Profile of a Struggling Company – Motorola

Profile of a Struggling Company – Motorola

Introduction

The failure of Motorola Company is much attributed to non-compliance with the fundamental principles of management. The basic principles of management under the management theory were postulated by Henri Fayol, who argued that management of any organization needs to adhere to several principles to run their organization well. This discussion will highlight how Motorola management missed management principles and some recommendations, that Motorola could use to boost its performance.

Application of principles of management

The first principle of management that Motorola failed to implement is initiative. The initiative is a management principle that requires the management to leave the employees to express their new ideas. When the management encourages employees to express their thoughts, it promotes involvement and adds value. Employee initiatives are the source of the organization’s strengths (Carlson, 2011). The initiative principle of management encourages innovation. When employees raise their opinions and new ideas, they can be converted into something new that can help the organization thrive.

In other words, applying the management principle of initiative boosts innovation. For instance, Motorola Company failed to apply the initiative principle, which encourages innovation. While other companies such as Apple and Samsung were striving to innovate, Motorola was comfortable with what it had achieved and thus, did not invest much in innovation like the competitors (Anderson, 2008). Being a telecommunication company, Motorola was supposed to put innovation as a top priority. This is because the telecommunication industry is driven by innovation. Thus, any firm operating in this industry and not innovating can be quickly thrown out of business. Motorola was surpassed by Apple and other competitors primarily because it failed to innovate.

The stability of tenure of the personnel is one of the principles of management by Fayol. It is all about the deployment and management of the personnel. The management of any organization is required to minimize employee turnover and have the right staff at the right place. The management of an organization needs to assure the employees of the security of their tenure. However, Motorola fired its employees without notice, and within four years, the company fired more than half of its employees, from 168,000 in 2010 to less than 65,000 employees in 2014 (Carlson, 2011).  The massive layoff of employees made the remaining employees insecure. When employees’ job security is at stake, employees cannot concentrate on their duties, meaning that they will not work to their full potential because they feel that any time their jobs will be gone.

Remuneration is another principle of management. Henri Fayol stated that employees’ satisfaction majority depends on fair remuneration in his administrative theory. Remuneration can be either financial or non-financial. He emphasized employees’ wages should be fair and rewarding (Carlson, 2011). This means that an employer pays his employees an amount that should be reasonable and commensurate to the employees’ effort input. Motorola’s management did not employ the principle of remuneration (Anderson, 2008).  The working conditions for the employees were poor in that employees were overworked, but they were being paid lower wages than their input. It was established that the management did not care much about the welfare of the employees in this company and the management cared for their wellbeing. Thus, poor employee remuneration at Motorola is one of the factors that led to its failure.

 Recommendations

Upon examination of how Motorola implemented the management principles, it is clear that the company failed significantly in applying the principles of management. This is the biggest reason why Motorola failed. There are several ways Motorola could reenergize itself to become competent and perform well in all areas. First, Motorola could begin with performance planning. Performance planning is a collaborative process between the management and the employees. This involves a job description for each employee, identifying major job expectations so that every employee understands their duties and expectations (Carlson, 2011). Performance planning helps set goals by communicating objectives and setting an actionable plan that guides the employees to achieve their goals. Using the performance plan as the reference point, the managers and employees would regularly monitor progress against goals; re-assess goals, and solve some roadblocks (Sapiennce, 2020). Performance planning and ongoing performance feedback can be critical since they facilitate continuous improvement and help in open communication between the management and the workforce.

The second way Motorola could reinvent itself to become competitive again is through embracing sustainability. Growing a sustainable business is one of the main goals for many multinational corporations, and it is in accordance with the United Nations’ global goals. In implementing the sustainable goal, Motorola could make sustainability a core principle. Embracing sustainability could mean that the company genuinely believes that climate change, unethical resource consumption, and pollution are high on the list of concerns (Lingel, 2016).   Thus, the company should contribute to the solutions of the sustainability problems. One way in which Motorola could operate sustainability was through innovation. If corporations stick to sustainability, innovation is out of need and adjust towards greater sustainability.

The third way, Motorola could have used to revamp itself and become competitive, again, was by embracing collective decision-making. Employees at Motorola often complained about the management being confusing and disorganized. Employees were left in a dilemma without knowing where the organization was going. Many decisions in Motorola were centralized in that the managers were the ones who made decisions, and employees were just informed and asked to act upon the decision. This made employees lack direction, and many choices hurt employees. Motorola could have applied collective decision-making, allowing employees to participate in the company’s decision-making process (Lingel, 2016). This could have motivated employees to work even more complexly and feel part of the company. Embracing collective making could be a game-changer at Motorola, and the company could recover quickly and compete effectively in the telecommunication industry.

Motorola could reenergize itself by focusing on innovation. The telecommunication industry is sustained by innovation. Thus, the companies that operate in this industry must be innovators. Motorola started well and was the first company to innovate a mobile phone. Still, along the way, it lost direction in innovation, and other competitors such as Nokia and Apple overtook it in innovation matters (Carlson, 2011).  Motorola could have invested a lot in innovation and created an enabling environment. Innovation could have pulled this company from a non-performing company to a performing company (Lingel, 2016). Apple is an excellent example of companies that have capitalized on innovation to remain an industry leader. Motorola was more prominent than Apple, but it relaxed in its innovation while Apple invested a lot in it, making it the innovation leader.

The last recommendation that could be applied to Motorola is establishing favourable employee benefits. Motorola experienced a high rate of employee turnover. This turnover resulted from poor working conditions and a lack of better employee benefits at Motorola. First, the company underpaid its workers despite overworking them. Thus, the talented workers ran away to look for greener pastures elsewhere (Fishman, 2014). Establishing employee benefits such as health insurance, maternity leave, vacation pay, holiday pay, stock options, and bonuses could be one of the best ways to boost employee morale and trust in the company. Employee benefits also may include training and support for career development. When employees are paid well and offered many benefits, they cannot leave the organization, and the organization will benefit from low turnover.

Reference

Anderson, H. (2008). 10 reasons why Motorola failed. Retrieved from https://www.networkworld.com/article/2277903/10-reasons-why-motorola-failed.html

Carlson, N. (2011). Compared To Googlers, Motorola’s 19,000 Employees Hate Their Jobs. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/compared-to-googlers-motorolas-19000-employees-hate-their-jobs-2011-8?r=US&IR=T

Fishman, C. (2014). What Happened to Motorola? Retrieved from https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/September-2014/What-Happened-to-Motorola/

Lingel, N. (2016).  Motorola brought us the mobile phone but merged out of existence. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/motorola-brought-us-the-mobile-phone-but-ended-up-merged-out-of-existence-33967

Sapiennce, S. (2020). The Rise and Fall of Motorola. Retrieved from  https://startupsapience.medium.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-motorola-f4a20646b47f

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Profile of a Struggling Company – Motorola

Analyze the company’s ineffective implementation of the fundamental principles of management. Once you analyze the struggling company, your task will be to make recommendations for a management improvement plan explaining how the company’s management team can improve in areas such as decision-making, employee performance, and sustainability.