An organization conducts an employee survey and finds that many employees are bored with their jobs, unhappy with their pay, and feel as though they don’t get enough vacation time. If the organization’s primary goal is to motivate employees, what is the first step that should be taken?
Explanation
Answer - A - According to Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory, motivation factors will have a positive impact on an employee’s motivation level if and only if hygiene factors are acceptable. It’s important to deal first with addressing hygiene factor to ensure that motivation factors will have a positive impact.
Key Takeaway: Option B jumps straight to motivation factors. Option C takes a “ready, fire, aim” approach; although employees appear to be unhappy with their pay, that does not necessarily mean that pay levels are inappropriate. Option D is not the best option; although it will probably be necessary to collect more information, it would not be effective to ask employees to give you the same information in the same way.