BA 290: General Management

Motivation of a Rhodes Scholar

Dan Coggin, a highly-accomplished B.S. Finance graduate and a Rhodes Scholar, is

beginning to show signs of demotivation while serving as the benefits administrator of Puma

Corporation, his second company in as many years. While Dan exhibited high spirits and

excellent job performance during the first few months with Puma, his lackluster output and

behavior became a matter of concern for his immediate superior, Puma’s Compensation

Director, Frances Meade. Errors and delays in insurance claims and stock purchases began to

increase and a major task assigned to Dan has not progressed for months. At the same time,

Dan became more preoccupied with personal, outdoor activities, and had begun filing the

occasional sick leave that resulted in three-day weekends. It appears that good pay, position

status, and relatively easy work are not enough to keep Dan engaged in his job.

Based on the Human Resources (HR) Department’s perspective – with particular inputs

from Frances Meade, this study attempts to address the question: “How can Puma Corporation

motivate Dan and other employees to become more committed and productive contributors to

the organization?”

An analysis of the problem using some early and contemporary theories of motivation,

taken individually, may explain some aspects of the problem. However, they might not be

sufficient to be used as the foundation of a recommendation. For instance, Dan was initially a

Type Y employee in McGregor’s theory, but during the latter part of his first year at Puma, he

gravitated towards Type X. Using McClelland’s three-needs theory, Dan’s need for

achievement was evident based on his academic performance, his quick mastery of his job, and

his eventual avoidance of the tasks that have become too easy for him. However, there were

no indicators in the case that point towards Dan’s need for power and need for affiliation.
 It appears that an integrated model of contemporary theories may provide a better guide

towards a solution. To illustrate, the model shows us that while employees’ high needs for

achievement may direct their efforts directly towards goals, it also considers job design,

performance evaluation, equity, and reinforcement as important factors that can motivate them

in the absence of such needs.

In coming up with alternatives and recommendations for Puma’s problem, not all

concepts in these theories may be applicable. It is important, however, for the solution to

address the three elements of motivation: energy, direction, and persistence.

The following section identifies and evaluates different alternatives that can be undertaken:

Alternatives Rationale Pros Cons

Energy: Work-Life Balance Programs

Company To give  Employees are refreshed and  May possibly cost a lot,
Outing: employees time ready to get back to the grind depending on the budget
Annual off to relax and  Increases happiness, work  Outings take time to plan
company-wide to reenergize engagement, and motivation;
vacation trips decreases chances of burn out

Flexible Work To allow  Gives them more time to  Personal schedule requests
Hours: flexibility for handle obligations outside the may conflict
Compressed employees to workplace  Employees being
Work Weeks compress their  They are more motivated and unreachable during a week
work schedules focused during the scheduled day may be difficult in the
work days setting of a manufacturing
company

Paid Time-Off To give  They are motivated and  They may view all PTO as
(PTO) Policy: employees energized by the ability to vacation leaves and go to
Combining freedom and maximize their PTO work even when they are
vacation, sick, discretion on  Avoids employees having to sick
and emergency how to use their lie about being sick when they  Days off must be scheduled
leaves into one allotted days off just want some time off well to avoid affecting
pool productivity

Telecommuting: To provide an  Decreased stress levels and  Decreased opportunities for

Work-from-home option to work increased work-life balance collaboration at work
option for a remotely,  Higher work engagement and  Boundaries between work
certain number lending extra motivation as employees feel and personal lives blur
of days per time to pursue more in control of their  Requires high self-
month personal goals personal and work lives discipline
  Highly subject to abuse

Contingency To encourage  They are more motivated to  They have less commitment
Policy: employees to be work when expectations are to the organization, thus
Transfer policies honest with the aligned may be less engaged with
from being full- amount of  They have more time to work and motivated by the work
time to part-time commitment on external projects, thus are  They may exhibit higher
workers they can give to more focused with work- absenteeism and turnover
the organization related tasks

