Job Satisfaction and Motivation - Essay Example

Research Paper: TOPIC: JOB SATISFACTION AND MOTIVATION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABSTRACT: May you live in interesting times…Chinese proverb. More than a good wish it is a curse. Modern problems require very diligent solutions and the Managers are expected not only to be masters of their craft but be equally deft in handling a whole gamut of issues from ethics and environment , motivation, the responsibility that comes with power and the decision-making that goes with it. While one may agree to all the established theories and models of governance and management and the insights contained in the data arrived at application of those models to real-life situations, the issue still has the potential to slip and fall into an unknown zone which requires further resolution at that point of time . This uncertainty precisely explains our time being` interesting ‘ above. We can safely deduce that every economic system in the world is in a state of transition and discovery but at the same time, there appears to be an utmost urgency to adjust and move forward. Deadlines have to be completed with creation of scope for future targets and growth not in the brutish might but in a benignly creative environment and that is where a plethora of motivational ideas regarding the employees’ job satisfaction as well as the supervisors and the very important issues of conflict resolution have to be explored to be applied to micro and macro models of management. The skill lies in getting the idea communicated throughout top and bottom and capitalizing on the same with a willingness on the part of the employees to understand , adhere and apply the idea whose time has come and is instrumental in enhancing the fortunes of all and sundry. INTRODUCTION & DEFINITIONS: The talk of job satisfaction and the motivation that produces it are the buzzwords nowadays and reasonably so. However, it includes a combination of ideas of diverse nature relating to environment, political and economic systems and a major part of the same is determined by the socio-cultural and religious orientations. While we talk of motivation and job satisfaction, the employees and the employers must know and have a clear idea what they mean by the same . It is thus profoundly important that communication flows across the organizational pyramid While there are different theories and management models to define Motivation and Job Satisfaction and also in certain ways it is imperative for the human resource to be well oiled to enhance the productivity and output, it is however, broadly stated that motivation is a result of our individual needs being satisfied or met so that we have inspiration to complete the tasks. The management pundits state that these needs vary from person to person as everybody has his or her individual needs and capabilities to get motivated. However, applying the tools of motivation can double the work output as it helps in enhancing the quantity as well as quality, provided a particular work environment is provided for the individual to grow. We are already acquainted with the elementary idea of Joan Marques. `` Your business relies heavily on the efficiency of your production staff to make sure that products are manufactured in numbers that meet demand for the week. If these employees lack the motivation to produce completed products to meet the demand, then you face a problem leading to disastrous consequences.’’ (1). The management, it is broadly argued, has to bear in mind that the employees on its roll, whether in the Public or private sector, banking or non-banking, are the greatest assets. No matter, how efficient and modern technology is installed at a business concern, it is the motivated individual who runs the show. An unconcerned individual, whose demands have been ignored or who is not satisfied with the job, will definitely quarrel with the tools. If put to public dealing, he may even earn a bad name and reputation to the department or to the business concern, thereby affecting the targets and overall growth of the Organization. Motivation is what makes the people perform better. However, no common denominator exists to determine it . It actually must be situationally oriented. It is here where the modern manager’s task becomes very complex. He must be a master of psychology besides his craft and must be able to understand the innate tendencies, cravings and attitudes of human nature . In short, he must be a spiritual Guru who must have the motto to heal and take everybody alongwith him, thereby be more of a leader than a manager. THEORIES, DISCUSSIONS AND FINDINGS: Frederick Herzberg, a Professor in late 1950s came out with a theory, which is being profusely quoted and followed by management pundits and seems to have got a wide recognition for infusing motivation. Herzberg interviewed a group of employees to find out what satisfied them and what not. He put to them two sets of questions, enlisting their responses for times when they liked/disliked their jobs. He came to the conclusion that ``for motivation two things are very important. He called them job satisfaction and ``hygiene’’ .At the outset, it must, however, be said that no employee or employer can get and guarantee a 100 percent job satisfaction but `hygiene’ issues, says Herzberg, if handled properly, can minimize dissatisfaction.