Intrinsic Motivation in People Management - Essay Example

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT: INTRINSIC MOTIVATION "Good leaders make people feel that theyre at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning." --Warren G. Bennis, 20051 1. Intrinsic Motivation: Concept and Key issues Introduction: The concept of motivating people at work place by adopting measures beyond the conventional ‘economic benefits’ or extrinsic rewards; with a view to enhance their productivity and performance is indicative of a new age mysticism which belies the commonly acceptable and widely used rational economic model, which has since long dominated the people management strategies adopted by managers in workplaces to constantly keep their employees motivated in order to derive better performances. However, during the past couple of years organizational management has undergone significant transformation in the manner in which it seeks to motivate its employees. The traditional methods of offering extrinsic rewards or economic benefits to the employees in order to keep them motivated and garner higher productivity and hence revenues, has become obsolete ever since the introduction of the concept of intrinsic motivation, which is required in today’s workplace. Intrinsic Motivation: Key Issues i. The Controversy: Do employees care more about money or self-interest at workplace? One of the most commonly discussed economic ideologies is the fact that it emphasizes on the aspect of personal economic gain as a key motivating factor within an organizational environment. Various eminent theorists and authors such as Ed Schein, Abe Maslow and the likes have stated that employees have a higher-order personal needs which govern their behavior. There is a wide amount of literature which claims economic rewards as a key motivator however the evidence on higher employee productivity on account of intrinsic rewards has been mounting in the past couple of decades (Thomas, 20022). Extrinsic benefits or rewards commonly include monetary compensation as a primary tool of enhancing employee performance. However, despite its widespread acceptance, especially among the managers who view it as a most effective means of improving worker productivity, this method has attracted severe criticisms recently. A significant proportion of these criticisms are mainly on account of wide spread research, which offers empirical evidence regarding the failure of extrinsic motivation to ensure and sustain, long term organizational performance (Perry et al. 20093; Ingraham 19934; Kellough and Lu 19935; Milkovich and Wigdor 19916). Furthemore, it has also been observed in past researches that debates concerning employee motivation have been traditionally centered on a misplaced assumption that employees are self-centered and hence can be motivated only through offering economic rewards and benefits (Perry et al. 2009; Moynihan 20087). ii. Does intrinsic motivation derive directly from intrinsic rewards or are they an outcome of an inherent relationship between individual desires and organizational policies? The theory of intrinsic motivation has developed autonomously and consequent to the behaviorist convention of extrinsic possibilities. However, the two concepts have collided and contradicted each other thereby leading to various researches which have pointed out that employee performance can be enhanced even in the absence of extrinsic motivation (Deci, 19718). Literature reviews and critics have since then, targeted this issue to accumulate concrete evidence to substantiate such a claim. As opposed to extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation is known to exist when employees perform for their own sake rather than with an intention to achieve economic rewards. Such an observation regarding intrinsic motivation posed a challenge to behaviorists and has since been pursued as a research subject by other researchers (White, 19599; Alderfer, 196910). Intrinsic motivation is often referred to as a theoretical concept seemingly inherent within the person and commonly found in intrinsically motivating organizational tasks. According to Herzberg (196611), intrinsically motivating tasks include those tasks which are characterized by certain fundamental motivators such as accountability, challenge, accomplishment, triumph, and an opportunity to excel. Other intrinsic factors which were proved to enhance employee productivity and performance include task variety, task identity, significance, independence and constant feedback as fundamental characteristics which contribute in generating intrinsic motivation (Hackman, Oldham, 197612). Recent psychology literature propose that intrinsic motivation is believed to be derived from psychological needs of the employees which includes the need to compete as well as the need for independence (Deci & Ryan, 200013; Kasser & Ryan, 199614). Deci (1980) states that such intrinsic human needs can only be satisfied through perceptions of personal rather than external control and comprise of the primary characteristic which differentiates intrinsically motivated behavior from extrinsically motivated ones. 2. Critical analysis and evaluation Motivating employees at the workplace is one of the most vital and inevitable elements of organizational behavior. Motivation, within an organizational environment can be either intrinsic or extrinsic in nature (Sansone & Harackiewicz, 200015). Accroding to Ryan, Deci (2000), intrinsic motivation derived from an activity, significantly influences the employee performance as well as their well-being. Motivating employees is one of the key organizational strategies employed by the management in order to encourage better work performance among its employees. Motivation is a fundamental psychological process and in an organizational context it refers to the process of influencing the employee behavior based on the knowledge of what makes them strive harder and excel in their appointed tasks (Luthans, 199816). Intrinsic or non monetary motivation is a process which encourages, revitalizes, guides and upholds the behavior and performance of the employees. It stimulates their actions and intensifies their drive to achieve the organizational goals. Motivation in order to be effective must take into consideration the needs and preferences of the employees, since the workers who enjoy job satisfaction are the ones who work harder and are more committed towards their work. It must also be taken into consideration that money is not necessarily the sole motivating factor that drives employee performance. The ‘X’ factor “Getting ordinary people X-ited about going the X-tra mile to help you, the manager, achieve X-traordinary results” (Reck 2001, Pp.1617) Various researches conducted in the past have offered substantial evidence that leaders who tend to endorse the idea of intrinsic motivation and seek to encourage their employees by providing job satisfaction and independence, are more likely to generate better performances as opposed to those leaders who tend to control their employees and offer economic benefits to their employees as an incentive to excel. Hence, there is evidence based on research which illustrates a positive relationship between the management which supports the employee’s well being and level of trust in the organization and overall job satisfaction (Deci et al., 1989), confidence and faith in the management and loyalty displayed by employees (Pajak and Gickman, 1989), increased job satisfaction, reduced absenteeism, and improved physical and psychological well-being (Blais and Briere, 1992) and intrinsic motivation (Gagne et al., 1997).18 3. Conclusion and Recommendation Significant transformation has been observed in the organizational environment as well as in the manner in which employees work, over the years, and so have the factors which motivate the employees to perform better. Initially economic rewards or extrinsic motivation was regarded as the only effective tool available at the disposal of the management in order to derive enhanced performances from their employees. However, recent research suggests that employee motivation can be achieved through means beyond economic compensation. Intrinsic rewards such as autonomy, perceived control and job satisfaction rate higher today, than ever before. The inefficiency of the management to realize the effectiveness of intrinsic motivation in influencing employee performance may lead to negative results. It has often been observed that various positive reinforcements tend to backfire mainly because the managers are involved in “managing” the behavior of their employees rather than focusing on ways to optimize their performance. Over-achieving and talented workforce is a vital organizational strength and the management can hardly contain them through mere extrinsic motivation. Thus, intrinsic motivation is the effective tool available to managers which not helps in stimulating employee performance but also helps in retaining exceptionally talented workforce. References: Alderfer, C. P. (1969). 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