Motivation of Employees - Annotated Bibliography Example

Assignment 2: Annotated Bibliography Task: Giving a review on three sources for the topic motivation of employees Student’s Name: Course Code: The topic selected is the one on management and the specific question in this topic that requires address is ‘What is the best way to motivate people in an organisation?’ Motivation is the inner force that drives employees and people in the organisation to accomplish personal and organisational goals and objectives. Nohria, N., Groysberg, B., & Lee, L. (2008). Employee Motivation: A powerful new model. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 86, Issue. 7/8, p. 78-84. This is an article about employee motivation appearing in the Harvard Business Review of the July-August 2008 issue. The authors are renowned professionals in Business. Nohria is the dean of Harvard Business School, Groysberg is a professor of business administration at the same institution and Lee is a research director at the centre for research on corporate performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The article outlines the findings of these professionals on the research they carried out on employees from 300 fortune 500 companies. The research looked at to what extent the four drives; drive to acquire, drive to bond, drive to comprehend and drive to defend, influences employee motivation. It was found out that these indeed affect motivation but to varying levels. The research also established that fulfilling these four employee drives is anchored on the reward system, a culture of teamwork and collaboration, job designs that are meaningful and challenging, performance-management and resource allocation processes and the input of managers. The article elaborates that an employee is an emotional being with drives, and goes ahead to elaborate on how these drives can be realized in employees. This article is thus important in the essay best way of employee motivation. Mawoli, M. A., & Babandako, A. Y. (2011). An evaluation of staff Motivation, Dissatisfaction and job performance in an academic setting. Australian Journal of Business Management Research, 1(9), 1-13. This is an article in the Australian Journal of Business and Management Research. It is a research on the satisfaction and dissatisfaction levels of employees of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University. The authors of the article are both academic staff members in the department of Business administration in the same institution. 141 academic staffs were interviewed. Interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data. Guilford and Flrutcher’s formula was used to estimate sample size. The results indicate that in general the staffs are not dissatisfied but some little dissatisfaction was noted in such factors as relationship with supervisors, salary and supervision. It also reveals that the staffs are satifaied with the working conditions and this has helped on job performances. Although a larger sample size is necessary for the better of applying the findings to a larger scope. The research looks at the employees’ satisfaction with such factors as salary, company policy, working conditions, job security, personal life and relationship with subordinates and supervisors. This is the right mix that will be looked at in my essay in coming up with the best way of motivating employees. Ukandu, N. E., & Ukpere, W. I. (2011). Strategies to improve the level of employee motivation in the fast food outlets in Cape Town, South Africa. African Journal of Business Management, 5(28), 11521-11531. This is a research paper in the African Journal of Business Management on strategies to improve the level of employee motivation in the fast food outlets in Cape Town, South Africa. Ukandu is a staff member in the department of Business Administration in Cape Peninsula University of technology whereas Ukpere is a staff member of the University of Johannesburg, department of Industrial psychology and people management. this investigation utilised the case study approach where questionnaires were sent to employees of fast food outs in Cape town. The study revealed that most of the employees were not motivated in their work places citing little salary, long working hours, lack of freedom to make input in the running of the outlets, lack of training and lack of personal growth. The research was elaborate in finding out information from the workers as the sample size was large and the research questions elaborate. What is the best way to motivate people in organisations?  Provide an example of an organisation which is addressing employee motivation Introduction Employee motivation is not only important for better performance of an organisation but for the survival of the same (Lindner, 1998). This is because unmotivated employees can bring the organisation to its knees as they are likely to put less effort in their jobs, sneak out of the workplace, exit the organisation whenever an opportunity arises and give out low quality work (Valencia, 2015). Motivation in any organisation is very paramount and that is the reason as to why I have selected this topic. This essay will discuss ways of best motivating the workforce within the organisation. A proper and effective reward system within an organisation can go a long way in motivating the workforce. A well-compensated workforce produces high quality jobs. In a research carried out to point out causes of dissatisfaction of employees in an academic setting salary ranked second among such factors (Mawoli and Babandako, 2011). The employees’ desire to acquire can be easily met by a reward system that rewards performance and easily picks out performers and non-performers (Nohria, Groysberg and Lee, 2008). A good example of an organisation that was saved from collapse through good human resource management and most specifically a good reward system is the National Westminster Bank (NatWest). The stock price of NatWest was falling rapidly owing to poor management but by 2000 the royal bank of Scotland acquired NatWest for £12 billion (Harding and Rovit, 2004). By this time the reward system in place was poor as it was guided by politics, status and employee tenure. The royal bank of Scotland came up with a new reward system that put in place managers for specific goals and rewarded performance. This reward though tough it was embraced by employees since it recognized individual effort (Nohria, Groysberg and Lee, 2008). Thus a reasonable reward system with proper salaries and incentive programmes can go a long way in motivating employees. Remunerating employees well and giving them bonuses and fringe benefits indicates to employees that their efforts are being recognized (Ukandu and Ukpere, 2011) thus motivated. In another research the primary motivator of employees was found to be money (Valencia, 2015). When employees feel that they are equitably and fairly compensated, they tend to be attracted more to the job (Negash, Zewude and Megarsa, 2014). People may work for other reasons as well, but take away the money and look at the number turning up for work. At NatWest bank performance related pay (PRP) program is utilised to motivate employees (Uzonna, 2013). Another way of motivating employees can be found in job enrichment. Jobs designed in a way making them look meaningful, interesting and challenging motivate employees. Employees are willing to work on challenge