What Best Explains Peoples Willingness to Work Hard - Essay Example

Motivation is the one of the major functions of each manager even though is largely ignored. In today’s economy the biggest responsibility HR managers have is to retain and motivate the valuable employees. People still leave the companies and are attracted to other opportunities and any attempts made to motivate better end up with failure. Most of the companies do not start thinking about motivation until they realize that something does wrong. Employees should be motivated for several reasons: motivated employees are valued in the continuously changing 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. Maslow 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: The physiological needs include such basics as need for water, air, sugar, rest, sleep and so on. Maslow believed that all individual have approximately the same physiological needs but they can be individualized. When these basic needs are taken care of, the next motivator is the need for safety and security. It is especially common for ordinary Americans – having the safety neighborhood, job security and a good retirement plan. If these two layers are satisfied, the next need is belonging – friends, children, affectionate relationships. In workplace situations it means being the part of the team and what individual looks for in career. Further Maslow looked at self-esteem need – lower is the need for respect of others, status and recognition while higher is self-respect, appreciation and even dominance. The final layer is the most complex – self actualization needs when the person tries to fulfill potentials and become all he can be. Only a small percentage of the global population is self-actualizing. In order to understand what exactly is self-actualization a lot of research has been done resulting in the following list of characteristic. Thus, the person who is self-actualizing is reality as well as problem centered, they enjoy autonomy and are in good relations with all co-workers, they have un-hostile sense of humor and accept the self of others, they have the sense of humility and respect towards others accompanied with the strong ethics, they are creative and are not afraid of realizing person imperfection (Maslow 1987). Most of the criticism is directed at this final level of needs – self-actualization. Maslow has started his career as behaviorist and has grounded the theory on ideas of biology. In addition, Maslow believed that self-actualization need cannot be satisfied unless the lower needs are met. However, the reality shows that there are many people who enjoy self-actualization but are far from satisfying the lower needs – artists and authors for example. Nevertheless, the theory of Maslow is very important for HR manager and if not to take into account the people of creative professions his hierarchy of needs can be very useful in motivating the people. Each employee will need different amount of time and money to satisfy each level of needs. For example, the divorced mother of three children needs much more money to satisfy the first level of needs compared to the post-graduate employee living with parents for example. In addition, the first two levels are connected with the salary expectation – to fulfill the basic and security needs while the next three depend on the personal characteristics. The employee might earn more than other on the same position but still have the strong need for belonging and esteem due to his personal inability to be in friendly relations with others. HR managers have a difficult responsibility to find the trigger that motivates each individual employees and once the need is satisfied start identifying the next motivator. Schein Schein did not develop anything new but has further analyzed the expectancy theory. He has conducted numerous interviews and found out that most of the people experience personal sense of failure and internalize their unsatisfactory experience as the result of something they did incorrectly. These employees change the jobs in the search of a more satisfactory work environment. The factors affecting motivation include the changes in one’s life, organizational changes, changes in interests and energy levels, health status, and promotion growth or limits (Cairo 1998). The major point made by Schein is that negative adjustment to unmet expectations leads to the lack of fit or dissatisfaction and decreased motivation. The organization holds onto people hoping things will magically get better and that individual performance will improve. The individual hangs on to a job with a vague hope that it will magically transform into something desirable. He believed that people will sub-optimize their skills and abilities by not working at their full potential or by hiding their knowledge to forestall conflicts within the organization. Any organization losses from such situation when employees no longer perform at their full potential – managers need to help employees set realistic expectations and create the favourable environment to meet these expectations. Schein has proposed the number of factors affecting motivation (Reeve 2004): Personal Commitment to public services Adaptability Financial obligations Security Actual experiences Relative absence or presence of incentives Extent of organizational dysfunctions Effects of proximity to power External factors Availability of a job Social commitment Each factor has a different degree of importance for every employee: level of responsibility, the actual job assignment, the people one works for and with, the extent to which ones needs for influence, challenge, growth, creativity, and control