Motivation. What Is The Best Way To Motivate Employees - Research Paper Example

?Mohamad Khoja Silas Pera Guided Research 17 June Motivation Without hesitation, motivation is the engine that drives us to achieve life’s many desires and ambitions. Without motivation, the progress of physical action or mental intelligence will not come to pass. This will affect the values of things that we love to do or to possess; therefore, motivation plays an enormous role in daily life. Motivation is considered a key factor in increasing efficiency in business. As a result, motivated employees will exert their dynamism to accomplish their purposes and goals. According to Sultan, Sarwat he said,”for an employee to be motivated, he or she perceived that their wants are being met. Thus, the satisfaction of the employee represents an indispensable dimension of the motivational process (Sarwat, 2013); a satisfied individual would certainly contribute positively to the realization of organizational goals and objectives. A dissatisfied employee may not only contribute but can even act in such a way that the realization of such goals and objectives could be completely destroyed, this underlines the importance of employees’ satisfaction to the organization” (Anka, 1988). Lack of motivation will cause numerous problems such as; reducing the annual income, exit of the organization if given the opportunity, produce low quality work, and unsatisfying results of any productions. This causes work to become a stressful place, and it may transform into a nightmare. For instance, according to Rebecca Maxon (1999), “Three out of every four American workers describe their work as stressful and the problem is not limited to these shores, in fact, occupational stress has been defined as a global epidemic by the United Nations' International Labor Organization, while the physical effects of this epidemic are often emphasized; the economic consequences also are alarming. Workplace stress costs U.S. employers an estimated $200 billion per year in absenteeism, lower productivity, staff turnover, workers' compensation, medical insurance and other stress-related expenses, considering this, stress management may be business's most important challenge of the 21st century”. Therefore, the environment of any workplace does matter for increasing production and limiting its costs, managers are the tools to help improve their employees’ performance. Although, a lot of business analysts disagree with each other on determining the best method to motivate employees, from offering promotions to working less hours, I firmly believe that if managers provide a clean and safe environment for their employees within the consideration of welfare, thoughts, and appreciations of their hard work, and offer high wages they will create a productive, functional, successful workplace for each other.  To emphasis how clean and safe environments are relevant in motivating employees at their workplace, a lot of companies have started to renew their policies. These policies focused on what exactly they can develop to build a sociable, truthful, creative, and friendly atmosphere for their workers. Also, the courtesy of spending more money on their facilities to be more presentable and eligible enough to remain a satisfying place for their workers could be beneficial. Therefore, employees are seeking these modifications badly so they can be more inspired and enthusiastic about their jobs, consequently, managers and supervisors are responsible for building a clean and safe environment for their workers. The consequences of ignoring this key factor will lead employees to be unwilling to produce more for the business, which will create critical problems between them and their managers. This leads to an unsatisfied workplace environment that could exaggerate employees’ attitudes about leaving their jobs. According to Kori Rodley’s (2010) article about how important the work environment is to employee turn-over, she said “When employees expect a certain type of environment and get something very different, problems can result, those expected to work in a quiet, functional office, but who find themselves instead in an office environment that is loud, chaotic, with strong fumes coming from a nearby shop or other coping with other uncomfortable environment realities may soon be looking for alternative work”. Basically, what Rodley said, employees may seek another job if they find out the environment they thought they would get is totally different in reality. They want to have a peaceful environment not a place that they could get disturbed by their surroundings.  Managers must always show their appreciation towards their employees whenever they accomplish a task or achieving a high profitable income. “Making your employees feel they are important assets to the company are certainly a significant way to increase their motivation. Clever managers who offer rewards such as gifts, tokens, bonuses, will create a competitive atmosphere in the company. Another technique of how to appreciate your employees is to know the status of their personal lives’; employees usually face ups and downs in their personal life which dramatically affect their self-esteem while they are at work (Daily Breeze, 2005)”. Gifts and tokens should not be reserved just for exemplary achievement but should also be used to celebrate important events in the lives of their employees. The staff can be congratulated for the arrival of their new babies, birthdays, inquire about how their vacation was, all these to make the employees feel that they are cared for. Therefore, in order to provoke them from reducing the quality of their work, managers must approach them and appreciate their contribution any time they come across a task. As a result, this method will create a solid understanding atmosphere in the company. Dr. Noelle Nelson once said “Lack of appreciation in the workplace causes customer and employee frustration resulting in crippled performance, damaged productivity and diminished profits” (Nelson), therefore, to avoid unwanted threats, managers and employees must work together to achieve what they believe in. Another method that can be used to motivate employees is communication, by effectively and responsibly communicating to the employees any information that is needed to perform their jobs well and have the desired results. Necessary and relevant information should be relayed to employees without bias so that they can feel as part of the team, especially on information relating to their jobs so that they can make sound decisions about their work. It is especially useful to meet with employees after management meetings and update them on any company information that may have an impact on their jobs, this could upcoming training opportunities, improvement in products or services, customer feedback and possible changes in organizational structure. “As a manager, one should ensure that the employees understand what these changes mean to their jobs, goals, decision and time and pay more attention to the most affected employees. If a manager is pleasant to the employees, it makes it easier for them to engage with him, so he should be friendly without being a