Implementing Motivation Theories in Workplace - Essay Example

Running Head: IMPLEMENTING MOTIVATION THEORIES IN WORKPLACE Critically Assess The Difficulties Of Implementing Motivation Theories In TheModern Workplace [Writer's Name] [Name of Institute] Critically Assess The Difficulties Of Implementing Motivation Theories In The Modern Workplace Motivation At Workplace - Introduction According to Craig (1985, Pg 230-231) the work of the manager in the office is to get the job completed through workers. For this the manager ought to be proficient to motivate workers. However that is easier said than done! Motivation theory and practice are complex topics touching on numerous disciplines. In spite of vast study, applied as well as basic, the topic of motivation is not evidently implicit and more frequently than not badly experienced. To comprehend motivation one should be aware of human nature itself. Along with there lies the problem. Human nature can be extremely easy, however very complicated too. A consideration and approval of this is a precondition to effectual employee motivation in the workplace and consequently efficient leadership and management. My piece of writing on motivation theory and practice focus on different theories concerning human nature in common and motivation in particular. Fairly distant from the advantage and ethical worth of a selfless approach to treating colleagues as human beings and valuing human self-respect in all its types, study and observation prove that well motivated workers are more creative and prolific. Motivation Theories And Their Implementation At The Workplace A lot of psychologists over the years have made efforts to describe and categorise what motivates people. This became chiefly significant after the Second World War as the Western nations attempted to reconstruct their shattered industrial economies, and all through the '50s and '60s much was investigated and written regarding Human Relations. It was recognised that people who labored in organizations were more than just numbers and, if correctly handled, might not merely generate more, but also add extra. Herzberg's Motivation - Hygiene Theory Frederick Herzberg searched and practiced clinical psychology in Pittsburgh, where he researched the work-related motivations of thousands of workers.He determined that there were two types of motivation: Hygiene Factors: that can de-motivate if they are not present - such as supervision, interpersonal relations, physical working conditions, and salary. Hygiene Factors influence the level of dissatisfaction, but are seldom referred as originators of job satisfaction (Herzberg, 2003, Pg 87-88). Motivation Factors: that will motivate if they are present - such as achievement, advancement, recognition and responsibility. Dissatisfaction isn't usually responsible on Motivation Factors, but they are quoted as the basis of job satisfaction. (Motivation Theories, Online, PG 1) Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs Abraham Maslow was an American behavioural psychologist who worked both in academia and industry. He issued a number of Human Relations books until the early '70's, but it was his first book, "Motivation and Personality", published in 1943, that put out his thought of the hierarchy of human wants. The Hierarchy Of Needs Maslow disagreed that the factors that compel or motivate people to perform lie on an ascending scale. Once a group or order of needs is satisfied, the individual will not be motivated by more of the same, but will search to satisfy top order needs. What's more, a higher order need will not be a motivator if lower order needs stay unmet (Pintrich & Schunk, 2001, Pg 24-25). Maslow classified five orders of needs, listed in ascending significance: Physiological According to this order of need, the fundamental endurance necessities of affection, protection and food Security should be motivated. These comprise the requirements we have for oxygen, water, protein, salt, carbohydrates, calcium, and additional minerals and vitamins. They in additionally comprise the need to uphold a pH balance and temperature (98.6 or close to it). As well, there's the needs to be energetic, to relax, to be asleep, to get free of wastes (like CO2,sweat, urine, and feces), to keep away from pain, and to have sex. Protection From Danger Of Threat This needs, social relations with others, expressed as friendship comradeship or love is the fundamentals of motivation. When the physiological needs are mainly taken care of, this second cover of needs approaches. You will become more and more involved in finding secure conditions, steadiness, and defense. You might build up a need for arrangement, for order, some confines. Self-Respect If there is no wisdom of individual value, esteem and self-government, there will not be at all any motivation. When physiological needs and safety needs are, generally, taken worry of, a third cover starts to turn up. You start to feel the need for friends, a dearest one, children, loving relationships in common, even a wisdom of community. Looked at unconstructively, you become rising vulnerable to being alone and social worries. Self-Actualisation The sense of attaining ones complete potential is one important need for motivation. Next, we begin to look for a little self-esteem. Maslow noted two descriptions of respect need, a minor one and a major one. The minor one is the need for the admiration of others, the need for position, reputation, glory, gratitude, attention, status, appreciation, and self-esteem, even supremacy. The major form engages the need for self-confidence, including such thoughts as self-assurance, capability, accomplishment, mastery, self-government, and autonomy. Note that this is the "major" form because, contradictory the esteem of others, once you have self-respect, it's plenty difficult to drop! Of course, Maslow's ideas were applied to the complete variety of human knowledge, while for most us, Physiological and Security needs are generally met to a huge degree. But latest history has shown that when individuals are dispossessed, hungry and under threat, all social systems and self-respect crack down. Although this, Maslow's hierarchy still concerns to present commercial life, and managers would do well to think in these conditions when trying to motivate employees (Petri & John, Pg 48-49). Elton Mayo - Hawthorne Experiments The Hawthorne learning or experiments were performed from 1927 to 1932. Particularly Mayo wanted to find out what result exhaustion and repetitiveness had on job production and how to manage them through such variables as breaks, rest, working hours, temperature and humidity. In the course he tripped upon a code of human motivation that would assist to reform the theory and practice of management (Craig, 1985, Pg 302). Mayo conducted an experiment on six women working in a factory and managed their working conditions variables. Mayo revealed a basic theory