The Inability to Motivate Employees in the Workplace - Literature review Example

Literature Review

Academic and corporate entities have developed interest over the last two decades in researching about employee motivation. Different authors have tried to review the different dimensions of motivating employees as well as the diverse techniques used. Employee motivation has been established to have a positive impact on employees’ satisfaction as well as improving the quality of performance in an organization. According Nayeli (1994, p.221), the job of a manager is to ensure that employees deliver quality service in the workplace. Therefore, a manager is required to motivate the employees for them to deliver exactly what is required to meet an organization’s objectives. In order to solve the issue of motivation in the workplace, managers must understand the complexity of human nature which is very unpredictable. Research indicate that employees are more creative and productive when they are motivated. Managers should find out what the employees need for them to do their best in the workplace (Shah, Sterrett, Chesser, & Wilmore, 2001, p.22). As a result, an organization must come up with a culture of motivating its employees with an aim of helping the organization achieve its objectives.

Business and psychology research indicate that motivation varies as a function of different factors in the workplace such as actual performance feedback, evaluation of expectations, reward systems, nature of work and self-sufficiency. In addition, empirical and theoretical research postulates that human motivation in the work environment can be categorized into intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. According to Rantz, Scott & Porter (1996, p.123), intrinsic motivation arises from the intrinsic value of the work done by an individual. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that arises from a person’s desire to become successful and obtain results that are separate from the workplace. Seyed Javadin, Heydari & Moradi (2009, p.12) asserts that employees’ autonomy and feedback regarding performance helps in motivating employees to become productive. For example, the organization may develop tasks that require the employee to use a variety of skills which will make them experience feelings so of content thereby making them to continue performing well. According to Fargus (2000, p.123), hygiene factors like fringe benefits, salaries and wages as well as working conditions can easily prevent dissatisfaction although they do not motivate the employees in any way. Fargus concluded that there are various motivator such as employee recognition, achievement, responsibility and advancement increment highly influence an employee’s morale and productivity.

According to Mikkelsen, Jacobsen, & Andersen (2015, p.17), there are two categories of the motivator-hygiene theory which include motivator factors and hygiene factors. Motivator factors focusses on job related matters while hygiene factors focus on the workplace environment. Motivator factors such as responsible work, satisfaction arising from the performance of various tasks and work independence help employees to complete challenging tasks successfully. Hygiene factors such as job security, decent pay and general work conditions demotivate the employees if they are insufficient. Therefore, an organization must implement various measures that help in the accomplishment of the motivator factor thereby improving productivity and performance. Cameron & Pierce (2002), postulate that work can be made interesting through job enrichment. Job enrichment proposes that work can be made interesting and motivating if skill variety, task identification, autonomy, feedback and task significance are given more consideration by the organization’s management regarding the issue of employee motivation. Emphasizing on the importance of work and the degree to which the job produces meaningful outcome motivates the employees to work hard and boost their morale (Kreps, 1997, p.312). In addition, the freedom given to employees regarding how much effort they should put while performing their tasks increases their morale and thus acts as an incentive to better performance.

In many instances, small organizations and businesses feel like that they lack enough resources to motivate their employees (McInerney, Walker, & Liem, 2011, p.93). However, this should not be the case because employee motivation strategies do not involve a lot of financial investment. In fact, this requires the management to adjust a number of its practices to ensure employee motivation. Although the strategies may at times require little financial support, the money used is usually returned through the enhancement of employee productivity. The challenge to keep employees motivated at the workplace is quite difficult mostly for small businesses. While these organizations are conscious of the fact that they draw their power and success from the best their workers have to offer, they feel unsupported when it comes to develop motivated and contributing employees (Heibutzki, p.23).