Direction: Career Development Programs

Management by To involve  They are motivated when  Requires supportive and

Objectives employees with they play a role in the sufficiently skilled
(MBO): setting company’s goal-setting, have managers to be properly
Alignment of goals and a clear goal to work towards implemented
organizational performance and are aware of the  The entire MBO process
goals, tasks, rewards corresponding rewards takes time
KPIs, rewards

Mentorship To give  Helps the company  It is difficult to find and

Program: leadership roles understand where employees develop high quality
One-on-one to mentors and are, their development needs mentors
mentorship personalized and key motivations  May have an effect opposite
guidance for  Employees are motivated the intended one when not
mentees when they receive direction, executed properly (e.g.
guidance, and support to some may not be interested
overcome difficult tasks in leadership roles)

High-Potential To engage  The program keeps HiPos  May breed complacency

Employees employees who challenged at work, thus and overconfidence in
(HiPos) have a higher motivated and engaged HiPos
Program: propensity to be  Increased retention of HiPos  The rest of the employees
Specialized bored in the due to decreased possibility who are not part of the
program for workplace of underperformance and program may be
employees with under-participation demotivated
high managerial  Wrong assessment may
potential result to unrealistic goals
and place too much pressure
on HiPos

Job Redesign: To redesign  A right-job fit will increase  May result to inefficiencies
Revising jobs to jobs according motivation, engagement, and and conflicts because,
resolve gaps to employee job satisfaction realistically speaking, the
between wants needs and  Results to employees company cannot please
and needs both expectations experiencing meaningfulness everyone
parties and accountability at work

Learning To contribute to  Employees feel more loyalty  They can take their new
Opportunity employees’ and motivation to work for a skills to competitors
Programs: personal skills company that recognizes and
Tuition and career values his/her personal career  Comparison may breed
reimbursement development development resentment and result to
and other demotivation
opportunities

Realistic Job To provide  Prevents employees from  Preemptively presents

Preview: employees a eventually experiencing negative information and
Communicating realistic disappointment, perceptions, even prior to
both good and perception of disengagement, and hiring an employee
bad aspects of their jobs prior demotivation on-the-job due
the job upon to hiring to unmet expectations
recruitment

Persistence: Incentive Programs

Points Program: To tie rewards  An easy and straightforward  An overly competitive

Accumulated and benefits way of influencing work environment may
points upon with successful performance and motivation demotivate others and may
certain success completion of  Employees feel gratified for undermine/shift focus away
indicators are certain tasks their work, resulting to from the company’s goals
redeemable via increased productivity and  Incentives are not the only
cash back or motivation motivation for employees
other benefits

Recognition To motivate  They feel appreciated for their  May result to the
Programs: employees by work and are motivated to do unintended opposite effect
Employee recognizing better on future projects (e.g. favoritism is
awards high  Low cost way of boosting perceived, resulting to
ceremonies performance morale and motivation conflicts and demotivation)

Others

Termination: To cut the  Easily weeds problematic  Severance packages and

Underperforming problem off by employees out, keeping only legal complications are
employees are firing motivated and engaged costly and finding skilled
immediately fired unmotivated employees individuals as replacement
employees is difficult
 May cause anxiety,
uncertainty, and low morale
in the organization

The team recommends taking steps to increase employee engagement and therefore motivation,

among executives across the entire organization, but also implementing specific programs for

high potential individuals such as Dan Coggin to help maximize their career development and

contributions to the company.

Programs to Increase Employee Engagement

Puma Corporation’s human resources can development an employee engagement program that

tackles the three key elements of motivation: Energy, Direction and Persistence.
Energy: Work-Life

Employee Socials Management by Rewards Basket System

Incentives
Balance

Persistence:
Development
Direction: Career
Company Outings Objectives for Baseline Benefits
Flexible Work Hours Job Redesign Variable Reward Points
Learning Opportunities Programs for Peformance
Paid Time Off
Mentorship Program Awards and Recognition
System
HiPo Development
Program

The energy element of motivation will be addressed by programs that seek to improve work-

life balance; this will give Puma executives opportunities to recharge from the strain of work

and strengthen their social affiliation with their colleagues.

