How Motivation Can Affect Employees' Commitment and Performance at Work - Essay Example

?Using Relevant Theories and Examples, Explain How Motivation Can Affect Employees' Commitment and Performance at Work Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Findings 4 Conclusion 19 20 References 21 Bibliography 26 Introduction According to Mark Twain, a renowned American author, “Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.” (Farber, 2003). Motivation is the process which helps to control, maintain and elicit certain attitudes or behaviours of people. Basically, motivation is a psychological element, which stimulates an individual to act towards a preferred goal. Motivation is a dynamic force which is applied by human beings to acquire the determined goals. This is the inducement an individual seeks to perform better every time. Motivation inspires an individual to work and to love the job they perform (O'Neil & Drillings, 1994). Motivation is required in every stages of life, and in everywhere, be it school, office or home. Motivation influences people to perform and it also helps to perform better. Motivation has certain ways to inspire people, certain theories to encourage people to work, to perform. These theories are known as motivational theories. The management of an organisation applies these theories to ensure the completion of the tasks and the achievement of the determined goals. There are several different approaches to motivate people in a workplace (Weiner, 1992). The theories provided by the famous psychologists Fredrick Herzberg, Abraham Maslow, and Clayton P. Alderfer, relate to the need of the human, which helps to create a better work environment, enhanced performances, and a better living. The theories are known as Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory, Motivation-Hygiene Theory of Herzberg, and Existence, Relatedness and Growth (ERG) Theory of Alderfer. There are others theories given by David McClelland’s Need Theory, Victor Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, McGregor’s X and Y Theory and Goal Setting theory of Edwin Locke. These theories are very much helpful to recognise the reasons that affect towards motivating people at the workplace to enhance the performances given by the employees and to increase the commitment towards work and the workplace (Hoffmann, 2007). The major objective of this study is to highlight all these relevant theories related to motivation and workplace performance and their features. The paper would include the importance of these theories in an organisation and their analysis to enhance the commitment and the performance of every individual. The paper would also include a conclusion of the overall discussion. Findings The Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory In the year 1943, Abraham Maslow proposed a theory of motivation for the human, named as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This was one of the earliest human motivation theories. This theory was developed based on the various psychological needs of a human being where the framework of the theory consisted of five sets of human needs. This framework was separated into two different groups, i.e. ‘basic needs’ and ‘higher-order needs’. The basic needs of a human being are shelter, food, water and safety. These are the needs which ensure the existence of a human being. And esteem, self actualisation, or self improvement and the social activities, comes under the higher order needs. The human motivation to satisfy the needs of the human basically is originated from the external or internal factors. The internal motivation of people is due to the factors which result in delight and a sense of achievement. The people who get motivated externally are influenced by the different external factors, which are controlled by others, such as, money. The framework of Maslow represents a pyramid structure and the framework consists of basic needs at its bottom and the higher needs are at the top of the structure (Yahaya, n.d.). Source: (Yahaya, n.d.). The basic needs are the psychological needs such as, food, water, sleep and shelter. These are the needs which need to be satisfied before satisfying the higher order needs. The basic needs also include the safety of an individual. The safety under this framework is concerned with the various psychological needs of a human being. The higher order needs involve the social needs, which refer to the capability of making friends and company of others. Esteem needs is to make a person feel that he or she has a certain status in the society. The other higher order need is the self actualisation needs, which covers the characteristics of an individual to focus on the appreciation of life, the problem solving methods, and the personal growth of the person (Jensen, 2011). Tesco, the retail chain based in UK has incorporated the theory of Maslow in the organisation to motivate their employees. The organisation motivates their employees and also authorises them by providing a timely and a suitable communication. The organisation also empowers their employees by involving them in decision making process and by assigning them different responsibilities. The organisation also involves their employees to take part in the discussions regarding rise in pay. Tesco identifies the job done by their employees to reward them. The employees of Tesco are also allowed to decide the menus for the restaurants. Thus, the employees of Tesco get motivated and committed towards work (Tesco, 2012). Motivation-Hygiene Theory of Herzberg Fredrick Herzberg had studied and proposed the other theory of motivation in the year 1959, named Motivation-Hygiene Theory. This theory was proposed to understand the motivation and attitude of the employees in a better