Self-determination, competence and independence are key factors when evaluating the basis for motivating the employees. According to a research by Golzadeh (2010, p.73), employees feel competent if they obtain a feedback that indicates how they are progressing in the workplace or even the way they can improve performance. Promising incentives and rewards to employees help in motivating them to perform their tasks effectively. Inability to motivate employees leads to major losses in a business setting. For instance, Webb (2015, p.19) asserts that lack of motivation leads to delays in work completion and mistakes that are perceived to be simple although they are very expensive. One of the major factors that can reduce an employee’s motivation is low self-confidence. Confidence enables the employee to achieve set targets by the organization through efficient completion of tasks and duties (Shields, 2007, p.43). In addition, confidence creates a culture of perseverance that encourages the employees to perform difficult tasks. If the management fails to motivate its employees, they will lack confidence in making important decisions that help in the successful completion of tasks. Low self-confidence further creates poor relationships in the workplace where a number of the employees feel more important than the others. Therefore, the management should boost employees’ confidence by giving frequent feedbacks with the aim of increasing their motivation.

Another factor that leads to poor motivation of the employees is inadequate training and personal development initiatives. Robbins (1997, p.212) asserts that organizations should invest in their staff by carrying out training sessions and personal development. Money should therefore be set aside to career for employees’ advancement in their jobs by equipping them with the latest knowledge in the workplace environment. This knowledge is said to create a sense of belonging and thereby motivate the employees to deliver accordingly in relation to the organization’s goals. Personal development is very important in the workplace because the employees are assured that they do not remain stagnated at the same place during their period of service in the organization. Thus, regular courses should be administered as a means of motivating them to work efficiently.

Employee’s achievement anxiety and low expectations for success are other factors that reduce their productivity. Managers should encourage their employees to retain positive expectations in the workplace because they act as motivation factors. When employers expect much from the employees, they motivate them to perform better in the workplace. Positive encouragements will increase an employee’s self-esteem and thus be willing to deliver more and attempt challenging tasks boldly (Shields, 2007, p.45). On the contrary, low expectations make the employees feel unmotivated and hence unwilling to cope with challenging tasks in the workplace. Therefore, the management should invest in tools and resources that help the employee complete various tasks with ease. Employees who experience success anxiety are often sensitive to being punished. Timreck (2002, p.53) asserts that even mere criticism can demotivate such employees leading to underperformance. This is because achievement anxiety tampers with an employee’s behavior and thus he or she becomes less motivated to perform various tasks in the workplace. For example, an employee may start a certain task but then stop before its completion due to a negative feedback from the manager or the supervisor. As a result, it is imperative for employers to implement various strategies that aim at motivating the employees.

Timreck (2002, p.49), further postulates that managers and employers should adopt small but daily actions that raises employee satisfaction in the workplace. The top aspects that should be considered in improving employee motivation include compensation, opportunity to utilize different skills and abilities, job security, additional befits such as health and retirement benefits, financial stability of the organization and creation of better relationship between the immediate supervisors and the employer. These factors are considered important by the employees and hence the employer must make sure that they are available in order to motivate the employee for increased productivity. Various motivation methods can be applied by an organization in order to improve productivity.

Employee empowerment is one of the best strategies that an organization can employ to motivate its workers. This involves giving them more responsibilities through delegation and allowing them to participate in decision making processes thereby giving them an opportunity to control certain tasks in the organization. This strategy reduces frustrations that arise from an employee being held responsible over matters they have no control. Empowering the workforce motivates the employees to put in their best efforts in the workplace. In addition, Cameron & Pierce (2002, p.132) proposes that employers should encourage innovation and creativity in the workplace with an aim of motivating the employees. In a company where an employee hesitates to give his or her creative ideas due to fear of being humiliated, ignored or ridiculed can hardly make it to the list for employee motivators. In this case, both the employee and the employer suffer because such practices inhibit performance and productivity. In order to solve this problem, the employer should give the employees opportunities to develop products and services depending on their knowledge. Encouraging the exchange of insightful ideas among employees will boost their understanding regarding various tasks in the organization and through this, they feel valued and important. Encouraging creativity and innovation further creates a platform for change as well as a flexible working environment.

