The purpose of the Final Project is to apply the concepts and techniques of the module to the
analysis of real-world situations or problems. Students are expected to use diverse sources of
information and to carry out an original analysis rather than summarise or rehash existing work.
Students are encouraged to use situations and data from their own experience where possible.
For this project, you will research a well-known multinational company or a multinational organisation that
you know well and propose an appropriate reward and pay strategy that you believe would best motivate
employees to meet the overall organisational strategy and objectives.
Abstract
To develop a reward and compensation system for Qatar Airways that has a work force
of about 31,000 employees and where more than slightly a half of the employees work directly
for the airline requires a HRM policy that has a great contradiction between the different
category of workers. The theory part of the design must be matched against the reality of
achievement as most reward and compensation systems are mostly developed and are quickly
followed by employee disillusionment as the systems fail to deliver the expected results.
Introduction
Qatar Airways has been in existence since the year 1993 and it has offices in one hundred
forty countries where its destinations are located all over the world. It means that Qatar Airways
has a multi-cultural work force whose diversity can be exploited for the benefit of the company.
To motivate employees effectively then different categories should have strategic pay system
that rewards hard work and motivates workers to continue working for the company by capturing
the specific needs of each class or category of employees. For example, the compensation
systems for pilots should be different with other employees whose contributions to the company
are much higher and more critical than other categories. However, a research on the best reward
and compensation system that the company needs to apply should be conducted and the views
analyzed in order to develop a comprehensive reward system that is acceptable to all employees.
The company can utilize the use of a questionnaire that would suggest several
motivational reward and compensation systems that are also provided with other rival airlines
like Air Emirates and Etihad Airlines.
Qualitative data collection method should be applied in order to get the full information
from the employees (Tashakkori and Teddlie, 2003). I have opted to use the naturalistic enquiry
paradigm that mostly utilizes qualitative data collection methods (Beiske, 2007). The deductive
theories also emphasize on wealth and richness of the source of information in deducing the
hypothesis from the theories involved.
Rewards and Employee Satisfaction
Employee satisfaction is critical to the general employee retention strategies. Employees
derive satisfaction from what is expected and what is actually received. Employees compare
personal input, education, job skills, output, efforts, performance and other mix of general
intrinsic and also extrinsic reward or compensation that they receive. The questionnaire should
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categorize different aspect of reward systems that would make it possible for all the employees
to select or recommend their preferred reward system (Guest, 2011).
Employees also compare the rewards systems that are available in other companies in
similar industries. Most employees also compare their input in terms of working hours and the
compensation offered in rival companies. The proposed reward systems should be standard and
realistic in order to avoid damaging the employees’ self-esteem.
Data Evaluation Methods
The information gathered should be evaluated using the data processing soft-wares
available in the market like the SSPS or QRS data processing software (Onwuegbuzie & Teddlie,
2003). Several popular selections should be selected but also the unique employee reward
system preferred by certain employees should be considered and where it is possible to provide
such rewards then the company should not hesitate to make them available to the employees.
Qatar Airlines has a workforce that is culturally diverse and the employees’ beliefs are also
different. Qualitative data collection techniques provide finer details on employee needs that the
researcher should also pay attention to. All the employees should be eligible to participate in the
research exercise (Hair, Wolfinbarger, Money, Samouel & Page, 2015). This approach offers
enabling grounds for every employee to participate in growth of the organization from an
informed perspective. It is understood that such perspectives usually make huge differences in
organizations.
Rewards are actually intended to motivate specific behaviors in employees. Rewards and
compensation strategies must be seen and perceived to be timely and tied strictly to effective
employee performance. Several conditions are necessary for overall employee motivation.
All employees must certainly believe that effective individual or team performance
would lead to specific rewards. For instance, achieving particular results would lead to a given
bonus. When such beliefs are cultivated from past experiences, it becomes highly possible for
employees to improve their performance.
It is crucial to note that; it would be fatal, in business terms, to give false promises when
it comes to performance rewards. For instance, if management promised to offer rewards for a
certain performance, and then fail to do so even after the targeted performance has been
achieved, it subjects employees to mistrust. Such sentiments affect performance great deals.
The employees must also feel and believe that the rewards that the company is offering is
attractive and competitive compared to the rest of the companies in the market. It should be
noted that different employees have divergent views on reward system and motivation. Some
employees would prefer promotion as they seek power while others would prefer other fringe
benefits as qualification for pension, assured job security, opportunities for career growth or paid
holidays (Guest, 2011). Based on this view then, it would be viable not to generalize
dispensation of rewards to employees. It would be more reasonable to consider individual
preferences before offering a given reward.
However, this does not mean leaving employees to dictate what reward is to be given to
them. Rather, it is about weighing the available chances and opportunities and giving the best to
an employee in consideration of their wishes and different personalities.
The employees must also be made to believe that individual effort would lead to
achievement of the company’s standard performance. When this happens, it gives employees
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more motivation to achieve the targeted performance. Cultivation of such beliefs in employee is
crucial because it shifts attention to the organization rather than individual.
Equity and Participation
The effectiveness of a reward system largely depends on its perception of fairness to all
the employees. The system and design of the reward system must reflect equality to all the
employees without any bias of favoritism to any group of employees (Choudhury & Friedman,
2015). As such, there ought to be no discrimination in terms of gender, age or marital status. As
long as one has achieved targeted performance, reward should be constant.
Acknowledging Accomplishment
The reward and compensation systems concentrate largely on rewarding employees
financially. However, non-financial awards can also be effective in motivating employees
especially if it supplements the financial rewards. Awards generally satisfy the needs for
employee recognition in a company. It would therefore be important to consider offering a
combination of the two rewards. Such moves work well where there have been efforts of
ascertaining what the specific employee would wish to get and therefore; go by the best.
Conclusion
Qatar Airways should set up a reward and compensation system that is unique to the
demands of its own employees while also comparing the existing compensation systems that are
available in the market as compared to its rival companies. The best rewards systems are
developed as per the recommendation of the employees and as approved by the employers. It
would also be important to consider offering diverse forms of rewards, both financial and non-
financial awards due to the diversity Qatar Airways employees.
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References
Beiske, B, (2007) Research Methods: Uses and Limitations of questionnaires, interviews and
case studies, GRIN Verlag
Choudhury, S. & Friedman, M. (2015). A study of employee satisfaction with HMO services at a
historically black university. In Proceedings of the 1996 Multicultural Marketing
Conference (pp. 81-84). Springer International Publishing.
Hair Jr, J. F., Wolfinbarger, M., Money, A. H., Samouel, P., & Page, M. J. (2015). Essentials of
business research methods. Routledge.
Guest, D.E. (2011) Human Resource Management and Performance: Still Searching for Some
Answers, Human Resource Management journal, Vol 21, No 1, 2011, pgs 3-13.
Mills, G. E. (2011). Action research – A guide for the teacher researcher. Boston, MA:
>>>>Pearson Education, Inc.
