MGB200 Essay: The Optimal Way to Increase Innovation and Performance

This essay, written for the MGB200 course, examines the statement that the optimal way to increase innovation and performance is through incentivized goal setting. The author argues in favor of this statement, presenting a detailed analysis of how incentives, particularly bonuses, can boost employee motivation, productivity, and innovation. The essay references multiple studies and theories, including the impact of monetary incentives, the importance of goal setting, and the role of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It explores how incentives influence employee behavior, encourage competition, and drive strategic thinking. The essay concludes that incentives are an effective tool for enhancing overall performance and fostering innovation within a competitive market, supporting its claims with various examples from companies like Tesco and Wal-Mart.

Running head: Managing people
Managing People

Managing people
The optimal way to increase innovation and performance is through incentivized (i.e.,
bonuses) goal setting.
It can be stated that one of the best way that can help in innovation and performance is
through incentives or the goal setting. It is considered as one of the effective approach that
assists in boosting the performance and also the innovation among the employees. It is important
for the management to emphasize on incentives as it positively affects the morale of the
employees. Yes, the statement that relates to “Incentives can boost the innovation and
performance” is true. In the present era, the motivational factor emphasizes on the monetary
incentives and it is one of the essential aspects that are considered by the employees. It is
evaluated that monetary incentives rewards the employees for performance and productivity by
giving them incentives in the form of bonuses. There are also other incentives such as stock
options, profit sharing plans and also paid time off. But it can be argued that bonuses can be one
of the monetary incentives that motivate the employees to give their best towards the assigned
work (Ruckes & Rønde, 2015).
According to the UK based Genesis Associates, 85% of the employees surveyed that
they are motivated by the monetary incentives that are offered to them in the workplace.
Incentives such as bonuses influence and motivate the employees towards the activities for long
time and also it helps the employees to showcase their efficiency in relation to the allocated task.
It has been examined that rewards and incentives offer benefits to the employees and employer.
It is analyzed that monetary rewards the workers for the performance and also for the
productivity that if offered by bonuses or with the monetary incentives. The monetary incentives
consist of the annual and semiannual bonuses like mid-year and end of the year rewards that are
provided to the employees. These are the rewards that encourage the friendly competition among
the team members in relation to the overall performance of the job. Monetary rewards assist in
motivating the employees to produce optimally (Kuvaas, Buch, Gagne, Dysvik & Forest, 2016).
It can be stated that incentives act as the promise that emphasizes on greater action. It is
also known as the stimulus in relation to greater performance. Incentives are the monetary value
that is provided to the employees when they performance well in comparison to the other
employees in the workplace. It is important for the management to focus on giving the incentives
to the workers so that they can be motivated and also focus on maintaining the higher
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Managing people
performance. In the workplace, it is necessary to implement effective incentive policies so that
dedication level of the employees can be boosted. But on the other hand, it is argued that how the
incentives boost the innovation and performance of the employees in the workplace. Incentives
have a direct connection with the performance and innovation of the employees. When the
incentives are offered it creates positive attitude of the employees towards the allocated task.
Incentives create positive feeling through which they start engaging themselves towards the
organizational operations. The engagement level is enhanced and also employees start sharing
their innovative ideas with the higher authorities (List, Livingston & Neckermann, 2018).
It can be stated that monetary incentives are the chief source that satisfy the basic
requirements of the people. It is also useful in satisfying the social requirements by considering
the different items. The incentives offered to the employees not only fulfill the psychological
needs but also the security and social needs of the employees. There are many companies such as
Tesco and Wal-Mart that focuses on offering the incentives to the employees so that performance
can be enhanced and also it helps them in offering innovative ideas (Shaw & Gupta, 2015).
It has been examined that employee incentives has an important role in retaining the
employees and this is one of the essential aspect that emphasizes on boosting the performance of
the employees in context to the assigned activities. To boost innovation and performance, it is
necessary for the employers to offer incentives to promote the positive attitude among the
employees. For example: If the employees attain the set targets then they should be offered a
particular amount so that it could be possible to give their best towards the goals of the company
(Rode, Gómez-Baggethun & Krause, 2015).
It is agreed that incentives boost the performance and also the innovation among the
employees. But it is necessary for the management to satisfying the basic needs of the employees
by considering Maslow hierarchy of needs theory. This is one of the motivational theories that
emphasizes on satisfying the needs that are necessary for survival. It has been examined that in
