The process of motivating employees may often be viewed as a balancing act for a company. In order to ensure that employees are motivated fully, the benefits and perks offered by an organization must be enticing enough to garner motivation from its employees; however, the organization must likewise keep an eye toward the cost of the motivators being provided, as the cost cannot supersede the value gained. If a company spends hundreds of thousands of dollars motivating employees, but only makes tens of thousands in profit, the return on investment is not present. The company, then, must utilize extrinsic and intrinsic motivation optimally in order to ensure that the benefits to employees are worth the amount of work put in by employees. In order to further explore this particular matter, a review of the motivating factors at the SAS Institute will be reviewed, determining the different factors that contribute to both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation at SAS and how the long term focus of the organization serves as an additional means of affecting employee motivation.
Intrinsic motivation refers to the internal desires of the individual to perform a given task (Ryan, 2014). This refers to the motivation of an individual to complete particular activities or tasks because the individual either receives pleasure from the completion of the task, develops a specific skill, or because the completion of the task or action is the morally appropriate thing to do (Ryan, 2014). Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is motivation to complete a given task, action, or behave in a certain way in order to either gain a reward or to avoid being punished (Cherry, 2014). In the SAS Institute, both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators are used in order to continue to assure the organization’s place as one of the best technology companies, and one of the best companies to work for in the world. In working to break down each of their motivators, it becomes possible to see how the organization has become such a huge success.
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The different factors that are likely to contribute to intrinsic motivation at the SAS Institute include the fact that the company works to ensure that employees genuinely enjoy their work; allowing employees to assist in the creation of new products from scratch as opposed to simply purchasing a company that has already developed a similar technology; and the providing of employees with the option of additional training and the ability to change jobs within the company whenever they would like (as long as there is an available opening). Each of these different factors works to provide the necessary internal motivation for the employee to continue to work at the company, either out of personal benefit or personal satisfaction. There is one additional intrinsic motivator that is also an extrinsic motivator, the 35 hour work week. Employees are aware that it is morally right to contribute their all as they are being granted a decreased work week and increased family time in return for putting in as much work as possible and staying focused on the job at hand.
The different factors that are likely to contribute to extrinsic motivation at the SAS Institute include the provision of personal offices to all employees; the fact that the organization does not lay people off in times of economic downturn; pay and bonuses linked to employee performance; benefits and additional perks outside of the job, including the availability of picnic and hiking areas on company property, the provision of a high quality working environment, access to the latest technologies, child care, a fitness center, an Olympic sized pool, a putting green, book exchange, car detailing, medical care, dry cleaning, and massages; 35 hour work weeks; and no mandatory overtime. Each of these different extrinsic motivators serves as an outside influence on the individual, causing them to want to do as much as possible for the organization in order to feel worthy, so to speak, of the perks and benefits being offered to them. The employees wish to feel as though they deserve the rewards they are receiving as opposed to simply getting the rewards.
SAS’s long term focus affects employee motivation in that it serves to act as an extrinsic motivator. The organization has at least two years’ worth of items in research and development, and as such, they feel as though it would be pointless to get rid of any employees, as this would serve to further delay their projects and thus potentially affect the business in the future. With an eye to the future, employees do not feel pressured that just because there are current economic issues that they will lose their jobs, instead, they are able to feel safe and secure in the knowledge that they will have the job for as long as they want it, or as long as they continue to perform, and as such will be less stressed and able to devote more energies to the completion of the tasks assigned to them in the course of their duties.
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are powerful motivators for any individual, and the SAS institute has gone above and beyond in ensuring that all their employees have both the extrinsic and intrinsic motivators necessary in order to perform their jobs to the best of their abilities. While it is true that not all organizations are able to provide unlimited sick days, or a doctor on site free of charge for employees and their families, it is likewise true that intrinsic and extrinsic motivators do not have to be this grand, and the provision thereof works to ensure the continued success of the organization, allowing organizations like the SAS Institute to do so well when their successes are reviewed.
- Cherry, K. (2014). Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation: What’s the Difference?. About. Retrieved 23 December 2014, from http://psychology.about.com/od/motivation/f/difference-between-extrinsic-and-intrinsic-motivation.htm
- Ryan, C. (2014). Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motivation. Www2.fiu.edu. Retrieved 23 December 2014, from http://www2.fiu.edu/~cryan/motivation/intrinsic.htm
