Motivation and Managing Diversity in Todays Era - Assignment Example

Motivation and Managing Diversity In today’s era the need of the organizations to have diverse workforce is coupled with the successful and continuous quality improvement initiatives. Diverse workforce is considered as one of the most important assets, and in that the contribution of each and every member is valued and respected. Diverse workforce in any organization helps to synthesize variety of innovative ideas and develop unique ways of doing tasks that leads to their successful completion. Human resource department in the organizations build such type of policies and strategies that create an environment to get the best out of each individual of the diverse workforce. A diverse and multicultural workforce refers to the similarities and difference among employees in terms of age, cultural background, physical abilities and disabilities, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. However, diverse workforce in any organization is of extreme importance because of the fact that it comprises of people from different cultures, different backgrounds, race, ethnicity and different expertise. When all these aspects are pooled together and coupled with each other, it gives rise to innovation and success, as all members, according to their level of ability and in their own capacity, contribute towards the achievement of a common goal. Thus, we can say that diverse workforce has its significance and its own benefits. Most of the people consider it as a challenge but on the other hand, many multinational companies are deriving maximum advantages out of each individual constituting a diverse workforce. It is maintained by most of the organizations that the best teams have more consistency and respect for other team members, are not afraid of putting forth innovative ideas and are not risk averse. Furthermore, teams that bring together different experiences and perspectives on the table have a higher probability of being more innovative. In any case, as the workforce becomes more diverse, organizations relying heavily on teams will have high productivity and efficiency. Managing workforce diversity is a very vital issue these days, not only managing them is important but maintaining the motivation level to such an extent that they work hard and devotedly towards achieving their goal, is also mandatory. So, this takes us towards two important points i.e. managing the diverse workforce and maintaining the enthusiasm level of the staff to make them work effectively at a work place. Managing the diverse workforce is on the head of the human resource department and the respective supervisors of the teams. They both need to design such strategies which not only are consistent with the demands of the employees, but also ensure increased motivation level in them. There are several motivational theories that are proposed by different scholars in different times. Motivation refers to the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction and persistence of effort towards attaining a goal (Robbins and Judge, 2003). So, three key elements are intensity, direction and persistence. Intensity basically refers to how hard a person tries to achieve his goal. High intensity is no more beneficial if it is not in the direction that benefits the organization. Effort, that is directed towards and consistent with the organizational goals, is the kind of attempt that the individuals constituting a workforce should be seeking for. Coming to the motivation theories the most basic theory which was proposed by Abraham Maslow is the hierarchy of needs (Simons et al., 1987). In addition to this theory, X and Y and Two Factor Theory are also worth mentioning. These were the old theories of motivation. Some contemporary theories of motivation that have organizational implications include McClelland’s theory of need, Cognitive Evaluation Theory and Goal Setting Theory. McClelland theory of need focuses on three types of needs; need for achievement that refers to the will and drive in an individual to excel and to succeed. Then is the need for power, that is to make the team members constituting the diverse workforce to behave in a way they have never behaved otherwise, and then comes the need for affiliation that refers towards developing close and interpersonal relationships. This takes us to the fact that the individuals in the organizations working either in the form of teams or individually have different types of needs and they vary from individual to individual (Stahl & Harrell, 1981). High achievers who are at higher degree of need of achievement prefer to solve their problems and they always choose the task of medium difficulty so that they attain success in doing that task and achieve their intended goal. Individuals having a need of power want to take the charge and they want to lead people, and those having need for affiliation prefer to get into friendly relationships with their team members and prefer cooperative situations rather than competitive ones. Thus, this takes us to the point that giving the individuals such jobs that satisfy their needs will definitely lead towards high productivity and efficiency. For high achievers, jobs having personal responsibility, feedback and moderate risks is preferable because they can excel well in their field if the job has all these qualities. As such jobs lead towards the fulfillment of their need, thus, this increases the motivation level and so the productivity. Another most important theory that explains the motivation among the employees is the Cognitive Evaluation Theory. It says that when extrinsic rewards are given such as pay, bonuses and promotions then they undermine the intrinsic rewards such as achievement, responsibility and competence. Individuals, when subjected to extrinsic and tangible rewards, focus more on them than on intangible intrinsic rewards and thus, this decreases the motivation level. With tangible rewards they focus more