Job Satisfaction and Performance - Essay Example

Managers are indispensable in almost all organizations, and they are expected to be of service to their members and to the organization as a whole. They would only be named effective managers if their people tend to perform at higher levels of job satisfaction and performance. The only way to make people more productive and have high levels of job satisfaction is to motivate them. When people are motivated, they are more satisfied and determined, they demonstrate confidence, and very much committed to work.

However, what makes people motivated is the burden that every manager must discover because of the reality that “people are motivated by different things” (Berman, Bowman, West, & Wart, 2010, p. 182). Talking about motivation, the first thing that comes to mind is the two kinds of rewards, the extrinsic and intrinsic reward. Extrinsic reward is an outside motivation like monetary incentives while the intrinsic reward is the motivation within the person like satisfaction and accomplishment. Yes, money is a motivator wherein organizations need to pay more if they want their people to do a better job.

This assumption is put forward by Frederick Taylor in the late 1800s when he developed scientific management (Hoffman, 2006, p. 12). However, multiple theories have contradicted this assumption such as David McClelland’s Learned Needs Theory and Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory. These are two content theories of motivation whose concept in intrinsic motivation is more intense than extrinsic. By combing the powers of these theories, managers will create a highly motivated, highly engaged group of workers with a high need for achievement.

The three areas of McClelland’s Needs Theory are the need for achievement, power, and affiliation (Puckett, 2004, p. 43). Managers must attempt to develop an understanding of these different needs intrinsically so that jobs can be structured for satisfaction. On the other hand, Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory is influenced by two sets of factors, the motivator factors (intrinsic) and hygiene factors (extrinsic) (Puckett, 2004, p. 42). In this theory, Herzberg concluded that people are not only simply motivated by monetary incentives because job satisfaction is more attainable if people are rewarded with praise and recognition.

He suggested that in order to motivate people, managers must take care of both the hygiene and motivator factors; however, hygiene factors should only be given adequate and more on the motivator factors because intrinsic motivation satisfied the higher-level of needs. This is what James Clifton, CEO of Gallup organization has been realized after he conducted a survey among its employees. He discovered that his employees are becoming more engaged to work if they are being recognized as an outcome of their personal attributes (Markos & Sridevi, 2010, p. 92). Through the survey, it has been found out that intrinsic motivators and not financial satisfaction are the key to create a highly motivated and highly engaged group of workers.

This is also the point of Daniel Pink when he challenged the managers to provide more opportunities for mastery, purpose, and autonomy among employees.