Importance of Employee Motivation at Google - Research Paper Example

Introduction The current world of business is quite dynamic resulting from the high competitiveness in many sectors. There is therefore the need to attain a competitive edge by providing high quality goods and services. This is not possible without the management of a firm appreciating a variety of management theories and adopting desirable ones that fit their needs. They need to put the theory into practice in ensuring efficient decision making. On the other hand studying personality is becoming more relevant as employers try to have the best employees for the open vacancies, promotions and performance of certain responsibilities. This has made studying personality important to ensure a productive workforce. Motivation theory is the other that has gained huge popularity due to its nature of addressing motivation needs in an organization so as to ensure success. A motivated workforce results in high productivity and creativity. This paper will elaborate these issues while offering an example of Google Inc. to explain the importance of employee motivation. Relationship between management theory and practice According to Cole (2003) management is an area that has been studied for quite some time now with many theories coming up over the years. On the other hand management has been practiced with experimentation of the various theories developed. Management on a rather general term concentrates on organizing people’s efforts and available resources in order to achieve organizational goals while benefiting other stakeholders in the process. Achievement of goals and objectives of an organization requires the management to perform certain functions; organizing, planning, controlling and directing according to Cole (2003). In doing so the management must ensure that employees are duly motivated in order to harness their individual efforts towards fulfilling desired results. These factors form the practical aspect of management. Management theory on the other hand is a body of knowledge that aims at addressing problems in management. Planning is quite broad as it is involves formulation of both short terms and long term goals and objectives and formulating how they are to be achieved. Organizing involves developing an organizational structure where people will have tasks to perform and under a well laid out hierarchy of control. This structure is supposed to coordinate all the tasks and responsibilities. This will in turn require a team of highly motivated employees to achieve set goals. Directing involves influencing employees’ behavior by motivating them through appropriate leadership and discipline. Controlling is involved with ensuring that what is planned is achieved as scheduled and in case this is not the case, corrective measures are taken (Cole 2003). There has been a long debate by professionals and practitioners in management on whether there is a sound relationship between management theory and practice. The reason for this has been the numerous cases of failure due to following theories in practice. An example is where manager’s rush to pick latest theories to apply them for instance in change management. This triggers in-depth training of employees to adapt to the desired change process. The benefits of such a project trickle down at negligible amounts resulting to halting of the strategy. There are many theories of management for managers to follow but the bottom line is there is no single one that can act alone towards an organization’s success in the real world (Cole 2003). Following a single theory leads to disappointment. Therefore, following of management theory is not a guarantee to success. This in turn brings the question of whether management theory is relevant in practice. It is suffice to say that management theory is quite important in ensuring that a business is a success but the trick lies in the theories to apply and in what circumstances. These theories assist a manager to ensure productivity through continuous motivation of employees. Managers are taught on how to be good bosses and how to tackle situations while simultaneously triggering increased productivity. This calls for one to multitask creating a successful balance. It is here that management comes in handy depending on the nature of tasks. Studying personality Studying personality has been a growing trend for many organizations in case they wish to predict employee performance or behavior. Human resources departments are increasingly emphasizing on this study especially to assist in developing ways of selecting employees. These study aims at uncovering ones personality dimensions and other traits that may be beneficial or harmful to the organization in question. Therefore, these studies are used to weed out undesirable employees and retain those that can be loyal and have integrity and can be hard working. There are however a number of problems that come with studying personality. Studying personality on the other hand can be quite beneficial to an organization especially in today’s world where competition has gone global thereby the need to have employees who are up to the task. Studying personality drives at an organization trying to use personality tests to uncover employees’ personality or traits. This means that for one to be recruited into the company they need to know what type of a person one is to determine whether one can perform as required or basically fit into the system. Studying personality results in candidates offering answers that are far from correct so as to deceive the interviewers or show the desired picture (Miner 2007). There is also the issue that relates to validity of whether that which is studied can be practically applied. Practicability arises where the results may be doctored by those who are being studied or those who are studying. As earlier mentioned, in case it is an