are weighed against the negative aspects of the job and work environment. If the person is committed to the company the incentive to remain is greater. Ones ability to tolerate frustration coupled with the desire for security may give that person more staying power than those with a low frustration threshold or those who thrive on change. The extent to which social bonds exist will also serve as a factor that encourages adjustment rather than attrition. Family responsibilities, working spouses, friendships, and a sense of community encourage adjustment. Mortgages, children, and other financial obligations serve to encourage adjustment. Thus, following these assumptions, the more committed the person is to the company the more motivated he will be to perform better and remain in the company even if not expectations are met (Epstein 2001). This theory has proved to have strong evidence among the employees. There are employees who are not completely satisfied with the job they have, the payment and security but they would not leave the organization only because they enjoy the working environment, communication with co-workers and pleasant open relations with management. One of the disadvantages of this theory is that it is applicable to newcomers mostly who have to overcome the stage of adjustment. However, this theory can also be applied to motivate loyal employees. I think that in the long run motivation through expectations and adjustment reduces and eventually the person who is not satisfied will leave the company no matter how loyal he is because he has needs that must be satisfied. McGregor McGregor has summarized two possible motivational practices – theory X and theory Y. Theory X is traditional motivational direction stating that if the worker dislikes the work he would try to avoid it. Therefore, the manager has the responsibility to force dissatisfied employee to work through punishments and threats. This theory is based on the assumption that the worker prefers to be directed and intentionally wants to avoid the responsibility. Money is the key motivator under theory X. Theory Y is self-actualization approach to motivation with the aim to help employees satisfy their self-actualization needs (similar to Maslow’s final level of needs). Theory Y is more applicable in democratic-type leadership companies when the sources of work satisfaction make employee more committed and motivated. It is assumed that workers seek more responsibility and want to be more involved wit management. The current management systems that encourage employee participation in decision making processes would preferably use the theory Y of motivation, however, there are some employees who should be motivated through theory X – the more they earn the more they are motivated to work better. When comparing the management systems of United States and Japan the key difference is that American managers use theory X and Japanese tend to use theory Y. William Ouchi has developed the third theory named theory Z which is the combination of the theory X and theory Y. In his books he tried to find the answer to the question of why Japanese companies produce the most committed, productive and motivated employees in the business world. The answer is that Japanese employees get the position for life, lifelong security and increase loyalty to the company. The responsibility for success as well as failure is shared among employees and management. Employees are offered the opportunity to work at several different tasks to learn more about the company. The management is interested in the personal life of employees outside the work and it is not perceived as intrusion into private life. Neither theory X nor theory Y are able to provide the stable employment, high productivity and job satisfaction while the combination of both theories can lead to increased motivation (Franken 2001). Many American corporations implement theory Y and theory Z and as the result are able to achieve better results, set higher goals and retain valuable employees. Money is not the key motivator for the highly qualified employees, they rather seek the job satisfaction, job enrichment and possibility to gain new skills and develop creative. If the company wants to motivate such employees, they should be able to implement their ideas and have some degree of freedom in decision making. Theory X is seldom used today because it expresses the extreme position that is not realistic. Most of the employees prefer to be motivated neither with theory Y nor with theory X. Nevertheless, both theories are still important in the field of human management and motivation. Herzberg Two factor theory of Herzberg is based on the assumption that employees have two sets of needs: need to avoid pain and grow psychologically. His study is based on the interviews with two sets of questions: (1) When have you felt good at work? Why? Does this feeling impact the job performance? (2) When have you felt negative about your work? What were the results of this negative feeling? The results have showed that job satisfaction is determined by achievement, recognition, work, responsibility, advancement. Dissatisfaction is caused by company policy, administrative policies, supervision, salary, interpersonal relations, working conditions. According to Herzberg motivation is based on the personal growth – the innate desire to grow, to have interesting and challenging job. This theory has been applied by many companies and I think that any organization has the responsibility to provide for growth and well being of people. Intrinsic factors (motivators) relate to job satisfaction because of the need for self actualization while