Sunday, November 13, 2011
Office Space - Motivation Problems
Topic - Motivation
Movie - Office Space
Movie Summary - Office Space, at its core, is about employees who hate their jobs. Peter Gibbons is one such employee. He works at Initech, a technology company. The company wants to downsize, so they hire two consultants. In this scene he is asked by the consultants, whose job it is to figure out how to cut costs in the company, what Gibbons does every day.
Concepts - Gibbons displays a poor attitude toward working at this company. He tells them it’s a problem of motivation. He spends the majority of his time spaced out and working just enough not to get fired.
There are other companies out there just like Initech, who have employees who feel the same way Gibbons does about his job. It’s very important for companies to be mindful of their employee’s motivation and job satisfaction to get the most out of their effort. One way to do this is by looking at “job design.” (Champoux 182). Either redesigning their job or by tweaking their job responsibilities, can increase motivation and work effort. Another strategy would be to introduce incentives and increase recognition (Thompson 49-50.) The consults does suggest to him, what about if the company offers you some stock options or equity share. Gibbons is non committal but doesn’t rule it out.
Gibbons complains to the consults that he has 8 different bosses. When he makes a mistake, he has to answer to 8 different people, thus lowering his morale. One solution is by streamlining the management hierarchy. Employees should hear from their boss regularly and not only when they make a mistake ( Thompson 50). Feedback is good for employees, but there is such a thing as too much feedback and not constructive feedback. Another fix to increasing his morale is instituting positive recognition, which can range from simply giving out stationery or merchandise for a specific task, to cash rewards or celebrating successes by having party or going out to dinner (Thompson 50). This a simple task that can result in increase morale as well as increase socialization and commitment to the organization.
2 comments:
Motivation plays a vital role in the success and failure of a company. Decreased motivation leads to lower productivity, higher turnover, decreased sales, lack of creativity etc. Pay does matter for an employee but most companies do not have a plan that emphasizes more than just pay. Once an employee is hired some companies forget to manage their most valuable resource -human resource. New challenges, growth opportunities, giving employees enough tools etc can motivate employees.
Whats funny about this clip is that Gibbons basically describes that he is a lazy, and unmotivated employee, and yet they want to promote him. I think in the real world it may not happen as transparently as it does in the clip, but I do think these types of situations arise. The people that are honest and upfront about their lack of work, and have some charisma can actually get promoted over other.
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