Employee Motivation - Essay Example

Besides, Taylor was the first to identify other than material the needs of the employees and tried to include them into motivational process. Among the other, he hired doctors, nurses and psychologists to his company (Miner, 2005). 4 Maslow's theory of motivation: a revolution in organizational science. During 1950s the diverse approaches to human nature were united into a broad organizational approach. This period was the heyday of organizational science as during that time major concepts that motivation were developed.

The most important of such theories is obviously Abraham Maslow's (1954) theory of motivation. Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" provided a framework for analysis why people work and how they may be motivated in the best way (McShane and Von Glinow, 2001). 6 Goal-setting theory, developed by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham, implies that the goals are the most important factors affecting the motivation and behaviour of employees. This theory emphasizes the importance of specific and challenging goals in achieving motivated behaviour.

Specific goals, observing Locke and Latham, usually imply quantitative targets that motivate people to work more effectively. These goals are usually rather achievable, though not easy to achieve. Challenging goals, in their turn, are difficult but not impossible to attain. Empirical research supports the proposition that goals that are both specific and challenging are more motivational than vague goals or goals that are relatively easy to achieve (Miner, 2005; McShane and Von Glinow, 2001).

9Several factors moderate the relationship between specific and challenging goals as well as with high levels of motivation, i.e.: 10Goal commitment, which means that the more dedicated an individual is to achieve the goal, the more he/she will be motivated to exert effort toward goal accomplishment. 10Self-efficacy that is an employee's belief that he/she can successfully complete a particular task. If individuals have a high degree of self-efficacy, they are likely to respond more positively to specific and challenging goals than if they have a low degree of self-efficacy (Miner, 2005; McShane and Von Glinow, 2001).

10Conclusions 10FACTORS AND PROCESSES THAT AFFECT EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION IN ORGANIZATIONIntroductionEffective motivation is a corner stone of organizational functioning, development, competitiveness and, yet, effectiveness. Over the past decades, the way in which people are managed, promoted and stimulated at workplaces has become a primary key to assess and improve organizational efficiency and marketability and became a part of a general organizational strategy.In terms of globalization and rapidly changing business environment, as well as growing competitiveness on the market modern companies increasingly need to rely rather of skilled and motivated employees then on pure technologies and products.

As Steve Jobs, CEO of legendary Apple Computers states, "in terms when technologies may be