Impacts of Motivation and Empowerment in Organization - Essay Example

? Reflective Paper: Motivation and empowerment Task: Motivation and empowerment Introduction The has enabled me to comprehend the impacts of motivation and empowerment in organizations. I learned that motivation is the process that increases individuals’ efforts towards achieving business goals. It also influences the workers’ behaviors by giving them directions towards the goals. Concurrently, empowerment is the strategy used by organizations to balance the business and personal goals. Managers do this by giving the workers power to decide the ways of performing organizational tasks. As a means of increasing the production of the National City Bank, the corporate leaders use motivation and empowerment strategies. Motivation and empowerment The National City Bank motivates its employees through many ways which entail using rewards, recognition, and workers involvement. The forms of motivation are helpful in the organization because they increase their outputs. I learned that the increased production is caused by the elements of motivation. One of the components of motivation includes intensity; furthermore, I realized that motivation indeed increases the work intensity. Personally, motivation increases my job performances because it makes me work harder. Another element of motivation is persistency. I learned that motivation makes the workers in the banking organization not to give up doing some tasks even if they are difficult. Motivation also gives the workers directions especially if the type of motivation entails goal setting. Furthermore, it increases the workforces drive and energy in the work places. I learned that the elements of motivation increase businesses productivity because they challenge the workforces to use their skills and knowledge more effectively. Moreover, they encourage the underperforming workers to perform higher (Podmoroff, 2005). It is vital to know that high performing organizations like the National City Bank do not rely on motivation only. I learned that high business productivity is caused by the combination of motivation with other factors like good working conditions and workers’ capabilities (Fiore, 2004). The bank performs well because it ensures that its workers can access all the materials needed to perform their tasks. This makes the workers focus on their tasks instead of wasting time looking for the materials. Additionally, the firm ensures that its employee have the ability to do their work effectively. The bank achieves this through effective hiring process where managers do not only focus on the applicants’ credentials, but they also focus on the applicants’ abilities and interests. I also learned how motivation affects workers in organizations through the theories presented by psychologists. Some of the theories include the content and process suppositions. In the content theory, I realized that human beings pursue things because they desire certain outcomes. The process theories assume that people have the ability to opt for goals and the paths that may lead them towards the goals. According to “Maslow Hierarchy of Needs”, workers satisfaction is vital. The workers satisfactions can be attained if organizations meet their needs through peripheral and internal means (Borkowski, 2011). It is interesting to realize that the National City Bank applies the theories to satisfy and motivate its workers. For instance, the organization motivates its workers by meeting their self-actualization needs. This is achievable through the introduction of challenging projects which makes the workers use their skills effectively. Additionally, the bank meets the workers self-actualization needs by creating an environment that encourages creativity. The organization also rewards the employees who introduce helpful ideas to the organization. Furthermore, I realized that the bank has invested a lot in the workers’ training programs. Personality trainings help me perform tasks better because they increase my skills and abilities. Additionally, training helps in rising job performances because they increase the workers’ confidence in the work places (Thompson, 2001). In addition, I learned that the implementation of the content theory especially the Maslow Hierarchy meets the workforce’s social, safety, and psychological needs (Yee, 2012). For instance, the workers self esteem can be raised if the managers recognize their efforts. The National City Bank recognizes the workers’ good performance by praising them through letters and verbally in front of other workers. This makes them feel valued in the work places; moreover, it motivates them to work harder. I also learned that organizations could motivate their employees by meeting their socials needs. I realized that the bank meets its social needs by employing workers who are interested in working with others. The organization encourages teamwork, which helps in creating a good relationship between workers (Thompson, 2001). In addition, the content theory assumes that an organization can increase its workers motivation by meeting their safety needs. I learned that the bank focuses on meeting the workers’ safety needs by ensuring there is job security and safety regulation. Additionally, the organization offers benefits like life insurance (Lauby, 2005). I discovered that workers’ motivation could be achieved through the implementation of Alderfer’s ERG theory and McCelland’s Theory of needs. According to ERG theory, employees can be motivated if the corporate leaders meet various aspects of workers needs like “existence, relatedness, and growth” (Lauby, 2005). McClelland theory