Motivating Employees and Team Building - Essay Example

Running head: Motivating Employees and Team building Motivating Employees and Team building s Abstract: The contents of the paper comprise the theories of employee motivation and Team development. It is elaborated in the paper that Motivation is not a simple concept; instead, motivation pertains to various drives, desires, needs, wishes, and other forces. Managers motivate by providing an environment that induces organisation members to contribute. The need-want satisfaction chain is somewhat oversimplified. How Team building will enhance the productivity of Employees is also discussed. Motivation means different things to different individuals. For some, it may be an incentive and for others, a psychological backing or setting a good example. Motivation is something abstract and the difficulties arise when one tries to explain its meaning and application. A wide variety of assumptions have been made on motivation by observing the resultant behaviour of motivation. Based on these assumptions and research findings, motivation has been defined in a number of ways. Vroom defines motivation as a process, which governs choices made by persons or lower organisms among alternative forms of voluntary activity. (Vroom, 1964 as cited in Putti) Motivations are the act of inducing an individual to follow a desired course of action. The desired course of action may be for the good of the individual or for the one who is inducing the individual towards a desired course of action or both. Zedeck and blood contend that motivation is a predisposition to act in a specific goal-directed way. (Sedeck & Blood, 1974 as cited in Putti) Atchison further defines Motivation as the immediate influence on the direction, vigor, and persistence of behaviour. (Atchison, 1964 as cited in Putti) on the other hand Gellerman defines motivation as steering one's actions towards certain goals and committing a certain part of one's energies to reach them. (Gellerman, 1963 as cited in Putti) In the view of Shartle, motivation is "a reported urge or tension to move in a given direction or to achieve a certain goal. (Shartle, 1956 as cited in Putti) Hence, Motivation can make the employees get all the targets settled by the Organisations. There are several ways by which employees can be motivated the most important is to address the needs of the employees. Just as the definition of basic human needs is a highly complex task, it naturally follows that there are no easy assumptions concerning what employees really want from the organisation. In various surveys, the following are some of the more typically specified wants. The first and the foremost important are pay. This want helps in satisfying physiological, security, and egoistic needs. The design of a monetary compensation system is exceedingly complex since it serves to satisfy multiple needs and cannot alone motivate the whole person. After the payment needs Security of job is another important motivating factor. Because of threats from technological change, this want is high on the list or priorities for many employees and labour unions. The underlying need of general security is also high on the list of priorities in the suggested need hierarchy of Maslow. However management can aid the process by carefully planned and executed induction programs, provision of means to socialise through rest periods and recreational programs, and promoting the formation of work teams through proper work-station layouts and human-related work procedures. With all the above, the provision of credit for work done is also an important motivator. This want issues from the egoistic classification of needs and can be supplied by management through verbal praise of excellent work, monetary rewards for suggestions, and public recognition through awards. Releases in employee's newspapers, and the like. Also, Job enrichment issues from both the need for recognition and the drive toward self-realisation and achievement is an important motivation instrument. This is a very difficult want to supply, particularly in large organisations having minute division of work and mechanically paced assembly lines. Some research into the possibilities of job enrichment has indicated the possibility of integrating the need of employees for significant work and the need of the organisation productive, co-ordinated activity. Additionally with all the above wants satisfied the opportunity to advance could also motivate the employees in the organisation desired direction. Not all employees want to advance. Some feel the social needs more strongly than the egoistic ones. However, most employees like to know that the opportunity is there, should they desire to use it. This feeling is influenced by a cultural tradition of freedom and opportunity. However comfortable, safe, and attractive working condition can also serve the motivation purpose very well. The want for good working conditions also rests upon multiple needs. Safe working conditions issue from the security need. The specific attributes, such as desks and rugs, constitute symbols of status denoting a hierarchy of importance. Much management has discovered that the allocation of such status symbols can be quite as difficult as the allocation of money. In today's environment where the threat of violence is increasing safety is also an important factor which plays an important role in employee motivation. The need of Competent and fair leadership comprise an important factor in requirements of an employee. The want of good leadership can issue from physiological and security needs. Good leadership helps to assure that the organisation and its jobs will continue to exist. In addition, the ego demands that one-respect person from whom orders and directions are to be received. It is very frustrating to be subjected personally to a command from an