In the business environment, risks are common and can have devastating effects on the overall success of the organization depending on how the management responds. Almost every decision made has its potential risks hence the need to always conduct a detailed and in-depth risk analysis of any decision made. Risk analysis which refers to the process of identifying and managing potential problems that are likely to undermine key business initiatives or projects helps in clearly comprehending the likely risks one is likely to face thus being in a position to minimize or evade their likely impacts.

Thus, failure to adequately identify potential risks and plan how to handle them can lead to a failure of a potentially successful decision or solution. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to identify the possible risk associated with the identified solution to remedy the problem of unmotivated employees in Cargill Inc. Additionally, it identifies the likely rewards aimed at compensating for the positive performance employees achieve in a bid to make the proposed solution more effective.

To effectively conduct risk analysis and identify the likely rewards it is important to have an overview of the proposed solution to the problem of unmotivated employees in Cargill Inc. During identification of the solution, it was proposed that Cargill Inc. which has been struggling with the problem of unmotivated employees can solve it by adopting a new, regular and re-structured performance management reviews. Reviews which focus on the welfare of the employees and the general welfare of the firm. The new review should be in a position to improve employees’ involvement in decision making, employee-management communication, employees’ responsibility in the organization and the objectives of the firm at large. Considering that the problem of unmotivated employees has several symptoms, it can be resolved using one strategy that has the capacity to resolve the various subcategories of problems identified in Cargill Inc.

Performance management review to remedy the problem of unmotivated employees while addressing sub-problems such constant conflicts and poor communication has a wide range of risks. This section outlines the possible risks and their respective management strategies to scale down the likely impact.
Lack of Clear Priorities
Despite the fact that the priority for the performance review is to motivate the employees, the sub-priorities aimed at creating the general motivation of the employees can be unclear to most employees. Having a performance management review program that lacks clear vision is weak and may not add any value to the employees of the organization (De Bruijn, 2002). This risk is likely to be high if only the Human Resource department is allowed to structure the performance management review program. Despite the fact that this risk does not have any direct financial complication it is likely to further demoralize employees, lowering their work engagement an aspect which lowers productivity and subsequent financial losses due to loss of productivity and poor performance. To curb this risk, it is advisable that the performance management review program is structured by efforts from all entities of the organization (HRM Guide, 2017). That is, they should be an input from all department heads, the management, and employees at different levels.

Biased Performance Rating
One of the key objectives of the performance review program aimed at improving motivation is to constantly measure the performance of the employees in various employees and develop them based on the result. However, they might arise chances of unfair performance standards as well as ratings if the performance management program is fragmented (De Bruijn, 2002). Considering that most of the biases likely to be encountered would be unintentional, having a one-on-one meeting between employees and their departmental managers as proposed in the solution increases the risks of the managers having biased reviews. The risk is even high if the proposed program lacks objective performance data as well as appropriate assessment metrics (De Bruijn, 2002). The existence of human biases as a result of relationships, conflict of ideas or personal values might result in unfair treatment. To control this risk, it is important to have objective performance data and assessment metrics.

Before discussing the likely rewards to boost the effectiveness of the proposed performance management it is important to note that, the new program would not by any means affect the roles and responsibilities of the current employees. Considering that during the needs analysis it was identified that employees possess the necessary skills and training, they will have won’t need further training meaning that the program has no much financial cost. However, it is likely to scale down barriers associated with vertical communication between the management and the employees (HRM Guide, 2017). To increase the effectiveness of the proposed program, it is recommended that employees should be rewarded regularly and randomly based on the results of the performance review. The rewards should not only be based on work performance but also on other aspects which require improvements such as communication and conflicts resolution.

To sum up, there are two main risks associated with the proposed performance management review program to improve motivation among the employees in Cargill Inc. The two include lack of clear priorities which might further demoralize the employees and biased performance rating which might result in unreliable results. The risk of unclear priorities can be reduced by having the program be structured by efforts from all entities of the organization. That is, they should be an input from all department heads, the management, and employees and different levels. On the other hand, the risk of biased performance rating can be reduced by having clear objective performance data and assessment metrics.