Reference no: EM133282964

Motivation

Needs Theory: McClelland's needs theory

McClelland's needs theory states that every individual focuses on at least one of the following as a motivator in their lives that drives them. The need for achievement, the need for power, or the need for affiliation. Meta utilizes the affiliation section of McClelland's theory by encouraging relationships and motivating employees using benefits that are family oriented. "At Meta, we care for our people so they can focus on our mission. Because everyone has their own needs." (META, n.d., p. 1)Meta provides benefits such as paid leave for new parents, retirement plans, life insurance, paid time off, and health and wellness insurance. Meta also encourages employees to join employee clubs and groups following along with the mission of creating meaningful connections. 

Process theory: Expectancy theory

Expectancy theory is the idea that individuals choose their behaviors and actions based on what they believe is the most beneficial outcome. Meta motivates employees to do their absolute best when performing tasks by providing rewards for excellent care and results. The average salary for Meta employees is between $150,000-$165,000 per year. Along with the salary, Meta pays for performance ratings where employees can receive up to 150-200% of their bonus based on the quality of their work completed during a shorter time frame. 

Recommended Approach

Meta employs over 70,000 people who need direction and the way to do that is by analyzing what employees want to accomplish and what they need to succeed at work so that meta can determine the best process to motivate them. Based on employee reviews, our team has determined that Meta company should implement a process that encourages growth within the company such as the Equity Theory. Several employees felt that while they made good money and had decent work-life balance, they were unsatisfied with management, leadership, and the competitive atmosphere. One employee stated that "management needs work and will fail to admit it.... not a company you'd want to spend 10+ years at." (Working at Meta: indeed, 2022) The intrinsic incentive is felt when a task is personally rewarding to an individual, employee 

reviews show that this incentive wasn't there as they were heavily micromanaged and found the work to be overly observed and unfulfilling. Extrinsic motivation is based on external rewards for performing tasks, a small amount of this can be seen within Meta by providing bonus pay and rewards however several employees felt that there was no room to grow their status. The average time for an employee to stay with Meta is 3.5 years, during this time employees find it hard to climb the leadership ladder or receive recognition. Recognition for hard work is an important motivator as letting them know they are heard and valued within the workplace encourages productivity and quality. Implementing the equity theory rewards Meta employees for the time and effort they give with status and recognition. 

Groups and Teams

Advantages and Disadvantages of Teams

On June 9th, 2022, Facebook rebranded as Meta, many people think it is due to Frances Haugen whistle blowing about Facebook leaking data to Cambridge Analytica, but Mark Zuckerberg said it is linked to the new plan to create the Metaverse. The Metaverse is Zuckerberg's virtual world based on AI and virtual reality, which consumers are meant to spend parts of their lives in. Creating this virtual world attaches the product or technology to the name Meta which is why it has been successful with the change. (Wertenbroch, 2022) 

Rebranding takes a lot more than just changing the name of the company, it requires a whole team of people to make this change possible. Working as a team for rebranding is the only feasible option to make it successful, if one individual wanted to take on rebranding a whole company it would take them much longer then a time and they wouldn't be able to collaborate with others to discover if the idea is good. Having a team brings in multiple perspectives and opinions which is an asset when it comes to large challenges like rebranding. (Armstrong, Roubecas, Nelson, Quick, & Condie, 2019)

One difficulty that Meta might experience while working in a team on this problem is social loafing. This is where group member/s struggle to output the same amount of work in a group setting as they rely on others. While a member is undergoing social loafing, they fail to contribute time, effort, and ideas to the table. This happens because of the individual believes 

they are hard to observe (Armstrong, Roubecas, Nelson, Quick, & Condie, 2019).

A solution for the difficulty states is to maintain smaller teams. This will allow the individuals who are free riders to feel more present and contribute their ideas as they will feel more involved (Armstrong, Roubecas, Nelson, Quick, & Condie, 2019). With smaller team sizes, communication from all the group members will be encouraged as the work represents them more compared to a large team. As smaller teams minimize the number of hiding employees, efficiency will increase, and everyone will pull their weight feeling valued.

Conflict and Negotiation

Sources of Conflict: Relationship and Process Conflict

"Relationship Conflict" is common in the workplace. Conflicts arise due to disagreements rooted in the differences between values and beliefs, personalities, and cultures. Meta faced a conflict in 2021 when former data scientist Frances Haugen leaked thousands of company documents to the public after she left her position (Albergotti, 2021). Included in the documents that Haugen had brought up to the media are research findings that teen girls' mental and physical health deteriorate after using Instagram. This issue goes back to accusations that Meta intentionally manipulates the algorithm so it amplified people's insecurities (Allyn, 2021). In her interview, Haugen urges lawmakers to perform an investigation on Facebook and Instagram's algorithms. She aims for the reformation of the platforms for them to be safer (Allyn, 2021). 

This event also ties to "Process Conflict" which is the "differing ideas about how organizational goals are to be accomplished..." (Armstrong, Roubecas, Nelson, Quick, & Condie, 2019). Meta's goal is not to "build services to make money" but to "make money to build better services" (Rosoff, 2022). However, Haugen believes that Meta's process of building services is driven by money than public safety (Albergotti, 2021). 

Phases of Conflict

In the beginning, the differences in priorities (profit vs. safety) between the two parties pose for conflicts to arise in the future. Leslie Fine, sees her friend Haugen trying hard to 

"rectify" Meta's mistakes but is all for naught (Albergotti, 2021). This then led Haugen to go public. Monika Bickert-Meta's Company Executive, spoke to CNN that the documents Haugen has are "stolen." This statement led experts to believe that this will end in a legal battle between the two as Meta might sue Haugen over the leaked documents (Allyn, 2021) while Haugen's attorneys filed multiple whistleblower complaints to the company (Zubrow, Gavrilovic, & Ortiz, 2021).

Conflict Management Techniques 

Shortly after Frances Haugen released her testimony, Meta released a statement attempting to discredit and question Haugen's credibility by stating she worked for the company "for less than two years, had no direct reports, never attended a decision-point meeting with C-level executives - and testified more than six times to not working on the subject matter in question," (Ordonez, 2021). Mark Zuckerberg challenged the accuracy of Haugen's claims, stating that "it is not accurate that leaked internal research demonstrates Instagram is 'toxic' for teen girls," (Segal, 2021). Instead of taking accountability, Zuckerberg chooses to deny the accusations and considers the information untrue. In this case, Zuckerberg is approaching the situation aggressively and it may backfire on him, especially as he continues to attempt to discredit Haugen through character assassination. It is an ineffective way to manage conflict and more often than not will just make both parties look bad as they continue to go after one another. 

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