Table of Contents
Table of Contents 2
Chapter 1 3
Theoretical Framework
Introduction
Expectancy Theory
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory
Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory
McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y
Feedback
Chapter 2 9
Case Study Analysis
Chapter 3 11
Impersonal Feedback
Chapter 4 14
Dyadic Feedback
Limitations
Chapter 5 18
Group Feedback
Building the Winning Team
Organize Employees into a Team
Get Them to Adopt the Company's Vision
Meetings Build Team
Get Team Members to Work Together
Provide an Outlet for Employees to Vent their Frustrations
Make Work Fun
Supervisors to Set a Positive Tone
References 24

Chapter 1
Theoretical Framework

Introduction
One of the most common aims of any organizational theory scholarship is the discovery of effective ways to achieve organizational goals with minimal resource utilization. In traditional cybernetic terms, organizations seek optimal output with minimal resource input in the least amount of time.
As such, scholars believe that such a desired result can be achieved if all available resources owned by an organization are managed strategically according to the demands of different situations in a dynamic environment.
Due to the demands imposed by the dynamism of the modern environment, organizations cannot afford to stay static for long periods of time. Thus, they are in a constant flux of structuring and restructuring in the bid to meet these demands while trying to achieve the organizational goals at the same time. In such an environment, it is only reasonable to assume that resources owned by these organizations are also constantly being allocated in tandem with any changes implemented.
These developments lead us to the vexing problem of human resource management. Such resources, unlike machines and other capital resources, are highly unpredictable in their behaviors and their performances. Human employees are also identified as the resource with the greatest difficulty in adapting to new working environment created due to changes within organizational structures.
This report hopes to explain the ways that managers maximize the performances of their employees using the tools of communication in an organizational setting such as the utilization of feedback in the induction of motivation.
Our group will attempt to use three theories, namely Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory, Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory and McGregor's Theory of X and Theory Y, in relation with the Expectancy Theory, to explore the process by which motivation transmits into optimal performance by employees. It is only through the understanding of the "what" and "how" of motivation that we can hope to solve our management problems of sub-par performance in our human resources.

Expectancy Theory
The Expectancy Theory states that an individual's performance is a multiplicative function of that individual's ability and effort. And because of the belief that a person's ability is immutable with improvements limited to processes such as technical and developmental training, many scholars have begun to turn their attention to the more controllable aspect of this performance function such as the effort that can be elicited out of an employee.
The theory also states that effort is a function of how much an individual values the reward associated with performance (the valence of the reward) and the extent to which the individual believes that a high level of effort will lead to that reward (effort-reward probability). A summary of the theory can be seen below.

Performance = (Ability x Effort)
Ability = (Inherent Intelligence + Developmental Training)
Effort = (Valence of Rewards x Effort-Reward Probability)

It should be clear by now that any attempt to increase either the valence of rewards or the effort-reward probability will subsequently lead to an increase in the amount of effort and will ultimately lead to a performance increase in an individual according to the Expectancy Theory.
It is with such as a theoretical foundation in mind that we turn to the abovementioned three theories of needs and motivation.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory
Abraham Maslow believed that individuals are motivated by different needs that are ranked in a hierarchy of prepotency. This theory assumes that an individual will attempt to satisfy each need in the order of the hierarchy through his role as a member in the organization as shown below.

Need Level
Level 5: Self actualization
Level 4: Esteem
Level 3: Affiliation
Level 2: Safety
Level 1: Physiological

Management must recognize that not all members of the organization are pursuing the same level of needs as their main motivation at any particular time period. Hence, it is imperative for management to properly identify the level of needs of different organizational members in order to ensure high value of valence of rewards for each member at any time frame. For example, a member that has already satisfied his physiological needs may find the offer of new housing benefits relatively unappealing as compared to an assurance of an extension of his current contract in the company.
It can be seen that only with proper pegging of the correct rewards as motivation can organizations ensure the continuous optimal performance of the members. However, Maslow's theory is not the only way of looking at how the valence of rewards can be increased.

Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory
Herzberg looked at the concept of motivation from a different perspective in believing that there exist two categories of factors namely the motivation and hygiene factors that must be present to keep members of any organizations both "happy" and "not unhappy" respectively. Factors from both categories can be present in varying amounts and the ultimate outcome, of whether an individual is motivated, is largely dependent of the combined effect from the influence of both as summarized below.
With respect to the Expectancy Theory, we can see that Herzberg sees the overall relevance of rewards and motivation as influenced by the overall score of the above two scales of motivators and hygiene.
It is important to note that both categories in Herzberg theory are so broadly defined that their combined influence will affect both the variables in the effort function and not solely the valence of rewards variable as in Maslow's theory.
For instance, salary can be seen as a factor influencing the valence of rewards whereas, organizational policy categorized in the hygiene category is more relevant in influencing perception of employees, affecting the value of the effort-reward probability. This characteristic of broad categorizations is also present in the next theory to be discussed.

McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y
Basically, McGregor segmented management effort into two contrasting styles based on the assumptions held by the managers in question. Both styles are aimed at the usual objective of achieving optimal effort from members of an organization and consequently maximize performance. The styles named Theory X and Theory Y are simply different ways that are employed by managers based on their beliefs of human nature.
Theory X.
Managers who adopt this style assumed that a strong and forceful hand is essential for harnessing the efforts of basically unmotivated workers. According to the Expectancy Theory, workers are basically reactive in nature and managers must exert continuous effort to seek out innovative ways to control and motivate employees. Managers must constantly manipulate, using tools of rewards, punishments and communication, the two variables in the Effort function in order to achieve increasing efforts from this passive workers.
Theory Y.
Theory Y managers assume that workers are highly motivated to satisfy achievement and self-actualization needs. The job of the manager is to bring out the natural tendencies of these motivated workers. With respect to the Expectancy Theory, such workers can be seen to be proactive in their pursuit of their needs and managers are only facilitators by allowing room for the creativity and development of these employees. They will demand appropriate rewards and communication in their bid to achieve personal goals. Hence, the to variables in the effort function will be adjusted accordingly by such self-motivation resulting in higher performance.

Feedback
After discussing the theories of what motivates an employee and how such motivations are transformed into efficiency and optimal performance, it is important to note in this last part of this introduction that the above theories will be useless without any form of communication.
Without communication, managers will not be able to identify the needs that will be most relevant to their employees and likewise, employees will not be able to discover if they are indeed engaging in behaviors that are in tune with organizational goals and thus will be rewarded. At the same time, the 3 theories provide an underlying framework that can be referred to regardless of other theories specific to the channels of feedback as explored in later chapters.
As such it is only prudent to understand the importance of the role of feedback regardless of whether it is top-down or bottom-up. Thus it is only when concepts such as needs, motivation, and feedback are considered in the holistic process of organization communication can we then proceed towards achieving organizational goals efficiently and effectively.