tasks because after accomplishing such tasks they are motivated to do even more (Nohria, Groysberg and Lee, 2008). Jobs can be enriched in so many ways so as to appeal to employees; promotions, affording the employees autonomy to decide on work methods, materials and even the sequence of operations. Involving workers in decision making in the production process and giving workers a feeling of personal responsibility over their tasks will go a long way in making the job appear appealing to employees thus ending up motivating them (Uzonna, 2013). At NatWest bank performers are rewarded by promotions, this promotion on the job brings into the attention of the employee the new challenges associated with the job making it even more interesting to the employee (Uzonna, 2013). Employees are also motivated when they feel as part of the team. So organisations can achieve this by establishing an organisational culture which promotes teamwork, collaboration, friendship and openness (Nohria, Groysberg and Lee, 2008). When the Royal bank of Scotland took over the management of NatWest bank it was able to create a culture where employees from the two institutions came together to work on well-defined cost-savings and revenue-growth projects. This made employees to collaborate and work as a team and in so doing employees are able to bond and have a sense of belonging. This team work in NatWest bank is even depicted in the top management where the executive committee comprising of executives from Royal Bank of Scotland and those from NatWest bank meet every Monday morning to address outstanding issues. The decision of building a state of the art business school facility, next to its corporate campus, is a noble decision to enable employees to meet and bond as the facility is accessible to employees (Nohria, Groysberg and Lee, 2008). Enhanced team relations can lead to increased productivity and raised morale levels leading to a much happier workforce that is motivated (Uzonna, 2013). Recognition of efforts of employees can also go a long way in motivating workers within an organisation. Recognising an employee and his or her efforts is very essential in boosting job satisfaction and work motivation (Manzoor, 2012). Recognition is the organisation appreciating work done by the team or team members by expressing gratitude for extra effort put in by employees either informally (oral) or formally through written notes. It is important to provide a recognition or praise to employees whenever they perform exemplary work as this will motivate the employees or teams to repeat the same behaviour as well as motivating other employees to emulate the behaviour (Negash, Zewude and Megarsa, 2014). NatWest bank recognises employee performance by rewarding extra ordinary performances through the performance related pay; a bonus for extra efforts put in by employees. It also achieves this end of recognition by rewarding the high performers with promotions (Uzonna, 2013). Non-cash rewards in form of praise are vital for motivating employees to give exceptional performance in whatever they do. Employees want and need recognition and non-cash rewards can effectively achieve this. In a research carried on factors contributing to job motivation 50% of the respondents said that they would like the organisation to recognise their performance by promoting them (Uzonna, 2013). Better working conditions are another way of ensuring that workers are motivated within the organisation. Clean and well organised structures including lighting within the working environment encourages workers to stay at their work stations for longer and thus produce more and in a better way. If the workplace is deemed by the employee as being unclean ad unsafe the dissatisfaction sets in and the employee is demotivated (Negash, Zewude and Megarsa, 2014). At NatWest bank the working conditions are better with investments in technology to make employees work effectively. NatWest bank has also invested in training her employees on safety dubbed safety training (Uzonna, 2013). This is an indication that the bank is devoted to ensuring that the environment in which her employees work is safe. This goes a long way in motivating the employees since they have a feeling that the organisation is concerned with the well-being of its employees. Training and offering the employees a chance of career progression is another important way of encouraging employees to stick to the organisation and do better. Showing employees on how to perform specific tasks within the organisation and demonstrating to them on how to cope in the workplace makes the employs less intimidated and motivated (Uzonna, 2013). NatWest bank has invested in training its employees in making them motivated where they train employees on how to perform specific tasks and giving them knowledge, skill and attitudes required for a new task or job (Uzonna, 2013). Employees are motivated more if they know they are working towards something. Motivate employees by training them and equipping them with skills that they require to progress in their careers because preparing employees to develop is also beneficial to the organisation as this motivates employees to perform exemplary. Involving the employees in decision making will also go a long way in motivating employees as they feel part of the tasks they are implementing (Manzoor, 2012). Conclusion In conclusion, motivation will not only make employees perform better but will also enable the organisation to retain its best employees. Employees are motivated by a different mix of the discussed factors so it is important for managers to know which combinations best suit their employees and apply them. Motivated employees are more likely to be more productive than the non-motivated ones. Unless and until such a point that employees of an organisation feel that they are satisfied, encouraged and motivated enough to fulfil organisation objectives, no organisation can progress. Demotivated employees are always looking for an exit strategy. References Harding, D., and Rovit, S. (2004). Mastering the merger: Four critical decisions that make or break the deal. Harvard: Harvard Business School Press. Lindner, J. R. (1998). Understanding employee motivation. Extension Journal, 36(3), p. 23-26. Manzoor, R. (2012). Impact of employees motivation on organizational effectiveness. Business Management and Strategy, 3(1), 1-12. Mawoli, M. A., & Babandako, A. Y. (2011). An evaluation of staff Motivation, Dissatisfaction and job performance in an academic setting. Australian Journal of Business Management Research, 1(9), 1-13. Negash, R., Zewude, S., and Megarsa, R. (2014). The effect of compensation on employees motivation in Jimma University academic staff. Basic Research Journal of Business Management and Accounts, 3(2), 17-27. Nohria, N., Groysberg, B., & Lee, L. (2008). Employee Motivation: A powerful new model. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 86, Issue. 7/8, p. 78-84. Ukandu, N. E., & Ukpere, W. I. (2011). Strategies to improve the level of employee motivation in the fast food outlets in Cape Town, South Africa. African Journal of Business Management, 5(28), 11521-11531. Uzonna, U. R. (2013). Impact of motivation on employees’ performance: A case study of CreditWest bank, Cyprus. Journal of Economics and International Finance, 5(5), 199- 211. Valencia, R. (2015). Motivation and productivity in the workplace. Westminster. Read More