Theories of Employee Motivation - Coursework Example

Motivation Plan Motivation Plan Employee motivation, satisfaction and performance become a mystery to many managers. Understanding how motivation affects employee performance and satisfaction and how to use the same to improve the organization’s performance is vital to any department. Organizations aiming at improving employees’ performance using motivation need a system in place that consistently rewards employees’ efforts. However, not all the employees would have the same response to motivation. Every person has his or her likes and dislikes in varied proportions, passions, interests, and desires (Fernandez & Pitts, 2011). Any successful managers such as the Sergeant have to learn how to identify what motivates their employees and how to leverage such motives to fulfill the organizational goals simultaneously with those of each employee. The key approaches employed by leaders to employee motivation include satisfaction, appreciation, inspiration, recognition and compensation as outlined in the following motivational approaches: Employee motivation building by satisfaction. The only way to generate and sustain considerably high profits is to build an attractive work environment that focuses and keeps talented employees in the organization’s system safe from poaching by other firms (Heinrichs, Oser & Lovat, 2013). They have to be always motivated to show up and perform at their highest level of excellence and commitment towards the realization of the organization’s objectives. The relationship between employee motivation and satisfaction is virtually important for an organization. It goes beyond just having a happier and jovial workforce since there exists an undeniable link between motivated, employee and customer satisfaction. Focus on creating a satisfied and motivated employee body will translate to customer satisfaction. Employee motivations through appreciation- managers sometimes sabotage employee motivation unknowingly by failing to recognize their positive behaviors and achievements. These normally results in employee confusion of not knowing whether they are delivering satisfactorily or not in their duties. Well-informed managers will always improve their employees’ performance through motivation by rewarding those with outstanding performances. This can include appreciation, a hand-written note or a quick comment/ mentioning in the hall. While showing appreciation, managers should be specific to the employees who have done exemplary well by naming names not just generalizing (Korzynski, 2013). Being specific make the employee feels important, and he or she realizes that their action get noticed. These naturally results in a high level of employee motivation. Employee motivation by inspiration- leadership is the greatest source of inspiration. Inspiration includes the company’s mission, purpose, and goals. People always want to associate themselves with an organization optimistic about its vision, which stands for something and that which provides meaningful services to its clients. A leader who wants to lead an inspired, mission-guided organization must consider the following and watch the dramatic improvement in employee motivation. Must have a clear mission to guide the organizational operations, be excited and passionate about the organization’s mission. They should communicate the mission and its value to the target market (Fernandez & Pitts, 2011). They also have to ensure that everyone in the organization understands and relates the mission with, vision and operations, as well as individual values and goals. Employee motivation through recognition- most people will do for recognition what they will not do for money. Since most managers have known this, they use it as a secret weapon for employee motivation. Many employees feel motivated by having their names written on the wall, receive trophies of excellence at annual banquets or see their names in the company’s newsletter. These give them an emotional payoff to their actions (Korzynski, 2013). Managers such as the Sergeant must look ways of increasing employee motivation by recognizing their excellence performance at the workplace. Every time an individual or a group hits its target, ring a bell. Put up posters with photographs of exemplary teams and give out awards for attendance records. Despite this being inexpensive, it is a highly effective method of employee motivation. Employee motivation through compensation- some employees derive motivation from money. Employee motivation via this method can come in the form of salary increment, performance bonuses, profit sharing, commissions or any other extra benefits such as vacations, automobiles, or any other tangible items (Heinrichs, Oser & Lovat, 2013). These rewards will go to greater miles of motivating employees. Taking action on employee motivation: - It is vital to have in place a system that motivates employees, regardless of the chosen method. Managers should know that not every employee is motivated by the same factor, or a combination of factors (Korzynski, 2013). Offering a combination of the five factors- satisfaction, appreciation, recognition, compensation and inspiration ensures that the organization truly has something of substance to contribute towards the motivation of every employee. Motivation is what drives and stimulates individual’s commitment towards achieving results (Fernandez & Pitts, 2011). The