Chapter 2
Case Study Analysis

The memo is written by John LaCour, a senior buyer at "JBAds" to associate media director Mr. Al Severin. He entails the problems his department is facing at the moment.
First, let us touch on the goals John hopes to attain by presenting such a feedback. He is informing his superior of the current unpleasant situation his department is facing at the moment. Such information may be unknown to the top management due to hierarchical differences and communication barriers. Cues are sent to his boss that measures need to be taken to reduce the dissonance among staffers. He hopes to remedy the situation before it gets out of hand and his capable buyers start resigning. He also wants to learn more about alternative measures to motivate his staffers.
The type of feedback executed by John is known as a feedwithin as defined by Bogart. Information about the system is fed back to the system itself. In this case, John is the initiator for such feedback.
The valence level of feedback in this case is negative as it consists of a report about the unfavorable performance of some members of the staff that John termed as disaffected or "unmotivated". Feedback sensitivity is low as he conveys the verbal frustrations of his co- worker Theresa word for word instead of paraphrasing it or putting it more euphemistically. This lack of sensitivity or tact reflects the extent of frustration and alarm felt by John due to the deteriorating work situation or as he puts it, "getting close to the edge".
The feedback source, John, hopes that his feedback will serve an incentive function. Greater effort has to be put in by top management to keep staff members from resigning and thus losing talented resources.
The lack of incentives is the main problem that the staff is facing at the moment. The current wage freeze, lack of raises and increasing workload are lowering performance levels among the staffers. This is exacerbated by the lack of non-wage differentials to reward their efforts. They exhibit discontent with their jobs, produce work of lower quality and quantity. At the same time, talented workers feel a frustration and sense of helplessness to affect changes and improve their lot. Even John feels so; "I confess I feel as if my hands are tied… I feel inadequate."
However, firing them is not an option as John knows what good work these people are capable of when given the appropriate incentives. The company's mission statement for excellence no longer rings true for the staff. They feel as if they are not being rewarded for the amount of effort expanded as expressed in Theresa's tirade. Extrinsic motivation has to be added to keep capable buyers like Theresa from resigning. Intrinsic motivation has failed to maintain a high performance level as workers do not feel appreciated.
At the same time, the company structure (whereby there is a barrier between the management and the employees) and the nature of the advertising jobs (where individual performances in account management are held distinct from group tasks) mean that not all the three types of feedback can be utilized equally, specifically that of group feedback. Therefore, we have expanded our scope by providing a holistic approach to using the 3 feedback types to explain the interplay of motivation and ability to increase performance. This is achieved through devising our own group-based structure and applying the benefits of group feedback to this hypothetical situation. Both group and impersonal feedback will help the company tackle the issues of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation; dyadic feedback will improve the workers' intrinsic motivations.
In view of the recent recession, it is imperative that the JBAds maintain its talent pool so as to weather the storm and increase their billings. Most importantly, John's memo serves as a wake-up call to his boss that measures have to be taken to especially in the area of incentives and rewards to raise the morale of the staff.


Chapter 3
Impersonal Feedback

In order to raise employee morale, JBAds should try to improve on the situation through positive impersonal feedback. Impersonal feedback refers to the feedback that is not delivered or mediated by another person. It may also be inherent in a task situation.
Impersonal feedback can take various forms. One form of impersonal feedback can be shown through awarding due recognition to the staff for their hard work. By presenting "Achievement awards" to the good planners/buyers, the company displays an awareness and appreciation for the staff's contributions. The esteem of the workers (Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs) would increase as competency is rewarded.
Next, loyalty to the company can be fostered among the employees through the organization of "anniversary celebrations" similar to the activities organized by the Fireman's Fund Insurance. These low cost, annual celebrations can take the form of an "open house" for selected members of the public and the families or friends of the workers. They would enable the employees to feel excited about sharing information of their workplace to their close friends and relatives. This increases the sense of affiliation to the company by employees and their families.
