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Motivation at Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola

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Motivation at Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola
Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify motivational techniques that are being used in different organizations. The three organizations that will be analyzed are Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola that are named in the top Fortune 500 companies. These companies build on the principle that individuals act in ways to take full advantage of the value of exchange with the organization. Research and theory building in goal setting, reward systems, leadership, and job design have advanced our understanding of organizational behavior.

Introduction

Motivating employees to excel in any business is a topic of great practical concern to employers, and of great theoretical concern to researchers. Education and continued training on the topic appear with increasing frequency and relevant research is proliferating at a rapid rate. Corporations are beginning to provide assistance to employees, especially new ones, to develop skills. One of the greatest challenges and opportunities of the 21st century will be for businesses at all levels to focus more on helping employees to become motivated so they can succeed in the corporate world today. In this paper, these three organizations will be analyzed as how they utilize this theories and models along with the motivational methods they use.

Theories and Models

First, while there are many specific forms of motivational theories, those that are most appropriate in discussing Dell are the expectancy theory, need theory and the equality theory. It appears that they may attribute a significant part of the success of Dell to their unique motivational strategy. The following example from Park and Burrows (2003) states Michael Dell's philosophy, "He believes that if Dell is to last, it must learn to value more than just the machine-like execution for which it is famous. He has a set of guiding principles, including behaving ethically and maintaining a meritocracy." Another example is from Business Week (2001) where



References: Bhote, K. (Author). Ultimate Six Sigma: Beyond Quality Experience. Saranac Lake, NY, USA: AMACOM, 2001. Dell, M. (2005). Diversity at dell. Retrieved Jun. 05, 2005, from Dell Web site: http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/diversity. Fiorina, C. (2003). Moving mountains. Harvard Business Review; 81(1), 15 . Retrieved June 05, 2005, from EBSCO Host database. Hummel, M. (2004). Dell plant busy day and night. Retrieved Jun. 05, 2005 http://www.news-record.com/news/indepth/dell/dell_factory_121204.htm. James, S. (2003) Telecommunications Services industry Profile. US Business Reporter. http://www.activemedia-guide.com/teleservices.htm. Kreitner, R. and Kinicki, A. (2004). Organizational behavior (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Nelson, B. (1997). Motivating employees. Executive Edge Newsletter; 28(7), 41 . Retrieved June 05, 2005, from EBSCO Host database. Packard, D. (2005). Corporate objectives. Retrieved Jun. 05, 2005, from Hewlett-Packard Web site: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/corpobj.html. Park, A. and Burrows, P. (2003). Michael Dell 's secret weapon. Business Week. (3856), 84 . Retrieved June 04, 2005, from EBSCO Host database. Shepard, S. (2003). The tech slump doesn 't scare Michael Dell. Business Week. (3728), 48 . Retrieved June 04, 2005, from EBSCO Host database. Walker, L. (2002) Motivating the front lines. Corporate Meetings & Incentives, 21(12), 34 . Retrieved June 05, 2005, from EBSCO Host database.

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