The Best Way to Motivate People in Organizations - Essay Example

The Best Way to Motivate People in Organisations Name Institution Professor Course Date Introduction The performance of employees is influenced by their work environment, ability and more importantly motivation. In this regard, motivation is essential because of its intangible temperament and as a determinant of performance. Motivation entails what control, energises and maintain behaviour. Motivating employee is a crucial aspect in the contemporary organisations given its critical role in enhancing employees’ performance and engagement. It is broadly accepted that a motivated workforce engenders high value and prompt substantial achievement levels. A recognition that employees matter and that how employees feel makes a difference to how they perform is critical. It is not a matter of being compassionate that makes a business successful, but it is a matter of the employees’ motivation to attain organisational objectives. Motivation can be a crucial missing element in the effectiveness of an organisation. As such, administration of motivation is a major element that determines the success of any organisation. This paper underlines the best way of motivating people in an organisation with a particular focus on Virgin Australia. The motivation of employees is increasingly getting more substantial every day because of the increased competition in the business world. Kumar (2011) asserts that, motivated workers are purposefully essential for corporate competitiveness. Motivated employees are greatly more productive. Armstrong (2009) defines motivation as the willingness to exert high levels of effort towards organisational objectives, conditioned by the effort’s capacity to gratify some individual needs. Motivation is a product of interacting forces that develop in a firm’s setting (Wysocky, 2012). It is founded on the understanding that human nature is established on an assortment of concepts, needs, ambitions and tendencies that provoke accomplishment of set goals. In this view, motivation entails the exterior and interior facets that arouse energy and aspiration in people to be persistently devoted and interested in a given role or job. It is the extent to which invariable effort is expressed to accomplish some goals. Two forms of motivation include intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Extrinsically motivated behaviours are those in which external controlling aspects can be readily determined (Armstrong, 2009). Extrinsic motivation includes rewards, approval from others, pressure, grades and punishment. Intrinsically motivated behaviour, on the other hand, refers to behaviours for which there lack apparent reward except the activity itself. Intrinsic motivation is the inner drive that makes people undertakes certain activities (Wysocky, 2012). It includes enjoyment, fun and satisfaction experienced when conducting an activity. Performance in intrinsically motivated employees is based on the absence of reward. The best way to motivate employees in an organisation is through extrinsic motivation strategies such as the use of monetary rewards. Virgin Australia uses both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to motivate its employees. Virgin Australia Airlines is the Australia’s second-biggest airline and the biggest by fleet size to utilise the Virgin brand. The organisation motivation strategies fall into different categories that include need-based motivation, process-based motivation and learning-based motivation. While all these approaches are effective in augmenting employees’ motivation and performance, need-based perspective is the best approach to motivating employees (Armstrong, 2009). Firms need to combine the components of the three different perspectives to motivate workers effectively. However, given that motivation is personal, the best way to motivate employees in an organisation is to put their needs on the organisation agenda (Alvesson, 1987). Virgin Australia uses rewards to motivate its workforce while considering their needs. The organisation has a highly motivated, stable and engaged workforce. Organisations can uphold and augment employee’s motivation through rewards and consideration of employees needs (Diefendorff & Changler, 2011). Psychologist Abraham Maslow anticipated that all people seek to fulfil five basic needs, which include, from the highest, self-actualization, esteem, belongingness, safety and physiological needs. According to Maslow, people must have their lowest-level needs attained before they could strive to fulfil the highest requirements in the hierarchy. Once a need is fulfilled, it stops to operate as a motivation source (Harrison, 2005). The lowest level of unmet requirements in the hierarchy is the prime behaviour motivator. Apparently, human beings are principally motivated by deficiencies in their needs. The theoretical blueprint of Hierarchy of needs is productively used in Virgin Australia Airlines. Other Virgin brand across the world to motivate its employees at all levels in the organisational structure based on the temperament of their instantaneous needs. The motivational strategies for lower level employees include financial incentives while focus is accorded to the perspectives of professional and personal development when inspiring medium level employees such as managers. According to Armstrong (2009), the use of the need-based motivation in Virgin Australia as well as in Virgin Atlantic Airlines energises and directs goal-oriented conduct. Firms should understand that financial rewards are the most productive motivational strategies for workers at all levels in an organisation. Virgin Airlines and other major companies acknowledge use of financial rewards. Rewarding is the leading