Motivation in the Workplace - Essay Example

Motivation in the Workplace Currently, many employers are finding it difficult to motivate employees due to their different needs and preferences. No method effectively motivates a large group of individuals. As such, this research study aims to uncover the factors that influence employee motivation in the workplace. The research study employs a descriptive design and will employ interviews and questionnaires. Key words: Motivation, Workplace, Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, Maslow Hierarchy of Needs Motivation plays a key role in ensuring that employees perform optimally and are satisfied with their jobs (Dessler, 2000). A high number of employees are money-motivated while some of them find rewards and recognition to be personally motivating (Martin, 2009). The levels of motivation within a workplace have a direct effect on the productivity of employees. An organization’s success is mainly dependent on the performance of its employees, their commitment and loyalty among other factors. Motivation is one of the surest ways to ensure improved performance, commitment and loyalty of the employees (Barrick& Zimmerman, 2009). If an organization’s employees are highly motivated and are satisfied with their jobs, their productivity levels together with performance efficiency increases. The Problem and its Setting Motivation at the workplace changes depending on the atmosphere in the workplace. Employee motivation changes from time to time depending on the leadership structure, the changes in the workplace dynamics, the external environment, changes in culture and other similar aspects. As such, the focus of the essay is to evaluate some of the ways to induce and retain high motivation levels within various organizations. Statement of the problem and sub problems Motivation is modifiable from two primal aspects. One of the key ways through which the behavior can be modified is using intrinsic rewards, which appeal to human psychological needs. The use of intrinsic rewards is evident in appraisals, giving employees more challenging tasks, more responsibility, power, recognition and appreciation. Alternatively, extrinsic rewards can be used to achieve the same goal. For example, money, gifts, vacations and other similar rewards that are tangible or directly visible are effective ways to motivating employees. Hypotheses This study makes several unsupported truths that are require proof from the rest of the study. For instance, Motivation in the workplace is the driving force of the company that determines how industrious the company is in terms of the employees input. In addition that, the study builds in the confidence that motivation in the work place is initiated by the employer after understanding each employees potential and motivating in accordance to their uniqueness. Likewise, there is a proposition that forms a building block for this study that states that extrinsic rewards are more effective in increasing motivational levels among employees as compared to intrinsic rewards despite the fact that both approaches are highly effective in motivation of employees. Definition of terms The following is a clear definition of the explicit terms. Motivation is the enthusiasm and the general desire to do something. In addition to this, motivation is the inner spring of determination that enables people to go beyond the limits. On the other hand, Intrinsic means happening naturally. Intrinsic rewards therefore come from within the employee and hence an employee who is motivated intrinsically may value challenging work in belief that it is paramount to the company. Likewise, Extrinsic means external or not associated with one’s natural essence. In accordance to that, extrinsic rewards are tangible gifts given to the employee for a certain achievement. More to that, intrinsic lead to inner gratification as opposed to external gratification. Assumptions One of the main assumptions taken for this study is that personal problems and family related affairs will not affect motivation levels. In addition to that, this study assumes that Intrinsic and Extrinsic rewards are not the only forms of appreciation. The study specifies that the employer should understand the language of motivation for each individual employee. Scope for the Study Motivation in the workplace is so paramount that it cannot be overstated; Motivation in the workplace is the drive for every company that determines how industrious each individual is towards achieving the set goals .The paper has given a description of what language of appreciation in each company entails. The study will mainly cover employee within organizations and hence will largely focus on organization or the office setting. Additionally, the study will also explore aspects such as the difference between effects of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. The paper has explained why each employee need either the intrinsic or extrinsic rewards to promote equality in the workplace. More to this, the study has expounded on the different ways of motivation of employees in the workplace. The participants of the study will be evaluated in relation to their preferences of rewards and their narrations of their sources of motivation. Significance of the Study The proposed research is to improve the productivity of every company by creating a drive of motivation in the company.Motivation plays a major role in organization as it helps them improve and perform better in terms of productivity and growth. Motivation will amount to an optimistic and challenging attitude at the place of work. Likewise, motivation in the workplace promotes the employer employee communication for the betterment of the company. Ensuring that employees are always motivated at the workplace is a crucial consideration that organizations have invested much of their funds trying to evaluate ways to make the employees happier. This thus indicates the uttermost importance of motivation. This study would help guide organizations through motivation platforms enabling them to perform excellently. Likewise, this study will help the employers understand the language of motivation on an individual level that is paramount to every set up. Literature Review There exists a huge body of literature related to employee motivation. Research has proven that motivated employees are more productive, are happy and are most likely to stay at their organization. Hence, motivation plays a key role in the performance of the employees and organization and the retention of the employees. The greatest challenge that many employers face now is identifying what motivates individual employees at the workplace given their individual differences and preferences (Zhang & Bhartol, 2010; Van &Hagedoom, 2003). Each individual in each department of any work forum requires feeling like a partner of the business and not like, they are under a controlling power. It is paramount for each employer to make his employees feel like partners of the company. In addition to that, encouraging them to take intelligent risks will promote the level of competence of each individual. The employer