(2). Hygiene topics include company policies, supervision, salary, interpersonal relations and working conditions. They are issues related to the employees environment. Motivators, on the other hand, create satisfaction by fulfilling individuals needs for meaning and personal growth. Herzberg believes that once the hygiene areas are addressed, the motivators can promote the job satisfaction and encourage production Conversely, a strong relationship exists between the parameters of `hygiene’ and job satisfaction. If employees are motivated and their needs met, they can produce excellent results. The big concerns , mostly in Banking and Information technology, have been adopting this model to minimize the stress quotient, untimely hours , virtual black-out of their quality time which they intend to spend with their families and relations etc. Besides offering them attractive salaries , they are given a chance to evaluate, forge deals and analyze the business potential on locations, which combine the pleasure trips alongwith their work. Such is the level of concern amongst the employers they have come out with a questionnaire for the worker who leaves to enlist their responses what ailed them in their environment. Organizations in these sectors and elsewhere are so desperate to retain their workforce that special sessions and motivational camps in spiritual locations are organized for them to understand and cope with the stress that the job builds inside them. All this has become mandatory in today’s working environment. Of course, the same is being applied in other sectors of the industry as well. One of the foremost factor that is on the wish list of every employee is a certain job guarantee. The traditional pattern of a Government job with its security, unaccountability and no responsibility and moribund ideology may no longer exist as such but the issues of job guarantee have been compensated and channelised by creating an alternative option to make the employees invest in company’s stocks and shares. Individual differences and needs also influence in being satisfied or otherwise. Managers and team leaders have to understand these differences and identify the things that motivate and de-motivate their staff members and then understand how these things relate to staff retention. Motivation deals with basic needs that explains why people work and what makes people work harder. Achievement and recognition, pay, sense of belonging, ability to work with other people, healthy working environment and the ability to contribute in decision making are as such the basis of most theories of motivation. Unhappy and de-motivated staff, on the contrary have every time the option of staying or leaving the particular organization. ``The inspired will help the concern to determine the different needs of individuals and how to meet them, thus increasing motivation and staff retention. He can also impress upon other staff members--- within or outside to work for the employers. Further, such motivated employees can lure the staff of rival organizations to join the ranks’’. (3) Yet, motivation will have little or no effect in a person if he or she is not willing and able to execute a task. It is therefore, of great importance that anyone in a position of leadership realizes that motivation can work only if the foundation of the process is solid. If the right person with the right skills has been placed in charge of the task at hand, better goods will be delivered. Care, however, has to be taken that a proper enlisting system for managers to be posted exists throughout the hierarchical levels that lays stress on qualification, experience, intelligence etc and not on personal whims. An intelligent and a qualified person would not like to work under a lesser-qualified person---a situation that currently plagues the government and the Public Sector. And if such a system is in vogue, it is bound to spell a doom.. The age of collective farms is over. Egos and the sense of `` I” has to be recognized . This sense of ` I’ must include the recognition of appropriate creative freedoms. It has been said that every man is an island. Companies all over the world are finding it vital to enlist the services of human resource managers. They can properly advice the company hierarchy as to what does a particular worker want. Different categories of employees may be working in the same company but would like to swap the jobs within. A marketing man with an inbuilt efficiency to analyze the share market may find it cumbersome to hop from one shop to other, one office to another to seek and strike deals. Similarly, the workers in advertising section may be more oriented towards accounting etc. A Human Resource Manager thus needs to keep tabs on every employee of his wing through a repetitive periodical programme of enlisting the response so that solutions are tailor-made to suit the tastes and the aptitudes of the workforce. Their inclusion in the process of decision-making makes them feel important and enhances their self-esteem. Job satisfaction, also defined as a pleasurable emotional state, is a very important attribute frequently measured by the organizations through the method of Rating Scales According to Weiss Definition, ``job satisfaction is an attitude and should clearly distinguish the objects of cognitive evaluation which are affect (emotion), beliefs and behaviours’’ This definition suggests that we form attitudes towards our jobs by taking into account our feelings, our beliefs, and our behaviors. (4) But then according to Hawthrone Studies on job satisfaction and motivation, the novel changes in work conditions temporarily increase productivity This is called the Hawthrone Effect. This finding provided strong evidence that people work for purposes other than pay, which paved the way for researchers to investigate other factors in job satisfaction. In his book `` Principles of Scientific Management”, Frederick Winslow (5) argues that there was a single best way to perform any given work task. It is at the same time argued that the theory of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs should also be followed which explains that people seek to satisfy five specific needs in life – physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, self-esteem needs, and self-actualization. This model is still in vogue in most of the countries where the manages put it to practice. CONFLICT