pushover. The manager can also hold weekly meetings with each employee that reports to him and should encourage them to be prepared with any questions, ideas, recommendations or requests for support that they may have (Sears, 92)”. When employees feel that they have the attention and can interact and communicate with their senior managers, it becomes a source of motivation for them. All managers should always have an open door policy so that their staff members can feel free to walk in and share their ideas and recommendations or discuss concerns that they might have in a regulated method. Providing opportunities for employees to develop and sharpen their skills and abilities is also another way to keep them motivated, they want to develop the knowledge and skills that they have continually, employees crave for a challenge in their work place. They should be allowed to attend meetings that their supervisors normally attend because they serve as learning experience for the staff, which may become instrumental in the absence of the supervisor. The manager should also ensure that the employees have goals that they want to achieve every quarter and have follow-up meetings to gauge if they have achieved this. “When the employees feel independent in their decision making and how they approach and accomplish their tasks they are able to self-manage (Lauby 3)”. Since they gain a lot of motivation from the nature of their work, their jobs can be expanded to include greater responsibilities, which will help them grow their skills and knowledge. Employee concerns and complaints should be addressed, through listening to an employee and informing him about how his complaints will be solved produces a motivating environment to work. In the event that the complaints cannot be dealt with to the satisfaction of the employee, the fact that there was effort put and feedback given, the employee will be grateful. Among all these methods on what is the best way to increase employee’s motivation, increasing wages is what employees prissily want their companies to offer, it’s the most essential aspect when it comes to applying for a new job. Workers usually don’t care that much about how hard the job or the conditions could be as long as they will get a high salary; human’s weakness is money. The more we can get, the more we will be happy, employees are seeking the same thing. The more they get, the more they will be productive, optimistic, motivated, and loyal to their companies. Every employer is seeking stability in his or her career to achieve what he or she want for themselves, and their families. Nowadays Employees are suffering from competing with their lives’ expenses due to the enormous economic crisis that increased the prices around the world in the past 5 years. Therefore, many businesses specialists agree that employee’s satisfaction and potentials can be fulfilled by an upsurge in their wages. It is impossible to put a price on how much an individual should be paid but once an employee feels that he is getting close to what he deserves for the skills, experience and expertise he poses, he is then motivated to work for that organization. In order to motivate the employees even further managers should attach targets to incentives, when it is brought to the attention of the employee that he will be compensated for his hard work, he puts in more effort. This contributes to the overall performance of the organization towards achieving its goals and customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, some managers may disagree with this because; in their point of view why would the company pay high salaries if they can find people willing to work with less money due to their unemployment status? This has created a massive unsecured environment for employees which sadly lead them to be unemployed for a long time. It can even be argued that money is a demotivation contrary to what has been the belief for a long time; this is because there is a major difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motives. Monetary rewards can serve to play down intrinsic goals, which are internal, such as personal challenge, enjoyment of the work and learning while fulfilling extrinsic goals where pay rise and bonus fall. “Employees who are more focused on the intrinsic rewards are motivated to a higher level than those who are motivated by extrinsic rewards. This can be explained by the fact that people who do their jobs because they enjoy it are more likely to perform better as compared to employees who are motivated by monetary or other forms of extrinsic rewards (Podmoroff 252)”. The result of having depressed intrinsic motives is declined job performance because the more an employee focuses on their salaries, he will not be interested in learning more or having fun in his work which actually enables him perform to the best of his ability. The unemployment statistics around the world are very high as it is becoming difficult for people to find work and the employers may use this as a reason to pay low wages to their employees. However, the reality on the ground and what every employer should be aware of is that, the results one gets is equivalent to the price paid for. If he hires workers on a low pay scale because they are desperate for work and are without experience, he should not expect them to give him better results than those of an experienced, skillful and qualified worker; garbage in, garbage out (Podmoroff 42). There are many ways to keep employees motivated and foster good working relations in a workplace. In the pursuit of a profitable organization, the management should not neglect their employees, for them to be productive they need to be motivated by rewarding them, showing interest in their lives, communication and addressing their concerns. This will in turn reflect in the results that are displayed by the employees, motivation not only brings forth a productive workplace, it also nurtures the relationship between employees and their managers. A motivated workforce is not only happier and focused but it is loyal to the organization and is always committed to accomplish the organization’s goals as well. Works Cited Sultan, Sarwat. "Examining The Job Characteristics: A Matter Of Employees' Work Motivation And Job Satisfaction." Journal Of Behavioural Sciences 22.2 (2012): 13-25. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 July 2013. Rodley, Kori. 2010. How Important is the Work Environment to Employee Turn-Over? http://voices.yahoo.com/how-important-work-environment-employee-5394309.html?cat=3 Maxon, Rebecca. 1999. Stress in the Workplace: A Costly Epidemic http://www.fdu.edu/newspubs/magazine/99su/stress.html "Showing Appreciation can be a Secret Weapon in the Business World." Daily Breeze: 0. Nov 11 2005. ProQuest.Web. 15 July 2013. Podmoroff, Dianna. 2005. 365 Ways to Motivate And Reward Your Employees Every Day: With Little Or No Money. New York: Atlantic Publishing Company Lauby, Sharlyn, J. 2005. Motivating Employees. American Society for Training and Development. Virginia: American Society for Training and Development Sears, Woodrow. H. 2007. The Frontline Guide to Communicating with Employees. 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