interview session fake answers are bound to be given while the interviewee will raise those questions which are directed at uncovering what they want. This creates a sense of subjectivity as the quality of the question almost always determines the quality of the answer. According to Engler (2008) there are also other factors that can affect the answers given which may not be factored in the ultimate decision making process e.g. gender and anxiety level among others. This in short means that studying ones personality has huge chances of being invalid therefore unscientific. Studying personality is quite beneficial if it is done for the right reasons in an organization. The primary benefit is that the management is able to appreciate the different types of personalities that they have. This is in turn used to ensure that one is treated according to the expected behavior so as to ultimately bring harmony in the workplace. The other benefit is being able to know an employee’s motivation level or enthusiasm and whether one is fitting well within the organizational setup (Furnham 2008). Through studying of personality an organization will not be needed to have many management levels as people are responsible enough. There is also the less likelihood of using autocratic leadership style and having more employees involved in team-based assignments. For those organizations that are customer care centered study of personality will assist in identifying those best suited to handle the hurdles that such a job entails. This is in regards to tolerance and temperament. Looking into many organizations, personality has become a key pillar in determining who is to work where and with whom and who is to be hired. In what ways can an understanding of motivation theory contribute to successful organizational working? Organizations achieve their goals through their employees. The management on the other hand is supposed to ensure that things are done as appropriate. For employees to work as required in order to fulfill these goals they need to be well motivated thereby placing motivation in a central position that determines organizational success as stated by Miner (2007). Motivation theory and practice in many organizations are two separate issues whereby managers fail to appreciate the role of theory or its practicability in day-to-day management. The human resource department is quite important in devising ways on how employees are to be motivated in order to give desirable results. The practical aspect of motivation is poorly understood in many organizations. It is therefore important to go to the basic solution i.e. motivation theory and understand how it can be excellently practiced to achieve organizational goals (Van Knippenberg 2001). This section of the paper will deal with how the understanding of motivation theory will contribute to a successful organizational working. Motivation theory is multifaceted with many sub-theories from different scholars and authors. All the theories of motivation converge at one point which is understanding human nature. Human nature is in one way simple while in another quite difficult and complex to understand. This understanding helps in employing the most relevant motivational techniques and the most appropriate management practices. This therefore raises the need to study motivation theory and understand it so as to manage employees and their tasks well. Respecting employees as human beings and treating them with dignity highly offers a motivation link that ensures they are both productive and creative (Miner 2007). This is the fundamental knowledge behind motivation theory. As the saying goes; you can take the horse to the river but cannot force it to drink. This implies that thirst will be the driving force for the horse to drink water. This applies to people as well whereby they can be in a workplace but their individual or group contributions will depend on other factors one being their intrinsic urge to perform. Motivation encompasses why people do what they do therefore it hugely determines behavior. It determines ones willingness or unwillingness to commit towards a certain issue or act. Hierarchy of needs theory Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs theory is one of the most popular and widely used by managers. The basic reason for this is the ease in its understanding and its intuitive logic. It has the first in line being psychological needs which are rather basic as they are food, shelter, clothing, good health and others as explained by Singh (2004). The second in line are safety needs which are basically involved with feeling free from danger mostly physical or of losing something like a job or asset. Third are social needs where individuals feel the urge to belong and to be accepted. Fourth are esteem needs where one desires to be appreciated thereby breeding prestige and self confidence. The fifth and last is self actualization need whereby one reaches a self fulfillment stage by maximizing their potential through various accomplishments. For managers these stages are important to understand in order to manage not only groups but individuals. This theory assists a manager or colleagues in identifying at which stage one is so that they know what motivates them. The reason behind this is that after one fulfils one need it no longer offers motivation (Singh 2004). This results in the human resource department coming up with differentiated motivational strategies for groups or individual employees. This in turn boosts their productivity and creativity resulting to better working relations and organizational success. Hygiene theory The other theory is the hygiene theory by Herzberg where he primarily concluded from research that the opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction (Rynes et al. 2004). This is a strong statement whereby he explains that there are certain dissatisfying factors