How Managers Can Motivate Their Employees - Literature review Example

Running Headers: MOTIVATING OTHERS- LITERATURE REVIEW Name: Course: Institution: Tutor: Date: Introduction Motivation can be simply defined as the practice of influencing others. It is also defined as an act of provoking others to react either positively or negatively with regard to a particular issue. Many people consider the act of motivating others as a myth since it is said that an individual cannot be simply motivated by others, but motivation comes from within. The role of the motivators therefore, is to set up an environment in which people can motivate themselves. In order to set up such an environment, leaders need to critically assess and analyze what the motivational needs of a particular individual or group are. This essay will review the literature regarding motivating others and analyze the underlying frameworks, models and techniques. We will basically look at organizational motivation and how managers can motivate their employees. How managers can motivate their employees Motivation in the organizational setting can be considered as a catalyst that repulses eagerness to work without pressure among the employees (Macleod, D. 2009). To conclude that nobody can motivate employees at work is like saying that there are no influential leaders in the organization since motivation is considered as an important organizational element that drives ordinary employees to achieve uncommon goals in all fields of endeavours (Patton, M. 2002). People tend to work to their best in an environmental setting that makes them feel more valued, recognized and when they receive a pat on their backs or even a simple thank you for the job or task they performed well. These courtesies, though often assumed by many, offer much in terms of office morale and have the power to motivate the employees to go an extra mile. Some writers and theorists of motivation of employees conclude that it is impossible to motivate employees adequately based on the Maslow’s theory on Hierarchy of needs and the theory of hygiene needs, which was postulated by Herzberg, since these theories claim that human needs are unquenchable. For instance, Amabile and Kramer (2007) highlighted that any individual in the management recognize that their employees have their good and bad days and that, in most cases the reasons behind their ups and downs are unheard of. Abraham Maslow (1993), in his paper, A theory of Human Motivation, discusses about the human inherent curiosity. He sub-divided human needs into five groups of needs. The first group of human needs is the physiological needs, the second group comprises of the safety related needs, the third group of needs is the love or belonging to a society, then fourth group is that of esteem and finally self-actualization. The first group of human needs, physiological needs comprise of water, food, breathing, excretion, homeostasis sleep and sex. The second group includes security of, employment, body security, family safety, health safety, security of morality and security of resources. Love or belonging to the society simply means being in love or friendship with family or friends and having sexual intimacy. Esteem needs include respect by and for others, achievement, confidence and self esteem and those of self actualization comprise of creativity, lack of prejudice, problem solving, morality, acceptance of facts and spontaneity (Maslow, 1943) Roethlisberger and Dickson (2003) conducted a study, the Hawthorne study, which was aimed at establishing the impact of social factors or human relations on workers motivation. Employees’ interviews and survey research were conducted on a manufacturing company in the United Kingdom. Thirty questionnaires with questions concerning basic factors regarding motivation were asked. Another group of ten employees was interviewed using a structured interview method. Analysis of the collected data revealed that empathy from their employers would motivate them while others said that welfare packages like medical facilities, accommodation, pension scheme and organization transport system would motivate them. According to Mintezberg (1998) and Porter (1997) motivation is nothing much more than a secondary link in the chain characterized by management. In their view, both market and motivation are evolving in a connected relationship. This correlation is often referred to as the Contingency theory. This is a behavioral theory and claims that there is no single way to lead an organization, manage a company or make decisions. There is a set of interconnected factors that have to be applied in order to attain effective organizational management. However, some of the suggested ways include the critical path analysis and the analytic hierarchy process. Herzberg (1959) highlighted that we have basic needs, which he calls hygienic needs, which when not fulfilled, make us to be dissatisfied. However, meeting these needs does not satisfy us, but prevents us from being dissatisfied. He relates this to how man relates with hygiene. Hygiene is a medical terminology and is equivalent to the obligation to do something considered important, but does not necessarily contribute towards making a patient healthy, works towards preventing infection. Apart from the name hygienic needs, Herzberg also considers these needs to be maintenance needs. He said that there is a distinct set of needs which make us satisfied after being met. These set of needs is what he refers to as motivators (Herzberg 1959). An organizational manager does not have to meet all the employees’ needs before being considered as a motivator. However, all he is required to do is to identify the state of the mind of the employees while in office and talk over complaining employees’ predicaments to ensure all employees are happy. The trick however is to make them all happy. Mintzberg (1989) noted that as much as there are employees in an organization, different factors have to be considered in order to motivate them. What the management is required to do is to conduct an opinion survey on all employees regarding all matters of the organization. For example, a certain company in Glasgow recently carried out an opinion survey which was aimed at motivating employees after the company experienced a shortfall in its income. The survey required that the employees give their opinions concerning the company’s operations. The first question they were asked was whether the company should increase the employees’ salary by sacking some of its workers while the second question required that the employees give their views regarding whether the company should leave its employees’ population at status quo and reduce their salaries. The employees settled for reduced salaries and agreed to continue working as a family since in their view the shortfall in the company’s