28 Sep Motivational Junk Food Versus Health Food

MHRM-6611/MSPM-6010/WMBA-6010/COMM-6504/MGMT-6010/MMSL-6010/WMBA-6010B

WMBA6010 Managing People and Promoting Collaboration

Week 2 Discussion

Motivational Junk Food Versus Health Food

Culture and optimal motivation will ideally support and reinforce one another. Managers who resist short-term, motivational fixes and focus on more long-term approaches will create an environment, over time, that helps employees manage their own motivation effectively in ways that benefit the individual and the organization.

In the Optimal Motivation video, (2017), Susan Fowler identified several short-term “junk food” motivational approaches and several more effective, long-term “health food” approaches. In this Discussion, you will reflect on your own experience with these two types of approaches and use that reflection to define action steps you can take as a manager to use long-term motivational approaches with your employees.

To prepare for this Discussion:

Review the Optimal Motivation (2017) video from this week’s Learning Resources.

Reflect on your experiences with managers throughout your career.

By Day 3

Post an evaluation of the impact of managerial approaches on employee motivation and engagement. Specifically:

Describe one experience in which a manager used a particular “junk food” approach and one experience where a manager used a specific “health food” approach to motivating employees.

Explain the short-term and long-term results and effects of each approach on the employees, as well as on the organization, if applicable.

Formulate at least three actions you will take as a manager to ensure you are providing motivational “health food” to your employees.

Note: When using specific examples from your professional experience, be sure to disguise the names of any individuals or organizations.

Refer to the Week 2 Discussion Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.

Read some of your colleagues’ postings.

By Day 5

Respond to two or more of your colleagues’ posts in one or more of the following ways:

Ask your colleague to expand upon the impact of the manager’s actions (either positive or negative) on the organization’s culture.

Propose one or more additional potential results of the effects of each approach your colleague described.

Suggest an additional strategy for how your colleague might use the information they identified to strengthen their own managerial approach to motivating employees.