extrinsic factors (hygiene) lead to dissatisfaction and the need to avoid unpleasantness (Elliot 2005). The modern business environment is highly competitive and human resource managers need to use the available resources effectively. Motivation directly affects the performance and productivity of employees and should be taken into close consideration. The most significant contribution of Herzberg is job enrichment practices – adding different tasks to a job that provide greater involvement and interaction opportunities. Job enrichment raises the level of challenge – if the person does not find the job challenging and there is no way to enrich it, then the person should be replaced. Horizontal job loading is adding the tasks but not adding the responsibility – should be avoided. Vertical loading is adding more tasks that lead to growth and provide more motivation. Adding motivators is essential for the individuals as well as the company – employees become more valuable because of their ability to perform more duties. Herzberg theory is effective because people work to achieve something they do not have and the set of motivators for each individual is different. His theory can be applied to all employees who have wants and needs. In order to motivate people properly it is necessary to know what they expect. Adams Adams has developed his equity theory in 1963 but it is still applicable in many organizations. Equity theory is like the combination of all theories discussed above and is based on the assumption that there are several factors affecting motivation. It is logical that all of us seek the balance between what put into the job and what we get back. Employees compared their own inputs and outputs with the inputs and outputs of the co-workers and then make conclusions (Beck 2003). Inputs are typically: effort, loyalty, hard work, commitment, skill, ability, adaptability, flexibility, tolerance, determination, heart and soul, enthusiasm, trust in our boss and superiors, support of colleagues and subordinates, personal sacrifice, etc. People need to feel that there is a fair balance between inputs and outputs. Outputs are typically all financial rewards - pay, salary, expenses, perks, benefits, pension arrangements, bonus and commission - plus intangibles - recognition, reputation, praise and thanks, interest, responsibility, stimulus, travel, training, development, sense of achievement and advancement, promotion, etc. The major elements of this theory are: if inequality exists the tension will be created, the amount of tension is equal to the perceived inequality, and the tension motivates employees to reduce it. If the employee feels that he is rewarded fairly he will be satisfied and motivated to work better. If employees think that they are not rewarded as they deserve, they will be de-motivated to perform better. Employees seek fairness in their workplace and the information they use in making judgment is obtained by observing of what other get out of the job: salary and other rewards. Most of the critics assume that equity theory is mostly about the payment employees receive, however, Adams did not limit his theory to money issue: there is job security, friendly working conditions and open communication. Based on the above theories, the most evident motivating factor is possibility to grow and self-actualize. The final part of the report is devoted to lessons learned from all five theories. Therefore, managers should strive to know every employee and what his responsibilities are – if manager does not know what makes each employee satisfied, he will be unable to motive them. Managers should ask employees for feedback and depending on the response it is possible to determine whether or not an employee is motivated and satisfied with his current job. Modern management systems favour giving as much control as possible over employee’s work. The more control and autonomy employees have over their work, the more they are able to contribute. Employees should be challenged to improve the operations and feel encouraged to make suggestions (Petri 2003). Many managers make a mistake by focusing too much on employee’s mistakes and forgetting to reward for accomplishments. These managers forget that what gets noticed gets repeated. There are many other suggestions for encouraging employees to perform better. Some of the employees need to be forced to do the job while others work better when they have freedom to plan their day. Each employee has a different need and desires a different motivator. HR manager has a difficult task to identify what makes each member of organization happy. The key to success of any organization is to continually reinforce positive performance and make sure that employees are valued and rewarded appropriately. Word Count: 2840 Reference list Beck, RC 2003, Motivation: Theories and Principles, 5th edn, Prentice Hall Publishing. Cairo, J 1998, Motivation and Goal Setting: How to Set and Achieve Goals and Inspire Others (Motivation and Goal Setting), 1st edn, Career Press. Elliot, AJ & Dweck, CS 2005, Handbook of Competence and Motivation, The Guilford Press. Epstein, R & Rogers, J 2001, The Big Book of Motivation Games, 1st edn, McGraw-Hill Publishing. Franken, RE 2001, Human Motivation, 5th edn, Wadsworth Publishing. Maslow, AH 1987, Motivation and Personality, 3rd edn, HarperCollins Publishers. ONeil, HF & Drillings, M 1994, Motivation: Theory and Research, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Press. Petri, HL & Govern, JM 2003, Motivation: Theory, Research, and Applications, 5th edn, Wadsworth Publishing. Reeve, JM 2004, Understanding Motivation and Emotion, 4th edn, Wiley Publishing. . Read More