There are more factors that affect job satisfaction and motivate employees to work for a particular company than the salary and benefits paid for their services. According to Hackman & Oldman's Job Characteristics Model, jobs should contain various characteristics in order to be a motivating job and to contribute to employee or job satisfaction. These characteristics are: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. Along with this job's characteristics a motivating job should be structured in a way it allows for employee personal realization and goal achievement. This structure is presented in the Employee Satisfaction Model, which clearly depicts the determinants of job satisfaction versus the consequences of job satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
One company that seems to follow these models to the maximum extent is the Vermont based enterprise, Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., makers of super-premium ice cream. Ben & Jerry's has become legendary for its commitment to corporate responsibility and enjoys a superb reputation as one of the best places to work for in North America.
Just as Ben & Jerry's three-part mission statement clearly denotes their company's commitment to environment-friendly manufacturing practices, career growth opportunities for its employees, and social responsibility, their corporate practices by themselves seem to be extremely focused on honoring their mission statement employing, consciously or not, the characteristics for a motivating job outlined in Hackman & Oldman's Job Characteristics Model and the determinants of job satisfaction explained by the Employees Satisfaction Model.
First, lets take Hackman & Oldman's Job Characteristics Model and apply it to Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc. Skill variety, according to Hackman and Oldman is "the ability to use several different skills to one's job." According to the Wall Street Journal "Ben & Jerry's recently created a "Get Connected" program to encourage employees to interact with and learn more about their customers." (Wall Street Journal) They can answer customer letters, attend customer focus groups, or visit stores as sales representative or delivery personnel. Some even volunteer to give tours of the factory. This type of activities not only utilizes a vast amount of employees' different skills but even promote a sense of pride among the employees on their contribution to the success of the organization. Ben & Jerry's has also developed the Ben and Jerry's Foundation whose sole mission is to make the world a better place.
This case study will examine the key management practices that make Trader Joe’s successful. Sound management practices have been a catalyst for the long-term financial success of Trader Joe’s. The literature review examines Trader Joe’s approach to management practices. The research will analyze the: employee job satisfaction, management practices, importance of human capital, and contingency planning.
While Ben & Jerry’s has multiple strengths, it is also worth noting some of the company’s weakness and how they can combat them. Although their commitment to clean resources draws in consumers, it also losing another group of people, those who do not wish to pay extra price the company must charge to offset clean technology choices. Ben & Jerry’s is one of the more expensive ice cream brands located in a local grocery store. This has direct correlation to their lack of an exceptionally large sale
Starbuck’s, Nordstrom, Boeing, Costco and Wal-Mart have all been chosenas Fortune Magazine “USA 100 Best Companies to Work For” Starbuck’s, Nordstrom, Boeing, Costco and Wal-Mart are leaders in their industry and have been doing business successfully. During the research on their Human Resource Management (HRM), I can see their successes are firmly related to their effective and efficient HRM strategies. There are many factors in common among these five companies’ HRM strategies: devotion to employees’ benefits, employee training, a diversified work environment, promotions and rewards system, friendly and healthy workplace and outsourcing opportunities, Starbuck’s business has been boosting year by year. For many people that have had Starbuck’s coffee, they may notice that Starbuck’s customer service is outstanding. Every customer is treated like a VIP and with high quality service.
In this essay, I will be discussing whether or not there is a problem with worker motivation in capitalist economies. However, before I relay my answer, I must define both motivation and capitalism within the context of this essay. In the book, Motivation and Work Behavior, the authors share their thoughts on motivation. They conclude, “When we discuss motivation, we are primarily concerned with (1) what energizes human behavior, (2) what directs or channels such behavior, and (3) how this behavior is maintained or sustained” (Porter et al. 2003, p. 1). Put more simply, motivation is what encourages human beings to focus and stay on task in any certain situation, in my opinion. In the context of the workplace, one considers motivation to of the utmost importance, since in most cases, time equals money in terms of production. Therefore, there are certain factors that are necessary in order to maintain the motivation of the workers. Some factors might include decent salaries, benefits, or even a thriving corporate culture. Many theorists attempt to explain motivation in relation to a p...
Some of the things that companies could do to improve job satisfaction for example, would be to identify when an employee is bored on the job, address it, obtain feedback from the employee for ideas to make their job more interesting and challenging. This would allow a leader to assist this individual in designing different ways to perform duties or depending on individual’s future career goals and performance level, may need more responsibility or promotion in order for the employee to maintain job satisfaction and retention with t...
