Assignment:
Case study 1 (Motivational Basis of Leading)
Nathan Hamel has been an employee of ManageSport, Inc., since its inception. His career began as a paid intern helping with marketing the new company. Hamel impressed ManageSport with his organizational skills, creativity, reliability, work ethic, and ability to work closely and effectively with individual staff members as well as clients. Upon completion of his internship and graduation from college, ManageSport hired him fulltime as assistant director of marketing.
During his tenure at ManageSport, Hamel has worked in many departments within the organization: sales, marketing, public relations, and programming. His goal was to attain an executive position with the company; therefore, he sought to learn how the entire organization operated. He always received good performance evaluations, which led to his being appointed vice president of ManageSport, Inc. this past year.
ManageSport has 23 employees who work in various capacities toward the accomplishment of the company's mission: to assist organizations within the sport industry with their business operations. ManageSport's aim is to work jointly with clients in the development of business plans and the accomplishment of organizational goals. Its employees work with clients to design and implement activity programs to meet the client's general and specific goals.
As vice president, Hamel works directly with groups of people within and outside the organization. This is in contrast to his previous roles within the organization, in which he worked with individuals as opposed to groups. Therefore, his strategies of motivating staff members and
clients will need to change.
Recently, Hamel has noticed that many company employees are less productive.
Employee performance evaluation ratings are lower and overall morale seems to be down. Staff members are arriving late for staff meetings. Some have missed staff meetings. Clients have reported that phone calls and emails have not been returned in a timely manner. Client reports and programs are submitted late, and many times they need corrections before being sent out.
This behavior pattern is of great concern to Hamel as it is a poor reflection on ManageSport and on him.
To get a handle on the situation, Hamel met informally with a number of employees to discuss the situation. He learned that many employees feel overworked and underpaid. The number of ManageSport employees has decreased during the past three years from 28 to 23, with no new employees being hired. Some employees have taken on more responsibilities with no reward-"not even a thank you," in their words. Other employees noted that ManageSport, Inc.
Case Study 2
Is falling behind in technology. Computers are old and often use outdated software or are unable to operate software programs used by their clients. Employees feel embarrassed about this situation. Some have even purchased computers at home that they use for work projects and thus work at home instead of in the office, explaining why some employees are late for meetings or just not around the office as much.
Hamel made an appointment to discuss the situation with the president of ManageSport, Inc., Mr. Frey. Frey did not seem too concerned and said, "This behavior is nothing new. It has been going on for at least two years. That is why I appointed you as vice president. I figured that you work well with people and that you would be able to motivate our employees. Therefore, I am charging you to develop a conceptual framework on how to improve employee motivation at ManageSport. Please have a draft of your proposal on my desk next week."
Hamel was stunned by the conversation with Frey. As he walked back to his office, Hamel wondered why this problem had just surfaced and why Frey had not mentioned it earlier.
As he pondered the situation, Hamel was also thinking of strategies he could develop to motivate ManageSport employees.
1. What might have motivated Hamel to do his internship with ManageSport?
2. How did Hamel's motivation change when ManageSport hired him fulltime? Which motivational theory or theories apply?
3. What role has Frey played in the motivation of ManageSport employees?
4. As vice president of ManageSport, what strategies might Hamel develop to motivate employees to return phone calls and emails in a timely manner, attend meetings, and submit professional reports? Which motivational theory or theories apply?