Bus610: Organizational Behavior - Horsepower and Torque

John Abbott

BUS610: Organizational Behavior

Horsepower and Torque

Sherrie Lewis

31 October, 2011

Horsepower and Torque

At times my weary mind reverts back to old familiar ways. It may be a defense mechanism or perhaps coping apparatus, but the extension of my previous ingenuity to my present and future strategies does, at times come in handy.

For many years, I was employed in the car business. During my tenure I realized that simple explanations of complicated ideas were an ally to me and my staff. Two of the concepts I was able simplify were those of horse power and torque. Torque is quite simply a measure of that which gets a body at rest into positive motion. Horsepower is the measurement of that which keeps that same body moving in a positive manner.

When I consider motivation these days at a job I actually enjoy, doing things which benefit my clientele versus taking advantage of those less educated than me, I find myself pondering two different facets of motivation: What gets it going? Why do we and our staff go to work and be productive? What keeps it going? Why do we continue to strive for increased production and higher quality product when the extrinsic ceiling has been reached? The answers are startlingly simple when taken in context. The concept as simple as it seemingly is in theory is very difficult to employ. The difficulty lies in the level of effort required to begin the campaign.

The first portion to theory implementation is explained best by Chris Joseph of Demand Media. It requires full by in from the manager; the would-be leader has to believe that no two workers are alike. It can be challenging to learn enough of your staff members to understand what "makes them tick" (Nelson, 2003). Without this base understanding, it is virtually impossible to employ the right motivational technique or theory to gain the most production from them.

In a recent managers meeting at work, motivation was brought to the table. The question of how to speak to ‘company line' vs. ‘reality' was posed. The pay structure was recently revamped in our industry and our employees are no longer paid extreme amounts in accordance with production. Before the change from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation (high pay possibilities to small annual raises), we spoke to each team member about where their production was tracking and where the paycheck may end if effort and results raised or lowered. This, too the employee, was reality. When addressing the team we spoke about team numbers and production. We spoke to where we tracking and where in the corporate scheme we were heading. This to everyone