Motivation in Cross-Cultural Context - Essay Sample

Introduction

Globalization has enhanced the employment of employees from different regions and nations to gain a competitive advantage in the market. The cultural diversity of employees may create conflicts in terms of management, leadership, behaviors, and perceptions in the workplace. Organizations are forced to implement standard cultural practices to solve the conflicts created by cultural differences. One of the challenges faced by human resource management is motivation in diverse societies (Chasovschi, 2016). Motivation refers to the act of mobilizing employees' inner potential and spirit towards achieving the organization's goals and objectives efficiently and effectively (Datta, 2014). It is therefore imperative for organizations to understand the different theories on the cross-cultural motivation of employees that will give an excellent incentive to employees to work effectively and workplace conflict.

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In the case of Mr. Jones, the human resource department should understand the cultural differences of Mr. Jones and his needs to know why he avoided some of the organizational procure of the hiring process. In this case, the human resource management should learn the cultural differences from Mr. Jones' background to implement the best incentive that works for me. The HRM should apply Maslow's hierarchy of needs because the motivation process starts from the unsatisfied needs of an employer. The Maslow's theory provides that employees from different cultural backgrounds have common needs, and these needs include comfortable working environment, job security, the correlation between fellow employees and superiors, opportunities to demonstrate their skills, and working time among others (Datta, 2014). Despite the cultural diversity all employees strive to meet their needs, but job satisfaction may vary from one employer to another.

Another concept that HRM management should be conversant with is the difference between internal and external motivational factors when implementing the best incentive structure. Motivation can be divided into two different types depending on the nature of the motivational factors which can either be intrinsic (internal) or extrinsic (external) (Gerhart and Fang, 2015). The need to satisfy personal needs influence internally motivated behaviors. For instance, Mr. Jones I motivated by the desire to meet individual needs as he gets an offer to work in a country of his preference. The company has offered him a high standard of living and a good position in the management of the company which meets his needs and desires.

Extrinsic motivational factors include the behaviors performed by employees to receive something in return or rewards from the organization or to avoid adverse outcomes. These external rewards are money, job promotion, praise, recognition, presents, and gifts (Gerhart and Fang, 2015). Scholars argue that external motivational factors are used by organizations to motivate people to perform activities they would otherwise not do willingly. An organization may formulate external motivational factors such as job promotion and money rewards to motivate its employees and solve the cultural differences in the workplace (Gerhart and Fang, 2015). In this case, however, Mr. Jones does not receive any external incentives from the organization that motivates him to work. External motivation includes the non-financial factors such as recognition and societal status, but Mr. Jones I denied such privilege by the company because it limits his interaction with the community. He is requested not to interact with the community. Mr. Jones wants to be associated with the community, as a man of honor who can create job opportunities and connections for the community.

Even though the organization employs different motivational theories to solve the conflicts caused by cultural diversity, it should understand that the work abilities and skills are equally important. Organizations should hire the best employees who are fit and match job performance requirements, and motivation should only be used as an incentive to bring out the potential of employees and create an enthusiastic environment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, even though there may be cultural differences in the workplace, Maslow's theory states that all employees' needs are the same. Organizations should try to match the employees' needs with the organization's objectives to achieve the best out of every employee. In this case, Mr. Jones is with no doubt a very valuable employee that the company should keep. The company should, however, try to adjust the needs of Mr. Jones to match the company's objectives and give Mr. Jones enough freedom to express himself, especially his association with the community because many employees gain satisfaction from external motivational factors such as praise and recognition. The freedom will also help him grow and develop his abilities through determination to satisfy his personal needs; the company's needs and meet the external motivational factors such as job performance.

Analysis of the Group Task

Working in a group to perform these tasks was beneficial to me because it helped me understand the course work from different perspectives of the group members. The group also facilitated everyone's involvement as the group was open to everyone's ideas, and from different opinions, we built strong arguments. The group was able to develop different motivational theories with well-supported arguments. The group also enhanced different skills from the group members such as leadership qualities, respect, learning skills, listening skills, and patience. I would, however, recommend that students to be allowed to form groups of ten people because this will give broader perspectives of the course topics.

References

Chasovschi, C., 2016. Perspectives On Work Ethic. An Intercultural Approach. The USV Annals of Economics and Public Administration, 16(3), pp.93-98.

Datta, Y., 2014. Maslow's hierarchy of basic needs: An ecological view. Oxford Journal: An International Journal of Business & Economics, 8(1).

Gerhart, B. and Fang, M., 2015. Pay, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, performance, and creativity in the workplace: Revisiting long-held beliefs. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav., 2(1), pp.489-521.