Week 24 Reward

 Consider your own organisation or one with which you are familiar – how does it reward employees? Does it differ for different groups- how and why? How is ‘fairness’ or ‘equity’ ensured?

The organisation that I was involved in is John Lewis. They use a number of rewards, for example, discounts for hotels, golf resorts and sharing the end of year profit.
Every employee gets the same amount of percentage but they have to be a partner for more than a year to get this reward. But other rewards such as cinema tickets, discount vouchers and each staff will be given a discount card for purchasing within the organisation such as Waitrose. To ensure every employee receives the fair amount of rewards. John Lewis uses a wide range of tools, for example, through their sales targets, customer comments and mystery shoppers.



 Do you think that Chief Executives should still receive large bonuses even if the organisation that they have led has underperformed? List the arguments for and against this.

Stated in The Telegraph (2010), chief executive should receive lower bonuses if the organisation is underperforming. As they are leader of the organisation they should be clear that the organisation will need the revenue for project investments.
Stated in The Independent (2008), chief executive should review their performance before handing out any bonuses and this can confirm that the organisation is not underperformed.

 Identify 3 financial and 3 non-financial ways of rewarding a teacher at a primary school. Which of these ideas would motivate you the most?


Non financial way
Cinema tickets
A day off work
Reward certificate saying teacher of week or month


Financial
Health schemes
Future professional training programmes
Chauffeur for the week to work and back

Out all the rewards mentioned above the most attracting one is certificate reward because it provides the most motivation. For example, getting praise for the work they have done also tangible and it can be used in the future.
Stated in Mullins (2007), that money may not provide the best motive for employees. As a primary school teacher their wage is about £15K - £20K so money may not attract them that much. Also this reward is meaningful and this might mean a lot more to employees, for example, good comments and recognition is better than financial rewards. But this depends on the employees situation, such as financial statues.
Another attractive motivation method is future professional training programmes stated in Farmer and Yellowley (2009) that this method of motivations provides a clear message to the employee that the organisation wants to invest in their employees.


Conclusion
All organisations use different ways to measure out fairness. Chief executives should not get paid for bonuses if the organisation does not perform well enough in the profit margins. Money may not provide the best motivation but it does provide the basics. To motivate an employee there are lots of ways as mentioned above but something small can mean a lot to someone if they enjoy their job.


Bibliography and References

Dawber, A and Farrell, S (2008) HSBC faces rebellion over £120 million executive bonus plan. The Independent [online] Available At: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/hsbc-faces-rebellion-over-pound120m-executive-bonus-plan-834430.html [Accessed 23 April 2010]

Farmer, M and Yellowley, W (2009) People and organisations.2nd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited

Mullins, L (2007) Management and organisational behaviour. 8th ed. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall.

Neate, R and Monaghan, A (2010) HSBC chief Green attacks big bank bonuses Brown claims global support for bank levy The Telegraphy [online] Available At: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/7075930/HSBC-chief-Green-attacks-big-bank-bonuses-Brown-claims-global-support-for-bank-levy.html [Accessed 23 April 2010]