Assignment:
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ERG theory is based on needs, specifically existence, relatedness, and growth needs. Existence needs have to do with physiological and material well-being, relatedness has to do with interpersonal relationships and growth needs have to do with personal growth and development.
The way ERG can be used to explain the motivation that I have for my job is my desire to fulfill my growth need. I want to move up in my company and everyday I strive to do the things that will take me to a higher position in the company. The textbook states, " ERG theory emphasizes a unique frustration-regression component. An already satisfied lower-level need can become activated when a higher-level need cannot be satisfied. If a person is continually frustrated in his or her attempts to satisfy growth needs relatedness needs can again surface as key motivators" (Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, & Hunt, 2012). This was the case at a previous position in the company where I was not getting promoted so my desire for growth decreased and my desire to fulfill my existence and relatedness increased. I then was motivated to make enough money to take care of myself and buy the things that meant the most to me and I focused more on interpersonal relationships at work. Once I was promoted my needs shifted and my focus and motivation is getting promoted again and is now my motivation.
References
Schermerhorn, J., Osborn, R., Uhl-Bien, M., & Hunt, J. (2012). Organizational behavior. (12th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN: 9780470878200
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The text gives us a solid foundation about the ERG theory. The ERG theory offers a pyramid of physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization needs. My work example of ERG begins at work when we started doing annual employee engagement survey's. These are not mandatory for the staff however a spreadsheet is created and daily an updated version is sent out listing the completion rate of each department. It's a positive peer pressure environment highly competitive to see how many departments can reach 100% participation. Last year I was at 78% completion with 58 employees in the department. When the final results came out last year in February I was mentally devastated I only had a total of 78%. That meant to me that I was not a very strong leader and staff did not think their voice would change anything. I have spent the last year being humble and working with the staff identifying their needs. Growing, and networking with other staff has also been a huge task. After meeting with the staff hearing what they needed from me that I was not giving them I examined my list and started working on it. They communicated to me their concerns and what needs they had, I wrote them down and worked on them one at a time. I have empowered the staff in three new areas; they now help with decision making. We have created a peer interview team, they also make decisions on anyone applying for a new position into our dept. I found new ways to recognize them and give them praise. Lastly, I heard their frustration for not having adequate staffing. We have changed our hiring staff policy and I can post a job prior to the position becoming vacant. That has helped the department greatly we are onboarding at times prior to the employee leaving. I started recognizing the staff on our hospital intranet so that lots of staff would see them. Because of the changes above my participation score went from 78% last year to 100% this year! The department is in a much better place this year than we were this time last year no doubt. I have worked a lot with the staff to get to this point and look forward to more feedback this year.
References
Schermerhorn, J., Osborn, R., Uhl-Bien, M., & Hunt, J. (2012). Organizational behavior. (12th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN: 9780470878200
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Compressed work weeks would be black Friday at a retail store, where customers are lined up outside and we are inside the store waiting for the big lines to shove away the morning specials. I find it exciting and I look forward to doing it every year since I know I'm being paid time-and-half. I also think about my bonus for the month, it will be larger since the sales will overflow and I will see that reflected in my month-end commission check stub, which will contribute to my 401K and prepaid stocks purchase. Those where the advantages but the disadvantage would be that as a bilingual-sales associate, I am overworked, overused and I would feel exhausted at the Thanksgiving dinner. At this point, I would be questioning, is it worth it? But then again, it's only once a year where retail gets to overachieve their goal, and I get paid regardless throughout the year.
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Compressed work weeks can work well for employees that are in non-customer facing positions, or positions where work can be done at any time of the day. When I worked in a call center, my coworker was able to work 4 10 hour days and then be off for the other 3 days in the week. She loved doing it because it provided her a greater flexibility to do what she needed, but I could tell that she would get a little burned out. I would like to work that schedule, however, because it would allow me to take my favorite day off (Wednesday) then have the whole weekend off. At the end of the day, it would really depend on the persons' work ethic and personal life on whether or not a compressed work week would work well for them.