Motivation (green River)

Introduction

There are a few differences that exist between FMC green River and FMC Aberdeen. First I will explain the background for both of these facilities. Then I will describe my analysis of the situation in regards to job design and goal-setting, performance appraisals, pay, and career development. Then I will explain some alternatives and recommendations that I have for them. After all that is said and done I will also explain how the implementation process should work. A conclusion will follow that with my own thoughts and views on the situation.

Background

The philosophy of employee selection in Aberdeen was that the technical skills were easier to train than personal and interpersonal skills and attitudes (Clawson, 2005). Group skills, communication skills, personal skills, problem-solving skills, results orientation, and leadership skills are the skills and attitudes they looked for when people were put threw the recruiting process with exercises they had to do. These exercises were also the highlighted aspects of group versus-individual behavior. They also use this criterion for their performance reviews. They have introductory and ongoing training. They do not have job definitions. Everyone is referred to as a technician and is paid on a salary basis. There are no annual bonuses, profit-sharing plans, or any stock-option plans. Each employee is expected to learn all the jobs which is done through a voluntary basis with a certificate process. The more jobs an employee can do the more valuable they are and they get paid more. Their rotating training gives the employees some career development.

As for Green River they do not have a recruiting process they just place an advertisement and to their surprise have over 300 applicants apply from different surrounding states (Clawson, 2005). They also have a union that labors under the old standard job descriptions. The highest

paid job among all FMC employees is eighteen dollars per hour. In their mine productivity the pay has doubled in the last eight years despite the decline in size of the work force.

Analysis of the Situation

In regards to job design and goal-setting, performance appraisals, pay, and career development, some things that Dailey will have to consider at Green River are (Clawson, 2005):

1) His selection in employees is based on required skills instead of their abilities or personalities which would help him to understand the interpersonal skills of his new hires.

2) His union labors under the old standard job descriptions instead of having each employee learn all jobs which would build their knowledge and moral.

3) His pay is top pay instead of encouraging employees to be paid for their performance which would motivate them and help them to become more valuable.

Alternatives & Recommendations

Job Design and Goal-Setting:

First of all Aberdeen is very specific on what kind of employees they want to hire and make them go through an extensive recruiting assessment but they also make them understand immediately what is expected of them no ifs, ands, or buts. There are no job descriptions and they are all considered “technicians” at every level (Clawson, 2005). They have meetings with all employees to go over the goals and what needs to be done or changed. Goals focus employee inputs in the right direction so that the inputs result in acceptable job performance and achievement of organizational goals (George and Jones, 2005). If no one is left in the dark about anything then they can not say they did not know right? As for Green River they have no recruiting process and their union labors under the old standard job descriptions

I believe that Green River should have job descriptions for each job for the simple fact that they produce multiple products. Another reason is because some of them work in a mine and some in the plant. To help increase job performance I believe job simplification and job specialization should be used which also increases production. It can be done in an assembly line kind of way. Break up into smaller groups and assign each group a simple task that can be passed on to the next group to add another specific task and so on. When the groups have shown that they can effectively do these tasks then management can increase the number of tasks but keeping the same level of difficulty. This is known as job enlargement. One of the key motivating factors for employees is being responsible for one’s work, being able to decide how the work should be performed, and being allowed to learn new skills (George and Jones, 2005).

Performance