The slow and sluggish economy in recent years has forced Hilt Engineering to evaluate its internal management practices. In 2009, following the economic crisis, the company began laying off a number of mid-level managers. This forced business unit managers to increase the workload of their remaining employees in order to complete existing work and to rely more heavily on new employees with less experience. As the economy slowly recovered in subsequent years, the company slowly began hiring new employees, and the company experienced modest growth. Uncertainty in the market, however, deterred the company from hiring additional full-time staff and instead continued its present employment practices.
In addition to layoffs, the company also undertook a thorough review of policies and procedures for opportunities to cut costs. A number of policy revisions were introduced that reduced administrative burdens and streamlined policies. Such revisions included automation of travel
1 reimbursement, timesheets and payroll. These new automated procedures initially cost the company money upfront in the form of software investment and administrative oversight, but ultimately reduced the number of hours that administrative staff had to spend in reviewing and oversight. The changes also reduced the burden on employees to document and justify reimbursements.
In addition to these procedural changes, the company also began making substantive changes, including reducing the amount of authorized business development travel, reducing employee benefits (e.g., tuition reimbursement), and placing a cap on annual bonuses. Finally, the company had long had a tradition of holding an annual two-day retreat for mid-level managers in order to address certain aspects of professional development; however, that practice was eliminated as well.
Most recently, George Hilt announced that he would be retiring as CEO of the company. In his place, George Hilt designated his son, Tom Hilt, as the new CEO of Hilt Engineering. Tom has announced that as part of his new role as CEO, he will be meeting with each of the Business Unit managers in order to assess the performance of each of their business units. He stated in a formal address to the company that he will be working to improve the overall performance of each business unit, set strategic goals for growth, and to identify performance objectives. Each of the business units are organized around functional teams, and currently include: business development, cost planning and control, legal and contracting, personnel and administration, construction management, mechanical and electrical, engineering and design, environmental planning, and geospatial information systems (GIS) services.
Questions
Answer the following questions. Information relevant to answering this question is in your textbook and lecture material, but if you choose to supplement this information with outside resources be sure to paraphrase and cite appropriately. Identify any assumptions that you make in designing this program. Remember to number your answers, but do not include the questions in your submission.
Describe how and why the procedural and substantive changes implemented in the years following the 2009 financial crisis might impact employee motivation. Be sure to tie in relevant theories of motivation as well as the role of individual differences when answering this question.
From the perspective of Tom Hilt, the new CEO of Hilt Engineering, design a performance management and reward system that effectively addresses both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for three of the nine identified business units. Explain the reasons behind your design, especially for reasons why different strategies are utilized in different business units, or why strategies are similar. Explicitly state how they will affect intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Choose one of the business units that was addressed in response to question 2 and develop a detailed analysis, from the business unit manager’s perspective, of how these goals might be accomplished. Your answer should include acknowledgement of some of the challenges that the manager might encounter (e.g., managing diversity, organizational culture, and competing values). Then describe some remedies that may be utilized to address these challenges.