The Importance of Motivation in an Organization - Term Paper Example

Organisational Motivation [The Writer’s Name] [The Name of the Institution] Organisational Motivation Introduction It is the fact that everyone wants to be appreciated. This goes for managers as well as employees, parents as well as children, and coaches as well as players. This assignment presents the importance of motivation in an organization towards achieving the organizational goals. Motivating the employees using various rewards is one of the key roles of the manager. In the world there are many new skilled workers, to make full use of their skills and knowledge manager must design himself to ensure the needs of these employees are met. Definition of Motivation Motivation can be regarded as broad concept preferences for particular outcomes, strength to particular effort and persistence. These are the factors a manager has to understand and appreciate in order to motivate the employees. Motivation increases revenue by higher employee involvement. Motivation Improves work processes by having a better employee employer relationship. Motivation Increase sales volume of the organisation. Motivation improves profitability. Different Theories of Motivation: 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs The best known theory of motivation is Maslow's Hierarchy theory. In this theory Maslow explains that in every human being there exists a hierarchy of five types on needs. (1) In this the basic needs of human being are wanted, they are Food, Drink, Shelter, and other bodily requirements. In this the security and protection from physical and emotional harm are wanted by the human beings. Affection, belongings, acceptance, and friendship are wanted by the human being. Internal esteem factors such as self-respect, autonomy, and achievement and external esteem factors such as status, recognition, and attention are most wanted things by the humans in this stage. Growth, achieving one's potential, and self-fulfilment are the drive to become what one is capable of becoming. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Represented As a Pyramid 2. Mc Gregor's Theory X and Theory Y Douglas McGregor suggested two diverse notions of the temperament of human beings: principally unenthusiastic observations in theory X and fundamentally constructive outlook in theory Y. McGregor's term for the supposition that worker abhors work, are indolent, and search for evading liability, and must be compelled to achieve. (2) He also assured that most labourers put protection above all other aspects related to work and will exhibit little aspiration. McGregor's account for the postulation that members of staff are innovative, realise liability, and can employ self-direction. In this theory, employees can analyse work as normal as respite or having fun. 3. Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory In Motivation hygiene theory, according to Frederick Herzberg, individual's stance in the direction of his or her job can very well conclude triumph or failure. Herzberg's theory states that intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction and extrinsic factors are related to job dissatisfaction. (3) Herzberg terms Hygiene factors as working conditions and salary. Intrinsic Rewards is defined as one that is self-administered by the person. It provides a sense of satisfaction or gratification. Employee's Need from Employer Since the rewards are of two types some employee want the reward to be Financial. The first and the most important thing employees want are to satisfy his basic requirements. If an employee wants rewards to be in financial then, employee can accept a reward of increase in salary and wages. The employee may be motivated by the reward of benefits such as increase in bonus, rise in perquisites. Four popular incentive systems include profit sharing, gain sharing, lump sum bonuses, and pay for knowledge. The employees want to do only the work that is given to them. Employees want the managers to appreciate or recognition for the work done. Employees want self respect in the organization. Employee satisfaction is influenced by how much individuals think they should receive and how much they do receive. The Relationship between Extrinsic Rewards and Motivation A number of possible hypothetical relationships between the receipt of extrinsic incentives and subsequent intrinsic task motivation have been suggested, each one holding different implications for organizational reward practices. The positive dependent position implies that positively violent performance- contingent extrinsic reinforcements will, over time, increase task liking and hence motivation. (4) The negative interactive hypothesis predicts that such reinforcement will cause relocation of the cause for task performance from task interest to external reward, thus lessening intrinsic interest of task liking, and hence motivation. People have a high need for mastery and that assumption of internal vs. external motivation is a direct function of the experienced locus of behavioural causality. (5) With an intrinsically preferred task the addition of extrinsic rewards may reduce task motivation rather than enhance it. Another key concept of the theory is the duality of extrinsic rewards. The controlling aspect in responsible for behaviour-reward instrumentality i.e., initiates change in the locus of causality. The information feature expresses information about presentation efficacy, which instigates change in feelings of self-determination and competence. (6) Herzberg’s two-factor theory, argues that individuals are motivated more by intrinsic aspects of work, such as the meaningfulness of the fob content, than by extrinsic characteristics, such as pay. He argued that the key to motivating employees was not through monetary incentives but through the redesign of jobs to make their work more meaningful. Reward and Motivation Transformation of the stimulus properties of rewards- the characteristics of a reward may be interpreted, evaluated, distorted, of otherwise altered by the recipient so the reward is cognitively represented in a way other than it was intended. The perception of the rewards as well as the interpretation of rewards, are dependent on the content of the message, the message source, and the receiver of the message. Cognitive generalization- the influence of rewards on motivation operates through a phenomenon of cognitive generalization, in which the particular effects of a reward are influenced by the cognitive associations of that reward with other rewards or other motivational states. (7) Profit-related pay is defined as a part of an employee’s pay formally linked to the profits of the business in which the employee works. Employees are rewarded at the end of a financial year with a cash bonus. There is clearly no one optimal payment system. As a result, the broader context of management preference, organizational size, technology, characteristics of the labour market, the extent and nature of competition and the attitudes those employees bring to work all influence the relevance of particular system. When rewarding performance, an organization may choose one program or combine programs, which is often the best solution. However, when considering the broad issue of reward for motivation, it is important to remember that employee performance can be stimulated by a variety of factors other than financial ones. Although monetary incentives may reduce intrinsic motivation in some settings, evidence