and bright workforce. It has been successful in attracting and keeping one of the most talented workforces due to its motivation and performance management strategies. The company has established an exemplary culture, with its outstanding ideas and products. The organization culture and motivation strategies of the organization have been derived from the philosophy of the leadership, which emphasize the importance of motivated and happy workforce.
The organization truly shows that it care for its people. It has created a happy workforce, which is responsible for creating an amazing brand and triggering excellent innovation. The organization realizes that people become successful at their job and remain loyal to their organization, when they consider that they are valued and supported in their career goals (De Vito, Brown, Bannister, Cianci, & Mujtaba, 2018). It has created a positive work culture, by providing different perks, unique office designs, freedom, flexibility and transparency to its employees.
The company offers several extrinsic benefits such as flexible spending account, health benefits, insurance, vacation, higher education facilities and investment advices. Most of the other organizations with similar stature also offer same services; however, Google also offer several unique and distinctive services, which show the extreme lengths that the company goes to show its care for the employees. There are several remarkable perks of offered by the organization, such as reimbursement of legal fees, maternity benefits, financial and legal support in adopting a child and different other on-site activities (Yousaf, Latif, Aslam, & Saddiqui, 2014). It includes car wash, oil change, dry cleaning, and hair stylist and massage therapy. The lunch and dinner are also available at the organization at free of charge.
The organization has adopted a flat organization structure, in which all the employees can access top management and raise their voice against any issue of concern. The company regularly hosts employee forums to address the employee issues on an immediate basis. The employees can use different platforms to communicate their thoughts and idea to the customers. It also regularly conducts survey so that the company can identify the employee issues and resolve the major problems. In order to boost the organization structure of the organization, the company regularly conducts survey in which the employee gives feedback to their employees (Malik, Butt & Choi, 2015). The survey is used to identify the best managers and grow them within the organization. On the other hand, the bad managers are provided with training and coaching so that they can improve their leadership style.
Another feature of the employee motivation strategy of the organization is the transparency offered to the internal and the external stakeholders of the company. Google considers that the employees are its biggest asset; therefore, it is important to create a transparent and positive work culture. The employees are shown that the organization trusts them with confidential information and encourage them for decision-making.
The executive chairman of the organization shares the annual reports of the organization with all the stakeholders. It also share materials related to the product launch plans and roadmap. The company also offers high discretion regarding their working hours so that they can work according to their convenience. They are offered high flexibility and if they feel tired during the working hours, they can engage in other recreational activities such as hitting a gym, getting a massage, or indulging in any other sport activity (Porter, Riesenmy, & Fields, 2016). They can also enter participate in any other project of their interest or sleep for a while.
The engineers have high degree of flexibility in the selection of the projects of their choice. The organization encourages the staff members to pursue the projects of their choice. The employee can also join the training program of their choice so that they can learn novel technology. There I no specific dress code and employees can arrive at the workplace however they want. It has created a relaxed and fun environment at the organization, which has established several psychological benefits for the organization.
The company has realized that the biggest reason of employee demotivation is that the employees are assigned similar work on a regular basis. The work assigned to the employees is deficit in variety and monotonous. As a result, the employees explore other avenues and work opportunities, which increase the employee turnover in the organization (Scullion & Colings, 2011). The company offers dynamic work to the employees so that the employees remain enthusiastic for their work.
Google has established 80-20 rule, in which the organization is taking efforts so that the employees remain motivated and focused at their work. According to this rule, an employee can devote 20% of their time in exploring other ideas or projects of their interest.
The company also tries to create a fun environment at the work. The company regularly conducts fun activities so that the employee can enjoy their work time and interact more with each other. Google is also famous for creating unusual workplace design, in which creative people and the engineers can come together and generate creative ideas.
The motivation strategy of Google has been derived from Kenneth Thomas “Four Intrinsic Rewards” theory. According to this theory, there are four main factors, which can be used to motivate the employees of the organization. Further, an individual take four major decisions, which impacts his decision-making at the organization. These four factors are, namely, sense of meaningfulness, sense of choice, sense of competence and sense of progress. The sense of meaningfulness is developed, when an individual realizes that he has acquired something, which matters to large number of people. The sense of meaningfulness gives a sense of purpose, course and determination (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). Another factor is sense of choice, which gives an employee authority at their work. The sense of ownership allows an individual to create novel ideas and innovation approaches. The sense of competence states that an individual is handling his work activities in a better manner. The person should exceed his personal standards to meet achieve the sense of competence. When an individual accomplishes good quality work, it boosts his confidence and self-worth. The last factor is the sense of progress, which states that a person should realize that his efforts are achieving something. He should realize that his efforts will benefit him at a large scale.
Strengths · Intrinsic motivation · High creativity as the employees are given space to explore their creative side (Ventrice, 2009) |
Weaknesses · High degree of monitoring · High turnover rate as the employees are treated like entrepreneurs, which motivate them to work independently |
Opportunities · Giving credit and intellectual property rights to the employees so that they focus more in innovation |
Threats · Adoption of similar strategies by other companies |
There are several issues in the human resource and performance management of both Microsoft and Google. In the preset section, several recommendations have been made, so that they can achieve higher level of employee commitment and motivation towards their work.
- Microsoft is a global company; therefore, it needs a global strategy, which can address the motivation and HR requirements of employees situated at different geographical locations. In the present, the competition among the business organizations is very high; therefore, the company also needs to align its business strategy with the HR strategy. The corporate strategy needs to align the recruitment, retention, training and development, and performance management of the organization. It will boost the motivation of the employees. The organization should try to maintain link between corporate strategy and HR strategy (Deresky, & Christopher, 2015). The HR managers of the organization should emphasize strategic planning of the Hr and motivation strategy and designing investment through which the company can recruit the most talented individuals in the organization. The company should develop a specific plan through which the motivation level of the employees can be analysed.
- Microsoft has implemented several policies for the employee welfare; however, it heavily scrutinizes its employees. It creates a sense of insecurity among the employees (Warren, 2013). It can be stated that the company should increase the freedom and flexibility of the employees so that they can work with high motivation. Providing autonomous profile to the employees will make them more responsible and productive.
- The motivation system of Google also has certain issues, such as relative low pay, bureaucracy, and a prolonged hiring process (Arrington, 2009). The employees should change the HR Policies so that it can maintain a higher level of employee motivation. The company should reduce the bureaucratic structure and create transparency within the organization. It will uplift the overall motivation level of the employees. Google is one of the best brand and the candidates try hard to enter the organization. However, a very long hiring process reduces the motivation level of the employees. The company should make efforts to reduce the length of the hiring process.
Conclusion
Conclusively, the present report can be summarized that different companies adopt different HR strategies to achieve their goals. The motivation system is very important in an organization as it encourages the employees to be more productive and go beyond their normal job roles to achieve their goals. In the present report, the motivation system of Google and Microsoft has been analyzed.
References
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Motivation System of Microsoft