Why Motivation is Important in the Workplace
There is an old saying, you can take a horse to the water but you cannot force it to drink; it will drink only if it's thirsty - so with people. They will do what they want to do or otherwise motivated to do. Motivation is one of the key concepts for individuals for developing a professional work environment in every workplace. Each individual human being is different from each other and their personality can be motivated in different ways. Largely, most organisations depend on its employees productive and satisfying performances to help ensure the smooth running of the organisations towards its short & long term goals. “Employees must act and think in the right ways and they must do so even as great changes take place in the environment”, (Wood et al., 2004, p.4). When it comes to motivation, knowing is not as important as doing things. In terms of increasing both productivity and quality of working life, employees are needed to be motivated, which is very important for organisations advancement.
This essay has summarised some of the most widely used employee retention practices. It gives a clear idea about individual personality which can be motivated in different ways. After highlighting several motivation theories and practices, this essay concentrates on discussing human nature in general and the advantages and disadvantages of motivation in particular. Finally, it justifies the importance of successful implications of these theories to achieve a motivated work environment with motivated high performing employees.
To complete this essay, information has been compiled from sources like text books, reference books, business journals and from internet. Well known examples have been given based on large organisations. Some real life experiences have been furnished also for better understanding about the topic.
Over the past five decades research on motivation has provided many insights into the factors that influence people’s willingness to work towards their organisation’s goals. Two main approaches are known as the Content and Process theories. Where content theories focus on understanding ways to profile or analyse individuals to identify the needs that motivate their behaviours, process theories add a cognitive dimension by focusing on individuals’ beliefs about how certain behaviours will lead to rewards.
Numerous research that has been undertaken in this field, notably by Abraham Maslow, Clayton Alderfer, David McClelland, Fredrick Herzberg and some other well known researchers. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory identifies higher order needs which are self-actualisation and esteem and lower order needs of social, safety and physiological requirements. He suggested that some needs are assumed to be more important than others and must be satisfied unselfishly before the other needs can serve as motivators. As long as people are motivated to satisfy these cravings, they are moving towards growth, toward self-actualization, (http://web.utk.edu/~gwynne/maslow.htm). Critics show that while Maslow's theory was seen as an improvement on previous theories of personality and motivation, concepts such as self-actualization are somewhat vague. In recent years, research also shows that Maslow's theory actually does not fit in every aspect in human behaviour. There is no proof that every person has the ability to become self-actualized. Little support was found for the prediction that need structures are organized along the dimensions proposed and satisfied need does not always activates movement to a new need level, (http://www.albany.edu/psy/courses/341/iyer/lect/mar28.html).
For example, many artists and scientists, (Van Gogh and Galileo, for instance), suffered from mental illness, and yet were able to produce works that changed the world around them permanently, and intellectual giants such as Trachtenburg and Frankl, who developed new ways of doing arithmetic and psychology therapy respectively, perfected their achievements while suffering in concentration camps, (http://www.iejs.com/Management/maslows_hierarchy_of_needs.htm). Again, Wood et al. (2004) argued that countries like Japan, Greece, security tends to motivate most employees more strongly than does self-actualisation where as, collectivist countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, tends to emphasise social needs. Meanwhile, companies and leaders can offer the sustainable salaries, benefits, attention and praise, social opportunities, and empowerment plans to do their part in satisfying and motivating their employees to do a better job at their tasks than ever before. By doing so, not only do the employees benefit, but the customers and the company as well. And that can be called a win-win situation.
The upgraded version of Maslow’s theory had been conducted by Alderfer’s ERG theory. This theory differs from need theory in three basic respects, existence needs, relatedness needs and growth needs. According to this theory, satisfied low-order needs lead to the desire to satisfy higher needs and multiple needs can be operating as motivators at the same time. It also suggests that frustration in attempting to satisfy a higher need can result in regression to a lower need. According to this theory, for example, the person's background or cultural environment may dictate that the relatedness needs will take precedence over unfulfilled existence needs.
A successful example of ERG theory is the Hitachi Automotive Products Los Angeles (HAP-LA) is a major manufacturer of automotive electromechanical parts. HAP-LA follows in the steps of many Japanese-based companies in providing above-average motivational packages through excellent benefits packages, incentive programs, and retention incentives. Through these different motivational packages, HAP-LA is able to meet the needs of the employees based on the theories that were established by Alderfer’s, (http://www.cheathouse.com/essay/essay_view.php?p_essay_id=11723). But, applying of this approach can not be successful all the time. According to Wood et al. (2004), the combined satisfaction-progression and frustration-regression principles provide the manager with a more flexible approach to understanding human needs. When an individual is frustrated, expended effort may decline and negative behaviours may be introduced in the workplace.
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) of McClelland mentions about the achievement related thoughts that dominate everyday experience for many people. It identifies three secondary or socially acquired needs: power (nPow), affiliation (nAff) and achievement (nAch). Achievement may be comparable to some patterns of behaviour related to self-esteem or self-actualisation. Research on this theory shows that, nPow is most useful for managers when it is used to accomplish group and organisation goals rather than selfishly motivated goals of an organisation, (Wood et al. 2004). According to this theory, in an organisation if an employee does not get stimulation, will not feel competent and self-determining. Therefore, he seeks out the opportunity to behave in ways that allow him to feel competent and self-determining. On the other hand, people spend large amounts of time solving puzzles, painting pictures, and engaging in other play activities for which there is no external reward. They are also intrinsically motivated to do challenging work, which requires resourcefulness and creativity. The rewards for these activities are mediated within the individual. He engages in the activities not because they lead him to an external reward but rather because they bring about certain kinds of internal states which he finds rewarding. McClelland (2004) furnished that, countries which are weak in uncertainty avoidance and high in masculinity, tend to follow the high nAch pattern. In contrast, strong uncertainty, high femininity countries tend to follow a low nAch pattern.