way. The Herzberg theory includes the factors of the work environment of an employee which causes dissatisfaction and the satisfaction of the employee. Herzberg in his study has showed the factors which please the employees in an organisation. He has also studied the factors which displease the employees of an organisation. Herzberg has done this research through an interview with several employees. According to the theory, the reasons behind the satisfaction of the job were dissimilar from the reasons behind the dissatisfaction of job and Herzberg had stated the satisfactory factors as motivational factors and the dissatisfactory factors as hygiene factors. The word ‘hygiene’ was used due to the sense that the hygiene factors have measured certain maintenance to avoid the dissatisfaction from the job, but the hygiene factors do not contribute any satisfaction towards the job (Arab British Academy for Higher Education, 2012). The Herzberg theory provides the factors which lead to the dissatisfaction such as, company policies, supervision, work conditions, relationship with boss, and relationship with peers and the salary. The factors which lead towards satisfaction of the employees towards job are as follows, achievements, recognition, responsibility, growth, work itself and advancement (SAC Business Division, 2007). Source: (SAC Business Division, 2007). According to the Branch Manager of Wells Fargo Financial, the company has applied certain principals of the Herzberg Theory to motivate the employees and to satisfy the needs of the employees. The Branch Manager has also stated that the company has introduced an effective bonus and money structure as direct motivator for the employees. The company has also adapted the process of recognition of an employee, to bring the employees into focus as well as their achievements. The salary and the recognition both the factors come under the Herzberg theory to motivate employees. These factors can be identified as motivating factor for the employees in their work performance and commitment in the workplace (Riley, 2005). Alderfer’s ERG Theory The ERG Theory of motivation was proposed by Clayton P. Alderfer in the year 1969. This theory tried to perk up on the Maslow’s theory with the help of added elasticity of movement between the needs. In this theory, Alderfer had reduced the amount of levels. He has also assured that the needs would vary according to an individual and the different needs would be pursued at the same time or simultaneously. In Alderfer’s theory, the needs are divided into three segments i.e. Existence needs, Relatedness needs, and Growth needs. Existence needs includes the safety and the psychological needs like, thrust, shelter and hunger. Relatedness needs include the relationships with the co-workers, family and friends, which comes under the esteem and social needs. The Growth needs includes the self actualization and the internal esteem like desire to be productive and creative. This theory basically addresses certain limitations of the Maslow’s theory of motivation. The theory is different from the Maslow’s theory with regard to the simultaneous persuasion of the needs in different levels. It describes that the needs would be different for different people. And the theory believes that if the upper level needs remain unsatisfied, that can put an impact on the lower level, which is rather easy to fulfil. This is known as ‘frustration-regression’ principle (Koontz & Weihrich, 2006). Source: (12Manage, 2012) St. Joe’s is a medical center, where Jenifer Smith is working for last 5 years. The post she was assigned was of a room nurse, or operating room nurse. Jenifer Smith was quite upset as the top level management did not offer her any opportunity as such. Jennifer Smith had the qualification for a higher post, but she was not into the consideration by the company. Once she had applied for a higher post in the hospital looking at the criteria and the job description, however she got rejected as the director had already chosen someone else instead of Jenifer Smith, which made her very upset. She started contemplating to leave the company and then the director gave her the chance to enrol in a mentorship programme within the hospital which had been established recently. This programme would facilitate the clinical staffs to have ‘hands on management experiences’. Jenifer Smith enrolled in the programme without any hesitation and she was happy to have the unexpected opportunity. This case study has shown the frustration-regression theory of the Alderfer’s ERG theory, as Jennifer Smith’s expectation level got decreased with a smaller opportunity (Borkowski, 2009). McClelland's Need Theory David McClelland has proposed the other motivation theory named McClelland’s Need Theory in the year 1961. This theory involves three types of needs. It describes the manner of an individual to get motivated and also to motivate others based on the several different needs within an individual. McClelland’s theory involves the needs as follows; motivation for achievement (nACH), motivation for authority or power (nPOW) and motivation for affiliation (nAFF). The motivation for achievement includes those people who have high desires for achievement. These achievements are related to the situations which offer challenge setting, accountability of a person, attainable goals, and which desire a feedback on the performance. The motivation for authority or power refers to those individual who have higher expectation of needs regarding authority and power to influence others. These people do not show any desire to have control on others. These individuals enjoy the need and the motivation to enhance their prestige and the personal status. The motivation for affiliation refers to those people who