individual who is deemed unworthy and incompetent. But with the competent leadership it is also essential to give reasonable orders and directions. The order is the official communication of organisation requirements. In general, it should be related to the requirements of the situation, capable of being executed, complete but not unnecessarily detailed, clear and concise, and given in a manner that stimulates acceptance. Unreasonable orders incapable of accomplishment serve only to increase insecurity and frustration. Unreasonable orders that work contrary to the best interests of the organisation may lead to a form of malicious obedience; the employee takes great delight in following them to the letter in hopes of harming the superior who merits little respect. With all the individual needs social requirements are also getting importance. The trend toward greater social expectations of private organisations has impact upon such an organisation's employee's expectations. This want issues from human needs of self-esteem, and levies a highly challenging responsibility upon the organisation's management. In a job environment where the most of the above mentioned conditions will fulfilled the employees will be more committed and productive. As Locke (1976) put forward a theory of motivation based on goal setting. The individuals in the company can be motivated by setting goal as Goal Theory suggest that it is the goal that an individual is aiming for which motivates, rather than just the satisfaction of attaining it. Locke's view is that what a person values or desires determines the goals he sets for himself, but that what actually drives him (motivates him) are the goals themselves. Locke's own researches indicated that individual performance was better when people had been set specific goals of a challenging or difficult nature, and when they received feedback on their performance. This approach clearly has implications for the practice of management-by-objectives of target setting. Which relies for its success on the mutual agreement of specific goals between a manager and his subordinate. A modern and a more permanent approach to motivation are through job enrichment. This involves putting meaning into jobs. In other words, it is putting Herzberg's two-factor theory into effect by building motivators into the job. These motivators include achievement, growth, responsibility, advancement and recognition. A number of research studies have indicated that the job content is an important factor in motivating people. So the content of a routine or repetitive task must be restructured to provide motivation to the performer of that job. One way of restructuring the job is through job enrichment, or making jobs more meaningful. If a manager can include more of Herzberg's motivators, people who perform such jobs utilise their skills and potentials to the best of their abilities and be more productive on the job. Thus, the jobs would be richer and not just bigger. Hence the use of the term job enrichment. Selection of an area or job where an improvement in motivation will make a difference in performance or productivity is very important. Clues such absenteeism, turnover, tardiness, poor quality, lack of interest and production delays may provide an answer in selecting an area or jobs to be enriched. (Powers, 1972) Also job enrichment creates a self-managed job where the phases of the task. (Myers, 1968) A number of companies which have successfully implemented job enrichment programme report improvement in the production. Team building plays an important role in making the people works effectively. A team according to Adair (1986) is more than just a group with a common aim. It is a group in which the contributions of individuals are seen as complementary. Collaborations, working together are the keynote of a team activity. Adair suggest that the test of a good (i.e. effective) team is: 'whether its members can work as a team while they are apart, contributing to a sequence of activities rather than to a common task, which requires their presence in one place at one time.' The key variables determine the relative effectiveness of groups in achieving their goals and satisfying the needs of their members. These variables, which have to be addressed if there is to be any chance of building a successful team, managers should take them in consideration for creating the successful team. Firstly the size of the group then it comes the nature of the task. The environment in which the group operates should also be taken into consideration. Then the manager should find out the leadership requirements of the group. He needs to understand the role played by individual members of the team. The knowledge, skill, motivations and other attributes of the group-members should also be taken into consideration. The potential for / desirability of group cohesiveness should also be present or should be developed if it is not present. Establishing group and work norms is also important. In order to make the team work successfully Adair emphasises the importance of careful selection of team members. The key factors here for individuals are not only technical or professional competence, but also the ability to work as a team member, and the possession of desirable personal attributes' such as willingness to listen, flexibility of outlook, and the capacity to give and accept trust. With all the above-mentioned techniques an effective group is also a competent approach. An effective group needs to have certain characteristics. First of all the atmosphere should be informal and relaxed. Although discussing the information with the members can also be found helpful. The group task should be clearly understood and people are committed to achieving it. There should be a common sense of understanding between the group members and they should listen to each other. All the