The Using of Motivation in Organisation - Coursework Example

Name: Professor: Institution: Course: Date: Motivation could be defined literally as the desire to do things. It is a crucial element in the setting and achievement of goals. The difference between a person who wakes up early at dawn to pound or wash or clean the pavements of the house and that stays in the house all along and all does nothing is that the one who wakes up before or at dawn to pound his pavement is motivated (Mullins, 2005). One can influence his or her levels of motivation and self control. Motivation calls for setting and achieving of goals which calls for setting intentions and always remaining present. These goals will act as the guide to our well being and success. Motivation calls for self regulation where failure is monited. When one is goal oriented motivation is also enhanced. Motivation calls for self control and one is supposed to get off your ‘but’ and focus all ones attention into the achieving the goals (Mullins, 2005). Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. It is said to be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the performance of the task itself. This kind of motivation relies and exists in an individual and it does not depend on any external pressure. This kind of motivation is mainly associated with high education achievement among the students. People and mostly students will be said to be intrinsically motivated if they either attribute their educational results to factors that they themselves would control, for example the effort they put or maybe due to their interest in mastering a topic rather than just wanting to achieve good grades in the subject of study (Mullins, 1996). If employees or students believe that only they can determine their level of success in the achieving of their goals, and that goals are not achieved by luck, they are said to be intrinsically motivated too. Extrinsic motivation comes from outside the employee or person or the student. Most of the common extrinsic motivation sources will include rewards like money or grades or may also come from threats of punishments that force someone to get motivated and aspire to achieve more. Competition too is a source of extrinsic motivation this is because it encourages the performer to win and beat the others thus do well more than the others. In the aspect of a game or a completion, cheering from a crowd are also sources of extrinsic motivation and they help the players to be determined to always do better than they are doing and even achieve more. Self control of motivation which is very important in the achieving of goals is also vital in achievement of dreams as a person may be very talented but is unmotivated to display or show his talents. Therefore, in case of an organization, self control of motivation is required so that the timid employees may show off their talents for the overall growth and success of an organization (Beardwell et al, 2004). Employee motivation is a very important aspect in the growth of an organization Mostly; managers are the ones responsible with the responsibility of motivating the employees. This is because their main job is to make sure that work is well done in the organization and that it runs smoothly. Motivation is the key to performance improvement. In order for any com[any or organization to prosper, it is required to motivate its employees regardless if it’s the top management or the lowest of a class in the hierarchy. This is because motivation is said or considered to be a function of ability and motivation. There are several strategies which a manager would employ or even use to enhance the motivation of his employees. Some of this would include strategies like positive reinforcement, effective discipline and punishment where an employee is punished or threatened to be fired if he does not deliver. Others may include treating people fairly where nepotism is shunned, satisfying employees needs, setting work related goals and making sure you achieve them, restructuring jobs where one is assigned to the area where he does best or is trained on and basing rewards on the job performance. When all this factors and strategies are summed up motivation among the workers is greatly improved. Motivation of workers is inducing others in a specific way towards goals specifically stated or set by the motivators. These goals must conform to those of the organization so as to achieve them all. According to a research conducted between 1945 and 1965 by the Minneapolis Gas Company which sought to determine the main source of motivation was quite revealing that job security was the main source of motivation with other main factors being advancement in the up job ladder, the type of work one is doing and also the company they were working for. Money surprisingly was not among the best rated source of motivation in the study and this was meant to show companies that money is not the only source of motivation but is still among the main motivation factors (Accel-Team, 2011) Most organizations have either dissatisfied and demotivated workers, satisfied but demotivated employees or satisfied and motivated employees. All these will depend on both the hygiene and motivator factors. Hygiene factors are based on the need for a business to avoid unpleasantness at work that lead to dissatisfaction. Some of these factors will include company policy and administration, wages, salaries and other financial incentives, the quality of supervision, the working conditions and the feelings of job security .motivator factors are based on an individual’s need and aspiration for personal growth. These are the most important because when they exist in any organization, they create job satisfaction. Some of these motivation factors will include ones status or leveling an organization, opportunity for advancement ,recognition from your fellow colleagues in the place of work, responsibility given and the sense of achievement and personal growth in the job . (Riley, 2011). Demotivated workers in an organization will lead to low productivity, notable poor production and quality, frequent strikes, numerous complaints about the pay and working conditions among many more. According to Hertzburg, management in any organization should focus on the re arrangement