Employee Motivation in the Context of International Management - Coursework Example

Running head: Employee Motivation in context of International Management Employee Motivation in context of International Management [Institution’s Name] FOREWORD: The competitive landscape is changing the methods in which the businesses are conducted all over the world. Employees are considered as the backbone of the companies. The changing business environment has spurred the management of companies to find new ways in order to make the employees more efficient and productive. The provision of improved means of communication and technological advancement in the world has provided the business world with the opportunity to explore new ideas and ways to improve the motivation level of the employees. Employee empowerment is one of the new techniques which is being used in the companies to make them more efficient and responsible. The competition is getting tougher with the inclusion of the Asian Economies in the global market where labour is very cheap and productive e.g. in China. This report demonstrates that management is rising to the challenge of developing and motivating the employees and to find strategies that combines an increased focus on motivation with innovation. As one of the most beneficial motivation technique employee empowerment can be effectively used to continue to embrace the changing trends of business. Yet my paper also suggests that the management will have to work just as hard as employees to ensure that the process is undertaken effectively in order to achieve the desired results do. This research will be an important contribution to the understanding of factors, which play an important role in the effective undertaking of the process. Introduction: In the last decade, the belief has grown amongst organisational theorists (Handy, 1985, 1989; Kanter, 1983, Pascale, 1990 and others) that in order to be successful in increasingly turbulent markets, organisations need to be able to assimilate – or better, instigate – dramatic shifts in their industries. Cultural factors are also one of the impacting force, which affects the values placed on the Motivation. The role of the ‘opportunity factors’ offered by the social and economic context as an important contributing factor with cultural influences (CEEDR, 2000). The influence of the culture was been first stressed at the beginning of the century. Protestants have encouraged a culture which stresses on achievement motivation, individualism, rationality, legitimating of entrepreneurial vocations, asceticism and self-reliance. Thus ethic is the fundamental element of the spirit of modern capitalism (Weber, 1976). Culture is like a collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one category of people to other that means a culture which is shaped by the individual social environment but not by there genes. Culture differences are the outcomes of national, ethnic, regional, religious, social class, language variations and gender. Values are also said to be the vital feature of culture and cultural distinctiveness (Basu and altinay, 2002). Impact of Culture on Human Resources: Human Resources is a strategic approach to the growth, development and management of the increased responsibility of human resources. It is a specialised field that attempts to develop an appropriate corporate culture, and introducing programmers, which reflect and support the core values of the enterprise and ensure its success. Employees in Singapore prefer that the individual should grow in the field, they must achieve in the organisation and further with the growth there should be increased responsibility. Money and job security is at the bottom of their priority where they are working. HR always looks forward to what needs to be done and then doing it rather than waiting to be told what to do about recruiting or training people or dealing with employee relations problems as they arise. The techniques for the application of HR will include many familiar functions such as manpower planning, selection, and performance appraisal training and management development. (Kaplan, P.L., 1997) There are three meanings attached to the concept of HR. In the first place, persons in an organisation are regarded as a valuable source, implying that there is a need to invest time and effort in their deve1opment. Secondly, they are human resources, which means that they have their own special characteristics. Some of these factors can be and quantified, while others can be only referred to in qualitative terms. The environment of business is an extremely important phenomenon. (Smith, B.D. 1996) The approach focuses on the need to humanise organisational life and introduce human values in the organisation. And thirdly, human resources do not merely focus on employees as individuals but also on other social realities, units and processes in the organisation. (Aswathappa K., 1997)  Motivation A motive in the Latin means move is the major determinants of human behaviour. The idea of motivation is well summed up in this quotation: Man’s actions are guided by his cognition – by what he thinks, believes, and anticipates. But when asked why he acts at all, we ask the question of motivation. Another motivational answer is given in terms of active, driving forces represented by such words as ‘wanting’ and ‘fearing’: the individual wants power, he wants status, he fears social ostracism, and he fears threats to his self esteem. There is also goal of achievement in addition to motivational analysis of man spends his energies. Wanting power, he commits his effort, time, and substance to become governor of his state; wanting status, he tries to buy his way into the ‘proper’ country club, fearing social ostracism, he shies away from acquaintances and friends who would engage him in the support of unpopular social course, fearing threats to self esteem, he avoids situations in