EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION - INTRODUCTION
Figure 1: You are stronger than you think.
(Source – Anne, n.d.)
There are lots of theories which are trying to explain, how and why motivation functions as it does. Rheinberg (2006), defines motivation as an activating orientation towards a target state. Kirti (2012) define motivation as a set of independent and dependent relationships that explains the direction, amplitude and persistence of an individual’s behavior holding constant effects of aptitude, skills, understanding of a task and the constraints operating in the work environment. Another definition for motivation is that motivation is a process that takes place within the person, which affects the degree, direction and duration of the effort involved in achieving a goal (Greenberg & Baron, 2003).
Figure 2:Variation of Employee Motivation based on Company Processes
(Source – McGregor & Doshi, 2015)
To be able to understand how changes in an organization may affect employee performance, it is of great importance to understand the impact of those changes in the organization may have on employee motivation. Because while employees might be able to perform a certain job, if they are not willing to give their utmost while doing this, employee performance will be low (Houkes 2002). What the chart shows is that while we tend to think that leadership matters most to motivation, other processes can have an even bigger impact. The x-axis shows the ToMo scale (which goes from -100 to 100). The bars represent the range to which each process affects an employee’s total motivation, as gathered from survey responses (McGregor & Doshi, 2015). Employee motivation, therefore, is an important determinant of performance at the workplace (Houkes 2002). Some companies make special efforts to design a highly motivating role. Toyota encourages play by giving factory workers the opportunity to come up with and test new tools and ideas on the assembly line (Takeuchi, Osono & Shimizu, 2008).
The concept of employee motivation has been the subject of study in many different disciplines. However, within each discipline different theories prevail about what motivates people to go to work each day and how these motivations can be affected by changing the rewards of working. While economic theory attributes change in behavior to changes in relative prices, psychology generally focuses on people’s preferences (Frey and Benz 2002).
Figure 3: Employee Motivation vs Organizational Growth
(Source – Maryville)
As per the article written by Dobre (2013), organizations will have to motivate employees, as it can have huge amount of impact on the sustainability of the organization. The article adds to the concept that a motivated employee helps the organization to utilize all its internal resources to its fullest. Furthermore, Frederiksen, Knudsen and Magnusson (2014) argue that unmotivated employees will focus very little on the quality of the work and will be very less concerned about the well-being of the company. Therefore, every organization will have to perform several duties to maintain the motivational level of the employees. As per the article by Chaudhary and Sharma (2012), several factors can have huge amount of impact on the motivational level of the employees. In fact, it varies from one individual to another. Therefore, different motivational factors can create different level of impact on employees. Lăzăroiu (2015) highlighted that organizations will have to be extremely careful before implementing any strategies regarding the enhancement of the motivational level of the employees. This blog post emphasis on the importance of motivation in the workplace, to improve the employee performance and productivity. And it presents the theories and techniques of the employee motivation in a workplace.
Video 1:What Really Influences Employee Motivation
(Source – McGregor & Doshi, 2015)
Bandura (1999) recognized that human behavior cannot be fully understood without considering the regulatory influences of rewards. Some of them imply material rewards, others imply psychological motivators (Weightman, 2008). Best motivational practice ensures organization to sustain in a long-term (Cicolini, 2014). Therefore, companies use a lot of innovating tactics to keep their productivity at a maximum level. Various benefits like health insurance, hospital discounts, childcare benefits, bonuses, and many other benefits are offered to the employees to encourage them to stay in the organization and to work hard with increased level of motivation (James and Mathew, 2012).
Furthermore, (Noe et al, 2010) argued that, to increase competitiveness, companies must invest not only in new technology and promoting quality throughout the organization but also invest in state-of-the-art staffing, training, and compensation practices.
In conclusion, according to Nayeem (2018) stated that, if you want to attract and retain the best, provide them with the best and make them feel that they are an integral part of your company’s mission. According to Smith (1994) it is because of the survival of the company. Amabile (1993) contributed to this statement by arguing that it is necessary for managers and leaders of an organization to learn how to understand and effectively deal with their employee’s motivation, since motivated employees are the pillars of successful organization in present and future century. She also indicated that unmotivated employees may probably contribute little effort in their jobs, stay away from workplace as much as possible, go out of the organization and make low quality of work. ‘When employees are well motivated, they help the organization to grow and survive in a fast-changing workplaces’ (Lindner 1998, p. 36). Lindner also indicated that the most difficult role of managers is to motivate employees, because what motivates employees changes always (Bowen and Radhakrishna, 1991).
References
Anne, G., (n.d.), You Are Stronger Than You Think, Viewed on 15 March 2021,<https://annegrady.org/blog/>
Amabile, T.M., (1993), Motivational synergy: toward new conceptualizations of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the workplace, Human resource management.
Bandura, A., (1999), Social foundation of Thought and action, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Bowen, B.E., and Radhakrishna, R.B., (1991), Job satisfaction of agriculture education faculty, pp. 16-22.