on the reward than on the task, but with intrinsic rewards they focus more on the task (Deci and Ryan, 1991). For having an increased level of motivation in the employees it is important to give them intrinsic rewards such as a sense of achievement by praising their task as well as extrinsic rewards in the form of pay and promotions. Goal Setting Theory is one of the theories that best explains this phenomenon. It says that setting SMART goals meaning specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound goals help individuals to strive hard and with highest degree of motivation level towards achieving their intended goals (Ghebre, 2009). Reinforcement in the form of rewards is also one of the effective ways of increasing the motivation level among the employees. However, discussion about motivation theories is not enough until we discuss the ways of motivating the employees in order to create an effective workforce. The economy of UK is an amalgamation of SMEs as well as of large organizations. In the contemporary times they are more inclined towards employing diverse workforce as they think that they can have maximum benefit out of them. It is the nature of human kind that he does not work well until he is given some type of rewards, either an appreciation or promotion. Whatever, the nature of reward may be, if it is increasing the motivation level among the employees and is making them progress and strive hard towards achieving their goal and then it means it is in the best interest of not only the organization but the employee as well. However, in the context of UK, the organizations, specifically human resource departments, have employed various strategies to increase motivation level of their employees with an aim to have effective workforce. Most of the people designing the strategies are of the view that motivation is not only dependent on the tangible reward i.e. money. There are many ways with which the motivation level among the employees can be increased without making use of money. These ways can be an appreciation by the supervisor for the achievement, giving a round of applause, one-on-one coaching, training, giving job titles, providing good work environment, on the spot praise, giving leadership roles to those having higher degree of need of power, social gatherings, official gatherings in the form of dinner and lunch, outside seminars and many other ways like these can increase the motivation level of the employees and would be a form of rewarding them intrinsically rather than extrinsically (eHow, 2003). However, among most of the developed economies of the world, UK is worth mentioning. The progress of its economy is largely attributed to the integrated SMEs and many multinational organizations operating there. It is very important for the organizations to retain their employees and to motivate them in a way that they perform at their best. Most of the organizations, specifically in UK, are designing such type of strategies that not only enhance the motivation level of the employees but also make them work in the best interest of the organization. These strategies reflect the management of the diverse workforce and also monitoring of their motivation level to create an effective staff. However, when we talk about the policies introduced by the organizations in UK, it includes providing an open and good working environment where each and every employee can have their own say. When employees are given the opportunity to give their suggestions and innovative ideas openly, they feel more valued and respected and thus, it enhances the motivation level in them. Organizations communicate their expectations explicitly and honestly to the employees so that they can have clear understanding about what is expected of them in terms of their responsibilities and duties. This builds their confidence and hence, their motivation level gets alleviated. Similarly, managers and supervisors praise their employees when they present and innovative ideas or give any useful suggestion, giving them a feeling of being a valued asset of the organization. However, praising the employees and giving them importance in taking any useful decision or during solving organizations’ specific problems, makes them realize their worth. Not only increasing the motivation level of the employees, for creating an effective staff, is important but managing the diverse workforce is also an important aspect. Keeping in view this need of the organizations supervisors and managers are giving special importance towards managing these diverse workforce teams. However, when individuals work in a group it does not matter that what people perceive about them, but what they perceive about each other in a group matters a lot. Managers need to identify the uniqueness of each and every individual and their capabilities, while at the same time keeping them focused on achieving their goal. This cannot be achieved until and unless the teams are managed properly by the managers. However, when people from different backgrounds work together it is the interaction between them that matters a lot and it affects the productivity. So while managing the diverse workforce this thing should be taken into account. Creating and managing the diverse workforce is of extreme importance as the employees constituting the teams have different skills set and knowledge background. It is not possible that each and every individual must have every capability required for doing a job. Formulation of diverse workforce teams make them strive hard towards achieving their goals by using their respective expertise in their area of interest and thus, leading towards the successful completion of the projects. Moreover, individuals from different cultures and backgrounds, when work together, make the organization derive maximum benefit. This helps the organization to have a broader picture of each and every issue under study (Brodie, 2000). There are several benefits as well as drawbacks associated with the