suggests that such effects are small and isolated in work settings. (8) Motivation Organisational Structure and Job Design In general, employees resist a change as they fear will take away something of value. A proposed change in job design, structure may lead to a real or perceived loss of power, prestige, pay, or company benefits. The fear of personal loss is perhaps the biggest obstacle to organizational change (9). Undoubtedly, according to propose that all the employees' full-time contracts will become part-time will cause job insecurity. This arises from the fact they will loose all the privileges and benefits previously had and moreover will feel treat of loosing their jobs, as their contracts may not be renewed. Job insecurity among employees leads to job dissatisfaction. There may be more of a dominant assumption that inputs are offered with the expectation of a like response. Therefore, according to the 'Expectancy Theory', if the outcomes, such as pay, recognition, benefits and other rewards that are available from high effort and good performance, are not valued by employees, motivation will be lower. (10) As stated by Abraham Maslow in his 'Hierarchy of Needs Theory', employees are motivated by multiple needs. The first need in the hierarchical order is the Physiological need that in the organizational workplace is reflected in the need for a base salary to make certain survival. The next one has to do with the need for job security; therefore, security needs could be aroused at work when there is uncertainty about continued employment with the company. Subsequently, social needs act as important motivators of behaviour when the individual has a need to belong to a group at work, which, for example, influences the desire for developing good relationships with co-workers, participation in a work group, giving and receiving friendship, understanding, and finally a positive relationship with supervisors. Esteem needs include the recognition as a result of efficient and effective job performance and the need to establish status in the organization. At the bottom of the hierarchy is the self-actualization need that provides employees with opportunities to grow and to be creative. Managements' blocking or frustrating of these needs can lead to potentially dangerous implications for employees' safety attitudes and balancing behaviours; resistance to budget pressures, antagonism, and an unwillingness to cooperate. (11) The effect job insecurity can have not only on a range of important individual outcomes but also on organizational. Employee's motivation affects organization productivity, as it is worldwide known that people are the most crucial resource in any organization. Therefore, an organization is effective only if it is staffed by talented and highly skilled employees that effectively discharging their assigned duties. Differently, low employee motivation goes hand-in-hand with low organizational performance and profits. (12) Conclusion Organizations are not in complete control of their own fate; they can be, and often are, affected by the environment in which they operate. So, to be effective organizations need to be adaptive to their changing environments. But simultaneously, attention to business ethics is critical throughout the change as it sensitizes leaders and employees to how they should act. Moreover, consumers who have become increasingly concerned about a range of valued issues consider the ethical and social standards that an organization has adopted. It is envisaged that environmental, ethical and social impacts have become the most important way of tracking the company's progress. Increasingly, consumers are factoring companies' business practices and perceived values into their purchasing decisions. In recent years concerns about damaging the natural environment have taken on a new importance. This increased focus on environmental issues is having a profound impact on many organizations, which must deal not only with changes required by specific laws and regulations, but with public perceptions. Motivation is essentially an area of psychology that attempts to explain why people or animals behave in a certain manner. The study of motivation involves the examination of 2 aspects of behavior. Firstly motivation is concerned with the influence that causes specific actions in humans- the direction of behavior. Secondly, motivation also considers the intensity or the strength of the behavior. Although humans can be motivated to act in a similar fashion, the degree of effort or commitment varies enormously. For example, employees will normally attend work in exchange of the employees receiving an agreed wage or salary, the level of effort of effort or work rate varies enormously Motivation is therefore concerned with both the direction and intensity of behavior- what causes specific actions, and what determines the intensity of such actions. An employee will feel motivated to work harder if the conditions of work are good. An employee will feel that his conditions of work are good if he is treated with dignity and according to his rank in the organization. Working conditions also comprise of the actual physical surroundings in which the individual works. It may be a factory for a foreman or a plush office for a senior executive. An individual needs his own space in order to work properly. The immediate supervisor of an employee acts as a representative of the management. The way a supervisor interacts with his juniors greatly effects the employees desire to work, and hence their productivity. If a supervisor is too involved in his employees', the workers are bound to consider him an intruder and a control freak. On the other hand, if a supervisor does not exert too much control over his employees, and gives them freedom to use their own ideas he is most probably going to be a success. This sort of approach on the supervisors’ part will make the employees feel more involved in their job approach on the supervisors part will make the employees feel more involved in their job and hence increase productivity. However, too much leniency on the part of the superior will not help. Endnotes 1. Maslow, A.H. A Theory of Human Motivation, Psychological Review 50(4) (1943):370-96. 2. Douglas McGregor: Theory X and Theory Y. Workforce; Jan2002, Vol. 81 Issue 1, p32 3. Herzberg, Frederick (Author), Bernard Mausner (Author), Barbara Bloch Snyderman (Author): The Motivation to Work : Transaction Publishers (January 1, 1993): 119-23 4. Kovach, K. A. Sherman, Bohlander, Snell. "Managing Human Resources" 11th edition. South Western College Publishing, 1998: 12-14 5. Franken, R. (1994). Human Motivation. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole: 55-60 6. Reeve, J. (2001). Understanding motivation and emotion (Third Ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 89-92 7. Seamons, T. and Winum, P. Consulting Psychology Journal Vol. 52 (1) Winter 2000. American Psychological Association. 171-73 8. Decenzo D., Robbins S., Human Resource Management, 7th ed., John Wiley and Sons Inc., New York, 2002. 256-60 9. Desimone R., Harris D., Werner J., Human Resource Development 3rd ed., Harcourt College Publishing, New York, 2002. 133-38 10. Gellerman S., Motivation and Productivity, D.B. Taraporewala Sons & co., Mumbai, 1970. 41-43 11. Manoria C., Personnel Management, 3rd ed., Himalaya Publishing House, Mumbai, 1984: 22-25 12. Michael V., Human Resource Management and Human Relations, Himalaya Publishing House, Mumbai, 1993. 119-27 Read More