assumes that important needs like achievement, affiliation, and power have to be met to increase a firm’s productivity (Lauby, 2005). Under the content theory, there is also a theory called Motivator-Factor theory. Under this theory, I learned about the intrinsic factors that can lead to job satisfactions and the extrinsic factors, which are connected with discontent (Roussel, Swansburg, and Swansburg, 2006). According to the theory, organizations can avoid job dissatisfaction through hygiene factors. Additionally, the theory assumes that workers’ growth can be obtainable through motivational factors. I realized that the National City Bank also uses the hygiene and the motivator factors to satisfy its employees. For instance, under the hygiene factors the organization practices proper employees’ supervision, pleasant working conditions, and effective organization policies. Some of the motivator factors employed in the organizations entail workers’ growth through trainings, proper job allocations, and recognition. I learned that, for proper implementation of the theory, the corporate leaders have to use hygiene factors to identify the factors that can lead to dissatisfaction and try to eliminate them. If there are no factors that lead to dissatisfactions, then the managers can use the motivational factors (Roussel, Swansburg, and Swansburg, 2006). Apart from the content theories, the application of the process theories in organizations can be helpful in increasing job satisfaction. Equity theory is a process theory which focuses on the employees’ perceptions about fairness of the ratio of job results and their efforts. According to the theory, workers are motivated when their job outcomes are more than their coworkers’ (Lauby, 2005). For instance, job inputs can consist of factors like skills, work efforts, and levels of education or training. Examples of job outcomes entail pays and promotions. I noticed that the National City Bank also applies this theory when motivating its workers. For instance, when rewarding its employees, there is always inequity especially when some workers’ performances are higher than others are. As a means of restoring the equity, the workers with the lower output and input rations should alter their outputs or inputs (Lauby, 2005). Another category of process theory is apparent in the expectancy theory. From this theory, I learned that workers could act in certain ways if they expect that their actions will lead to attractive results. As a means of motivating the workers using this theory, managers have to relate the rewards with the employee needs. They also have to understand why the workers find some outcomes to be striking or unattractive. In the National City Bank, employees are usually rewarded according to their wants and outcomes (Podmoroff, 2005). Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic rewards are other forms motivation theory. Under this theory, I discovered that a person could be inherently motivated if he behaves in certain ways for his sake. Additionally, a worker can be motivated if behaving in certain ways can make him get a reward or avoid penalties (Roussel, Swansburg & Swansburg, 2006). I learned that an organization could use job enrichment to motivate its work force. For instance, in the National City Bank, the managers regularly redesign jobs to upgrade the motivation system. I realized that the strategy increases the bank’s productivity because it makes the workers to have more responsibilities and achievements (Thompson, 2001). Moreover, I learned that empowerment increases the workforces’ performances in organizations because it enhances self-efficacy. The success of the bank is contributed by the empowerment. The bank does this by allowing its workers to decide the ways of doing their tasks. I also realized the organization empowers it employees by encouraging them to partake in decision-making process. I suppose that this is the inexpensive and valuable way of increasing a company’s production. It makes the workers in the organization feel important, and it makes them more creative (Swamidass, 2000). Conclusion The motivation and empowerment are important in the current competitive world. Organizations should encourage their workers by rewarding and recognizing their performances. Some of the important motivating theories that organizations should be useful in the motivation of their workers entail the content and process theories. I realized that all the theories are applied in National City Bank and they contribute to the productivity of the organization. I learned that employees’ empowerment also contributes to the success of many organizations. The bank also exercises empowerment by involving its workers in decision-making. References Borkowski, N. (2011). Organizational behavior in health care. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Fiore, D. J. (2004). Introduction to educational administration: Standards, theories, and practice. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education. Lauby, S. J. (2005). Motivating employees. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press. Podmoroff, D. (2005). 365 ways to motivate and reward your employees every day-- with little or no money. Ocala, Fla: Atlantic Pub. Group. Roussel, L., Swansburg, J., & Swansburg, C. (2006). Management and leadership for nurse administration. Subury: Jones and Bartlett. Swamidass, P. M. (2000). Encyclopedia of production and manufacturing management. Boston: Kluwer Academic. Thompson, D. P. (2001). Motivating others: Creating the conditions. Princeton, NJ: Eye On Education. Yee, F. (2012). Motivation &Empowerment. Retrieved from Module 6 Read More