employee motivation case study with solution

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Employee Motivation: A Powerful New Model

Nitin Nohria,
Boris Groysberg,
Linda-Eling Lee

employee motivation case study with solution

Motivating employees begins with recognizing that to do their best work, people must be in an environment that meets their basic emotional drives to acquire, bond, comprehend, and defend. So say Nohria and Groysberg, of Harvard Business School, and Lee, of the Center for Research on Corporate Performance. Using the results of surveys they conducted with employees at a wide range of Fortune 500 and other companies, they developed a model for how to increase workplace motivation dramatically.

The authors identify the organizational levers that companies and frontline managers have at their disposal as they try to meet workers’ deep needs. Reward systems that truly value good performance fulfill the drive to acquire. The drive to bond is best met by a culture that promotes collaboration and openness. Jobs that are designed to be meaningful and challenging meet the need to comprehend. Processes for performance management and resource allocation that are fair, trustworthy, and transparent address the drive to defend. Equipped with real-world company examples, the authors articulate how to apply these levers in productive ways.

That application should not be selective, they argue, because a holistic approach gets you more than a piecemeal one. By using all four levers simultaneously, and thereby tackling all four drives, organizations can improve motivation levels by leaps and bounds. For example, a company that falls in the 50th percentile on employee motivation improves only to the 56th by boosting performance on one drive, but way up to the 88th percentile by doing better on all four drives. That’s a powerful gain in competitive advantage that any business would relish.

Getting people to do their best work, even in trying circumstances, is one of managers’ most enduring and slippery challenges. Indeed, deciphering what motivates us as human beings is a centuries-old puzzle. Some of history’s most influential thinkers about human behavior—among them Aristotle, Adam Smith, Sigmund Freud, and Abraham Maslow—have struggled to understand its nuances […]

Nitin Nohria is the George F. Baker Jr. and Distinguished Service University Professor. He served as the 10th dean of Harvard Business School, from 2010 to 2020.
BG Boris Groysberg is a professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior unit at Harvard Business School and a faculty affiliate at the school’s Race, Gender & Equity Initiative. He is the coauthor, with Colleen Ammerman, of Glass Half-Broken: Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021). bgroysberg
Linda-Eling Lee ( [email protected] ) is a research director at the Center for Research on Corporate Performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Motivation - Case Studies

Motivation is a key driver of business success, impacting employee performance, satisfaction, and overall productivity. Our curated selection of case studies explores how leading companies have fostered motivation within their workforces. Through various approaches, from financial incentives to creating positive workplace cultures, these case studies reveal effective strategies for boosting employee engagement and performance. Whether you’re looking to understand the role of motivation in business or seeking inspiration for your own management practices, these real-world examples provide valuable insights. Explore how businesses across industries are leveraging motivation to achieve higher productivity and sustainable growth .

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