Communication, Motivation and Control - Coursework Example

COMMUNICATION, MOTIVATION AND CONTROL Communication, Motivation and Control Author Author’s Affiliation Date Introduction This paper sheds light on communication, its importance as well as the process of communication. Effective communication entails having a smooth flow of information from the source to the receiver. Therefore, it is a responsibility of everyone within the organization to ensure that they follow the right channel put in place for the smooth flow of information. Then we talk about motivation and how important it is in the workplace by corroborating through theories. Lastly, there will be some focus on controls within an organization and important they are. We also go through the method of measurement and comparing for the sake of best analysis. Definition of Communication Communication can be defined as the process of passing information from one source to another. It involves several stages; message from the sender is encoded then through the medium it is decoded and finally interpreted by the receiver. If one of these stages is interfered with, then the communication process is broken and from that point information becomes distorted (Chambers, 2001). Seven steps of communication 1. The sender verifies what information needs to be sent and whether the message contains vital information or not. 2. Then the information gets encoded – gets transformed in a form which can be sent and easily decoded by receiver. 3. Then comes the channel – these may be verbal or non verbal. 4. Decoding comes next wherein message or communication is received. The receiver has to have active listening skills to be able to decode message properly (Keller, 2007). 5. Then the receiver translates and interprets message as per his or her ability or attitude. 6. Feedback comes next wherein the receiver reacts to message. This may be in the form of nodding, returning eye contact, etc. 7. Last is the context in which message was conveyed. Examples are a corporate environment versus a casual one. The context or environment will determine how the communication was delivered (Adair, 2011). Importance Communication is a very important part of every individual’s life. It’s the strongest key through which one can deliver his thoughts and what he wants to say. There are different forms of communication verbal, non verbal, oral or visual, but apart from all of these here can be different styles of communication as well. According to Gerson, S.J., & Gerson, S. M. (2007); to have an effective communication, it is up to the entire organization to come up with proper structures for implementation. Communication is not one-sided event, but it is an act of conveying information for the purposes of creating a mutual understanding among employees. Effective communication should always start with top management therefore; all stakeholders should be incorporated. The top management should emphasize on having clear information to its support staff whereas the employees should always follow the clear channels put in place for effective communication. Ineffective communication structure leads to suspicion among the various levels of the organization. It is, therefore, the responsibility of everyone to ensure that barriers to effective communication are limited (Gerson & Gerson, 2006). Definition -- Motivation Employee motivation is the process through which willingness is developed among the employees to do something. The only factor that deserves the most emphasis to improve business productivity is employee motivation. Employee motivation is actually something that drives employees from the inside to act in a better way than before. Despite numerous arguments on the importance of employee motivation, authorities and higher level managers do not acknowledge the fact to a considerable range. Nevertheless, the contemporary world’s top performing organizations have ascertained the principle of employee motivation towards achieving organizational goals (Bruce & Pepitone, 1998). Giant corporations like Google, Inc. and Facebook have reached to unimaginable heights through giving value to its workforce. Normally, technical or middle level employees are not involved in an organization’s decision making or innovation related tasks, however, giving the lower and middle level employees equal value does produce commendable outputs. Motivation is a psychological force that determines an employee’s attitudes, level of performance, and his/her capability to deal with the hurdles that rest in the way of achieving organizational goals. Promoting teamwork within an organization, rewarding above average employees with incentives and motivating below average employees to perform better through bonuses and other motivation techniques can make a noticeable difference in the organization’s productivity (Fargus, 2000). Types of motivation There are two kinds of motivation: Internal and External. Internal comes from within the person as it makes the person good about accomplishing something. External motivation comes outside of a person’s brain. It comes through reward or punishment by an agent other than the person himself. General Theories on Motivation Employee motivation is a debate that has long been discussed and argued upon. Even though the opinions are different, but they eventually lead to a similar conclusion. Organizations are in need of employee motivation because of the following reasons: Organizations opt for employee motivation so as to counter the fear of labor unions. Motivation of employees also promotes a friendly climate and comfortable working conditions. Through motivating employees, there is an inevitable increase in their productivity. This means that the organizations do not have to pay more to the lower level workers as majority of the work is being done by the middle level employees (Beck, 2000). To address to major concerns regarding employee motivation, certain theories have been developed which are majorly divided into two paradigms; 1. Content / Intrinsic Theories: These theories mainly focus on the internal factors and the internal behaviors (Kenneth Thomas, 2009). 