Write 3 pages thesis on the topic motivational problem. In the workplace it is common for problems to occur among the employees of a firm. Problems often occur due to a lack of motivation among the workers. It is the responsibility of the managers of the company to keep their employees motivated at all times. It is important for companies to have the lines of communication open between the staff and the managers. Sometimes problems are inevitable and when they occur they must be dealt with. A few years ago I worked at a company that faced motivational problems. The company was a start-up firm in the technology industry. The job of the floor workers was to provide quality control for technological companies in the social media industry such as MySpace and Facebook. I started working with the company when it was founded in 2007. When the company started a representative from MySpace offered prizes and incentives to the floor workers for higher production. Everyone was extremely motivated to achieve the best possible output. A few months passed by and the monthly contest winners were never announced. Eventually people realized that the company lied to everyone and the prizes if they existed were being distributed among the managerial staff instead of the floor workers. The employees were outraged and motivational problems began to manifest among the staff. When the employees rebelled the managerial staff made things worse because they started to cheat the employees out of money from their paychecks by paying less money than the hours the employee worked. Full blown chaos occurred internally at this firm. The employees rebelled in different ways. Some would come in to work late and leave early since other employees would punch their time cards for them. The workers that came to work would not give much an effort. The overall production of the company went down a lot as a consequence of the administration’s disregard for the best interest of its employees. The employees went on strike twice to get the word out about the abuse occurring at the company. The administration was very mad at the employees’ response, but they brought all the trouble by violating the rights of the workers. The problematic situation described in this paper can be analyzed using motivational theories. Motivation can be defined as forces within an individual that account for the level, direction, and persistence of effort expended at work (Schermerhorn & Hunt & Osborn, 2003). The motivational theory that best describes the behavior of the workers at my former place of employment is equity theory. Equity theory states that an individual’s motivation level is correlated to his perception of equity, fairness and justice practiced by the management (Managementstudyguide, 2012). I believe that the felt inequity of the workers caused friction between the workers and the managerial staff. The managerial staff claimed that the problems occurred because they were not receiving prompt payment from their suppliers. This was a lie since the firm received half the contract value in advance. The contract with the main client, MySpace, was worth $10 million a year. The owners of the company wanted to keep as much money as possible from the contract without properly investing money in operating costs such as payroll. The human resource problems the company faced could have been prevented or dealt with in a more appropriate manner by using theories of motivation. A motivational theory that would have helped the company is ERG theory. ERG theory was proposed in 1969 by Clayton P. Alderfer (Strategies-for-managing-change, 2011). The three categories of needs of ERG theory are existence, relatedness, and growth needs. The company should have focus on complying with these three needs particularly the existence need. When the company started to mess around with the payroll they were taking money the employees needed to feed themselves and their families. Motivation is an important factor that must be monitored closely by companies. A work staff that lacks motivation is susceptible to poor efficiency and productivity. The use of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards is a great way to keep employees motivated. The problematic situation discussed in this paper showed that employees will rebel against management whenever they feel inequity and injustice. As multinational corporations continue to grow in size it becomes more imperative to keep employees happy and motivated. Diversity in the workplace can sometimes lead to misunderstandings. Managers have to monitor and closely manage the corporate culture of the company to ensure the success of an enterprise. The value of the human capital of a firm increases when the employees of the company are motivated. References Managementstudyguide.com (2012). Equity Theory of Motivation. Retrieved February 5, 2012 from http://www.managementstudyguide.com/equity-theory-motivation.htm Strategies-for-managing-change (2011). ERG Theory. Retrieved February 5, 2012 from http://www.strategies-for-managing-change.com/erg-theory.html Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J., Osborn, R. (2003). Organizational Behavior (8th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.