Impersonal feedback can be devised according to active feedback garnered from employees. From such feedback, changes in company policy on employee benefits can occur. Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory list company policy as one of many hygiene factors that can affect employee morale. As such, company policy can serve as a form of impersonal feedback from the management to the employees. There is a natural link between Herzberg's hygiene factors and impersonal feedback that can explain the feedback-motivation relationships.
Moreover, impersonal feedback from the management can be reflected from the type of physical working conditions (Hertzeberg's Motivation and Hygiene Theory). By allowing their staff to exercise control over their workspace (in terms of decoration or rest), companies like 3M have successfully demonstrated that they care about their employees' welfare.
For example, in 3M, there are areas designated for employees to take short naps (they can bring their sleeping bags) and basketball hoops in the office for recreation. Cubicles can be reduced among all the workers regardless of rank to allow free flow of communication.
In addition, the timing of the impersonal feedback (either delayed or immediate) is crucial. At JBAds, it appears that the situation has gotten out of control with all-time low morale that has affected the majority of the employees. There appears to be low esteem amongst the employees as both the external esteem needs (like rewards) and internal esteem needs (sense of achievement) are not fulfilled. The workers lack both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.
Another interesting aspect is that anticipation of feedback can have an impact (Adam's 1964) on future performance. This cyclical nature of feedback-performance is ignored as employees do not get the chance to voice their grievances. At the same time, the company does not feedback to the workers. The result is the atmosphere of stifled competence and uncaring management that pervades JBAds.
Aggressive channels for impersonal feedback (both upward and downward) must be established. Although the company's feedback to the employees regarding their tasks might be delayed due to its impersonal nature, it would at least provide some guidelines for the employees.
Similar to what Chrysler used, regular internal publications such as newsletters, tabloids, bulletins and magazines should be constantly circulated around the office as a channel for feedback from both employees and employers. The use of videotapes or slide presentations to explain the vision of the company and the latest updates (can also be done through having a hotline of prerecorded latest company information from senior executives including the president) would also be highly beneficial.
Although there is a recent recession and a wage freeze, there should be other non-wage rewards for the employees. These can help boost morale at a relatively low cost as wages are one of the most costly components in any company budget.
A case in point is Sun Microsystems. The company recently rewarded 3000 employees who have performed well with a one-week all expenses paid trip to Hawaii or Thailand (depending on whether they belong to the Asian or American branches).
For our case, workers can gauge their performance according to a chart that can be regularly updated to reflect their level of achievement. The referent of this impersonal feedback can be linked to the number of advertising contracts they maintain or other performance goals decided by both management and employees. Should a predetermined level of competency be achieved, low cost rewards decided by both management and employees such as short holidays to a neighboring location can be organized to reward the deserving workers.
More light-hearted measures to reward workers can be implemented. For example, contests can be conducted whereby each employee must submit a "fun" activity proposal that is non-work related to his or her supervisors. The internal computer network of the company can be used to provide a forum whereby such proposals can be put up for examination. Workers can vote for their most favorite activity through this form of impersonal feedback and the activity with the most votes can become the next company outing. On a more serious note, computer-mediated feedback can be similarly used to provide performance analysis to all workers monthly. More of such impersonal feedback channels must be established that enable a 2-way symmetrical communication between management and employees.
Ultimately, as seen from the case study, employees in JBAds are talented and self-motivated individuals. What they do lack is their sense of control to improve their situations through feedback to management. At the same time, the informational aspect of rewards is not emphasized to the extent that employees feel ignored and under appreciated. Indeed, quiet talents like Theresa have even expressed doubts that the management knows "what a rat race it is". There is a clear communication barrier between the management and the managed that can be bridged by impersonal feedback, among others.