group members should constructively deal with the conflicts, rather than avoiding them. It is important that the group members should reach decisions by consensus. There should be a freedom of expression and all the members can express their ideas freely and openly. The theory of psychological contracts is aimed at defining the relationship between employees and their organisations Rousseau, 1989 as cited in Suazo et al., 2005). In other words it can be defined as the expectations of an employee towards its organisation and organisations expectation towards its employees. Robinson & Morrison (1995) have defined it as an aspect of the social relationship between employees and their organisations. Social exchange relationships (Blau, 1964; Homans, 1961 as cited in Suazo et al., 2005) are comprised of the voluntary actions that each party engages in with the expectation that the other party will reciprocate those actions in one way or another. Although the exact nature of the exchange relationship is not fully specified in advance, a general expectation of reciprocity guides its development. A central element in the psychological contract is the employee's belief that the organisation will live up to its promises and commitments. When an employee perceives that the organisation has failed to fulfil its promises or obligations, then the employee experiences psychological contract breach (Rousseau, 1995 as cited in Suazo et al., 2005). That is, psychological contract breach is defined as the employee's cognition that he/she has received less than was promised (Morrison & Robinson, 1997 as cited in Suazo et al., 2005). As such, psychological contract breach typically creates the perception of an imbalance in the social exchange relationship. Psychological contract violation is related to, but conceptually distinct from, psychological contract breach. Specifically, psychological contract violation is defined as the emotional or affective state that may (but does not always) result from the perception of psychological contract breach (Morrison & Robinson, 1997 as cited in Suazo et al., 2005). Thus, psychological contract violation has been described as the feelings of anger, injustice, resentment, and distrust that arise from the realisation that the organisation has not honoured the psychological contract (Raja, Johns, & Ntalianis, 2004 as cited in Suazo et al., 2005). Hence, Motivation deals with people. There are all kinds of people and there are different approaches to motivate them. Some seem to be their intellectual curiosity or something that keeps them going. Unfortunately, however, the vast majority of us need fuel for our motivational motives. We need praise, we need money, we need good working conditions, we need freedom and the list of these rewards and incentives is almost endless. From the management perspective, gaining an understanding of these needs would enable a manager to learn whom to challenge, whom to reassure, whom to let ran on his own. To do this, he must understand his subordinates, their strong points, weak points and so on. Once he understands, then he accepts them for what they are with their good and weak points. He then tries to work out a relationship with each one so that they can get the job done. Numerous theories have been developed concerning how management can motivate the employees. All of these theories attempt to answer the question of why an individual chooses to work, why he may continue to work for a certain organisation for a considerable amount of time, and how to get more out of the individual and so on. Some of these theories are traditional, while others are modern and supported by research. Some tend to divide these into content and process theories of motivation. While the content theories focus on factors within the individual that lead to motivation, the process theories focus on the dynamics of motivation and how the motivational process takes place. Although no one theory is complete, all of them have added new and additional information to the concept of motivation. References Adair, J., (1973). Action-centred Leadership, McGraw-Hill as cited in Cole, G., (1997,). Personnel Management: Theory and Practise, 4th Edition, Letts Educational, Aldine Place, London. P.51 Atchinson, J.W., 1964, An Introduction to motivation, Van Nostrand, Princeton. J.J, as cited in Putti, J. M., (1987). Management: A Functional Approach, McGraw-Hill, Singapore, p. 249. Gellerman, Saul W., 1963, Motivation and productivity, New York: American management association, as cited in Putti, J. M., (1987). Management: A Functional Approach, McGraw-Hill, Singapore, p. 249. McGregor, D., (1960). The human Side of enterprise, McGraw-Hill, as cited in Cole, G., (1997,). Personnel Management: Theory and Practise, 4th Edition, Letts Educational, Aldine Place, London, p. 53 Myers, M. S., (1968). Every Employee a Manager, California Management Review, Spring, p.8 Powers, J. E, (1972). Job Enrichment: How one Company Overcame the Obstacles, Personnel, May-June, p.8 Sedeck S., Blood M., 1974, Foundations of Behavioural Science Research Organisations, Wadsworth publishing company, Belmont, Calif, .p. 174, as cited in Putti, J. M., (1987). Management: A Functional Approach, McGraw-Hill, Singapore, p. 249. Shartle C., 1956, Executive Performance and Leadership, New Jersey: Prentice hall, inc. Englewood Cliffs. P.151 as cited in Putti, J. M., (1987). Management: A Functional Approach, McGraw-Hill, Singapore, p. 249. Suazo, Mark M.; Turnley, William H.; Mai-Dalton, Renate R. (2005). The role of perceived violation in determining employees' reactions to psychological contract breach. Journal of Leadership & Organisational Studies Fall, 2005 Vroom, Victor H., 1964, Work and motivation, New York: John Wiley & sons, p. 6, as cited in Putti, J. M., (1987). Management: A Functional Approach, McGraw-Hill, Singapore, p. 249. Read More