should encourage entrepreneurial thinking. This goes beyond profit sharing and stock opinions. Instilling an entrepreneurial mindset requires employees to think like business owners not like employees. The term promotes a feeling of joint ownership and motivation in the work place (Bruce, 2003). In “Drive”,(Pink,2011) he reveals the three elements of true motivation: “Autonomy” the desire to direct our own lives “Mastery”- the urge to get better and better at something that matters “Purpose” the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves. Pink explains that the secret to high performance and self-satisfaction is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by our world and ourselves (Pink, 2011). In each financial institution, this tool should be inculcated by motivating and challenging the employees positively. This ensures that there is a drive in the workplace that inspires each individual to go beyond limits. According to Chapman and White, The 5 languages of appreciation in the workplace, the challenges of most supervisors in knowing the language and the tools that communicate motivation to the employees. Understanding the language of motivation is integral as it forms the basis of drive in the workplace. Words of affirmations are the first language of appreciation that entails praise for accomplishments, praise for good character and praise for personality. This can be in the form of written affirmation, public affirmation or praise in front of the other employees. Managers who understand that different individuals have different languages of appreciation discover that some individuals require some quality time for them to feel appreciated. This constitutes the second language of appreciation (Chapman & White,) .the best way to invest in these individuals is by investing quality of time to make them feel appreciated. In addition to that, tangible gifts are a paramount in appreciating individuals for achievements. This could also entail giving the individual employees holidays and official leaves. There are two basic types of motivation, namely intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. According to Deci et al., (2001) intrinsic motivation is whereby no other apparent reward is evident, apart from the activity itself. Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is whereby there are material rewards offered, and there is a controlling mechanism attached to these rewards (Sandhya & Pradeep, 2011). A number of theories have been set forth to explain employee motivation. For employers, there are three vital theories that they have to consider. These theories include Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Aristotle’s seven causes, Herzberg’s two-factor theory and different other types of motivation. Abraham Maslow developed the hierarchy of needs where he explained the various behavioral features that differentiate individuals. Maslow proposed a five level hierarchy, which he noted, were important for a person to be completely satisfied. Among these needs are the basic needs (psychological needs), safety, love, self-esteem and self-actualization. In the hierarchy, the psychological needs come at the bottom followed by safety needs then love, esteem and self-actualization respectively. For one to be completely satisfied, he or she must satisfy his or her needs based on this hierarchy. The lower needs need to be satisfied first before all the other needs are satisfied (Martin, 2009). This theory proves to be a very important tool for management in that it informs which factors influence a person’s behavior. This information enables managers to know exactly how to motivate an individual. If an employee has a difficulty in satisfying one of the needs, the employees could modify their motivational strategy to enable him or her achieve that need (Orrick, 2008). However, motivation is not all about satisfying those five needs and hence employers need to find the best approaches to improve the way an employee feels about the organization. In his book Rhetoric, Aristotle said that a person’s actions are because of one or other of the seven causes namely: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reasoning, anger and lastly appetite. Aristotle noted that a person’s actions are because of either reason or emotion (Lam, Baum, Pine, 2001). He further argued that people seek pleasant things and take actions in order to reduce pain. Aristotle’s theory is important to managers in that it describes the different motivations that drive different people (Simons, 2001). If managers can be able to understand how these different causes affect their employees, they would be at a better place to motivate and influence them effectively. It is recommendable for any organization to establish a reward system or a reward strategy that encompasses both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. One such strategy is a total reward strategy. Employing a total reward strategy in organizations has been seen as to being one of the most effective ways of boosting organizational performance. Using a mixture of both high value and low value intrinsic and extrinsic rewards in balanced proportions administered regularly throughout the year is one of the best ways to improve, boost and sustain growth in organizational performance. Using the findings of this research, organizations can manage to create brands that are representative of their workforce; creative, energetic, bold and enthusiastic. With such qualities, any employee is likely to succeed in any competitive workplace in the world. Motivation is not a complicated process, but rather one that can be simply incorporated in organizations. However, the process of improving organizational performance will lead to numerous changes in the workplace, which will change the organization dynamics. References Barrick, M. R., & Zimmerman, R. D. (2009). Hiring for retention and performance.Human Resource Management, 48, 2, 183-206. Bruce, A. (2003). How to motivate every employee. United States of America: Mc Graw Companies Ltd. Chapman, D.G and White, C.P. The 5 languages of appreciation in the workplace United States of America: North Field Publishing. Dessler, G. (2000). Human resource management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Lam, T., Baum, T. & Pine, R. (2001). Study of Managerial Job Satisfaction in Hong Kong’s Chinese Restaurants. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 13(1), 35-42. Martin, J. (2009). Human resource management. Los Angeles: SAGE. Pink, H. D. (2011). Drive: the truth about what really motivates us. New York: Canongate publishers. Orrick, W. D. (2008). Recruitment, retention, and turnover of police personnel: Reliable, practical, and effective solutions. Springfield, Ill: Charles C Thomas. Sandhya, K., & Pradeep, K. D. (2011). Employee retention by motivation.Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 4, 12, 1778-1782. Zhang, X., & Bartol, K. M. (2010). Linking Empowering Leadership and Employee Creativity: The Influence of Psychological Empowerment, Intrinsic Motivation, and Creative Process Engagement. Academy of Management Journal, 53, 1, 107-128. Read More