...Master Thesis Spring Semester 2007 Supervisor: Per Nilsson Authors: Sabine Helou Timo Viitala 830508-T062 790922-T017 How Culture and Motivation Interacts? - A Cross-Cultural Study ~ Acknowledgements ~ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank the respondents of Sasken Finland Oy and SYSteam for their participation in our study. Without their involvement this thesis would have never seen the light of day. In addition, we thank our supervisor Per Nilsson for his guidance and advices and Anders Söderholm for his helpful suggestions. Last but not least, we would like to express our gratitude to John Matthews, Jakub Mulac, and Robin Katoen for their supportive contributions and our friends and family for their support and encouragement. Sincerely, Sabine Helou & Timo Viitala Umeå, May 25, 2007 i ~ Summary ~ SUMMARY Motivating employees is essential for any organization aspiring to succeed. However, the process of motivating is not a straightforward one due to the diversity of individual’s needs. The task has been made even more difficult by the fact that personalized needs have altered in recent years. For instance, in many circumstances financial compensation is not considered as the main motivational factor of employees. Due to its innovative and youthful nature, the Information Technology (IT) industry has been considered to be at the forefront of dealing with organizational issues, such as how to motivate employees. Organizations that lie within this industry...
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...Finance Risk & Compliance International Financial Reporting Standards Global outlook Banking & Finance Feature Is corporate governance a modern fantasy? Andrew Higson discusses the reality of financial reporting and asks if corporate governance still has a role to play in the modern business world. W hat is the difference between the collapse of Enron and the recent collapse of the banking sector? Well, the obvious answer is that Enron’s demise was not as significant. Yet, in the wake of Enron’s collapse, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was rushed into law in the USA in order to cure the perceived corporate ills of, and give back credibility to, corporate America. Organisations around the world have since spent thousands of hours becoming Sarbanes-Oxley compliant in order to be able to continue trading with companies in the USA. At the centre of Sarbanes-Oxley was its focus on strengthening corporate governance procedures to prevent fraud and mismanagement – but the chaos in the banking sector must raise a question over the success of Sarbanes-Oxley and, more significantly, over the whole idea of corporate governance. way in which an organisation is run and the way in which its results are presented to the outside world. So where does this leave the non-executive directors? One of the main elements in the recent development of corporate governance has been the growth in the use of non-executive directors. One of their roles is to challenge and contribute to the development...
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...MOTIVATION The Student’s Name The Name of the Class Professor The Name of the University The city and State where it is Located The Date MOTIVATION Motivation is the force that directs people to behave in a certain way. Motivation explains people’s desires, actions, and needs. A motive develops an inclination for a particular behavior. In an organization context motivation is defined as the use of rewards and compensation to boost employee’s morale and satisfaction (Long, 2005). This action in the end increases performance and productivity of workers. Motivation can either be intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation or external motivation involves the use of tangible rewards to boost employee’s performance. Tangible rewards include pay and other salary benefits. Intrinsic motivation or internal motivation involves the use of intangible rewards to increase employee’s performance. Intangible rewards include safe working conditions, promotion, job titles, incentives and good working policies (Hiam, 2003). In this paper, therefore, my objective is to discuss how culture affects Herzberg’s theory of motivation the two-factor theory. In his 1959 motivation book, Fredrick Herzberg discusses the factors that lead to satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the workplaces. Herzberg was interested in knowing what pleases employees and what displeases them in their work environment. To conclude his study, Herzberg found that opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction...
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...Relationships Between Productivity, Reputation, and Strategy Abstract: Businesses seek to maximize productivity because it increases efficiency, motivates employees, and can help firms compete on the strategic elements of time, cost, and quality. Productivity has been shown to be positively correlated with reputation such that firms with good reputations tend to have higher productivity. Reputation can be improved through corporate social responsibility initiatives that seek to enhance social and environmental wellbeing. Improved reputation can provide a sustainable competitive advantage and increase the perceived quality of a firm’s goods or services. Introduction In the business world, it is well understood that increased productivity is highly desirable and leads to favorable economic results. Productivity can have numerous effects on a company, particularly in relation to financial performance. Strictly speaking, productivity is defined as output over input for any given unit under evaluation, such as a business, division, department, or a set of employees. However, this measurement can be a bit more complex since productivity is determined and affected by numerous variables, some of which are not readily apparent in the accounting setting. For example, a company’s reputation can have an impact on productivity and labor efficiency, as demonstrated by the findings presented by Marty Stuebs and Li Sun in their article “Business Reputation and Labor Efficiency...