2. Process / Extrinsic Theories: These are the theories which tend to explain and examine external factors that affect employee behaviors. There exist certain deficiencies and inadequacies from the employee’s psychological point of view which create a sense of tension and dissatisfaction. These factors decrease the employee performance a great deal. Likewise, there are certain attributes that trigger a positive response of the employees towards performing better. It is therefore up to the managers and senior level officials to identify the deficiencies and alleviate them through positive motivation factors. Major motivation theories include the following: 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs This theory of motivation elaborates five basic needs that influence and shape individual behaviors. The theory is of the view that individuals are likely to alter their behaviors on the basis of their strongest needs. This is an intrinsic theory that relates to the following five factors (Rakowski, 2011): Physiological needs: This includes the basic human needs including food, shelter and other needs associated with the human body. Safety: Individuals require security and safety from physical and emotional hazards Social: Individuals tend to react to positive social relationships, affection, care, importance and belongingness Esteem Needs: This involves both self-esteem needs and external esteem needs. Employees react positively if organizations fulfill their self-esteem needs by providing them with autonomy, respect and progress. Employees also exhibit positive attitudes if they are given higher status levels, proper recognition and attention by the employers. Self-Actualization: Individuals feel the urge to achieve a status what they are actually capable of achieving. It is symbolic to self-fulfillment. Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory Herzberg’s two-factor theory more popularly known as Herzberg’s Motivator-Hygiene theory reflects views on job satisfaction, and the factors affecting job satisfaction. According to this theory, employee’s job satisfaction can only be sustained through the provision of positive working conditions, competitive incentives and a distinct status. Although these factors do not motivate the employees, but their absence does result in a reduced job satisfaction. A part from these extrinsic factors, presence of a positive recognition, higher responsibilities and authority and feelings of progress are directly involved in increasing motivation levels of the employees. This eventually results in an overall improved performance. But an absence of these factors does not result in dissatisfaction (DuBrin, 2008). Analyzing the extrinsic factors of the two-factor model it is observed that employees are more likely to be satisfied where they are open to good organizational policies, administration and supervision, the range of salary offered, nature of working conditions and the extent to which the lower level employees are involved in the organizational decision making process. Furthermore, positive relationships of employees with their immediate supervisors also improve employee satisfaction. Mc. Clelland’s Need Theory This theory comprises of the following three needs; 1. Need for Achievement 2. Need for Affiliation 3. Need for Power 1. Need for Achievement Certain employees encompass a desire to outshine and succeed in tasks that are normally considered to be difficult by others. Such employees prefer to gather more feedback on their performance – good or bad – as compared to the average employees. They tend to go for tasks that require moderate abilities to achieve successfully, and prefer to work in conditions where their performance depends solely upon their own struggle (Miner, 2007). 2. Need for Affiliation Employees, like every normal human being, tend to develop healthy social relationships and affiliations with others. This is pretty much similar to Maslow’s social needs. 3. Need for Power Employees that have more responsibilities and higher authorities and control over others are often motivated to perform better than others. It develops a sense of leadership among the employees. These needs vary from person to person depending on the cultural background, gender and economic background of individuals. The strongest need tends to motivate an individual “employee” towards acting more productively (Shaffer, 2008). Equity Theory This theory states that employees evaluate how they are being treated by the organization in relation to his/her co-workers. It involves an employee’s perception of what inputs he/she is delivering and what returns or rewards are being provided to him/her for those outputs (Young, 1995). Role of Managers in Employee Motivation For any organization, its management occupies a pivotal position in making the most out of its skilled workforce. Hiring a skilled workforce is only half the job done. Employees do not perform at optimum levels of their efficiency unless they are made to do so. In the contemporary corporate world, employees have a strong bargaining power due to stiff competition and an increased demand of skilled labor at higher pays. This puts forward issues like employee retention and contingent employment, which become hard to stabilize if not managed correctly. An organization’s management is responsible for bringing change in the employee attitudes through opting motivation and job satisfaction strategies (Bruce & Pepitone, 