Discussion

Unit 8: Discussion

introduction

Money is one of the primary mechanisms organizational leaders use for motivating people in the workplace. The approach was used by CEO Dan Price of Seattle-based credit card processing company Gravity Payments. In 2015, Price not only announced he was cutting his million-dollar annual salary to $70,000, but also made it the minimum salary for all his employees. Two years later, Price has no regrets about using money as a motivator, believing that it boosts employee engagement and makes an organization more competitive. He says, "If an organization focuses on paying everybody a living wage, it will have a competitive advantage." While Price may believe in the benefits of money as an incentive, how does this idea fit in with the content theories? Financial compensation sits with lower-level needs: safety and physiological for Maslow's hierarchy of needs, existence for Alderfer's ERG theory, and hygiene factors for Herzberg's two-factor theory. Money provides us with food, housing, clothing, and all the necessities of life. If money is so important, why did the theorists not consider it a high-level need?

 Initial Post

Part 1

Read carefully section “Examining the Evidence: Money as Motivator” found in Chapter 5 of the Neck et al. textbook. For the discussion:

• Assess research findings linking financial incentives for tasks that require creativity, problem solving, and memory. What are the strengths of such an approach? What are the limitations?
• Evaluate non-financial incentives, identified by in the business literature, that leaders can implement to increase employee performance. What are your views and experiences with non-financial motivators?