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Dan Price Company Analysis
Melissa R. Marin
Business Department, Liberty University
BMAL 500: Organizational Behavior
Dr. Walter Dingman
April 01, 2020
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Regardless of the business, pay is going to be something that has to be reviewed and set
for every employee. Pay is so important, especially when there are perceived differences
between employees. In fact, “when such disparities become public, they lead to feelings of
inequity, which in turn lowers employee engagement, motivation, and performance” (Kinicki and
Fugate, 2018, p.161). What this means is that employers must navigate real and perceived
differences very carefully, as did Dan Price, majority owner of Gravity Properties.
Dan Price’s company prides itself in “recognizing the value in establishing an
entrepreneurial, goal-oriented, rewarding, honest, and innovative culture” (Kinicki & Fugate,
2018, p. 196). This also translates to the pay that they start employees out with, which is
$70,000, while also including other benefits with paid time off, bonuses, and other company
specific initiatives (Kinicki & Fugate, 2018, p. 196). While there were many elements that Dan
Price changed in his company, with the focus often being on his personal pay cut to raise the
minimum starting salary for his employees, everything that was done could be said to be all part
of a good human resource department and initiative. According to Mira, Choong, and Thim
(2019), “human resources practices offer a key role to increase the performance of the
employees, which lead the organizations to achieve their goal” (p. 772). Ultimately, Mr. Price’s
goal was to give his employees a better quality of life stimulated from a pay raise, but this would
in turn improve his company and the employees’ outputs.
Define the Problem
The gaps that can be found in this case about Gravity Properties are work attitudes and
performances, from the perspective of the main protagonist, Dan Price. The desire is that all
employees contribute positively and significantly to the organization, but due to constraints or
perceived differences, like pay, they are not meeting their potential. Dan Price considered raising
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the minimum salary of the company would help these outcomes and see performance and work
attitude improve positively; however, his actions were not well-received throughout the entire
company. Some employees affected by this change would argue that it in facts rewards subpar
performance and does not give employees something to strive for. He made a singular decision
that impacted every member of his organization in the hopes that what he considered a problem
could be rectified by easing his employees concerns about quality of life. If they are more
confident in their personal lives, then they are surely to be better contributors at work if the
stressors from home are not causing a major distraction.
Identify Causes
By choosing to focus on the problem of group/team (company) performance, derived
from the individual level, there are a number of potential causes. For situational factors, the
organizational climate could have been causing this problem prior to the change in salaries.
While money certainly helps change people’s attitudes, it may or may not cause a long-term
change if at the end of the day the root problem is the leadership or the climate of the
organization as a whole.
As far as person factors, this problem could be a classic case of a personality clash with
the organization. The job might sound great on paper, but sometimes an individual’s personality
does not mesh well into the organization, thus creating poor job performance and little
satisfaction out of it. As for Mr. Price, he as their leader might have identified that his team
lacked the proper motivating factor (salary) to get them performing at his level and meeting his
expectations.
Make Recommendations
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To solve the problem of performance, which naturally ebbs and flows, Gravity Properties
has to provide some sort of incentive for their teams to be the best. By encouraging healthy
competition within the organization, and thus beyond it, and a reward-based system on the back
end, natural leaders and performers will emerge to get their teams to the top for the coveted
incentives. As great as an automatic, unearned, minimum salary is to most, this could potentially
become the norm and not encourage sustained performance over time now that the new normal is
fully implemented.
Mr. Price was raised in a Christian home and must rely on the fundamentals he learned at
an early age (Kiniki & Fugate, 2018, p. 196). He must not forget Galatians 6:9, “Let us not
become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”
(NIV). The work and the way that Mr. Price has transformed the culture of his company is
something to behold. By looking out for all employees at every level and continuing to do right
and good by everyone, there is future success to be had.
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References
Kinicki, A., & Fugate, M. (2018). Organizational behavior: A practical, problem-solving
approach plus Connect. McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 9781260191295
Mira, M.S., Choong, Y.V., & Thim, C.K. (2019). The effect of HRM practices and employees’
job satisfaction on employee performance. Management Science Letters, 9(2019). pp.
771-786. Retrieved from http://www.growingscience.com/msl/Vol9/msl_2019_81.pdf
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