Chapter 4
Dyadic Feedback

Locke's goal-setting theory (1968) stated two aspects of goal that can aid in motivating employees. Using this framework, superiors are encouraged to assign specific and difficult, yet attainable goals for each individual employee. Incentives like money and feedback will not affect behavior unless the specific, hard visions of the organization are set and/or accepted by the employees. As mentioned by John, "it's hard for the employees to buy into [the company's vision of excellence] right now".
Thus, in order to encourage goal-setting and goal acceptance, dyadic communication can be used to find out what difficulties each individual employee have with assimilating the company vision as his own. When this is achieved, various incentives will then be able to motivate the employees.
All rewards have two purposes; the control of the receiver's behavior and the informing of the receiver about his competence and self-determination. Based on Deci's cognitive evaluation theory (1975), rewarding a task with extrinsic rewards, such as money, will reduce a person's intrinsic motivation if it emphasizes the control aspect. Therefore, it will be desirable, in the light of the recession, to target increasing the workers' intrinsic motivation by changing their perceived loci of control and increasing their feelings of competence. Low cost extrinsic motivations can be implemented such as those found earlier in the impersonal feedback section only if they emphasize the informational aspect.
Partly due to the recession, the employees tend to have an external loci of control (Rotter, 1966), seeing things happening as a result of environmental causes unaffected by individual effort. Employees like Theresa are feeling helpless in trying to improve the situation. Even John himself seems to have some sense of incompetence. Using Kelley's attribution theory (1973), we can link the attributed causes of performances to the performance feedback received. Thus, the performance feedback the employees received affect whether they attribute the performance causes internally to themselves or externally to the environment. Lack of feedback may result in disorientation, leaving the employees in a state of anxiety with regards to attribution of causes. Alternatively, since the current performance is low, lack of feedback from employers may cause internal attribution of performance, which impedes performance further. Neither is healthy for the organization.
This is best alleviated by perceived empowerment. The employees should believe that they can change situations for the better and they are self-determined. Firstly, the management should encourage others to feedback like John did in his letter. Mentors in the company, like Al, should also take a proactive approach to find out the current feelings and state among the other employees. These mentors, presumably having a relatively closer pre-existing relationship, should be able to get individuals to speak up and channel the messages upwards. This could be done over informal situations, such as over lunches or coffee breaks.
Upper management people should also make themselves more accessible to the employees. A good start would be to interact more with the individual employees in the main office, instead of being isolated in their personal office rooms. This lessens the barrier between the employees and the upper management. This avoids the perception of the upper management as "those people upstairs [who] don't know what a rat race it is just to get this company to stay the course with clients".
People with well-done tasks should be given positive competence feedback in order to increase intrinsic motivation. This should not be delivered in a controlling sense, such as emphasizing authority over them, but instead to inform them of the good jobs they are doing. It should be noted that low performers should also receive some form of feedback with encouragement, emphasizing trust in his ability. Otherwise, it is possible that a low performer may self-administer negative feedback which may be overly harsh, thus diminishing performance further. It should be noted that the upper management should strive to avoid fundamental attribution error, which is the tendency to explain others' actions in terms of dispositional/internal rather than situational causes. Feedback based on such perceptual error exaggerates the incompetence of the low performer, causing them to be "unmotivated".
In order for feedback to work efficiently, the upper management should see the employees' feedback as trustworthy, credible and informed. If this is not the case, feedback may simply fall flat at the upper management level since it is discounted as biased and uninformed, resulting in vicious cycle that furthers dissatisfaction. Upper management personnel should be encouraged to see through the eyes of their subordinates, enabling them to understand the situation at the lower level. Thus, the upper management will be in a better position to determine if the feedback is credible and informed or not.
New employees can be partnered with more experienced mentors and peers. As pointed out by Argyris (1957), organizational structure is linked to the personality of individual employee. Since the immature person tends to be passive in dealing with the work environment, mentors and superiors should feedback any dissonance between structure and personality, in which case, proper training and supervision can be provided to grow the individual into the job or simply move him to a more suitable job.
Furthermore, research can be carried out to discover the effectiveness of the measures taken so far to increase motivation. Walton (French, 1986) proposed eight dimensions to analyze the quality of work life - adequate and fair compensation, safe and healthy working conditions, opportunity to use and develop human capacities, opportunity for continued growth and security, social integration in work organization, rights to privacy and due process, balanced role of work and socially beneficial and responsible work. These are helpful measures to troubleshoot any Achilles' heel overlooked by the management. A face-to-face survey could be conducted to function as a feedback to the upper management, enabling each employee to voice his views.
Through dyadic communication, each employee is recognized as an individual rather than being lost in the crowd. It is more personal, enabling more depth in the feedback obtained compared to group feedback. Since each individual has different needs and wants, dyadic feedback enables the management to better satisfy each employee, which will lead to more productive work according to the human-relations approach. This minimizes dissatisfaction, which can lead to defensive behavior, sabotage, absenteeism and high turnover.
Herzberg's two-factor theory (1968) suggests that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are separate continua affected by different needs. Hygiene factors, like salary and security, address any mounting dissatisfaction, while needs motivators, like recognition and responsibility, address job satisfaction. Both factors should be accounted for. Thus, superiors should realize that different kinds of feedback will have different effects. For instance, feedback emphasizing the security of job will not increase satisfaction, just as in the case of Theresa. Positive dyadic performance feedback will strongly increase satisfaction since it bestows certain amount of recognition and responsibility that is not diffused among a group of people.

Limitations
However, dyadic feedback may create some problems as well. Equity theory (Adams, 1963) stated that people compare themselves with their peers to determine how fairly they themselves have been treated. Since dyadic feedback is based on one-to-one communication, there may be some discrepancies in treatment of individual employees. For instance, two employees with similar performance and task may receive different feedback in terms of quality and/or quantity. The superior may give more attention to one employee or simply use different words to encourage them. This may result in perceived inequity, which may be resolved by the other employee through reduction in efforts or even leaving the organization.
Furthermore, dyadic feedback often results in positively inflated views for low performers. Since senders of feedback are also averse to negative feedback (Redding, 1972), superiors tend to distort negative information, especially when performance is attributed to ability rather than effort. When coupled with the receiver's own selective attention and retention, it results in a double-dosed illusion. In undesirable circumstances, it may even encourage complacency.