Based off of the gratification an individual contains towards their work, job satisfaction is a key. The productivity could either be positive or negative, while the relationship between the productivity and satisfaction may not be consistent. There are multiple internal and external factors in job satisfaction that can impact the behavior of an employee and engagement over time. The way the worker’s attitude concerning their field affects the performance they perform on a daily basis. One who is satisfied with the job they do, succeeds at what they do.
This theory implicates a logical illustration that if the nature of a job sufficed and met the five core characteristics, the employee would feel a sense of fulfillment that would result in excellent work performance (Armstrong, 2017). The job design prefigures the significant relationship of the five core dimensions as to how a worker perceives the three vital psychological states – meaningfulness of work, responsibility and knowledge of outcomes – that would eventually contribute to a sense of general job satisfaction, personal growth, increased motivation and effectiveness of work (DeVaro, Li, Brookshire, 2007). There is a dynamic suggestion in JCM that acclaims the correlation of positive feelings with an excellent performance, and negative feelings with poor performance (Mukul, Rayhan, Hoque, & Islam,
McDonalds’ corporation is a leader in the fast food industry. Nonetheless, the corporation website has some drawbacks I terms of detailing the company’s social responsibility statements. As opposed to Starbucks, which delineates in a more precise manner its social responsibility statements, McDonald’s does not show its commitment in a clear way. Here are some of the aspects that were impressive when analyzing Starbucks business ethics and compliance standards of business conduct booklet.
The case requires a discussion of fundamental firm objectives and the implications of a non-traditional corporate orientation; one needs to review the development of Ben & Jerry's strong social consciousness and the takeover defence mechanisms that maintain management's control on company assets.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the founders of Ben and Jerry's, gave the firm a very specific spirit. While the majority of corporate managers were under constant pressure to meet their shareholders' demands, Ben and Jerry were quite the opposite, frowning upon traditional business biases based on short-term interests and large profits. Initially, their quick business growth frightened them, as they both thought about severing ties with the fast growing company. However, what was supposed to be a threat to their ideals turned out to be a way to strengthen their campaign for social change. It was through their social ideals that they introduced "caring capitalism", a philosophy which spread throughout a host of educational, environmental and social events. The founders did not place emphasis on cash, equipment and inventories; the "tangible assets" of the firm. Instead, the...
A category for job satisfaction is the motivators/satisfiers. Factors such as recognition, responsibility meaningful and interesting work, opportunities for advancement, and personal growth are desirable traits that employees look for. Whereas, hygiene factors are the causes for job dissatisfaction. They are based off of working conditions, relationships between co-workers, policies, supervisor behaviour, job security, wages and benefits.
It is well established reality that organisations in the world today can no longer survive without focusing on their employees. If they have to be at the competitive edge they have to invest in human resource, and placing their employees on top priority. This notion has lead to the strategies that, most organisations are pursuing through employee management. To achieve the optimum performance from employees organisations must motivate their employees, and have to engage them in activities that will benefit and help employees in achieving their predetermined goals and objectives. In order to achieve this, it is imperative for managers to set in motion work conditions that will help employees to achieve satisfaction of their job, low turnover and absenteeism rate and promoting the environment that promotes the organizational commitments and organizational citizenship behavior. Job satisfaction has been identified as a major requirement for organisations which aim to achieve excellence in their operations. Armstrong (2003) refers to job satisfaction as the attributes and feelings people have about their work. By extension, job satisfaction will mean positive or favourable attitudes towards one’s job whilst a negative or unfavourable attitude indicates job dissatisfaction.
The problem of job dissatisfaction is a global workplace issue. Although Americans are happier in their jobs, satisfaction in the United States is declining due to downsizing and overburdening. (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Before outlining job dissatisfaction a definition of job satisfaction is needed. Job satisfaction is “[an] individuals’
...s in the corporate world by setting new standards to promote and better satisfy their employees. We chose four leading companies in four different industries. The above analysis definitely reveals that perhaps one of the reasons why these companies are the leaders in their industry is because they are well aware of the importance of the work force. They mention in their mission statements as well that yes in deed customers are important but in order to make the customer happy they first need to motivate and satisfy the employee as well. According to Citibank, the general belief is that a happy worker is a motivated and loyal one. So keeping employees' spirits high is a sure-fire way of maintaining a productive workforce. A productive work force would ultimately lead to a healthy organization which would not only promote the society its working for but also itself.
Today businesses believe that the sustaining of performance and competitive advantage to becoming a great organization. As an organization’s success depends on their employees’ performance, the value of specific individual employee has played an important role within an organization to be competitive. At that time, the value of each and individual employee and their satisfaction with their jobs are one of the key factors for an organization and organizations need to find ways to improve employee job satisfaction to achieve organizational goals.