that appears obvious today. Workplaces are social surroundings and in them, people are much more motivated by much more than economic selfishness. He fulfilled that all features of that industrial environment holds social value. When women were singled out from the rest of the factory staff, it lifted their self-worth. When they were permitted to have a friendly connection with their managers, they felt better off at work. When the supervisor talked about changes to be made in advance with them, they felt like constituent of the team. The supervisor had protected their teamwork and devotion; it explicated why efficiency rose even when he took aside their rest breaks (Leung, 1999, Pg1). McGregor Theory X And Theory Y McGregor developed two theories of human behaviour at work: Theory and X and Theory Y. He did not entail that workers would be one type or the other. Relatively, he saw the two theories as two boundaries - with an entire range of likely behaviours in between. Theory X employees could be depicted as follows: - Individuals who detest work and avoid it where possible - Individuals, who lack aim, dislike accountability and choose to be led - Individuals who wish protection The management insinuations for Theory X employees were that, to attain organisational objectives, a business would need to enforce a management system of compulsion, power and penalty. Theory Y employees were characterised by McGregor as: - Think of effort at work as just like rest or play - Common people who do not dislike work. Depending on the working conditions, work could be considered a basis of satisfaction or penalty. These suppositions are based on social science studies which has been carried out, and show the potential which is there in man and which organisations should identify in order to become more efficient (Petri, 2003, Pg 152-153). According to McGregor, it is part of the manager's job to apply power, and there are cases in which this is the mere technique of attaining the preferred outcomes because subordinates do not consent that the ends are wanted. Though, in circumstances where it is feasible to get obligation to objectives, it is fair to clarify the subject completely so that workers clasp the reason of an act. They will then put forth self-direction and control to do better performance - quite probable by better techniques - than if they had only been carrying out and order that they did not fully comprehend. McGregor understand that a number of the theories he has put ahead are unrealisable in performance, but needs managers to put into practice the essential supposition that employees will add more to the organization if they are treated as accountable and appreciated workers (Motivation Theories, Online, Pg 1-2). Frederick Winslow Taylor By far the mainly powerful person of the time and someone who has had an impression on administration service practice as well as and organization thought up to present day was F.W. Taylor. At the time of Taylor's work, a usual manager would have a very little connection with the goings-on of the factory. Normally, a foreman would be given the whole liability for producing goods insisted by the salesman. Under these circumstances, workmen used what tools they had or could get and took up techniques that suited their personal approach of work. The major fundamentals of his theory were: Management is a factual science. Carrying out tests and observation could expose the explanation to the difficulty of formative fair work values and performances. From this, it pursues, that there is "one correct way" for work to be executed. The range of employees is a science. Taylor's "first rate worker" was somebody appropriate for the work. It was management's function to conclude the type of work for which a worker was most suitable, and to employ and allocate workers consequently. Employees are to be developed and skilled. It is management's job to not only persuade a work that can be executed professionally, but administration is accountable for teaching the worker as to how the work is to be achieved and for keeping posted performances as better ones are formed. This regulates how the work is executed in the most excellent method. Scientific management is teamwork of workforce and managers. Managers are not accountable for implementation of work, but they are accountable for how the work is completed. Arrangement, preparation, methods, and guidance are tasks of the manager. Not astonishingly, there was sturdy condemnation of this theory that intimidates human beings like machines and presumes that employees are contented by money only (Gorman, 2003, Pg 59-60). Taylor's impact has been so immense because he developed an idea of work design, work measurement, production control and other functions, that totally altered the nature of industry. Before scientific management, departments such as work-study, personnel, maintenance and quality control do not existed. His approaches confirmed to be very booming (Pintrich & Schunk, 2001, Pg 368-369). Conclusion From the studies, I have concluded that these theories or theorist's were not wrong at their time but as we can see that in this contemporary world and the era of globalization, none of the organization can stick to these theories as most of them had flaws, we can pick good and positive aspects from these and still can implement them. This world now is moving so quickly that theories are mostly cannot be applied; there are instant solutions to the problems. One more important conclusion made is that any company has many different needs and priorities as there are workers in all the divisions of any organisation, so individual theory cannot be put into practice for all the workers at the same time considering their needs too. The motivation of individuals also changes from time to time and so is the motivational factor. Bibliography Craig C. Pinder; Work Motivation-Theory, Issues, and Applications, Review author[s]: Ricky W. Griffin, Sandy J. Wayne, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Jun., 1985), pp. 299-302. Gorman Phil; Motivation and Emotion, Routledge, New York, (2003). Page Number: 58-62. Herzberg F: One more time: How do you motivate employees Harvard Business Review 2003, 81(1): Pg 87-96. Leung Carmen; Motivation theories application, (August 27, 1999). Motivation Theories, Online: http://www.accel-team.com/motivation/theory_01.html Motivation Theories, Online: http://www.chimaeraconsulting.com/motivation.htm#herzberg Motivation Theories, Online:http://weblog.cemper.com/a/200401/10-top-motivation-theories-explained-and-compared.php Petri L. Herbert, John M. Govern; Motivation: Theory, Research, and Applications (5th edition), Wadsworth Pub Co, (August 2003), ISBN: 0534568807. Pg 6-15, 36-52, 112-161. Pintrich R. Paul, Schunk H. Dale; Motivation in Education: Theory, Research, and Applications; Prentice Hall; 2 edition, (October 10, 2001), ISBN: 0130160091. Pg 21-25, 342-380. Read More