1998). Major strategies that the management utilize while motivating employees include the following; 1. Reinforcement/behavior modification 2. Management by objectives 3. Participative management and empowerment 4. Job enrichment and job redesign Controlling Controlling is one of the crucial functions of management that has to do with measurement of achievement against objectives and goals. It allows managers to identify why accomplishment was not achieved and a corrective course of action can be achieved. It is very important for a company or an organization to have good management, a management that can run and control the matters of the organization smoothly without any hindrance and that can minimize or stabilize the ups and down the organization has to face. A good management is the one that keeps both the board and the workers happy. The board should make sure that the managers are not over loaded with work pressure; this can decrease their efficiency and productivity that can result in failure of projects in the long run (Reichmann, 1997). Managers first set objectives and then measure their achievement. They also identify anything that keeps the company from meeting their objectives. They also provide means of correction if any are required. Controlling does not necessarily involve achievement of monetary goals but also those related to human resource and management. Non tangible objectives like meeting a production quota or reduction of customer complaints can also be one of the objectives (Evans, 2003 ). Controlling comprises developing those methods or doing those calculations by which one can evaluate how one can reduce the additional cost or expenses occurring within the organization. Certainly, if useless expenses would be cut-down from over all expenditures, profitability will increase. Some organizations adopt the following strategies to reduce production cost to cut other different sort of expenditure in order to expand profits: 1) Consolidate those products that are having the same features or catering the same market. Because, serving these two products separately will increase the advertising, marketing, manufacturing and other overheads as well as overall costs. 2) Eliminate those trade associations, which have high membership charges and their output isn’t according to what they are getting in form of dues. 3) Those organizations which are trying to reduce their cost prefer to hire temporary employees instead of permanent one. Hiring a permanent employee demands increase in payroll cost of the organization as well as other benefits that are given by the company on long-term basis. This is advisable to do especially when the future of product is quite uncertain. 4) Organization intended to reduce cost, encourage their employees, mangers and other staff to come up with the ideas of cost reduction etc. because, normally the personals’ specially appointed to do this sort of tasks fails to come with ideas organization is desperately looking for. In this situation, it’s better to consult and take suggestions with those who may have new and better ideas then the specially appointed ones. Insurance plans, health plans and other additional benefits provided to the employees usually becomes the reason for the increase in cost of the organization. So, company should be focus or adopt those plans which require minimal cost of the business. Conclusion It is imperative that managers use correct and the most effective motivational theories to keep their teams on their toes all the time. The implementation of motivation theories at work means that the employees work as a happy unit. This is vital because their performance depends on how happy and satisfied they are with the job. This is why managers need to ensure that they apply the best possible motivational theories as that will determine the eventual performance level of the team. Communication is a very important part of every individual’s life. It’s the strongest key through which one can deliver his thoughts and what he wants to say. Therefore, it is a responsibility of everyone within the organization to ensure that they follow the right channel put in place for the smooth flow of information. References Bdair, J., 2011. Effective Communication (Revised Edition): The Most Important Management Skill of All. s.l.:Pan Macmillan. Beck, R. C., 2000. Motivation: Theories And Principles. s.l.:Pearson Education India. Bruce, A. & Pepitone, J. S., 1998. Motivating Employees. s.l.:McGraw Hill Professional. Bruce, A. & Pepitone, J. S., 1998. Motivating Employees. s.l.:McGraw Hill Professional. Chambers, H. E., 2001. Effective Communication Skills for Scientific and Technical Professionals. s.l.:Basic Books. DuBrin, A., 2008. Essentials of Management. s.l.:Cengage Learning. Evans, P., 2003 . Controlling People: How to Recognize, Understand, and Deal With People Who Try to Control You. s.l.:Adams Media. Fargus, P., 2000. Measuring and Improving Employee Motivation. s.l.:Financial Times Prentice Hall. Gerson, S. J. & Gerson, S. M., 2006. Workplace Communication: Process and Product. s.l.:Pearson Prentice Hall. Keller, J., 2007. Seven Steps to Heaven: How to Communicate with Your Departed Loved Ones in Seven Easy Steps. s.l.:Simon and Schuster. Miner, J. B., 2007. Organizational Behavior 4: From Theory to Practice. s.l.:M.E. Sharpe. Rakowski, N., 2011. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Model - the Difference of the Chinese and the Western Pyramid on the Example of Purchasing Luxurious Products. s.l.:GRIN Verlag. Reichmann, T., 1997. Controlling: Concepts of Management Control, Controllership, and Ratios. s.l.:Springer. Shaffer, D., 2008. Social and Personality Development. s.l.:Cengage Learning. Young, H. P., 1995. Equity: In Theory and Practice. s.l.:Princeton University Press. Read More