factors that make up motivation are responsible for the increase in a person’s normal output level with the knowledge that they will receive rewards for their work. Many theories are put forth to explain motivation, each taking a distinctively different approach to contribute to this concept. These theories are better in understanding one’s role as a leader and the importance of motivating their employees. Some of the theories that relate to employee motivation include: The Maslow’s theory of needs- famously known as the hierarchy of needs, it is the most influential of the theories that have separated human basic needs into five categories placed in order, from the most fundamental to the least. They include physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization (Heinrichs, Oser & Lovat, 2013). Failure to meet physiological needs translates to no noticeable physical effect will be seen in a person. Failure to meet the needs related to safety, love or belonging and self-esteem would give no physical indication and leave a person tense and anxious. At the peak of Maslow needs is self-actualization that refers to the motivation of an individual in order to maximize their potential for their desire of self-fulfillment to become everything they are capable of becoming. The hierarchy of needs points that low order needs are satisfied before the higher order needs. Self-esteem and self-actualization may not be of much interest to a person who has inadequate security and physiological stress. The need for self-actualization, therefore, becomes important to be satisfied after the lower needs have been satisfied. Leaders must always strive to ensure that their employees’ lower level needs are met first for motivational reasons since it forms the foundation of self-esteem and actualization, a condition desired by everybody. Herzberg’s motivator or the hygiene theory- this theory presents a dual model of employee motivational factors. The two sets of motivating factors include factors that contribute to job satisfaction and the environmental or hygiene factors that contribute to job dissatisfaction. These two factors are not complete opposite, but they co-exist in perceptions. Factors that are in the positive motivation always lead to job satisfaction. They base around employees’ job descriptions and activities they do such as tackling challenging tasks competently, receiving recognitions, gaining responsibility as well as promotions and achieving goals. On the contrary, the environmental factors do not possess the same positive impacts on job satisfaction. They include company policy, working conditions, salaries and supervision that have an influence on job dissatisfaction. The factors neither motivates nor make employees satisfied with their job description, but their absence creates job dissatisfaction. To motivate employees effectively, it is, therefore, necessary to consider both motivating and environmental factors equally. Once these factors are properly addressed, they will ensure employee satisfaction and positive development of motivational factors that leads to job enrichment necessary for achieving high levels of organizational performance. Adam’s theory of equity: - This theory suggests that beyond the satisfaction of human needs, fair treatment in the workplace based on the employee effort ratio to rewards is also a need. Employees like comparing themselves with those around them in an attempt to assess whether they are valued fairly. Often employees would feel undervalued if they believe to contribute more than others do but not proportionately rewarded. Their level of motivation is directly proportional to the perception of fair treatment that they evaluate in their comparative manner. Individual shows demotivation from perceived unfairness in different ways such as silent effort reduction, disruption and hostility at times. For a good leader, this theory puts emphasis on an individual’s motivational influences that do not occur in isolation. High levels of demotivation and dissatisfaction in job may occur when employees feel that they are comparatively undervalued. Their motivation level would depend on the perceived fairness of treatment and rewards commensurate with their efforts. Motivational changes may occur even when a person’s environment is not varied but as a reaction, adjustments or changes made on other parts of the organization or staff. Many variables influence a person’s perception of their jobs and motivation to achieve a high-level performance. The hierarchy of needs, motivational effects of job enrichment and environmental factors as well as the influence of employees’ perception of fairness all provide appropriate tools to analyze motivational influences on jobs. They also help to formulate strategies that improve motivation, satisfaction and performance in a specific work environment. References Fernandez, S., & Pitts, D. (2011). Understanding Employee Motivation to Innovate: Evidence from Front Line Employees in United States Federal Agencies. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 70(2), 202-222. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8500.2011.00726.x Heinrichs, K., Oser, F., & Lovat, T. (2013). Handbook of moral motivation. Rotterdam: SensePublishers. Korzynski, P. (2013). Employee motivation in new working environment. International Journal of Academic Research, 5(5), 184-188. doi:10.7813/2075-4124.2013/5-5/b.28 Read More