Motivational Problems in Ahmadi Telecom
Ahmadi telecom is one of the leading companies in Kuwait. It mainly deals with providing mobile services to its customers. Ahmadi telecom is profit-making organization that is owned by two major businessmen in Kuwait. Moreover, it has more than 20 branches located in different regions in Kuwait. The company is headquartered in Kuwait city, with close to 1000 employees. In each of its branches, the company has around 30 to 45 employees. The company has also rebranded its brand identity towards its long-term strategy in both domestic and international markets (Muster, 2011). In spite of financial success and performance, Ahmadi telecom has been facing various specific motivational problems towards motivating its employees.
Specific Motivational Problems
Ahmadi telecom is faced with various motivational problems, including lose of trust in management, loss of social group, low expectations, and fear of failure. Recently, the employees of Ahmadi telecom have lost their trust in the management due to various operations. The lack of trust in the management has been another major cause of demotivation of employees in the company. For example, Ahmadi telecom formed self-work teams responsible for its various tasks and duties. However, the management has been reluctant in providing the appropriate tools, support, and resources for the completion of the task. Even though the teams have made increased recommendations and efforts, the management does not seem supportive of the outcomes and decisions made by the teams (Sirota & Klein, 2013). This has led to the loss of motivation of the teams in the completion of the various projects in the company. The management is expected to have complete trust in the employees to enhance the motivation of the employees since the teams have expertise necessary to perform their duties.
In addition, the company offers little time for social interaction in the workplace settings, leading to the loss of social group. Many workers in the company usually work between 9 and 10 hours in a working day. In most instances, employees choose friends and form social groups in the workplace. However, when a company forms work teams, it splits the natural social groups that could be formed by the employees themselves. Some employees end up in different departments, divisions, and virtual teams that cause loss of motivation and commitment to teamwork (Nahavandi et al., 2014). As a result, the loss of social groups has caused motivational problems in the company.
Khan, Farooq and Ullah (2010) suggested that the set low expectations for success in the company limit employee motivation. If the company would set high expectations for the workers, the workers would be motivated to achieve the high targets. However, the employees possess low self-esteem that reduces their confidence and job performance. Increasing self-confidence promotes motivation among the employees and their willingness to accept challenges in the workplace. On the other hand, low expectations in the company are unmotivated and thus, they cannot perform, as the company would be expecting. In addition, the company has not provided appropriate tools and processes in the performance of different tasks in the company. This limits the motivation of the employees in the company.
The fear of failure also has been recorded among many employees in the company. The fear of failure includes the fear of success that causes the workers to avoid some work, depicting their lack of confidence. In most occasions, many employees denote lack of performance success as a failure. Close to 10 per cent of employees in the company fear failure, leading to less motivation in performing their duties (Robbins & Judge, 2012). Therefore, the fear of failure has been a detrimental in the motivation of employees in enhancing their productivity.
Solutions to the Motivational Problems
The conduct of a quantitative research study using surveys and questionnaires helps in understanding the nature of motivation and handling the motivational problems in the organizations. The study involved 50 workers who provided their views on the motivational challenges in Ahmadi telecom. The findings of the research study were appropriate in forming the conclusions and recommendations for resolving the motivational problems. First, 30 per cent of the responses argued that recognition was important in enhancing the confidence of the employees. The bank should develop different employee awards and promotional opportunities. This acts as ways of recognizing the efforts and performance of the employees (Cummings & Worley, 2014). The study revealed that employees who were promised promotion performed better than the employees who were not likely to be promoted. Thus, recognition would be a relevant aspect in reducing the level of motivational problems in the company.
In addition, 10 per cent of the respondents suggested that motivation of the employees was based on emotional connections. Thus, motivation includes the morale and attitude of the workers towards their good performance in the organization. The fear of failure and loss of social groups could be resolved by organizing regular trips, dinner parties, and games for the employees. The non-work activities are effective in bringing the employees together. This leads to a positive change and transformation in their feelings and attitudes towards work in the company. This tackles the motivational problems associated with loss of social groups and fear of failure. In most instances, it has been noted that some of the organizational and managerial practices hurts motivation of employees (Muster, 2011). In spite of all having some rewards and recognition performance, Ahmadi telecom does not have structured recognition and reward schemes. The study also found out that workers who were allowed to make their own work teams performed better than the mandated groups by Ahmadi telecom. This is because the self-created teams were based on skill compatibility and social interactions among the workers.
To resolve the issue of loss of trust in management, Ahmadi telecom should perform job enrichment to its workplace settings. This includes offering additional training and feedback to the work teams. This enhances the motivation of the employees to work effectively. A model by Bartlett and Ghoshal (2013) provides a comprehensive study and understanding of job enrichment in the companies. First, Ahmadi telecom could expand its job enrichment in order to increase the confidence of the employees. This can be done by offering a variety of skills, tasks, and feedback to the employees. These are some of ideas and ways that have been proposed by many social and personality psychologists. They act as elements of intrinsic motivation to the employees. In the study, Cadwallader et al. (2010) argued that workers would feel confident and competent when they are providing employees with different skills and feedback on their ongoing work.
In my own reflection, I think that it is important for the company to resolve its motivational problems since motivational problems hinder the performance and success of the company. A study on the nature of employee motivation by Reinholt, Pedersen and Foss (2011) provides that the use of the different motivational theories and approaches, including cross training and incentive systems was appropriate in enhancing motivation. The approaches are relevant in promoting the motivation of employees in the workplace. Further, the monitoring of results and giving feedback is appropriate in enhancing the effectiveness of the motivation strategies. First, I think the management of the bank should gain confidence and trust in its workers. Improved trust between the company and the employees creates a good environment for enhanced performance (Keller, 2010). Even though I appreciate the expansion of the bank operations to the Asia markets, it is crucial to motivate the employees for the success of the company. Job enrichment through providing a variety of skills, tasks, and feedback to the employees promotes employee motivation.
In summary, the management has a crucial role in promoting motivation of the employees. Motivation offers increased level of efficiency using financial and human assets to meet the organizational goals. When the employees are motivated, it leads to increased performance and reduction of cost of providing the financial services in the bank. In a performance point of view, motivation of employees enhances reputation of the company. Herzberg theory argues that without adequate training, employees are not able to achieve their full potential (Cummings & Worley, 2014). The implementation of performance appraisals is suitable in assessing the nature of job performance and productivity. Performance evaluations are a critical approach of performance appraisal, improving personal learning and development.
References
Bartlett, C., & Ghoshal, S. (2013). Building competitive advantage through people. Sloan Mgmt. Rev, 43(2).
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Cummings, T., & Worley, C. (2014). Organization development and change. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
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Sirota, D., & Klein, D. (2013). The enthusiastic employee: How companies profit by giving workers what they want. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.