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... PHL/320 – Human Motivation May 5, 2012 Instructor: Richard Reinsch Job Redesign and Workplace Rewards Assessment Sandler Training (Sandler) is a global training organization that provides training and consulting services for small to medium size business as well as corporate training for future 1000 companies. Sandler’s global headquarters is located in Owings Mills, Maryland, and the company has 220 franchise training centers in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Currently, the company provides training in 27 different languages (Sandler Training, 2011). In 1967, David Sandler created the Sandler Selling System methodology, creating sales training programs for companies. Sandler expanded its training into a franchising operation in 1983. The corporate office houses approximately 20 employees of various departments such as, global accounts, US operations, international operations, marketing, accounting and legal. It is the responsibility of the corporate office staff to make sure that the 220 global franchises have the items necessary to provide the Sandler brand of training. Managing and working with a global team can sometimes be a difficult task. The management staff at Sandler must not only deal with the corporate staff but also a host...
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...The degree of motivation and the implication of the workforce in the work setting is not only determined by cultural and social values but also by a hierarchy of needs that individuals try to satisfy. A successful cultural oriented corporate strategy should be focused on forging a corporate culture, an organizational framework taking advantage of the variety of individual needs and cultural values. While total quality management (TQM) is a technique that can reinvigorate a company, it requires a change in the organizational culture. TQM requires that each step in the process of making a product or providing a service be done correctly the first time. Many TQM attempts result in mediocre performances because of a lack of motivation, teamwork, or employee involvement. Corporate organizational leaders wanting to implement quality management initiatives can conduct an in-depth self-assessment to determine the extent to which managers within their organizations understand how, what, and why quality management practices enhance competitiveness. The quality management scale adopted and validated in the study can be used by management to assess the level of quality management implementation and international competitiveness assessment in organizations. Some managers have treated TQM largely as a motivational campaign, aiming to improve external customer service. Then there are those that view TQM as an internal training tool used to motivate and provide workers with the...
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...How Burger King motivates its people to perform their jobs? The dissertation investigates the issues of employee motivation in Burger King and McDonald's exploring the factors that influence employees' commitment to work, the perceptions and attitudes of subordinates in Burger King and McDonald's toward management, the expectations and preference of fast food restaurants' staff towards their managers, etc. Literature on the theories of motivation is reviewed. The methods of the research are based on the primary data obtained form focus group interview and questionnaires, and secondary data collected from text books, newspapers, journal articles and the Internet. Conclusions are made about the factors that can influence the motivation of workers in McDonald's and Burger King with reference to employee relationship, communication within workplace and the personality of mangers. Leading and motivating employees on Burger King: Employees are considered as the most significant resources in Burger King. Basically, Burger King Company uses three different motivational techniques such as: financial encouragement, non- financial encouragement and social policy. These three factors are mainly described in Maslow�s hierarchy theory. According to this theory, all kinds of needs must fulfill one after another. The strategy and structure of Burger King Company represents that only the simultaneous fulfillment of employee�s need will be enhanced an employee�s performance. In brief, for...
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...Change Management & Communication Plan Angela Wright, James Gregory, Joshua Hall, Kim Sherman MGT/311 May 4, 2015 Angela Guest Change Management & Communication Plan In any organization, it is important to have an organized system for dealing with information that is needed by multiple departments. One example of information that needs to be organized is customer information. Various departments use customer information and if it is not easily accessible to everyone that needs the information it takes longer to help the customers when they contact the company, and it makes the company appear unorganized. People are less willing to do business with an unorganized company. Having an organized storage method for customer information makes it easier to help the customers and increases productivity within the organization. Change Management Plan Riordan’s central power structure comes from its executive team, which consists of Dr. Riordan President, his Chief Operating Officer (COO), and his Senior Vice President of Research and Development. Of the three, the COO could hold the most political power, as he is responsible for all aspects of operations outside of research and development. The Sales and Marketing Vice President, Chief Information Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Operations Vice President all report to him. This position gives him substantial political power, enough to strongly influence organizational decision-making. Creating a Customer...