The direction element of motivation will be addressed by career development programs that

seek to define each executive’s role clearly and provide ample opportunities for hard and soft

skills improvement. A HiPo development program will also be implemented for executives,

such as Dan Coggin, that have strong potential for future senior leadership roles. This program

will not only provide them with chances to hone their skills across a broad set of business

disciplines, but also build on their leadership skills.

The persistence element of motivation will be addressed by improvements to the incentive

systems available for Puma Corporation executives. The aim is to provide increased flexibility

and allow executives to choose the benefits that will be most relevant to them. This will be

applied to the standard executive benefit set, as well the rewards system that will be put in

place to encourage performance.

The Puma Corporation High Potential Development Program

To retain and develop exceptional talent, we recommend that Puma Corporation place

identified high potential executive into the HiPo development program. This special program

will focus on the following aspects of the executive’s development to ensure that these special
 individuals are constantly learning, improving and staying motivated to support the company

goals. The program will feature the following central concepts:

• Cultivate and • Experience- • Unrestricted • Deployment • Regular • Regular

enhance based learning access to of HiPo coaching and sessions for
Multi-Disciplinary Rotation Program

leadership tool of learning individuals to feedback commendatio

Constant Mentoring and Feedback

Interval Recognition and Rewards

Unlimited Learning Opportunities
skills through continual opportunities engage in sessions with ns among
a special and rotation such as problem- senior HiPO
Leadership Development

mandatory across subsidized solving management executives to

Action Learning
curriculum discplines, formal scenarios sponsors recognize
divisions and business even in • Assessment of performance
possibly classes and departments current and
geographies other training outside of progress, milestones
• Create a programs their current identification • Creation of
vertical and role of strengths development
horizontal and areas for plan with
expansion of further concrete
tasks to keep development progression
HiPOs goals in the
motivated organization

With the improvement in baseline employee engagement, the demotivation that Dan Coggin

experienced will hopefully be minimized; achieving a healthy work-life balance, having a

job/career with clearer directions, and a more satisfying set of benefits and rewards will keep

executives more engaged.

Implementation Timeline
ACTIVITY Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1
Align with senior management on revised benefits/incentives programs
Align with senior management on desired curriculum for learning programs
Align with senior management on design of HiPo development program
Finalize program designs and implementation guidelines within the HR department
Senior management approval for final program designs
Identify HiPO executives in organization
Engage in partnerships with executive training/education institutions
Official launch of new development programs to Puma executives (cascade)
Self assessment period for performance measurement bases under new programs
IS approval of performance measurement tools/templates
Selection period for benefits under new program
Official deployment for new programs
Assessment of executive selection and take up rates for new development/benefits/rewards programs
Checkpoints with Puma executives for feedback on new programs
Milestone assessment for HiPo executives
Self assessment period for performance measurement bases under new programs
Performance appraisal of Puma executives under the new program
Awards and recognition event, announcement of rewards for Puma executives

References:
Bialek, Erika. “Best Practices in Developing High Potentials.” Main, ASTD Press, 22 Mar. 2018,
www.td.org/newsletters/atd-links/best-practices-in-developing-high-potentials.
Council, Forbes Coaches. “10 Tips For An Incentive Program That Goes Beyond
Compensation.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 1 Mar. 2017,
www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/03/01/10-tips-for-an-incentive-program-that-
goes-beyond-compensation/#4a537e2a7c58.
“Flexible Working: The Real Pros and Cons.” Morgan McKinley UK,
www.morganmckinley.co.uk/article/flexible-working-real-pros-and-cons.
Irish, Kathy. “7 Steps for Developing High-Potential Employees.” Ej4, www.ej4.com/blog/7-steps-
developing-high-potential-employees.
Robbins, Stephen P., et al. Fundamentals of Management. Pearson, 2014.