Business in Action 8th Edition by Courtland Bovee,John Thill

Exercise 6

Sharpening Your Communication Skills Choose one of the major motivation theories discussed in this chapter: expectancy, goal-setting, job characteristics, or reinforcement theory. Create a brief electronic presentation (three to five slides), using PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Docs, or a similar tool, explaining the theory and identifying its strengths and weaknesses as a practical management approach.
Building Your Team Skills With your teammates, explore the careers sections of the websites of six companies in different industries. Look for descriptions of the work environment, incentive plans, career paths, and other information about how the company develops, motivates, and supports its employees. After you've compiled notes about each company, vote on the most appealing company to work for. Next, review the notes for this company and identify all the theories of motivation described in this chapter that the company appears to be using, based on the information on its website.
Developing Your Research Skills Various periodicals and websites feature "best companies to work for" lists. Locate one of these lists and find a company that does a great job of attracting and motivating high performers. Learn as much as you can about the company's management philosophies. Which of the motivation theories does the company appear to be using? Summarize your findings in a brief email message to your instructor.