Influence of Motivation on Employee Turnover - Coursework Example

Influence of Motivation on Employee Turnover Name Institution Course Date Influence of Motivation on Employee Turnover Introduction Globally, retention of skilled workers remains an issue of great concern to managers considering the high employee turnover rates witnessed across industries. Presently, businesses operate in a highly competitive business environment. As such, Samad (2006, p. 1) argues that having highly skilled and committed employees has become a critical differentiating factor for most companies. Companies of the modern world depend heavily of their skilled employees as a source of competitive advantage. Unfortunately, Samuel and Chipunza (2009, p. 410) note that ,in the recent times, retaining top-notch workers have become a challenging endeavor for managers because top performing employees are being attracted by not just a single firm at the same time with attractive incentives and benefits. Besides, some top performing employees are migrating to the international markets where they can get better conditions if such cannot be found in the domestic market (Ramlall 2003, p. 64; Bussi 2002, p. 92). Therefore, a company that hopes to succeed in this competitive business environment must view its workforce and ensure that they are retained. However, motivation has been cited in most literatures as one of the factors that affects employee retention in a firm (Ezigbo 2012, p. 115). This paper looks at the influence of motivation on employee turnover. Motivation Large body of literature recognizes motivation as one of the single most factors that influence the behavior of a person. Because of this, motivation is something that employees can adopt to influence the behaviors of their employees, especially to increase their job satisfaction and commitments to the achievement of organizational goals. Pradifa and Welly (2014, p. 89) state that motivation is useful as it can be used to encourage employees to do their jobs. Motivation as a concept has been defined in different ways by different researchers and scholars. Pradifa and Welly (2014, p. 90) define motivation as getting a person to put more effort. In other words, the authors are implying that motivation is about encouraging a worker to increase his/her efforts. Sajjad et al. (2013, p. 76), on the other hand, defines motivation as the process of stimulating, directing, energizing and sustaining behavior and performance. The author proceeds to state that motivation involves stimulating followers to take action so as to ensure the achievement of the firm’s desired goals. Sajjad et al. (2013, p. 76) concludes by stating that effective motivation is one of the best ways of stimulating employees to work because motivation increases an employee’s satisfaction level to his/her work, as well as commitment. Although some managers think that money is the only motivating factor, this is not the case as there are many other motivators that a manager can consider adopting in motivating workforce. However, to achieve the greatest motivational effect in an employee, literatures suggest that it is important to consider whether to adopt intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is that type of motivation that comes from within an individual (Del Vecchio & Wagner 2011, p. 4). As such, Armstrong (2004, p. 56) suggested that, where intrinsic motivation is important, a manager does not have to use external inducement to influence an employee’s behavior or outcome. Intrinsic motivation is particularly used to motivate workers to acquire the desired skills and knowledge. Extrinsic motivation is that type of motivation that comes due to external inducement (Musa et al. 2014, p. 39; McShane & Von-Glinow 2000, p. 34). External motivation applies where an employee is motivated to perform a task or commit to the organizational goals through the use of external motivators, such as money, recognition, higher commission, feedback, good management style and provision of safe and healthy working conditions. For instance, a study by Olusegun (2012, p. 2) found that the use of extrinsic motivators, such as provision of competitive reward packages, employee recognition, promotions and safe and healthy working conditions had a motivational effect on the library workers in Some public universities in Nigeria, which in turn reduced their turnover rates. Based on the definitions provided in these literatures, it emerges that my conceptualization of the concept of motivation is in tandem with the literatures. This is because in both cases, there is agreement that motivation is a means of influencing a person’s behavior to act in a particular way. In particular, my conceptualization of the concept of motivation in line with the literature in the sense that both recognizes the fact that motivation is used to energize or stimulate an employee to increase his/her efforts and commitment to the organizational goals and that a person can be motivated using intrinsic or extrinsic methods. Parent Theory The influence of motivation on employee turnover can be justified through the application of a number of theories that include McGregor Theory X and Theory, Hierarchy of Needs Theory and Expectancy Theory. Expectancy theory is a motivational theory that maintains that a worker will put the effort and commitment that equals the return they expect to receive from the employer (Maertz & Griffeth 2004, p. 667). This theory explains the relationship between motivation and employee turnover in the sense that if a worker expects to get little compensation and growth opportunities in return for their efforts, they may end up becoming demoralized and put little efforts until such a time that they are eventually forced to look for a new employer for new opportunities (Musa et al. 2014, p. 36). Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is another parent theory that helps in explaining the relationship between motivation and employee turnover. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory puts the needs of workers into five progressive stages starting with the physiological needs at the lowest level and progressing upwards to the level where an employee seeks the fulfillment of personal growth and career development needs (Bussi 2002, p. 102). According to Maslow, an employer must ensure that each level of employee needs must be met by an employer for them to show true commitment to the organizational objectives (Del Vecchio & Wagner 2011, p.13). As such, failure by an employer to meet any of this level needs, this can result in lack of fulfillment of the professional needs of workers, thus causing them to begin trying to find a way of getting these needs fulfilled by a new employer who provides better opportunities than their current employer. Relationship Between Motivation And Employee Turnover Employee turnover pose a challenge to organizations. Employee turnover results when an employee deserts their job and requires replacement. Turnover is detrimental to a company because recruiting new employees to replace those that have left is a costly exercise to employers and disrupts the smooth delivery of services (Maertz & Griffeth 2004, p. 668). Therefore, it is important for an employer to ensure that the frequency at which employees leave is kept at minimal level as possible. However, motivation has been identified as one of the factors that influence turnover rates in an organization. Vnoučková and Klupáková (2013, p. 81) study found that, when employees are highly motivated, this increases their satisfaction and commitment levels to an employer, thus ensuring low turnover. On the other hand, studies have shown that, when employees are demotivated, this results in low satisfaction and commitment to the organizational goals, resulting in high turnover. A study by Samuel and Chipunza (2009, p. 411) found a number of reasons employees leave their employers. They include management style, hiring practices, lack of competitive salaries and benefits, lack of recognition and toxic work environment (Mullins 2010, p. 18). As such, the authors argue that an employer can increase the retention rates of its employees by providing these intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors. A similar study by Olusegun (2012, p. 13) found that to increase the satisfaction and commitment level of library workers to their jobs in university libraries, there is a need for the universities to adopt strong and effective motivation at various levels in the institutions of higher learning including departments and library sections. Pradifa and Welley (2014, p. 91) study on the influence of motivation on employee turnover at an Indonesian oil and gas giant PT. Melati found that lack of motivation was a major reason for the turnover at the company. The employees cited lack of competitive salary and career development opportunities at the company as something that demoralized them, thus forced them to look for better opportunities elsewhere. Based on this finding, Pradifa and Welley (2014, p. 91) concluded that the provision of extrinsic motivators, such as salary, job satisfaction, benefits and career development are important in increasing the retention rate. It is important to note that all the studies found that motivation has an influence on the employee turnover. Proposition Relying on expectancy theory and hierarchy of needs theory as well as the literatures explored in the previous sections, I propose that motivation influences employee turnover. The influence of motivation on turnover is experienced across all industries. Conclusion Employee turnover is an issue that concerns almost all companies. Employee turnover is detrimental to a company as it is not just costly to recruit new employees, but also disrupt service delivery to customers. However, the literatures reviewed and motivational theories agree that motivation influences employee turnover. As such, to address turnover issue in a company, employers should focus on motivating employees using intrinsic or extrinsic motivators depending on that which is important for an employee. References Armstrong, M 2004, Human resource management practice (9"' edition). London: Kogan page. Bussi M 2002, Retention strategies: remuneration answers. Knowledge Resources, Johannesburg. Del Vecchio, S., Wagner, J 2011, ‘Motivation and monetary incentives: A closer look,’ Journal of Management and Marketing Research, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1–13. Ezigbo, C 2012, ‘Reducing turnover by motivation,’ European Journal of Business and Management, vol. Vol 4, No.17, pp. 115-125. Maertz, C. P., & Griffeth R. W 2004, ‘Eight motivational forces & voluntary turnover: A theoretical synthesis with implications for research. Journal of Management, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 667-683. McShane, S. L & Von-Glinow, M 2000, Organisational behaviour. McGraw-Hill Co., NewYork. 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