desire to have a good relationship with others, enjoy being in a group or team, and these people are responsive towards others needs (Mullins, 2009). Source: (Mullins, 2009). In a case scenario it can be observed that Karen Lewis joined as an X-ray technician in a hospital, she was promoted to office party organiser and then she was advanced to the post of office manager. She has shown her capability and the quality of performance every time in the hospital. She has well managed the given responsibilities. Being the office manager, she got certain complaints against a new employee of the hospital, who was not performing her job effectively. Being in the post of an office manager, she had to take certain corrective measures against a new employee as her work was affecting the whole process in the hospital and due to the problem many people wanted to leave their jobs. Karen Lewis tried her best to talk to that new employee but she could not hurt her feelings and every time she made certain excuses to the other employees. This behaviour of Karen Lewis shows the dilemma she was facing, with the new higher post she became confused and did not get the confidence to talk to the new girl. According to McClelland’s need theory, Karen Lewis’s need for achievement was low and as a result she started avoiding her responsibilities and she was afraid of failure. Her need for affiliation was high as she could not hurt the feelings of the new employee as well as she could not make others upset (Borkowski, 2005). Expectancy Theory of Motivation Expectancy Theory of Motivation was proposed by Victor Vroom, in the year 1964. According to this theory, an individual is motivated to choose a specific behaviour over others as the individual expects the outcome of that selected behaviour. Basically, the selection of the behaviour and the motivation is decided by the longing of the result. Expectancy theory explains the way an individual takes decisions related to certain behavioural alternatives. The proposition given by this theory is as follows, while taking the decision regarding behaviour and its options, an individual would choose a particular option, which would give the greatest ‘motivation forces’ (MF). There are three different perceptions for the motivational force of a task, action and behaviour such as, Valance, Instrumentality and Expectancy. The motivational force consists of these three elements or perceptions. MF = Expectancy x Instrumentality x Valance (Green, 1992). Expectancy Probability In this perception, it is expected that an individual’s effort would direct to the preferred performance and is dependent on the past experiences, the difficulties professed while heading towards the goal of the performance, and the self confidence. Instrumentality Probability Instrumentality Probability is based on the relationship of the professed performance and reward. It includes the belief that one would get the greater reward for his/her performance, if the individual is able to meet the expectations of his/her performance. Valance It includes the value placed by an individual for the rewards and this is considered as the function of an individual’s goals, values and needs (The Certified Accountant, 2008). Source: (Green, 1992). The expectancy theory involves the right attitude or behaviour. In a case study, it was found that the department of information technology of a client was making a web based tool. There was a particular feature of the project which has integrated tool from a third party. It would provide a link on the internal webpage to the site of the provider of the tool. In the time of the audit interviews, a non-technical member of the team had been sent on a diatribe, who wanted to remove that particular element out of the project. She wanted the project to manage separately. The feature was not exactly in the main project and due to the large number of party’s involvement to the project the risk was very high. The other reason was the company had no experience with third party. Based on the inability of the non-technical team member regarding the comprehension of the issues, the involvement of her in the project was reduced. Another junior member was appointed for the same responsibility, and he had proved his capabilities. That person had shown the right attitude and he was proud to be in that particular position. He was able to rise up to the occasion and the integration was led by him successfully (eCameron, Inc., 2010). McGregor’s X and Y Theory McGregor’s X and Y theory was proposed in the year 1960. This theory mainly involves the development of an organisation and the improvement of the culture in the organisation. The X theory is simple and beneficial by nature and it reminds the natural rules to manage people, these rules are easily elapsed due to the stress of the day-to–day business. And the Y theory involves the two different approaches to manage people. Most of the managers intend to follow the X theory and usually obtain a result which is poor. Progressive managers intend to use Y theory to have better results, better performance and to allow people to develop and to grow (Arab British Academy for Higher Education, 2012). The Authoritarian Management Style (Theory X) Most average people do not like to work and will avoid if he or she can. People are threatened to be punished to obtain the objective of the organisation. Average people like to get directions for given responsibilities, they are reasonably less ambitious and they desire security above all. The Participative Management Style (Theory Y) The given efforts in the job are as usual as play and work. In theory Y, people would utilise the self direction and the self control to obtain the goals of the organisation without any kind of threat to get punished. The people