RESOLUTION /CONCLUSION : While dealing with Motivational issues, the conflict resolution is one such area that needs to be addressed on priority. Work is an inherently cooperative activity but how to eat the cake and have it is up to prudent and professional style of management, both tacit and explicit, to find the fulcrum point and to balance the team so that it will work as a solid whole and not break up into a disorganized pile of desultory pieces. Here is an interesting case history and analysis related to my work experience at a Bank Respublica at in Azerbaijan. During its 15-year history, the Bank had enjoyed marked growth to diversify the area of its coverage and services, and to distinguish itself with highly professional management and clairvoyant vision of the situation. The Bank owes its recent success to its new management team headed by Ms. K.Gasanova, an IMD Business School (Switzerland), who brought new blood to the Bank’s veins as young and dynamic professionals were assigned the fresh tasks and their view points and schemes of things were highly appreciated. This annoyed the ``old hands’’ who were already working in the bank, as they might have felt that their thoughts and suggestions were not considered. Such a situation brewed tension as the new wave wanted to bring progress, the old hands resisted and wanted to promote the philosophy of ‘you may go farther but will you fare better’? It was finally the motivation, work design and ability to deal with conflicts that the management of the Bank, headed by Mrs Gazanova ably handled the situation by accommodating the young and old lot. Among many other business initiatives, this Bank was looking into the practice of giving small loans on purchasing household items including computers. The laptops, were catching on in popularity, and many computer firms offered a variety of them with accessories. The prices were, however, very much prohibitive and from that fact bore an idea of giving loans to purchase the equipment. On the paper it was okay but when the push came to shove, a conflict of interests arose. The old hands insisted that the interest rates be quite high because loans were quite small, but the young lot proposed that the rates be reasonably low in order to attract more potential customers. Both sides were equally sure that their positions were right . Ms. K.Gasanova. had to make her decision, and had to do her job powerfully but ethically. She made her choice in favor of low interest loans as she assessed the potential of that segment of the market and did proper evaluation of the profit the bank can gain. But the way she designed the job was remarkable. She committed young employees with investigating the market for the service and its potential capacities, and the more experienced – with working out proposals and financial analysis for a wide range of interest figures. Then she brought all the team together and convinced the reluctant and conservative old hands that small interests can bring greater profit. And guess who were among the firsts to take the loans? The kids and the grandkids of those old hand employees! Conflict resolution is as such a subject well worth academic research and analysis. Currently, the focus is on the nature of the human brain and the chemicals it releases under certain conditions. The creature, which gets hunted, is a meal for the hunter and the brain thus functions with different sets of principals and situations . If every strategy is affected in one go, it may create confusion. That is why the nature of conflicts after having been identified, are to be separated. For conflict resolution to get effective, facts and how to get the information is needed in the first instance. The second stage belongs to putting forward the emotions, the intuition etc. Even at this stage no judgment should take place. The other stages that needs to be discussed are the risks involved in continuation of a conflict. The final stage belongs to presentation of possibilities, alternatives etc. The merits and values of all such discussions will make the contenders realize their goals etc. Thus conflict resolution can be enforced. According to Edwin A. Locke’s Range of Affect Theory (1976) on conflict resolution, the satisfaction is determined by a discrepancy between what one wants in a job and what one has in a job ``When a person values a particular facet of a job, his satisfaction is more greatly impacted both positively (when expectations are met) and negatively (when expectations are not met), compared to one who doesn’t value that facet’’, says Edwin’s Theory on Conflict Resolution (6). Thus concluding , we can say that a company, in order to be in the leading race and achieve results must create an idea, understand its applicability based on the local conditions and resources, lay emphasis on motivation and conflict resolution and appoint leaders instead of managers who besides their craft are themselves highly motivated and creatively intelligent human beings. A company can benefit greaty if, for the sake of job satisfaction, it gives the inter personal relations within it a due importance and recognises the need of the individuals to prosper, achieve and be the instruments of change if any that the company wants them to affect. The idea of (philanthorphy) in this case should relate to trusting the emplpyees to be given additional responsibilities and letting them get updated on their jobs Further, the company should be such that it constantly trains its staff on the latest in technology and is able to communicate a vision incorporating its goals. Such communication along the rungs creats wonders. =========* ========== BIBLIOGRAPHY/CITED SOURCES : 1. www.icbs.com 2. www.netmba.com 3. www.aafp.org 4. http://en.wikipedia.org 5. Frederick Winslow (1856-1915) .. (www.accel-team.com/scientific) 6. Edwin A Locke, author of Prime Movers ( www.capmag.com) Read More