firm’s policies that increase the performance of employees besides increasing organisational outputs. With the existing global economic growth and competition, employers comprehend that productivity in their organisations is paramount to acquire a competitive edge (Luthans & Doh, 2009). In this regard, extrinsically rewarding employs is paramount for organisational productivity and profitability. External rewards for Virgin Airlines include positive evaluations, payment, job security, esteem, bonuses, material properties and promotion. Rewarding, particularly, financial rewards is crucial as an unbreakable motivator and insensitive to attain organisational performance (Gohari, Ahmadloo & Boroujeni, 2013). Based on the Maslow hierarchy of needs theory, unmet needs and extrinsic rewards compel employee’s motivation. Employee pay is a crucial factor that impacts their motivation. The motivation by pay in Virgin Airline is founded on seniority. However, the pay level in Virgin Airlines is determined by the employees skills, effort and job status. Recognition also prompts employees’ motivation. With respect to Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory, hygiene needs entails extrinsically motivated conducts undertaken t obtain social or material rewards or to prevent punishments. Hygiene needs are fulfilled through pay, job security, effective supervision, favourable working conditions and effective relations with colleagues. When hygiene needs are unmet, employees become dissatisfied, hence reduced motivation (Luthans & Doh, 2009). Virgin Airlines ensures that the hygiene needs are met through regular pay review, increased job security, effective employee relations, favourable working conditions and effective supervision. However, the company acknowledges that satisfying hygiene requirement only cannot lead to a highly motivated workforce or increased levels of job satisfaction. In this regard, Virgin Airlines ensures high level of employee motivation and job satisfactions through ensuring autonomy, responsibility, company’s policies, interesting work, development and growth on the job all of which are motivation needs based on Herzberg’s motivation hygiene theory (Armstrong, 2009). Although these factors do not necessarily increase employees, they are necessary to ensure increased levels of employees’ motivation. However, Virgin Airlines as a way of augmenting employee job satisfaction, motivation and productivity productively implement both motivational factors and hygiene factors. The need for achievement, affiliation and power also motivate employees. To some extent, the presence of these factors is noticeable in all employees, but the level of significance of each need depends on the position that one occupies in the workplace. A high need for power and achievement is an asset in middle and frontline managers while senior level managers desire power. According to McClelland’s theory, employees are motivated when they achieve the needs for affiliation, power and achievement. Virgin Australia ensures that its employees are kept highly motivated through increased benefits. The company has established an atmosphere when employees feel rewarded and recognised for their work. The firm attain this objective through competitive pay, performance-based rewards, different career paths, team development, travel, study assistance, travel and engagement surveys. Through engagement, the management listens and to the views of their employees and recognises their efforts and achievement. More so, Virgin Australia offers employees salary sacrifice options with options such as superannuation and vehicles. Conclusion Motivation entails an internal condition or state that activates an individual’s conducts and offers it guidance towards accomplishing a given task. Motivation directs and energises goal-oriented conducts besides direction and intensity of behaviour. Employee motivation is essential because it determines a person's efforts towards performing a task. Employees’ motivation increases their performance and that of the organisations. Employees can be motivated intrinsically or extrinsically. There are varies ways in which firms can motivate their employees that include need-based motivation, process-based motivation and learning-based motivation. While all these forms of motivation are applicable in organisations, need-based motivation is the most effective and combines both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Virgin Australia considers meeting employees’ external needs such promotion and pay and intrinsic needs such achievement and recognition to ensure a highly motivated and productive workforce. References Alvesson, M. (1987). Organisation theory and technocratic consciousness: Rationality, ideology and quality of work. Berline: De Gruyter. Armstrong, M.(2009). Armstrong handbook of human resource management practice. UK: Kogan Page. Diefendroff, J., & Chandler, M .(2011). APA handbook of industrial and organisation psychology, Vol 3: Maintaining, expanding and contracting the organisation. USA: American Psychological Association. Gohari, P,., Ahmadloo, A., & Boroujeni, M.(2013). The relationship between rewards and employee performance. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 5 (3), p.543-570. Harrison, S.(2005). Maslow: Simon Harrison reviews Maslow hierarchy of needs and evaluates its usefulness in a business context. Business Review, 11 (3), p.8 Kumar, S. (2011). Motivating employees: An exploratory study of knowledge workers. South Asian Journal of Management, 18 (3), 26-47. Luthans, F & Doh, J. (2009). International management: culture, strategy, and behaviour. Australia: McGraw-Hill Education. Wysocky, K .(2012). Motivating employees. 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