Chapter 5
Group Feedback

Group feedback is not a useful motivational tool in this case study at the present due to the company structure. There is very little interdependence among the planners/buyers. How many new accounts one planner/buyer recruits or how many existing accounts one manages to retain does not depend on the other planners/buyers' sales figures. Group feedback may only be useful when all employees share the same level of performance.
However, more often than not, individual performances within the group vary at any one time. In situations when the supervisor compliments everyone for meeting or exceeding the monthly sales target, over-achievers would feel that it is unfair to them because they are the ones who contribute most, while the fruits of their labor are shared with undeserving colleagues. Likewise, when the supervisor chastises everybody for not meeting the monthly sales target, those who perform well would feel that it is unfair that they have to share the blame. Thus, one-to-one feedback is more appropriate in this case.

Building the Winning Team
For group feedback to be effective there must be the recognition of team structure and the benefits of the teamwork. There should be a mentality whereby "Everyone wants to feel that they are on a winning team, that the company is moving ahead, and that they are an integral part of the group".
Organize Employees into a Team.
Planners/buyers are independent workers. To build a winning team, supervisors should first make the employees feel and act like one. Supervisors should inculcate in them the notion that everybody is an integral part of the company. Contributions from each and everyone in the company count. The future of the company depends on them and likewise, their future depend on the company.

Get Them to Adopt the Company's Vision.
Next, supervisors not only need to show the employees what direction the company is heading in, they also need to get them to "buy into" this direction. Otherwise, they cannot expect them to support a group if they don't agree with where it is headed or, worse still, do not even know where it is headed.
Specifically, supervisors need to show the employees:
a) The company's vision for the future.
b) The strategy for getting there.
When communication improves, so does motivation. Employees are not mind readers. The more clarity, direction, information, guidance, instruction, training, and support supervisors give them, the more likely they would deliver the results.
c) Why this is the best strategy?
Employees want to know why they are doing something, so supervisors should spend some time explaining to them why. Once they are convinced, they are more committed in fulfilling the assigned tasks that would realize the vision of the company.
d) Every achievement that indicates this team is winning.
Employees want to feel that their work is making a difference. Supervisors should explain why the employees' work matters. Supervisors should also tell them success stories about clients who use the company's services and post press clippings on the bulletin board.
This is not a one-time discussion or announcement. Supervisors need to constantly remind the employees what the organization stands for and that it does indeed hold a bright future for them.
Meetings Build Team.
Part of building the winning team is having group meetings. Meetings, or even parties, with as many people as possible from the entire organization, help build a feeling of solidarity throughout the organization.
It is also important to have everyone participate in smaller group meetings where some work is done or some decisions are made. This makes them feel that they are not just part of a big group, but that they are an active, important part of a team.
Supervisors should call for an interactive meeting with the employees once per week for the purposes, besides the usual company announcements, weekly sales report and task allocation:
a) Feedback and suggestions from the employees.
Employees want input and accessibility to their supervisors but many shy away from giving input unless supervisors make it easy for them. Thus, meetings provide excellent opportunities for supervisors to solicit feedback and suggestions from the employees, especially on substantive issues. Participation gives the employees a sense of involvement.
b) Goal setting.
Goal setting can enhance the employees' motivation and improve performance. It is most effective when the goals set are specific. Specific goals are easier for the employees to understand and accept, and provide a more tangible route for goal attainment. Lastly, the goals set are challenging but attainable.
Employees participate in the goal setting process. The goals that are set participatively tend to be more challenging, and thus motivate higher performance). Participation enhances goal acceptance by increasing one's feeling of control over the goal setting process and in turn improves performance. It also provides significant rewards such as employee satisfaction and greater role clarity.
Get Team Members to Work Together.
Supervisors should create opportunities to encourage positive, informal interaction between team members.
For example, have team members take part in the hiring process of new team members. Assign specific projects for two team members to work on together. Organize casual get-togethers to build a sense of bonding among team members.
Once the employees are successfully integrated into a team, supervisors can apply group feedback to motivate higher performances. According to Berkowitz, Levy and Harvey (1957), low motivation groups, not unlike the employees at JBAds, respond better to favorable feedback. Favorable feedback leads groups to rate themselves more cohesive, motivated, receptive to change. There is more attraction among workers, more participation from them, greater readiness to reduce status incongruence and greater consistency between individual and group aspirations.
Group feedback can focus on either task performance or process. Task feedback can enhance performance if it clarifies goals and how to reach them. Process feedback can enhance performance if it is augmented, such as with a social model. One example would be groups viewing themselves in action on videotapes, and then observing a social model for comparisons. Researchers had shown that process feedback lead to less defensiveness, higher task efficiency; increased involvement, consensus, solidarity, supportiveness; increased goal achievement and rational problem solving.
Group feedback may serve a cuing or motivational function in enhancing performance. Group feedback that serves a cuing function helps groups develop strategies for improving performance. According to Nadler, 1979, process feedback provides a cuing rather than motivational function. Participatory Decision Making (PDM), that is employees participate in the goal setting process, is an example of group feedback providing a motivational function. The goals that are set participatively tend to be more challenging, and thus motivate higher performance. The employees are further motivated when they have feedback about their performance. As found in Becker's 1978 field study, the best performance in groups had both a difficult goal and feedback on their performance.
In short, the supervisors at JBAds should;
1. provide more favorable feedback than unfavorable feedback
2. provide more process feedback than task feedback
3. implement Participatory Decision Making and provide feedback on the employees' performances.

