Introduction
“People are our most valuable asset” is one of the most popular clichés in business today. Indeed, this is true as organizations worldwide are struggling to meet market demands realizing that these outcomes depend directly on the ability, commitment and skill of employees. These factors in their turn depend significantly on employees’ motivation. Unfortunately, researches (for instance, Gallup Organization research) show that only 29 percent of employees are motivated (Kimball, 2006, p. 54). This means that management teams in a number of organizations either fail to motivate the working force or disregard the importance of motivation at all.
Main body
This is not the case with Washburn Guitar, the company that boasts a rich tradition of fine instrument making. They produce a wide variety of acoustic and electric guitars, selling more than 50, 000 of them annually with $40 million dollars in revenue (Daft, 2008, p. 772). This success of the company is a direct result of the work of highly motivated professionals. The thing is that for people working at Washburn Guitar their occupation is not a routine work, but a “labor of love” (772). 95 % of the employees that work at US Music (parent of Washburn Guitar) play an instrument that really improves the quality of instruments produced as they have the passion for what they are doing (772).
Love for music increases the employees’ desire to produce instruments of the best quality. A willingness to work, dedication to the project, commitment, an appetite to achieve, the typical qualities of a motivated person, are better cultivated if the person has a real passion to the occupation he or she is involved into.
Motivation is something within a worker that impels him/her to move forwards, to achieve a goal, to make progress in a task. The worker’s need, desire or emotion might serve a driving force and lead him/her to act in a certain way (Thomas and Adair, 2004, p. 58).
The Washburn Guitar workers are motivated because they love music and care about the instruments. Each guitar they are working on is treated as if the workers produce the instruments for themselves. As guitar making is labor intensive and requires attention to detail, having a motivated workforce is essential. Quality materials plus quality mastership is the formula of the company’s success.
Gil Vasquez, Washburn Guitar Production Manager says about the employees: “Some are motivated by the fact of music, and some are motivated by being able to work on an instrument” and continues: “one of the biggest motivation factors for me is when you are done with a guitar … you’ve taken it from the drawing board to the manufacturing point, given it tot the artist … watching him play it on sage, it’s like validation.” (Daft, 2008, p. 772) In fact, guitar producers are very motivated by the fact that signature models like Maya Pro confirms Washburn’s capability for producing quality and style that also strengthens the company’s relationship with Dan Donegan, his band Disturbed and their huge fan base.
Conclusion
Washburn Guitar company is not the only example of how motivation improves the quality of the materials produced. Managers of successful companies have understood long ago that the higher the workers’ motivation is the better quality may be achieved. As the interconnection is obvious, more efforts should be taken to find ways to motivate the employees.
References
Daft, R. L. (2008). Management. Thomson/South Western.
Kimball, L. S. (2006). How to Improve Employee Motivation, Commitment Productivity, Well-Being and Safety. Corrections Today, 68, 53-54.
Thomas, N. (2004). The concise adair on Teambuilding and Motivation. Thorogood.