Reference no: EM132827612

Arnold was a senior manager at a graphic design business. Jeanine, a project team member, was one of his subordinates. Jeanine was a bit of a rebel - always doing things a bit differently than everyone else and not strictly following the rules, but she also had a history of being helpful to her colleagues and of assisting the junior designers on her team. Following a company restructure, Jeanine's behavior had become increasingly problematic, at least from Arnold's perspective. Jeanine seemed to be shirking her own independent work, and when she did complete her assignments, she wouldn't report back to Arnold as all the other designers did, so he never knew what she had done. Because of this, he often neglected to give her feedback and he realized that she probably had no idea about his dissatisfaction with her performance.

Arnold called Jeanine to a formal meeting and tried to explain that she needed to focus on her own work and that, since the restructure, she really had not been meeting the company's expectations. He told her that the C-suite executives were putting pressure on him to speed turnaround times, and that she needed to do her part. He asked her if she understood what she needed to do, and Jeanine said: "Sure, Arnold. No problem," and she walked out. Unfortunately, Arnold didn't get the feeling that his argument had actually made any impact. In his opinion, Jeanine had no intention of changing her ways: She would continue to support other team members and help them to solve their problems, but this would come at the expense of fulfilling her own responsibilities. Arnold wondered whether Jeanine had become a misfit in the new structure and whether he would need to let her go.

Jeanine walked out of the meeting thinking that Arnold really didn't get her. She didn't like working by herself in her cubicle, and she didn't feel that sense of mastery when she worked on her own. She preferred talking to people, learning new things, and being challenged to solve novel problems. It was true that Arnold gave her pretty much free reign to complete the task as she pleased with her own designs, but it didn't inspire her.

About a month later, nothing changed, just as Arnold had predicted. He decided that he would meet with Jeanine again. He needed to get to the bottom of her apparent lack of motivation, or else he really would have to fire her - an action that he did not want to take. During the meeting, Jeanine admitted that her true passion was helping others and she asked if she could be shifted to a role as a trainer. When Arnold heard the request, it was so obvious. He couldn't believe that he hadn't figured it out sooner. The following day Arnold transferred Jeanine to the role of trainer and, within no time, her motivation improved.
Arnold turned control over to Jeanine and let her take the initiative to walk around the office and provide guidance to anyone who was running into problems. Jeanine felt so much more capable when she showed the junior designers, and even some of the senior ones, her tricks and shortcuts, and she thrived on being in charge of figuring out what needed to be done. With Jeanine in the trainer's role, Arnold also realized how many fewer requests he was getting for help, how much faster the turnarounds had become, and how much more he could accomplish of his own strategic work.

QUESTION

Apply self-determination theory to explain why Jeanine's motivation increased when she switched to the trainer's role. Also, provide a rationale as to whether you would recommend the implementation of skill-based pay to further improve Jeanine's motivation in her new position. Use information from the case to support your analysis.