Motivation through ProMES

It is in the nature of humans to increase own welfare. Profit orientation of shareholders and demands of employees are reflected by the same target: prosperity. Successful companies yield profit for shareholders, but also secured working places, good salary and wage developments, even shareholding is possible (cf. Kleinbeck et all 2001, p. 24). In order to be successful productivity continuously has to be improved. Increasing productivity means to accomplish more with less. This movement is driven by the concept of scarce resources as well as the growing competition on the markets, enabled by globalization.

The productivity of a company strongly depends on the input of employees. Until the 60s it was assumed that employees are firstly motivated by economic incentives and only later through security of employment and fair working conditions. With the human relation movement abandoning wage incentives it appeared that there should be more factors that influence the productivity of employees. It was assumed that employee satisfaction and intrinsic motivation lead to success (cf. Spender 1961, p. 426).

The core question is: how are employee satisfaction and motivation developed and how can they be used to drive productivity? The productivity measurement and enhancement system from Pritchard shall give a response to this question. Pritchard states, “the idea is to give people the tools to do the work better while at the same time help them feel a sense of ownership in the resulting system and empowerment in determining important aspects of their work” (cf. Pritchard 2011). Lean manufacturing concepts, such as world class manufacturing, are built upon this idea.

The paper on hand raises the question if employees are being motivated by the productivity measurement and enhancement system? In order to answer this question the concept of motivation will be closer defined. In a second step, a solid knowledge foundation on the productivity measurement and enhancement system is needed. Literature on the Pritchards system concentrates on the outcome productivity rather than motivation itsself. Therefore a theoretical analysis is made upon the system by means of application of motivational theories. Under the assumption that productivity is a result of motivation the question will also be answered through gained experience from implementation in business. In conclusion motivation increasing and decreasing aspects will give weight on answering the question.