Maslow hierarchy of needs theory wages are considered as the major part of the deficiency needs
which means that they serve as the overall measure of security and also focuses on fulfilling the
needs of the employees. It is necessary for the management for the higher authorities to
maximize the needs of the employees as it can assist in motivating the employees to give their
best towards the allocated work (Mazzei,Flynn & Haynie, 2016).
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Managing people
Goal setting is also one of the methods that can help in boosting the innovation and
performance of the employees in the workplace. It is analyzed that if the goals are set by the
higher authority then it would be easy for the employees to attain the set goals in the highly
competitive market. If the effective goals are set then it can assist in the company in justifying
the cost of the incentive payments. If there is a proper designed incentive program then it assist
the employers or it can help the employees to focus on attaining the short term and long term
goals. It can also assist the employees to know that what needs to be done so that the employees
can be rewarded effectively. It can be stated that it is necessary for the management to
emphasize on setting the goals by the management so that it could be easy to attain higher
performance in the workplace (Kuvaas, Buch, Gagne & Dysvik, 2015).
Performance and innovation has a link with the incentives such as bonuses that are
provided to the employees. If the incentive plan of the company is attractive then it can assist the
employees to focus towards boosting their performance in the workplace. Most of the managers
agree that performance and innovation is one of the crucial factors that should be considered by
the workers but on the other hand for boosting the performance the incentives plans should be
considered. It can be stated that innovation is one of the important factor that drives the business
and also the productivity level of the company but to be innovative it is important for the
employees to possess the skills related to creativity. If the employees are creative towards their
work then it would be possible to focus on innovative approach that can help in boosting the
performance and also innovation in the workplace (Gerhart, 2017).
Incentivized process is one of the best ways that can help in boosting the performance
and innovation of the employees. Incentives assist the employers to maximize the work of the
employees as it is also one of the source through which the competition among the workers is
also maintained. When the incentive scheme is provided to the employee’s then competition
among the employees enhanced which creates positivity and also assists in focusing towards the
determined goals of the management (Inkinen, 2016).
It is investigated that when the management offers incentive plans then they feel
individual pressure to work hard in order to offer individual rewards. The employees who are
non-performers in the workplace can also enhance their performance if they are offered the
incentive schemes. So, it can be agreed that incentives plays an important role in boosting the
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Managing people
performance of the employees and also enhance the strategic thinking towards the operational
activities of the company (Gerhart & Fang, 2017).
It can be concluded that incentives are important for the management to be offered to the
employees as it helps in enhancing the overall performance and also boost the innovative ideas in
relation to the assigned task. To bring improvisation in the performance it is necessary for the
employers to focus on Maslow hierarchy of needs theory so that innovative approach and also
performance can be boosted of the employees in the workplace. Incentives are the best way that
can help in generating positive attitude among the employees and also it assist in maximizing the
performance of the employees in the competitive market. Therefore, it can be agreed that
incentives are the effective source that can help the management in enhancing the performance
and also it can assist in boosting the innovation among the employees of the company.
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References
Gerhart, B. (2017). Incentives and pay for performance in the workplace. In Advances in
Motivation Science (Vol. 4, pp. 91-140). Elsevier.
Gerhart, B. A. R. R. Y., & Fang, M. E. I. Y. U. (2017). Competence and pay for
performance. Handbook of Competence and Motivation: Theory and Application, 232-250.
Inkinen, H. (2016). Review of empirical research on knowledge management practices and firm
performance. Journal of knowledge management, 20(2), 230-257.
Kuvaas, B., Buch, R., Gagne, M., & Dysvik, A. (2015). Do you get what you pay for? Sales
incentives, motivation, and employee outcomes. In Academy of Management
Proceedings (Vol. 2015, No. 1, p. 11440). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of
Management.
List, J. A., Livingston, J. A., & Neckermann, S. (2018). Do financial incentives crowd out
intrinsic motivation to perform on standardized tests?. Economics of Education Review, 66,
125-136.
Mazzei, M. J., Flynn, C. B., & Haynie, J. J. (2016). Moving beyond initial success: Promoting
innovation in small businesses through high-performance work practices. Business
Horizons, 59(1), 51-60.
Rode, J., Gómez-Baggethun, E., & Krause, T. (2015). Motivation crowding by economic
incentives in conservation policy: A review of the empirical evidence. Ecological
Economics, 117, 270-282.
Ruckes, M., & Rønde, T. (2015). Dynamic incentives in organizations: Success and inertia. The
Manchester School, 83(4), 475-497.
Shaw, J. D., & Gupta, N. (2015). Let the evidence speak again! Financial incentives are more
effective than we thought. Human Resource Management Journal, 25(3), 281-293.
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