get committed towards work to get the rewards for their achievements. People at times seek responsibilities and accept them as well (Teambuilding, 2012). Source: (Rosler, 2011). For example, in an organisation certain employees were working in a group for a specific project. Each of them had been appointed with different responsibilities. Out of the five members two were not performing well and they were not even cooperating with the other team members. Most of the time, these two people were out of the group and they avoided any meetings or discussions related to the project. In this situation, the theory X managers had to be strict enough to take measures against them to get the performances out of those two people. These two persons were threatened to be punished if they did not perform and did not get involved to the activities regarding the project. They were threatened to have a salary cut, and also to face termination, which finally resulted in the involvement of those two people in the group and in the activities of the project (Poli, 2010). Edwin Locke’s Goal Setting Theory The Goal Setting Theory of Motivation was proposed by Dr. Edwin Locke in the year 1960. There are certain ways to set the goals of an organisation. According to this theory, the goal of an organisation needs to be set in certain specific methods such as, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time bound. These methods are together known as SMART method of setting a goal, where the goal should be clear, it should have a certain criteria to follow and to measure, the goal should be achievable within a time period; the goal should be real that an individual can attain it and it should have a timeline or a period of the completion (Rauch, 2007). The important characteristics of Goal Setting theory are as follows, the desire to work to achieve the goal of the organisation is the major source of motivation towards job. The goals have to be clear and very much specific to acquire better outcome of the performance. The goals have to be challenging and also realistic to motivate the employees to perform better in the every next attempt. The employees do not desire always to be a part of the organisational goal. A feedback of the performance given is required to motivate the employees to perform better in the next time (Latham, 2007). Source: (Bauer & Erdogan, 2011). In a case study, it was found that a person named Davis opened up a restaurant and at present it is a famous and well known restaurant. In previous times, the owner of the restaurant was sceptical about the manpower of the locality, and then finally Davis found certain number of workers for his business from the local colleges. But the other problem he was facing is related to the dishwasher. He had no dishwasher for his restaurants and he hired a boy named Eddie Munz with the payment of $4 per hour, who was a school dropout. After a certain period of time Davis found Eddie to be slow and he also found that Eddie was wasting his time by talking with others in the kitchen. Then, Davis thought of taking certain corrective measures against Eddie and he talked to Eddie about his payment hike. Eddie used to work elsewhere at night and Davis gave him an opportunity to obtain a full time job in his restaurant with $28. Davis had also put a chalkboard containing certain goals and targets for Eddie. This made Eddie efficient and motivated him towards his work and at last Eddie was able to break his own record and the members of that restaurant went for a day out together. This case study very much relates with the Goal Setting Theory of Locke (Patil, 2010). Conclusion In relation to the above study, conclusively it can be stated that motivation is one of the most significant factors to increase the commitment of an employee towards job and it also helps to increase the level of performances of an employee. Different theories on motivation have shown that in every organisation motivation plays a vital role to get the best performances out of the employees. The theory of Maslow relates to the motivation regarding basic and higher order needs of the employees. This theory relates to the needs regarding shelter, food, water and cloths. It also includes the safety, self esteem and certain other needs of an individual. According to Maslow, to motivate a person in order to get best performance out of him or her, first of all their basic needs have to be fulfilled. According to Herzberg, the first thing to do while motivating people at workplace is to identify the reasons behind the satisfaction and the dissatisfaction of the employees regarding their jobs and motivate them according to the need. Alderfer has basically modified the Maslow’s theory with the reduction of the levels of needs and with certain new features of the needs. He has also stated that the upper level’s needs also need to be fulfilled with the lower level. McClelland has shown in his theory that the need for power, authority and affiliation are also important to motivate people. According to the theory of expectancy, the motivation depends upon the valance, the instrumentality and the expectancy of a person. The theory of McGregor has shown the two different kinds of employees depending upon various characteristics to perform in a workplace and he has also shown the ways to motivate them. And the goal setting theory of Locke has shown that the goal of an organisation has to be set in a certain method to motivate people of the workplace. All these theories have shown that motivation has a very important role in every organisation. Additionally, it also increases the commitment and the performance of the employees of an organisation. References 12Manage, 2012. ERG Theory (Alderfer). Home. 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