Provide an Outlet for Employees to Vent their Frustrations
All the while, we have been focusing on group feedback in a superior-subordinate setting and neglect peer feedback in groups. In this section, we are going to propose a solution that utilizes peer feedback.
Employees in JBAds have not had raises in quite a while and some for as long as 3 years. No bonuses have been given. However, the workload remains the same, and it has even increased for some employees. Feelings of anger and resentment among employees are inevitable. Before taking on additional responsibilities, they need time to vent their frustrations, preferably in a group.
In a group situation, they are very likely to find other co-workers who share their woes, and thus receive emotional support from one another. Once that process has taken place, supervisors must commit to open and honest communication, particularly about the company's financial future and direction. They should also use creative problem solving to redesign tasks and procedures for more efficiency.

Make Work Fun
Overemphasis on work makes it monotonous. To create a happy workforce, supervisors should organize some group activities once or twice a week during office hours. They bring the office alive, give people a chance to have some fun together, add a human face to the supervisors' management style, and as another way to show the employees that the supervisors care about them. Be sure not to plan for any activities outside office hours because results are almost always disappointing. Attendance are mixed, people would arrive late, and the supervisors would feel pressured to attend.
Examples of such group activities include:
a) Friday morning breakfast
b) Friday afternoon theme parties
c) Seasonal decorations at entrance
d) Occasional lunching outings such as mini-golf, bowling or billiards
e) Company crosswords and contests

Supervisors to Set a Positive Tone
When supervisors are in a good mood, it helps boost up everyone else but when they are not, it darkens people's days. Thus, supervisors should try to project a positive attitude no matter how bad his or her day is. First thing in the morning is a great time to pass some positive energy and appreciation on to others with an enthusiastic greeting and a little small talk. At the end of the day, no matter how rough it has been, they should always try to wrap up with people on a positive note.

Limitations
Due to individual differences within a group, it is likely that everyone respond to group feedback differently. For example, those who are task-oriented respond more positively to performance feedback than do those who are self or other-oriented. The former are also more sensitive to feedback and respond more positively to negative feedback. Those with high self-concepts rate unfavorable feedback as more desirable than do those with moderate self-concepts.

References
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Miller, Katherine. (1999). Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes. Belmont, CA: Wadworth Publishing Co.
Sohn, A.B., et al. (1999). Media Management: A Casebook Approach. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.