How does performance-based pay motivate Nucor employees?

Auburn, says that before Nucor acquired his plant, workers in his group tended to relax when- ever an earlier stage of operations slowed down. But with a bonus riding on their shifts output, the employees no longer think of themselves as separate groups: “Wherever the bottleneck is,” explains Hutchins, “we go there, and everyone works on it.” Before long, output in Auburn was up, and so were paycheck totals.Motivation at Nucor is about more than pay, however. The company encourages employees to share ideas and empowers them to make deci- sions and solve problems. Supervisors, for exam- ple, make decisions more typical of a plant manager. Once, following the failure of an electri- cal grid at the Hickman, Arkansas, plant, a group of electricians at Nucor facilities in Decatur, Alabama, and Hertford County, North Carolina, traveled to Hickman to work on the problem. They did not need to get a supervisors approval; they just needed to do what they determined was most important.Along with cooperation, Nucor fosters friendly competition in order to stimulate creative think- ing. For example, plants often hold contests among the shifts to see which one can meet a goal related to output, safety, or efficiency.1. How does performance-based pay motivate Nucor employees? Would this pay system be effective if Nucor did not also empower employees to make decisions? Why or why not?2. Supervisors do not set up the pay system for a large company like Nucor. How can Nucors supervisors contribute to employee motivation?3. DoesthisdescriptionofNucorsoundlikean organization in which you would feel motivated? Why or why not? Which theory of motivation would best explain your feelings?Source: Nanette Byrnes, “The Art of Motivation,” BusinessWeek, May 1, 2006, http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-04-30/ the-art-of-motivation, accessed May 1, 2014.