Organizational motivation comes into play when considering the alignment of organizational goals and rewards with individual performance. A common disconnect in large organization is goals that are in conflict which occurs when one functional group is working to meet commitments that are either unrelated or even in conflict with the commitments of a different functional group. This is a particular pitfall for individuals working in cross functional teams. If a team member is working on a new product launch and is part of an organization whose primary role is to meet the daily production schedule there will be times when the demands placed on the individual are in conflict. Expecting the employee to be able to resolve these conflicts in real time is unrealistic. Performance will suffer in one area or the other and the masterful manager will recognize the impact this has on performance when looking for root cause. Reward and recognition programs can be another area of disconnect. Team performance will suffer in an environment where reward and recognition is exclusively focused on individual achievement.

Organizational ability encompasses the systems and processes that are part of the corporate infrastructure and include things such as IT systems and operating procedures. When the support supplied by the infrastructure is inadequate to support the task at hand, individual employee performance will suffer. This is a particular area of concern for managers because the impact of support that does not meet task needs will be felt across the manager's span of control. Actions to improve the level of infrastructure support are more likely to be initiated by the manager than the individual employee.

There are many factors to be considered in getting to the root cause of performance issues. Masterful managers are aware that is necessary to examine both motivation and ability when considering root cause and to look at these from the standpoint of the individual, the social environment, and the organizational contribution. A performance improvement plan that takes all of these factors into account is necessary if the manger is to deliver lasting and sustainable improvement.

About the Author

Maret Maxwell, PhD is the Chief Collaborator at Next Step-A Collaborative Services Group. His career spans academic, government, and private enterprise including 20 years as a manager and project manager with a Fortune 100 healthcare company. He currently works with clients to create sustainable improvements in business and leadership performance. Visit his website at http://nextsteppm.com