Chaudhary, N. & Sharma, B. (2012), ‘Impact of employee motivation on performance (productivity) in private organization’, International Journal of Business Trends and Technology, 2(4), pp. 29-35.
Cicolini, G., Comparcini, D. & Simonetti, V., (2014), ‘Workplace empowerment and nurses' job satisfaction: A systematic literature review’, Journal of nursing management, 7, Viewed on 10 March 2021, <https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.473.4070&rep=rep1&type=pdf#page=53>
Dobre, O.I., (2013), Employee motivation and organizational performance, Table of Contents.
Frederiksen, M.H., Knudsen, M.P. & Magnusson, M., (2014), Expectations and Collectiveness: Two Main Drivers of Employee Motivation for Engaging Collaborative Ideation Communities, In Proceedings of the 15th International Cinet Conference. Continuous Innovation Network (CINet).
Frey, B.S. & Benz, M., (2002), From imperialism to inspiration: A survey of echonomics and psychology.
Greenberg, J., Baron, R.A., (2003), Behavior in Organizations, pp. 41.
Houkes, I., (2002), “Work and individual determinants of intrinsic work motivation, emotional exhaustion and turnover intention”. Maastricht:Universidade de Maastricht. PhD Dissertation.
James, L. & Mathew, L., (2012), ‘Employee retention strategies’: IT industry, SCMS Journal of Indian Management, 9(3), p. 79.
Rajhans, K., (2012), Effective organizational communication: A key to employee motivation and performance, Interscience Management Review, Vol.2(2): pp.81-5.
Lăzăroiu, G., (2015), Employee Motivation and Job Performance, Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations,14, pp. 97-102.
Lindner, J.R., (1998), ‘Understanding employee motivation’, Journal of extension, pp. 36.
Maryville, (n.d.), Organizational Development Guide: Definition, Process & Development Models, Viewed on 15 March 2021, <https://online.maryville.edu/online-masters-degrees/management-and-leadership/organizational-development-guide/>
McGregor, L. & Doshi, N., (2015), How Company Culture Shapes Employee Motivation, Viewed on 15 March 2021, <https://hbr.org/2015/11/how-company-culture-shapes-employee-motivation>
Nayeem, A., (2018), How to Treat your Employees for Better Productivity, Viewed on 16 March 2021, <https://elextensions.com/treat-your-employees-for-better-productivity/>
Noe, R.A. at el., (2011), Fundamentals of human resource management, 4th(ed), McGraw-Hill, New York.
Rheinberg, F., (2006), Psychology of motivation, WAM, Krakow. WAM, Kraków.
Smith, G.P., (1994), Motivation, In W. Tracey (ed.), Human resources management and development handbook 2nd(ed.).
Takeuchi, H. Osono, E. & Shimizu, N., (2008), The Contradictions That Drive Toyota’s Success, Viewed on 17 March 2021, <https://hbr.org/2008/06/the-contradictions-that-drive-toyotas-success>
Weightman, J., (2008), ‘The Employee Motivation Audit’, Cambridge Strategy Publications, Cambridge.
Well said Indeevari, Employee motivation influences productivity and a weakly motivated labor force will be costly to the organization in terms of lower productivity and performance, intemperate staff turnover, increased expenses, frequent absenteeism, and a negative effect on the morale of employees(Jobber and Lee, 2014).
ReplyDeleteIndeed Pernalla, In January 2005,when Fortune magazine placed Starbucks Coffee Company second among the largest companies for "Best Companies to Work For", it had been expected by those, who were familiar with the company's human resource management policies and work culture. One of Starbucks competitive advantage is its employee-friendly policies and supportive work culture. As pointed out by IBS Center for Management Research (2005) Starbucks cared about its employees and was one of the few companies in the retail sector to provide generous benefits to both full time workers as well as part timers. This practice shows employees are the company’s most important asset. As a result, employees remain motivated and committed to the organization as they are treated fairly, given freedom to grow, engaged and empowered to contribute in the company’s growth.
DeleteAgree with you Indeevari, motivated employees are the pillars of successful organization. Further,
ReplyDeletetraditionally, it is considered that intrinsic motivation to be more desirable and to result in better learning outcomes than extrinsic motivation (Lai, 2011).
Yes Vindya, The manager can motivate the employees by the payments, promotional activities and praise (Yidong and Xinxin 2013). Lemos and Veríssimo (2014) mentioned that if organizations do not provide proper benefit to its employees, not only it will create adverse impact on the extrinsic motivation of the employees but also will have huge amount of impact on the intrinsic motivational level as well. It has been suggested that a relationship between motivation and employee engagement exists, and, for an example the development of motivational schemes including both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors can improve employee engagement within an organization (Silvera, 2013).
DeleteAgreed Indeevari, Motivated and satisfied employees will have an excellent approach towards the organizational objective. Organizations will also have to show the same commitment towards employee objectives (Varma, 2017).
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteYes , when we talk about employee satisfaction for an employee to be motivated, he or she perceives that their want are being met. Thus, the satisfaction of the employee represents an indispensable dimension of the motivational process. A satisfied individual would certainly contribute positively to the realization of organizational goals and objectives, while a dissatisfied employee may not only contribute but also can even act in such a way that the realization of such goals and objectives could be completely destroyed. This underlines the importance of employees‟ satisfaction to the organization (Anka, 2000).
