What best explains people's willingness to work hard - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages anging workplace; motivated employees do not leave when the company is trying to survive in the market, and motivated employees are more productive (ONeil 1994). If the managers want to be effective, they need to understand what drives people work better. It is the complex task and requires the individual approach to every single employee. For example, the research shows that as employees earn more, money becomes less motivating and as they get older the interesting job is of higher value to them. Understanding what motivates people has been analyzed by many theorists. Adam states that employees want to find the balance between themselves and other employees – equity is when employee’s outcomes is equal to inputs and is equal to outcomes of the other employees. Maslow believed that employees have five levels of needs: basic, safety, social, ego and self-actualizing. At first the lower level needs should be satisfied in order for employees to be motivated. Herzberg divided motivation into two sections: motivators (achievement, recognition) and hygienes (pay, security). Schein has analyzed motivation from the standpoint of employees and has based his judgment on expectation theory – if the expectations are met, the individual is satisfied and remains in the company while if the expectations are not met, the individual either leaves or deems his expectations as unrealistic or unimportant and stays. McGregor has developed two theories: X and Y describing two different attitudes to workforce motivation and has left it up to managers to decide which one is more appropriate for the given company. Each of these theories has its advantages and disadvantages.
Interestingly, Maslow has developed his motivation theory when he observed the behavior of monkey – he noticed that some on the needs take precedence over others. For example, thirst is stronger need than hunger. He continued this idea and created the hierarchy of needs with broader layers:
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