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...increasing employee satisfaction via motivation and engagement. To ensure success, it is critical to reinforce these policies throughout every level of management structure. Human capital is a vital corporate asset and satisfied employees are crucial to organizational success. Gardner (2008) suggests that the basis of job satisfaction is tangible and intangible rewards. The foundations for satisfied employees are salary and benefits. However, intangible factors drive greater workplace happiness. Gardner’s (2008) summary article reviewing empirical job satisfaction research reveals seven drivers: appreciation, respect, trust, individual growth, a good boss, compatible co-workers, and a sense of purpose. Companies can increase employee satisfaction through motivation and engagement strategies. Motivation models provide valuable insight into various ways managers can increase employee satisfaction and drive performance. A motivation model proposed by Nohria, Groysberg, and Lee (2008) reveals four underlying motivation drivers. They define the drive to achieve by fair compensation. They describe the bond and comprehend drivers as employees feeling meaningfully connected to their company and capable of career advancement, respectively. They characterize the drive to defend by equality and transparency. Nohria, Groysberg, and Lee (2008) suggest that corporate culture, rewards, job design, and performance are vital elements of employee motivation. Numerous research studies describe...
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...that a great amount of its achievements resides on the importance placed on fulfilling its mission and values, as well as on its dedication to hire, retain and inspire its employees by offering the best growth and development opportunities available in the pharma industry within a positive environment. Pfizer’s moto “Every Colleague, Every Country, Every Day” coupled with “Many Paths, One Passion” expresses organizational culture regarding organizational HR strategy aiming to bind its leading business position to each and everyone’s employee’s excellence. However, the changing hiring requirements, knowledge sharing, leadership style in terms of employee motivation, promotion are some of the key challenges need to be addressed by the HR strategy implementation. i. INTRODUCTION An organization’s human capital management culture should value the workforce as the key asset which will define the organization’s business profile, effectiveness and performance capacity (Champion & Hughes, 2001). Good HR strategy and practices aligned with the organizational strategy and objectives may deliver best HR practices as a route to superior organizational performance (Pilgream & Corbridge, 2009). Abramson et al. (2002) argues that human assets constitute the critical factor that will lead either to organizational success or to failure. Current, globalized, unstable economic environment exerts even more intensive pressures on the role the working capital plays in knowledge innovation and...
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...rackets in place while the glue dries, and machine vision systems check for defects. The engineering and design team uses computerised drafting and testing of new products. The following managers work in the tennis rackets division: Jason Dennis, Sales Manager (supervises all sales representatives) Dave Marley, Cost Accounting Manager (supervises cost accountants) Kevin Carson, Production Supervisor (supervises all manufacturing employees) Sally Renner, Engineer (supervises all new-product design teams) REQUIRED a) What are the primary information needed by each manager? Give examples. (5 Marks) b) Which, if any, financial accounting report(s) is likely to be used by each manager? Explain. (3 Marks) c) Name one special purpose management accounting report that could be designed for each manager. Include the name of the report, the information it would contain, and how frequently it should be issued. (7 Marks) [TOTAL 15 MARKS] Grading Rubrics for Assignment Question 1: (5) (4) a) primary Clear and Clear and information detailed adequate needed by explanation of explanation of each the primary the primary manager information information needed by needed by weightage: 1 each manager each manager with some with some examples. examples. b) financial Clear and Clear and accounting detailed adequate report(s) explanation of explanation of the...