DeleteAgreed, Various factors involved for organization success, but the most important factor is labor because labor is the creator of all other important factors, capital, machinery, material & others, Productivity & efficiency of other factors depend on behavior of the labor (Azar & Akbar,2013).
ReplyDeleteYes of course, As an example, Rossi Norman Dias - HRM Case Study of Starbucks cooperation shows that motivation is a vital factor for business in the production process. Employees are not machines, and cannot always do the same task with equal passion. The chief executive officer of Starbucks corporation, Howard Schultz, considers that the reason for success in Starbucks is not coffee but employees. He firmly believes that the spirit of Starbucks is employees and feels honored about the value of Starbucks employees. Starbucks offers an interactive structure that makes personnel throw themselves into their job (Aldoshik, 2013).
DeleteAgreed Indeevari, further Purcell et al (2003) believe that discretionary behavior which helps the firm to be successful is most likely to happen when employees are well motivated and feel committed to the organization and when the job gives them high levels of satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteIndeed Duminda, also an internally satisfied, delighted and motivated worker or employee is actually a productive employee in an organization. and they lead to maximize profits in the organization (Mathew, Grawich and Barbar, 2009).
DeleteAgree with you. A motivated and qualified workforce is essential for any company that wants to increase productivity and customer satisfaction. In this context, motivation means the willingness of an individual to do efforts and take action towards organizational goals. The challenge for any manager is to find the means to create and sustain employee motivation (Dobre, 2013).
ReplyDeleteYes of course, To maintain organization performance motivation is key and also a powerful tool. Motivation is a driver for employee performance. Motivation come from internally (Through employee itself or from inside the organization) Bartol and Martin (1998).
DeleteYes Indeevari, Motivation does have a link with performance of an organization (Deci & Gagne, 2005). Nevertheless, motivation is not the sole factor than enables performance, if an individual has motivation but doesn't have the necessary skills to perform a task, it will affect the overall performance of the organization, therefore it is important for organizations to focus on other aspects of organizational performance together with motivation (Robescu and Iancu, 2016).
ReplyDeleteIndeed, According to Shahzadi et. al.(2014), establishes a positive link between employee motivation and employee performance, where intrinsic rewards significantly affect levels of employee motivation.
DeleteAgree with you. Employee motivation has always been a central problem for leaders and managers. Unmotivated employees are likely to spend little or no effort in their jobs, avoid the workplace as much as possible, exit the organization if given the opportunity and produce low quality work. On the other hand, employees who feel motivated to work are likely to be persistent, creative and productive, turning out high quality work that they willingly undertake (Ganta,V.C., 2014).
ReplyDeleteYes, addition, Productivity is the significant element for all of organizations. This is because all the aspects, which linked to organization process is depend on productivity of the organization. The organization productivity based their employees behaviors and engagement. Hence motivate people in proper manner is important to retain employees engagement and competency level (Olatunji et al 2016)
DeleteAgree with you. According to Werner,J. (2006), a successful implementation of a strategic motivation system has following,
ReplyDelete1. facilitates an assurance of a high working quality, focusing on employees and their skills;
2. ensures an effective use of expenses to hire labor force, especially in the service sector where labor is
3. very expensive;
4. facilitates panning and assessing environmental conditions; and
5. facilitates an organization’s adjustment to environmental factors
Well illustrated post, In addition, According to Armstrong (2009) by understanding motivation theory and how the theory can be put into practice; can achieve high performance by well-motivated people, who are prepared to exercise discretionary effort also to motivate people it is necessary to appreciate how motivation works.
ReplyDeleteYes Aazath, Most people can reflect on a personal experience when they felt more engaged with the organization and when conversely they felt less engaged or even disengaged. These feelings of engagement are associated with a greater willingness to work hard, feeling connected to both the work and cohorts doing the work, there is a sharper focus on achieving the goals of the organization, and a feeling of being part of the ‘flow’ of the organization. Researchers have confirmed and generalized these personal experiences. For example, work by Saks (2006)revealed that engagement levels are predicted by perceived support granted to employees by the organization and that measures of engagement themselves predict levels of job satisfaction, commitment measures, intentions to quit, and positive behaviors within the organization.
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ReplyDeleteWell said Indeevari there is a close connection between motivation and organizational objectives. Organizations in this dynamic globalized world are continuously trying to develop and motivate their employees to help achieve enhanced performance with various Human Resource applications and practices. The Reward management system is the highly used practice for the enterprises to achieve the desired goals (Güngör, 2011).
Indeed Gagana, Well-motivated employees are engaged and these employees are self-motivated and such people are on the correct direction towards the organizational goals and this is the best form of motivation. But additional motivation given by the work itself, the quality of leadership and recognition and rewards gives self-motivation and helps employees to make use of their abilities to the highest level in order to perform well and achieve their goals(Amstrong,2014).
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