which his intellectual competence might be challenged (Stanworth & Curran, 1973). There are various numbers of factors, which influence the motivation of people. It can be said that motivation influences an individual’s behaviour (Maslow,1943 & 1987; Hertzberg, Mausner & Synderman 1959; Hertzberg 1974; McGregor 1957; Alderfer, 1969 & 1972; Vroom, 1964). There has been much literature written on motivation in the context of business. Mitchell (1982) identifies four common characteristics, which underline the definition of motivation: 1. Motivation is typified as an individual phenomenon (every person is unique) 2. Motivation is described, usually, as intentional (choices of action) 3. Motivation is multifaceted (complex) and 4. The purpose of motivational theories is to predict behaviours (internal and external forces). On the basis of these characteristics, Mitchell defines motivation as “the degree to which an individual wants and chooses to engage in certain specified behaviours”. Herzberg (1959) identified a two-factor theory of motivation and job satisfaction that is deeply embedded in the context of business. These factors are ‘hygiene’ factors or ‘maintenance’ factors, which serve to prevent dissatisfaction. Hygiene factors include: salary, job security, working conditions, level and quality of supervision, company policy and administration and interpersonal relations. The other set of factors are those, which if present, serve to motivate the individual to superior effort and performance, these factors are called the ‘motivators’ or ‘growth’ factors. Motivator factors include sense of achievement, recognition, responsibility, nature of work and personal growth and advancement. Many academics including myself believe that Herzberg’s work has a direct relationship to field of motivation and it is plain to see how Herzberg’s two-factor theory can affect the behaviour and motivation of an employee. Maslow (1943) proposed that people want beings, they always want more and what they want depends on what they already have. Maslow suggests that human needs are arranged in a series of levels, a ‘hierarchy’ of importance. The hierarchy ranges through five levels, from the lowest level physiological needs, through safety needs, love needs and esteem needs, to the need for self-actualisation at the highest level. Again, it is clear to see how Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory has a direct relationship to the field of motivation. A modified hierarchy of needs model has been presented by Alderfer (1972). This model condenses Maslow’s five levels of need into only three levels based on the core needs of existence, relatedness and growth (ERG theory). Researchers such as the late Harvard psychologist David McClelland have identified a characteristic of profile of high achievers. First, these people like situations in which they take personal responsibility for finding solutions to problems. They want to win because of their own efforts, not because of luck or chance. Second, they tend to be moderate risk takers rather than high or low-risk takers. If a decision-making situation appears to be too risky, they will learn as much as they can about the environment and try to reduce the probability of failure. In this way, they turn a high-risk situation into a moderate-risk situation. If the situation is too-low risk, however, there usually is an accompanying low reward, and they tend to avoid situations with insufficient incentive. (Srivastava, R.M. 1999) Undertaking the process of employee empowerment can motivate these types of people. According to Potterfield (1999), empowerment will be best defined as "the power to use more judgement and discretion in their work and to participate more fully in decisions affecting their working lives." (p. 2). Employee empowerment is an important management technique used by companies to increase organisational effectiveness (Conger & Kanungo, 1988; Kanter, 1989; Spreitzer, 1995, 1996). Different researchers have defined employee empowerment in different ways. Hollander and Offermann (1990) defined empowerment as the sharing of power between management and employees. According to the individuals perspective employee empowerment has been defined as the process of increasing individual perceptions of control (Greenberger & Strasser, 1991). Other researchers such as (Conger & Kanungo, 1988) defined it as the process of strengthening the self-esteem of the employee. Cultural complexity: The empowerment initiative should be taken while keeping in view the cultural aspects of the organisation, Especially in today’s era of globalise economy where the employees of an organisation are from different cultural background. This diversion in the employees culture leads to different reactions form the employees; organisational culture can provide multiple pockets of varying degrees of resistance and support for any change endeavour (Meyerson & Martin, 1987). It has been noted in many instances by the different researchers that the sub-cultural differences often emerge during the change process (Wilkins & Dyer, 1988). It is important for the management of the organisation to assess and recognise the effects of these sub cultures on the empowering process in order to save the process from failure due to inappropriate measures against resistance. On the other hand the assessment can help the organisation in recognising the unanticipated opportunities for empowerment present within a potentially dis-empowering, larger organisational context. References Alderfer, C.P. (1969). An empirical test of a new theory of human needs. Organisational Behaviour and Human Performance, 4, 142-175. Alderfer, C. P. (1972). Existence, relatedness, and growth. New York: Free Press. Aswathappa K. (1997). Personnel Management, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd., New Delhi. Basu and Altinay. (2000). 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