The Concept of Motivating Using Two Models - Essay Example

Motivation a) The concept of motivating using 2 models Hackman and Oldham designed the job characteristics model, and their basic understanding of motivation was that the nature of employee’s work is paramount in motivating them. People tend to look for a challenge at work, so when an organisation provides them an opportunity to be challenged, then most of them tend to thrive. Three specific things are needed to make a job worth doing: autonomy, authority to make decisions, and variety at work (Casey et. al., 2012). The reverse is also true since a monotonous job bores employees and prevents them from exceeding at what they do. People who frequently have to refer to their employers, for even the slightest decisions, tend to feel stifled and they will not be at their optimum. The authors refer to five core traits that every job must possess, and these include, skill variety, task significance, feedback, task identity as well as autonomy. As the name suggests, skill variety is that quality of work that allows workers to apply various talents, abilities and skills; a fine balance must be struck by the organisation. If it gives employees too much variety, they could be overwhelmed but if it gives them few ones, then they could be bored. Task identity refers to the holistic nature of a task with regard to the whole production process while task significance refers to the quality of contributing to something beyond oneself (Griffin and Moorhead, 2012). The five factors have the ability to influence an employee’s psychological state at three levels, and these include the meaningfulness, knowledge of results and the responsibility for outcomes. Responsibility means that a worker has been given enough freedom to make changes to certain things and learn as they perform their tasks; they tend to appreciate being able to succeed or fail. Meaningfulness implies engaging in labour that means something to the worker; it should be more than a series of movements that can be repeated. This quality is paramount in creating intrinsic motivation or motivation that is only associated with work rather than with external factors; here employees see it as a means to an end (Berent and Anderko, 2011). Knowledge of the outcomes is also another crucial psychological state for two primary reasons: learning and giving purpose to work. If a person knows the outcomes of their effort, they are likely to know what it takes to succeed and thus learn from their wrongs. Furthermore, knowing outcomes gives purpose to work as it enables the employee or provider of input to form an association between what they do and the outputs or clients. This means that they will not be disconnected from their work and will know that even though their roles are seemingly small, they lead to large outcomes in the company. Once these psychological states have been engaged, then an organisation will witness a number of desirable outcomes like reduced absenteeism levels, increased motivation, as well as satisfaction (Casey et. al., 2012). The second model is the two-factor framework suggested by Herzberg who believed that motivation at work took place when the desires and needs of the employees were met. Therefore, it was incumbent upon an organisation to determine critically what would satisfy an employee’s needs, but this depends on how well they know them; the two factors in the model include hygiene factors and motivators. Hygiene factors do not cause increased motivation but their absence could cause adverse dissatisfaction among employees, so they include pay, security, interpersonal relationships, supervisions, company policy, and work conditions. Changing the hygiene factors for the better does not always lead to improvements in satisfaction but the opposite is true for motivators (the second category). Motivators encompass those qualities that if improved upon can lead to heightened satisfaction, and they are derived from the psychological basis of human needs. Typical motivators include achievement and recognition in the workplace as well as the quality of work. Providing employees with opportunities for advancement and allowing them to grow could also fall under this category, giving them responsibility is also one of these strategies (Smith and Sheilds, 2013). b) Application of the two-factor theory on British Airways (BA) British Airways is one of the most favourable employers in the UK; its human resource department is extensive and takes the time to encompass all the above-mentioned motivational elements. In the two-factor theory, Herzberg states that interpersonal relationships are vital to motivation, so organisations should strive to create strong associations between bosses and workers and peers themselves. BA seems aware of this fact, and has gone out of its way to forge strong communication ties between the company management and its employees. It achieves this through regular face-to-face communication with workers as well briefings between senior or line managers and the employees. In these briefings, members are encouraged to share ideas with one another as well as question management on a number of things; the end result is a workforce that feels engaged and valued (British Airways, 2013). They also have a live online forum in which they engage in dialogue among each other and strive to understand one another. The two factor hygiene model ranks rewards as part of the hygiene factors, and its author explains that this is because they are not directly applicable to the task. The issue of rewards is always a tricky one because too much emphasis on rewards could cause employees to viciously follow the reward rather than focus on the quality of their work (Berent and Anderko, 2011). However, it can lead to de-motivation if an employee thinks that the reward they are getting is not equal to their peers, the value of the work they do or industry standards. British Airways has found a way of navigating this issue by involving employees in creating reward systems for them; the company is highly flexible in what it uses and feels that it needs to tailor benefits to their needs (British Airways, 2013). Most reward packages revolve around providing outstanding customer service; however, sometimes the organisation also has reward packages for high performers. According to Herzberg’s assertions on the same, BA may need to do away with rewards that deal with performance as this creates short-termism among employees. Some workers may focus exclusively on the bonuses if they feel that this has significant implications on what they can get from the company. British Airways should follow Herzberg’s prescriptions by simply giving workers salaries and rewards that suit the level of work they do rather than use it as a basis of either increasing or decreasing motivation. Most hygiene factors lead to dissatisfaction if absent but when increased or improved upon, they do not lead to better outcomes; BA may thus be wasting resources when working on such a dimension (Weightman, 2008). The two-factor model also recognises that all human beings have an innate desire to grow and become better, and it is for this reason that organisations tend to implement training programs for workers. British Airways is no exception as it has an extensive training and development program for its workers with about 173,000 days annually dedicated to this effort (British Airways, 2013). Employees may go through training for typical elements of work especially the cabin crew; however, sometimes they may do it for persons in leadership roles. This is a remarkable strategy for the organisation because creating a leadership pipeline within can cause considerable motivation among employees who will have the incentive to stay on and develop. However, the organisation sometimes uses training for different reasons other than growth; in a recent cabin crew strike, it used training to prepare volunteer workers to take over for those who are absent. According to the Herzberg two-factor model, training in this sense would lead to less motivation at the workplace, as it would encourage individuals to think of it as a strategy for their replacement. They need to feel that their bosses are on their side, so British Airways may want to consider how it goes about this matter in the future. BA has gone a long way in ensuring that it makes its workers enjoy a series of other external/ hygiene factors like organisational policies on bullying, diversity, pension funds and industrial relations. It also has tax fee schemes, a club that allows employees to enjoy a series of fun events as well as sports events; the health and safety policy is also worth mentioning (British Airways, 2013). Although these factors may not necessarily heighten motivation, but they often contribute towards making the organisation seem like a great place to work. References Berent, G. and Anderko, L., 2011. ‘Solving the nurse faculty shortage: Exploring retention issues.’ Nurse Educator, 36(5), pp. 203-207. British Airways, 2013. The BA way in the workplace. Available at https://www.britishairways.com/cms/global/pdfs/corporate_responsibility_report_2006/the_BA_way_in_the_workplace.pdf [Accessed 17 October 2014] Casey, R., Desplas, N., Rossamier, J., Hilton, R., 2012. A test of the Hackman and Oldham model in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico and the United States. Journal of Excellence in Business Education, 1(1), 43. Griffin, R. and Moorhead, G., 2012. Organisational behavior. London: Routledge. Smith, D. and Sheilds, J., 2013. Factors related to social science workers’ job satisfaction: Revisiting Herzberg’s motivation to work. Administration in Social Work, 37(2), pp. 189-198. Weightman, J., 2008. The Employee Motivation Audit. Cambridge: Cambridge Strategy Publications Read More