income was due to external factors such as competition. If the company management could have assumed that sacking other employees to increase the salaries of the retained workers would motivate the workers, they would have settled on a wrong decision which would in turn demoralize the workers. Herzberg (1987) classified motivational factors into two major categories: descriptive and contextual factors. Descriptive factors include competences, threats and opportunities and a sense of belonging, while contextual factors include organization strategy, working conditions and salary. Herzberg (1959) argued that factors that endow with satisfaction are absolutely like chalk and cheese from those that lead to disappointment. He highlighted that the positive factors, also known as motivation factors, meet human needs and include job satisfaction, personal development, recognition and achievement. Improving such factors in the organization can promote job satisfaction. Therefore, organizations have a major responsibility of motivating its employees through job satisfaction instead of pressurizing them or giving them rewards (Herzberg, 1959). However, low class employees consider salary increment as a major motivating factor. Levinson (1989) held that all managers must encourage and motivate their employees through integration of their individual needs with those of the organizations. It is certain that each employee has a set of objectives and aspirations to achieve through the organization, therefore, a responsible manager must help them realize these aspirations and objectives. Lewis-McClear and Taylor (1998) claim that employee contract violation may be a de-motivator and is closely associated with the employee’s’ intention to quit work. Motivation factors differ from one individual of group of individuals to another. For instance, bonus can initiate good performance, but previous experiences reveal that some bank managers hide cosmeticezed Annual Report and push forward the bad days. In order to receive more bonuses, they indulge in shoddy deals such as avoiding writing off bad debts and classifying them as debtors in order to get inflated turnovers. The liability thus falls on their successors. Myer-Briggs (1956) model concerns human differences. He noted that human beings differ in the way they think, view, perceive or feel, and in the way they see (Myers, 1980). Therefore, satisfying an employee requires that the manager knows each of the employees needs either through interviewing or observation. Eduard Spranger, a psychologist, highlighted six values in human beings that are held in varying degrees. These consist of the theoretical values, social, utilitarian, individualistic, traditional values, and aesthetic. Therefore, an individuals top two values are the main drivers in life and have to be fulfilled in order to attain happiness in ones life (Spranger, 1955) Nohria et al (2008) highlighted that motivating employees starts with realizing that to work best, people have to be in a surrounding that provides them with the emotional drives to obtain, bond, understand and defend. Creativity is more essential in today’s knowledge economy than ever (Amabile, 1998). However, most companies innocently apply managerial practices that diminish it through crushing the intrinsic motivation of the employees, which is the strong internal desire to perform a task based on someone’s passions and interests. Managers do not necessarily kill creativity intentionally, but in pursuit of efficiency, productivity and control, creativity tends to be undermined. Mishra and McKendall (1993) proposed that in order to motivate employees and involve them in decision making, employees’ suggestion programs should be applied. These programs provide an opening to tap the resourcefulness and intelligence of the employees and in turn reap considerable cost savings. Employees psyche and motives in production have changed appreciably. Today, all employees all employees want a chance to prove their worth to the management. They no longer want to be ordered but shown the way, not to be drive but be moved, not to be paid but compensated (Mishra and McKendell, 1993) Conclusion Motivation means satisfying an individual’s needs or those of a group of individuals. Individual necessities diverge from one person to the other. According to Maslow’s theory physiological needs are considered first and therefore these implies that they have to be satisfied first before other needs. This fact has been heavily criticized since every person has different needs. Organizational employees have divergent needs and the management has the ability to motivate its employees adequately. It all starts from the hiring process. The manager should hire people who are willing to do the job you are offering. It is necessary to note that willingness affects the performance of an individual. Then the manager has to make its employees development a higher priority than even the rewards he intends to achieve from the organization in terms of profit. This is true because when people feel like their lives are significant to those they work for, productivity tends to soar high, which will then be followed by profits. Methods such as physical observation and psychometric test should be applied to inquire about the needs of the employees and identify motivators that can spurn employees to perform at their best. To some employees, motivation means fat salary, others working in a neat and clean environment, while to others, motivation is having a sense of belonging, recognition and having the opportunity to develop their careers further through adequate training. Some research studies also show that making the organizational objectives known to the employees makes them more motivated. Therefore, organizations should build a corporate culture, encourage team work and identify individual’s needs in order to ensure effective production. Various case studies reveal that employee motivation actually works to promote organizational effectiveness. Thus managers have the main responsibility of enabling motivation, which then makes employees to be self motivated and in turn find ways of praise, self reward and internal motivation. Indeed it is said that treat employees as owner and in turn they will make decisions and act as real owners. Reference Amabile, T. M. 1998. How To Kill Creativity. Harvard Business Review September- October 1998. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Publishing. Amabile, T. M. and Kramer, S. J. 2007. Inner Work Life: Understanding The Subtext Of Business Performance. Harvard Business Review May 2007. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Publishing. BBC News. 2009. Brown To "Ban Old Bonus System". Retrieved From, http: //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8277135.stm. 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