when removed from a job they do not necessarily result in job satisfaction. He further stated that some factors may exist in an organization but not lead to motivation. He continued by saying others may cause motivation when present but when absent no dissatisfaction is noted. He stated hygiene factors to be security, working conditions, workmate relations among others while motivational factors are growth prospectus, challenging scenarios and recognition among others. This theory helps in knowing what factors to emphasize on rather than wasting resources and time concentrating on factors whose motivation value is low. Hawthorne Experiments Elton Mayo’s theory is the other which tries to explain motivation. His work is termed as Hawthorne Experiments which he carried out in an electric company in Chicago (DuBrin 2008). He deduced that motivation is quite a complicated issue and that other social and psychological factors play a role in addition to remuneration and working conditions. The basic deductions made from this research are that workers receive motivation from many more factors other than pay or working environment. The other is that people desire to be recognized and to belong. The last conclusion was that attitudes in a workplace are hugely influenced by groups. Studying this theory goes a long way in assisting managers to identify what other things apart from money and working conditions result in a motivated workforce (Rynes et al. 2004). There is a wide notion that more remuneration to workers should almost automatically result in higher motivation but this has been refuted in this theory by Mayo. The above theories are just but a few which many managers seem to use while trying to enhance motivation among the workforce. Each has its contributions that are important to look into as explained under each. However, it is the norm that management of an organization goes far beyond the theoretical concepts to aim at successful theoretical application (Miner 2007). As much as many of these theories are as a result of real scenario studies they do not offer a complete solution to the issues at hand. Therefore, there is need for the management in any organization to look into the issue at hand and the various dynamics and apply that where most appropriate. It is through this that the organizations are able to achieve success through theoretical concepts and in this case in having a motivated workforce. Google Inc. Taking Google Inc. as an example it is clear to see that these theories have been adequately applied in order to achieve one of the highly motivated workforces in the current corporate world. Google seems to have mastered the art of recognizing individual employee needs. As much it is a global internet firm the management concept hugely looks into the individual needs in order to know where to start in order to offer motivation. Google has been seen to use money to motivate employees but not in the ordinary way. It does not rank as one of the highly paying companies although it is quite big and profitable but it uses other reward systems that are worth money (Daft 2007). A good example rests with the reward of shares for excellent performance. This is quite an extra ordinary reward for high achievements which is worth money but not liquid cash. Money related rewards seem to motivate where the employee understands the measurement and reward systems. Google has also tried to offer other services other than good working conditions and rewards. In the offices there are in-house daycare centers for babies and the elderly. Cars are washed for free in the compound while the dress code is not strictly official (Daft 2007). On the issue of appreciation there are few closed offices set aside for senior employees. The case is usually an open office layout where a more participatory approach is used to enhance interaction between juniors and seniors. There are also good holiday packages to reward high performers. Looking at each of the above theories it is clear to see that Google has used one or more of the basic conclusions of each. This is a blending aspect that seems to result in a highly motivated workforce without necessarily offering the best of salary packages. Conclusion There are many issues that current organizations need to look into to excel and beat the ever intensifying competition. There is need to have a management that is well learned to put the theories learnt into practical use in solving problems in their organization. They can look into theories of motivation to know how best to motivate their employees to get the desired results. They also need to have knowledge on personality so as to understand their individual employees and know what to offer to who and when. It also offers a chance to know which employees can work best together. This has been the case with Google Inc. where employee motivation has led to enormous growth of the company. References Cole, GA 2003, Management theory and practice, 6th edn, Thomson Learning. Daft, RL 2007, The leadership experience, 4th edn Cengage Learning. DuBrin, AJ 2008, Essentials of management, 8th edn, Cengage Learning. Engler, B 2008, Personality theories, 8th edn, Cengage Learning. Furnham, A 2008, Personality and intelligence at work: Exploring and explaining individual differences at work, Routledge. Miner, JB 2007, Organizational behavior: From theory to practice, M.E. Sharpe. Rynes, SL et al. 2004, ‘The importance of pay in employee motivation: Discrepancies between what people say and what they do’, Human Resource Management, Vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 381–394. Singh, BR 2004, Management: Theory & practice (Set Of 2 Vols.), Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. Van Knippenberg D 2001, ‘Work motivation and performance: A social identity perspective’, Applied Psychology, Vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 357–371. Read More