DeLeon (2015, p.5) argues that financial incentives contributes to employee satisfaction and hence better productivity. Money is an important factor when it comes to motivation of employees. This has made many organizations to share their gains with the employees to enhance productivity. Different organizations offer financial incentives to the employees to motivate them to provide quality services, create excellent quality products and participate in enhancing organizational processes (Parizi & Sassan Gohar, 1994, p.74). For example, a company can offer financial incentives to reduce absenteeism cases, enhance productivity and generating cost effective processes. The negative effect of motivating the employees using money is that it is short-lived. A as result the organization should reward the employees depending on their success in performing an assigned task. In addition to the monetary incentives, an organization should also use nonmonetary incentives such as responsibility, advancement and recognition. These incentives promote fairness and create a conducive working environment. Robbins (1997, p.32) postulates that giving employees time off duty, sincere feedback from the management and giving letters of commendation highly motivate employees. Both monetary and non-monetary incentives help in satisfying intrinsic and extrinsic needs of the workforce.

In order to increase employee motivation in the workplace, those in authority should learn how to communicate effectively with their employees (Mikkelsen, Jacobsen, & Andersen, 2015, p.13). Employees feel motivated when they are allowed to take part in the achievement of an organization’s objectives and goals. Therefore, managers and other people with authority should confirm with the employees that the assigned tasks can be completed successfully. In addition, the manager should reassure the workers that they have what it takes to complete the different tasks despite their challenging nature. Listening to employee’s difficult areas and addressing them accordingly motivates them and boosts their morale in completing tasks. Acknowledging the efforts of the workforce encourages better performance as well as team spirit. Additionally, an organization should frequently restructure jobs in order to motivate the employees and improve the workplace. For instance, an organization can reduce the number of managerial layers within the organization thereby creating a close relationship between the employer and the employee. Increasing responsibilities also motivates employees to work hard and contribute to the achievement of an organization’s goal and objectives. The diversity achieved through broadening of responsibilities highly motivates employees to enhance their performance.

Golzadeh (2010, p.41) asserts that job security is an important factor that motivate the employees. There comes a time when an employee realizes that he or she is no longer building a career. At this stage, the employees will frequently place less emphasis on the compensation by assuming that it is just enough. Experienced employees will look for growth opportunities, learning and responsibility and therefore demand job security (Mikkelsen, Jacobsen, & Andersen, 2015, p.17). A sense of ownership leads to better job performance and managers should be ready to give such workers constructive criticism in order to continue enjoying their services. An organization should adopt both internal and external reward systems which are beneficial to the employees. The organization should develop a culture that motivates hardworking employees. Positive values are therefore an incentive to better performance which encourages the employer to reward the hardworking employees.

Wylie (2004, p.112) argues that members involved in the management function in an organization should try to maintain their high level of motivation so that they can develop a basis for motivating those ranked below them. According to Wylie (2004, p.112), managers should adopt a proactive approach when implementing self-motivation practices in their organizations. In this case, an organization should concentrate on various intangible motivational tools such as birthday celebrations that involve the entire workforce team. Through this, employees feel motivated together and hence willing to work in teams that increase overall productivity. Thomas (2009, p.94) points out that the main challenge hindering employee motivation is figuring out exactly what motivates them. This is because employees come from diverse backgrounds and thus one employee may be motivated by a certain action while the other is not motivated. For example, Lockley (2012, p.52) argues that cultural backgrounds and behavioral patterns affect employee motivation. Therefore, cross-cultural differences act as major hindrances to employee motivation in an organization. In order to explain this point, Lockley points out that dialogues and constructive arguments can help in motivating employees in the western culture while the same practices can be counterproductive in the Asian nations due to cultural differences.

In conclusion, Llopis (2012, p.153) argues that work-life balance is an important motivating factor for employees. Modern employees value this aspect and any negative impact will affect their motivation. Specifically, Llopis points out that unless the workers achieve a particular level of balance between life and work, then the employer will have a hard time trying to motivate them. This may even lead to wastage of resources trying to motivate such employees. Based on the hierarchy of needs, an employee believes that a certain level of needs must be satisfied before moving to the other. Therefore, motivation is based on growth needs and organizations must keep this in mind when dealing with their employees. The ultimate reward of motivating employees is organizational performance besides their personal development. Proper motivation of employees greatly influences their morale as well as their contribution to the growth of the organization. This concludes that employee motivation is an essential tool in ensuring that an organization meets its long term goals and objectives effectively.