of work so that the motivator factors can take effect. Some of the factors will include job enlargement, job rotation and job enrichment (Riley, 2011). The act of knowing how to motivate either students or employees in any organization is a very vital management skill that should be with any manager. Motivation is the set of forces that cause people to choose certain behaviors’ from many alternatives that have been provided to them. Any employees’ performance is directly influenced by his or her ability to perform the job, the environment he /she is working in and the motivation given to him or her. The hardest of all this is factors is motivation as its problem are not easily addressed. Maslows’ hierarchy of needs theory on motivation suggests that the five levels of needs need to be arranged in the order of increasing importance starting with psychological needs. According to the theory, when the needs in one level are satisfied, they no longer act as motivators and so they move up the ladder to satisfy the needs at an upper level. There are also process based approaches to motivation that an organization may employ so as to motivate their workers. These approaches mainly consist of the expectant theory and equity theory. The expectancy theory explains that motivation is enhanced by how much we want something and how fast we think we can get it. It suggests that motivation plus a lot of effort leads to increased performance and outcome. This theory can be applied by managers where there will be required to investigate and determine what each employee want as the outcome. They should then focus on the organizational goals making sure that the desired levels of performance are targeted and attainable. Managers can then link both the desired goals of the organization with those of the individual employees and work to make sure that all are achieved simultaneously. Equity theory suggests that an employee is supposed to choose an action that will satisfy his need and then asses the fairness of the outcome. This theory advocates that if rewards will be used to motivate employees in any organization then they must be equitable and fair as seen by every member of the organization (Mullins, 2005) Managers can also enhance motivation through their organizations’ or adopt various organizational incentives. An incentive like organizational reward system could be used. This is the basic mechanism that an organization can use to motivate workers. This kind of reward system consists of formal and informal mechanisms by which an employees’ performance is defined, evaluated and finally rewarded. Effects of organizational rewards explain that the satisfaction of any employee is affected by the comparison of the rewards each is given for their performance. Employees compare their gifts that motivate each of them to work harder so as to get more. Managers could motivate their employees by employing more employees oriented techniques and which are effective. This is due to the fact that only employees would know what will motivate them adequately. Motivation acts a catalyst that speeds up the achievement of goals and objectives. People have different opinions about motivation. Taylor (1911) opined that the most effective motivator of workers is wages and salaries and said that non incentive wage system encourages low productivity. This did not apply to the administrative and managerial positions (Oyedele, 2011) The economic needs of man were put as a category that affected the level of motivation among the employees. There were several principles of motivation that were advanced. These principles suggested that internal motivation is not long lasting therefore bringing the whole idea of wanting a source of external motivation and this mostly applied to people who are used to doing the same type of work over and over again as well as small children. Motivation is enhanced by the manner in which the instinctual material is organized (Beardwell, et al.2004) Although payment received by an employee from an employer is not the sole motivator, it satisfies the contract of employment. Issues of motivation are difficult and in today’s world, the closeness of supervision and the tough rules employed are now in force at our work places. Employees are becoming more self managed which in turn requires them to demonstrate innovation and initiative in the work places. In conclusion ,it is possible to create an environment where the employees are motivated to do their jobs to the very best and to the extreme of their abilities. This will only happen when the management takes time to learn and understand what will motivate their employees. The management should also learn what boosts the satisfaction of their employees because with both satisfaction and motivation, the best of results will be achieved. Motivating all the employees may be a difficult task to the management since different individuals respond differently to different incentives but the managers should try their best to see that everyone is well motivated. Employers can create an atmosphere that will assist in motivating the workers so as to increase the overall performance of the organization. Finally motivation is a virtue that any employee in any organization should have and it is preferred to be internal as the best type of motivation should be intrinsic. References Accel-Team (2011) Employee Motivation: Theory and practice Retrieved on 1st September 2011 from http://www.accel-team.com/motivation/index.html Riley J (2011) People Management: Motivation in theory - Herzberg two factor theory, Retrieved on 1st September 2011 from http://tutor2u.net/business/people/motivation_theory_herzberg.asp E - Motivation in organizations Retrieved on 1st September 2011 from http://courses.washington.edu/inde495/lece.htm Oyedele M (2011) How managers motivate their employees, Retrieved on 1st September 2011 from http://www.scitopics.com/How_Managers_can_Motivate_their_Employees.html Mullins, L (1996) (4th Edition) Management and Organisational Behaviour, Pitman Publishing, London Mullins, L (2005) (7th Edition) Management and Organisational Behaviour, Prentice Hall, Pearson Education, Edinburgh Beardwell, I. et al. (2004) (4th Edition) Human Resource Management a Contemporary Approach Prentice Hall, Harlow Read More