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...Corporate Governance of Commercial Banks in Bangladesh Introduction: The need for corporate governance arises from the potential conflicts of interest among stakeholders in the corporate structure. These conflicts of interest often arise from two main reasons. First, different stakeholders have different goals and preferences. Second, the stakeholders have imperfect information as to each others actions, knowledge, and preferences. Corporate governance (CG) is an important effort to ensure accountability and responsibility and is a set of principles, which should be incorporated into every part of the organization. Though it is viewed as a recent issue, there is, in fact, nothing new about the concept. Because it has been in existence as long as the corporation itself-as long as there has been large – scale trade, reflecting the need for responsibility in the handling money and the conduct of commercial activities. Numerous works, studies, and researches have been conducted to enact principles, codes, and guidelines for ensuring good corporate governance systems and culture within the organizations. Sir Adrian Cadbury in 'Global Corporate Governance Forum’ defined corporate governance as: "Corporate Governance is concerned with holding the balance between economic and social goals and between individual and communal goals. The corporate governance framework is there to encourage the efficient use of resources and equally to require accountability for the stewardship...
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...The key function of managers is 'getting things done' through employees. The following assignment looks at the role of motivation and why it is essential for managers to be aware of the various motivational theories and how the motivational theories could be implemented in a professional context to achieve organisation's goals and objectives. Motivation has been defined as: the psychological process that gives behaviour purpose and direction (Kreitner, 1995); a predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific, unmet needs (Buford, Bedeian, & Lindner, 1995); an internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need (Higgins, 1994); and the will to achieve (Bedeian, 1993). Organisations exist to achieve corporate objectives and employees working in those organisations aide in achieving those objectives by working towards their individual goals and targets. In an ideal world, if every individual was providing his best performance then organisational goals would be met sooner too; however in the real world it is often not the case. Organisations lag behind and more often than not the reason is a demotivated staff. An understanding of the basic human nature is important for effective employee motivation in the workplace and also for effective management and leadership. Struggling with your essay? We can help! We can help get your coursework back on track, take a look at our services to learn more about how we can help. Custom Written Work Guaranteed on Time ...
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...The Ethics of Earnings Management: The Case of Income Smoothing James Gaa University of Alberta May 2007 Information Asymmetry In Most Situations, People Do Not Have the Same Information Management Inevitably Has Information that Would be Useful to Investors – and other Stakeholders In Financial Reporting: Information Asymmetry Follows Immediately from the Separation of Ownership and Management May 2007 The Ethics of Earnings Management 2 1 Corporate Transparency (OECD) “The Corporate Governance Framework Should Ensure that Timely and Accurate Disclosure is made on All Material Matters regarding the Corporation, Including the Financial Situation, Performance, Ownership, and Governance of the Company.” OECD, ”Corporate Governance Principles: 2004” May 2007 The Ethics of Earnings Management 3 Corporate Secrecy (OECD) “Disclosure Requirements are Not Expected to Place Unreasonable Administrative or Cost Burdens on Enterprises. Nor are Companies Expected to Disclose Information that May Endanger their Competitive Position Unless Disclosure is Necessary to Fully Inform the Investment Decision and to Avoid Misleading the Investor” OECD, ”Corporate Governance Principles: 2004” May 2007 The Ethics of Earnings Management 4 2 Corporate Secrecy Corporations Have Secrets Some are Legitimate Corporations Should be Able to Keep them secret Trade Secrets Other Proprietary Information Some are Not Legitimate ...
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...principle. Roman and Greek merchants used project financing techniques in order to share the risks inherent to maritime trading. A loan would be advanced to a shipping merchant on the agreement that such loan would be repaid only through the sale of cargo brought back by the voyage (i.e. the financing would be repaid by the ‘internally generated cash flows of the project’, to use modern project financing terminology). The purpose of this paper therefore is to provide an overview of Project Finance. The paper touched on the Motivation for the increased reliance on project financing to fund investments, advantages that project finance has over traditional corporate finance, the major short-comings of project finance and a typical project finance transaction. Table of Contents Assignment 1 1 Abstract 2 A. Introduction 4 B. Why is project financing being increasingly relied on to fund investments? 4 C. What advantages does it have over traditional corporate finance? 6 D. What are the major short-comings of project finance? 7 E. Typical Project finance Transaction 8 References 10 A. Introduction Unlike the traditional loan arrangements, project finance is a financial structure which facilitate the arrangements for project but the repayment of such loans are exclusively defrayed from the cash flows generated from the operations of the project and are specifically used in financing large-scale projects in the areas of oil, energy, petrochemicals, road and railway infrastructure...
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