How can a manager motivate a workforce and what are the major benefits of this to a company - Essay Example

 Introduction Motivation means a self-generated desire to do things. It is one of the most crucial elements in work force that puts one organization ahead of the other. There are several motivational theories that are in play but no single theory can be applied universally to motivate people in all ages – in all cultures across the globe. Motivating workforce make most positive impact on the business; however, the moot question is how to create motivated workforce. There are several financial and nonfinancial ways to motivate workforce; however, the paper attempts to explore some of the most time-tested nonfinancial ways and means to motivate workforce in the following paragraphs. Benefits of Motivated Workforce Benefits of motivated work force are immense because they need least supervision, efforts and guidance to get best out of them. Motivated workforce helps produce quality goods and efficient services. They learn quickly with fewer efforts on their training. They make fewer mistakes and tend to resolve conflicts quickly. Motivated workforce makes favorable impact on customers and exhibit minimal resistance to change. Background A way back in 1943, Abraham Maslow's theory explained about 'hierarchy of needs' of the people and that stood to the test of time during the time. A few years later, in 1960, Douglas McGregor proposed his Theory Y – opposing the Theory X, in which he acknowledged and recognized self-motivated people when given a proper environment and freedom to accomplish the given task. In fact, much of the motivational theories of later period find their roots in the Theory Y of Douglas McGregor. Financial incentives do play a role in motivating workforce to a certain extent but not always, especially during economic downslide, managers’ hands are mostly tied to providing financial incentives and they need to develop other means that can create motivating workforce in good and bad times (The Economist, 2008). Inspiration Does Wonders Employee feels motivated when they are led and inspired by their managers, or CEO. The glaring examples are Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple Inc.). Employees need to feel that they have a mission to accomplish and also see their leaders work hard towards the set objectives. Steve Jobs, though he himself was a tough taskmaster, could inspire thousands of employees to accomplish the task with zeal and vigor. Perhaps, Steve Jobs provided most inspirational leadership to the workforce at Apple through his own commitment and dedication and ability to provide solutions to the problems. Walter Isaacson states that Jobs used to motivate employees to accomplish that at first hand appeared impossible. He states, "Jobs once pushed an engineer to accelerate a Macintosh's boot-up time, even after the employee explained why it would be impossible. In response, Jobs asked, "If it would save a person's life, could you find a way to shave 10 seconds off?" and calculated the overall time spent waiting for Macs to start up around the world every year. Within a few weeks, the engineer reduced the boot-up time by 28 seconds" (Daily Briefing, 2013). Thus, manager or leader’s inspirational role can do wonders in motivating employees. Nonfinancial Factors – a Key to Motivation The Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) (2013) based at the UK conducted a survey to find how organizations, employees and managers in the UK feel about the various motivating factors in current times. The survey discovers that intrinsic factors such as recognition, praise are weighed highly as motivating elements over extrinsic factors such as financial rewards, performance bonuses. Key motivating factors that emerge from the survey are better treatment by employer, praise and creating a sense of being valued by the employer. Employee value recognition, support, feedback as the important motivating factors and managers who employ these tools to reward their employees are successful in motivating their workforce for more productive outcomes. The survey has been conducted on 1018 non-managerial employees that represent the UK workforce from diverse sectors with differentiation in age and gender. Moreover, survey also involves 1091 managers from the diversified groups. Though it was a close-ended survey barring two open-end questions but respondents were allowed to add if they so desired. The survey tends to provide more representative response because it involves managers and down-the-line supportive staff in a single survey. Respect to Individuality McNerney (1996) argues that Southwest Airlines has always witnessed a low turnover rate with highly motivated workforce because people are allowed to express their individuality – in the literal sense of the word. For example, flight attendants at Southwest convey the safety instructions through a song and pilots crack a joke over the PA system. And passengers love and admire these gestures. Hierarchy is only for administrative convenience and not to display authority. The organization does not encourage ‘elitism’ as found in the traditional organization and the employees' freedom to do the task in their own way is highly supported as far as they do not violate basic rules of the organization. It is a fact that employees forego higher pay offered by other airlines in exchange for more cozy work environment at Southwest Airlines. Personal Recognition Important A McKinsey Quarterly survey conducted across all sectors and regions of the corporate world discovered that noncash motivating factors such as leadership attention, praise from immediate managers and an opportunity to lead task forces were no less motivator than the highest-rated financial incentives such as bonus, employee stock options or high basic pays. Thus, nonfinancial motivating factors are equally important and critical to motivating workforce across the world. The survey also discovered that financial rewards to motivating employees were effective only for short periods while other nonfinancial incentives, if harnessed properly, could help retain and motivate employees at all the time (Dewhurst, Guthridge and Mohr, 2009). Conclusion From the several motivational theories and different studies, it can be construed that developing motivating workforce is a complex phenomenon; that cannot be always done through monetary tools. Nonfinancial elements play even more crucial role in motivating the workforce and several studies endorse this truth. Therefore, managers need not only to inspire the workforce through leadership roles but also acknowledge and praise the contributions made by the workers time to time so that workers feel elevated and can see a purpose behind their working in the organization. References Daily Briefing (2013). “What Managers can learn from Steve Jobs”. The Advisory Board Company. http://www.advisory.com/Daily-Briefing/2012/03/23/What-managers-can- learn-from-Steve-Jobs [Accessed 3 November, 2013] Dewhurst, M.; Guthridge, M. and Mohr, E. (2009). Motivating people: Getting beyond money http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/motivating_people_getting_beyond_money [Accessed 3 November, 2013] The Economist (2008). “Theory X and Y”. economist.com http://www.economist.com/node/12370445 [Accessed 3 November, 2013] Institute of Leadership and Management (2013). “Beyond the bonus: Driving employee Performance”. https://www.i-l-m.com/~/media/ILM%20Website/ Downloads/Insight/ Reports_from_ILM_website /ILM-BeyondTheBonus-Oct13.ashx [Accessed 3 November, 2013] McNerney, D. J. (1996). Creating a Motivated Workforce. washington.edu. http://faculty.washington.edu/janegf/motivatedworkforce.html [Accessed 3 November, 2013] Read More