So, it can be determined that, when an organisation looks for a high performer, the management can recruit a person with a high nAch or can also develop its own candidate through achievement training. One of my personal experiences can be given here to support this theory. Recently, Westfield Group in Australia recruited some employees in their Customer Service / Information desk to meet the pressure of additional customers query for the Christmas. Some of the recruited employees did not have any prior experience regarding their job. So, Westfield management has offered a one week achievement training program to all of its newly recruited employees to boost up their efficiency. As a result, most of the new employees are now successfully meet the job responsibilities.
Another important content theory is Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory. This theory basically describes two important factors; motivation factors that lead to job satisfaction. They are mostly intrinsic factors such as achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement, and growth. The other one is hygiene factors that lead to the prevention of dissatisfaction. They are mostly extrinsic factors such as compony policy and administration, supervision, work condition, and salary.
According to this theory, money is not a motivator of high performance. Paying more to an employee does not reflect or increase employee satisfaction. Improve work environment is also works as the same way, as job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are totally two separate dimensions. In essence, there are more to a manager's role in motivating employees other than compensation, good working conditions, and similar factors. Herzberg argued that for an employee to be truly motivated, the employee's job has to be fully enriched where the employee has the opportunity for achievement and recognition, stimulation, responsibility, and advancement.
Again, Westfield comes as an example. Westfield provides extra ordinary work environment, facilities, occupational health & safety procedures which can not be the only reason of their employee satisfaction. To gain employee satisfaction to optimum level, Westfield practices employee achievement and recognition, responsibilities and growth.
As mentioned earlier, Process theories do have serious impact on peoples’ behaviour which also can be motivated in different ways. This theory states that individuals measure and compares fairness of their work outcomes with other individuals and feel inequity. When individuals feel they have received relatively less than others, that is negative inequity and when individuals feel they have received relatively high than others, it is positive inequity.
As an example, Virgin Atlantic Airways faced tremendous problems from its competitors in UK. Their number of customers was decreasing due to the rumours made by their opponents regarding Virgin’s financial trouble to run the flights. That made a negative inequity feeling among Virgin’s customers. But the CEO, R. Branson introduced new offers like free limousine rides to the airport, video monitors on the back of each seat, massages for business class passengers etc. As a result, positive inequity feeling increased among the customers and thus Virgin gained their lost customers, (Wood et al., 1998). This example shows that in an organisation when employees may be suffer in feeling positive or negative inequity. So, managers or the management should consider employee needs and demands according to their performance and can adopt this theory to breaking their sense of equity. Again, research shows that rewards that are received with negative inequity can not always work out among employees. For example, an expatriates and a local employee doing similar jobs can receive different rewards, which can lead the local employee towards negative inequity. That is why Wood et al. (2004) mentioned that managers need to be sure that any negative consequence of the equity comparisons are avoided or at least minimised when rewards are allocated.
Currently one of the most widely accepted explanation is Vroom’s Expectancy Theory. Robbins et al. (2001) describes this theory as a theory which tell us the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual. This theory consists of three main categories, the expectancy theory, the instrumentality theory and the valance. It is always a good idea for the managers to maximise work expectancies, instrumentalities and valences that support the organisation’s production purposes. A manager should strive to create a work setting in which the individual will also value work contributions serving the organisation’s needs as paths towards desired personal outcomes. Managers may implement extrinsic and intrinsic rewards
For example, when Kodak won the Balridge award in 1993, a trip to Washington D.C. for the awards ceremony and sightseeing was arranged as a reward to all Kodak employees from Japan, (Stoner et al. 2001).
From the above discussion it is observable that, implementing motivational theories varies from organization to organization. Motivation theories depend on organisation’s type, environment, culture and most importantly on its employees. Sometimes, to achieve the highest performance one or more motivation theories need to be implemented. Nevertheless, in most cases these practices are developed and implemented without understanding the theory that explains the practice and why it may be effective, (Ramlall 2004, p.52). Some recommendations to implementing motivation theories successfully are as follows: once the management have identified desired outcomes, they need to make sure that they have control over them and can give them to subordinates or take them away when warranted. Managers should also let subordinates know that obtaining their desired outcomes depends on their performing at a high level. Managers should keep it in mind that they have to do whatever they can to encourage workers to have high expectancies, express confidence in subordinates' abilities, let them know that others like themselves have been able to perform at a high level, and give them guidance in terms of how to perform at a high level. For better assessment, managers should periodically assess the workers' by doing performance appraisals or by direct surveying or questioning. By using these assessments, managers then can make different outcomes available to workers, and clarify instrumentalities, or boost expectancies when necessary. (http://www.csupomona.edu/~msharifzadeh/mhr318/chapter06.html).
A car with a full tank of gas, well-tuned engine, good set of tires, quadraphonic CD system, and a sleek, polished exterior can not be started up with the key in the ignition. Similarly, only applying or practicing these motivational theories can not ensure a successful organisation where employees are fully satisfied. So, management should determine what outcomes the subordinates’ desire. In order to motivate them to perform at a high level, management should identify outcomes that have high positive valence for the subordinates. Thus, motivation theories can be a ‘landmark’ to manage individuals.
(2275 words approx.)
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