COMM 292: Motivation and Reward Systems in Business

Motivating employees to ensure that the quality of their work is at its optimal level is not an easy task to accomplish. It has directly spawned an age old question in organizational behaviour: how to best inspire people to produce quality output, efficiently and effectively. One method to answer this that many businesses are striving to incorporate into their philosophies are reward systems. They are quickly becoming an extremely important aspect of businesses as we are currently in a generation of lazy millenials, who can be tough to make complete assigned tasks. They are also vital in showing appreciation to already high performing employees, so that they continue their constructive behaviour.

This form of positive reinforcement has grown in popularity significantly in modern society, especially when contrasted to the past where negative reinforcement was abundant. Quite largely, this is true because negative motivational techniques such as fear-mongering and threatening may aid performance in the short run, yet in the long run resentment will arise and tarnish a companies image in the minds of potential customers and future employees. Positive techniques, on the other hand, stimulate job satisfaction and intrinsically motivate employees for the long term.

There are some major systems that are quite common in business, such as commission based pay, breaks and low-cost health insurance. On the other hand, many reward systems that businesses use are indeed quite unique. Using Google as an example, its systems include an aggregate of 100000 massage hours served, designated nap pods, special luncheons and personalized notes (Bradt, 2014).

In conclusion, motivation is imperative to the success of a business, especially in large corporations with relatively uninteresting and monotonous work. Not only will this increase employee performance, satisfaction and loyalty, but it can also strengthen a companies brand image.

Bibliography (APA):

[Motivation in Business]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2017, from http://www.webmarketingoutlaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/breaking-news-motivation-is-a-key-factor-in-business-success_150316_header.jpg

Bradt, G. (2014, March 12). How The Best Big Companies To Work For Drive Appreciation, Access And Rewards. Retrieved February 06, 2017, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgebradt/2014/03/12/how-the-best-fortune-500-companies-to-work-for-drive-appreciation-access-rewards-2/#16e6833665de

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