diverse workforce teams. Developing the teams will increase the involvement of each and every individual working in a group, while at the same time social loafing is also one of the problems of teams that needs to be addressed. Another important aspect of diverse work teams is that when individuals from different backgrounds are grouped together they give rise to the innovation and creativity which is mandatory for the organizations in order to have a competitive edge (Mork, 1999). Lack of job satisfaction is one of the problems of the employees working inside the organizations. Individuals, who work together to attain a certain goal, are recurrently rising. The energy and enthusiasm is increased between the team members when they interact together frequently. When this energy is utilized, it produces results which positively impacts on motivation and leads to even more success. However, in addition to the greater customer satisfaction, diverse skills set and knowledge of the individuals constituting the work teams is also an important aspect through which the organizations derive maximum benefits. In addition to this, those organizations that rely heavily on the research and development, for example pharmaceutical companies, prefer to have diverse workforce teams. Main reason behind that is single individual cannot carry out such a lengthy process of conducting a research alone and that is why the teams are made in order to enhance their speed thus, leading towards the high quality and innovative work attributed by a successful completion. Another benefit that the employees are having from being a part of a group is the fast learning of each and every phenomenon they are working on. When people from different areas are grouped together they have a sense of competition between them and thus, teams give rise to healthy competition amongst themselves (Haworth, 2003). Thus, keeping in view all these benefits many more organizations are moving towards developing diverse workforce teams and are relying heavily on people belonging from different backgrounds having diverse experiences in order to have effective and innovative business solutions. The inclination of the organizations either at a national level or at international level, a private company or a public sector company, a small enterprise or a huge corporation, is more towards developing and managing diverse workforce. However, managing them is not only the problem that organizations need to cater for, but proper monitoring of their performance is also important. If they perform up to the mark, keeping in view the quality improvement as their important objective, then the administration of rewards in order to increase their motivation level is mandatory. Organizations are adopting different ways of rewarding their employees but both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards are of extreme importance. In order to get maximum out of each individual constituting the team, companies develop such strategies and introduce such polices that are consistent with their demands and that help them in increasing their motivation level so that they can strive hard towards achieving their organizational goals. However, to sum up we can say that if the organizations want to have a competitive edge and want to have high profitability they should focus on managing the diverse workforce and should prefer work teams in their organizations to get their task complete. In addition to this, the motivation level of the employees should not fall as they contribute a lot towards making the organization occupy a successful place in the market. Various theories proposed by different theorists also emphasized the importance of developing the motivation level of the employees to an extent that helps them in achieving their goal and that makes them feel valued and respected at the workplace. They also emphasized on the intrinsic and extrinsic reward administration which is considered an important tool for getting maximum benefit out of the work teams. Thus, if the organizations want to retain their employees, they must develop useful strategies to enhance their motivation level and should introduce attractive rewards that motivate the employee to concentrate on the task. Secondly, managing them is also important as everything depends on their morale and will of doing the task in a way that earns maximum profits for them. However, after analyzing the ways employed by the organizations in UK we understood how the diverse workforce with increased level of motivation can increase the level of output of any organization. As already mentioned that diverse workforce at workplace constitute of people belonging to different backgrounds and expertise and they together can synthesize something very innovative and develop creative and constructive approach towards solving their problems. There are many benefits that the organizations are deriving by employing diverse workforce teams and inculcating in them the team spirit. References: Brodie.D., 2007. Six key benefits of team work. [online] Available at: [Accessed 10 November, 2010]. Deci, E.L. & Ryan, R.M., 1991, Motivation and Work Behavior. 5th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc. Ehow.com, 2003. How to Motivate Employees. [online] Available at: [Accessed 10 November, 2010] Ghebre, V., 2009. Five Basics of the Goal Setting Theory. [online] Available at: [accessed 10 November, 2010]. Harrell, A.M. & Stahl, M.J., 1981. A behavioral decision theory approach for measuring McClellands trichotomy of needs, Journal of Applied Psychology, 66(2) pp. 242-247 Haworth, M., 2003. Motivating Employees: Ten ways to start you off [Online] Available at: [accessed 10 November, 2010] Mork, R., 1999. Seven key benefits of team work. [Online] Available at: [accessed 10 November, 2010] Simons, J.A., Irwin, D.B. & Drinnien, B.A., 1987, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Psychology - The Search for Understanding, West Publishing Company, New York Read More