A little boy once asked his mother: “if work is such a fun, how come rich people don’t do it?” His mother replied that rich people do not only work but do much harder work. What the little boy’s mom did not tell him is that Bill Gate who was at one time the richest man in the world(now the third) did not make his money by laying video games. He was motivated by the desire to be rich, hence he put all his time and energy to work. Every normal person is motivated to perform. So whether you are a clergy, a businessman, a sportsman, an employee or a salesman, you are motivated to do what you are doing.
What is motivation?
Motivation is a set of reasons that compels one to engage in a particular behaviour. The term is generally used for human motivation but theoretically can be used to describe the causes for animal behaviour as well. Here the focus is on human motivation which is the force within or external of a person that arouses the enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a particular course of action.
According to motivation theories, motivation may be rooted in the basic need to minimise physical pain and maximise pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting or a desired object; hobby, goal, state of being, ideal; or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism, morality or overcoming mortality.
According to psychologists, employee motivation affects productivity. Therefore, part of the duties of the manager is to channel motivation toward the accomplishment of organizational goals.
Do you motivate employees?
So how do you treat your workers? Do you treat them such that they do not feel a sense of belonging? Or do you treat them as sacks of potatoes? Do you give priority to other factors of production than you give to your employees? Do you consider your employees when you take decisions that affect them? Are you too busy that you cannot attend to the needs of an employee even though they are part of your responsibilities? Do you lie to them? Do you fulfil your promises to them as well due? Do you meet your financial obligations to them? Do you at all bother that workers can be motivated and find out what motivates them? How do you motivate them
Work can be fun if people are motivated to work; that is if managers make efforts to motivate them. Happy workers lead to happy customers and happy customers lead to a successful business. On the other hand, unhappy worker leads to unhappy customers which is very disastrous for the business. When employees are unhappy, they are likely to leave the business and when they do , the organization bears the cost of replacements and the cost of waiting for them to acquire the necessary skills while learning on the job. Added to this are the loss of intellectual capital, decreased moral, increased employee stress and negative reputation. Another form of cost that arises from this is sabotage. Frustrated workers are likely to sabotage the organization and at the end it is the organization that bears the brunt. It is therefore the duty of the manager to motivate employees towards common organisational goals.
Incentive theory
Motivation is all about reward. According to psychologists, a reward, tangible or intangible is presented after the occurrence of an action i.e. behaviour with the intent to cause the behaviour to occur again. Associating positive meaning to the behaviour does this. Studies show that if the person receives the reward immediately, the effect would be greater and duration lengthens. Repetitive action rewarding combination can cause the action to become a habit. Motivation comes from two things: you and other people. There is extrinsic motivation which comes from others and intrinsic motivation which comes from within you.
What can be gleaned from the preceding argument is that there are two types of reward namely intrinsic and extrinsic. An intrinsic reward means satisfaction a person gets in the process of performing a particular action. The belief that one is making contributions to the progress of an organization or society is a form of intrinsic reward. An extrinsic reward is something given to one by another, in this case the manager in recognition of good works. Typically, it comes in the form of pay increase, promotions and gifts
Brief Analysis of Motivation theories
At lower levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, such a s physiological needs, money is a motivator, however it tends to have a motivating effect on staff that lasts only for a short period ( in accordance with Herzberg’s two factor model of motivation). At the higher level, praise respect, recognition, empowerment and a sense of belonging are far more powerful motivators than money, as both Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation and Douglas McGregor’s theory X and theory y( pertaining to the theory of leadership) demonstrate.
Maslow has money at the lowest level of the hierarchy and shows other needs are better motivator to staff. McGregor places money in his theory X category and feels it is a poor motivator. Praise and recognition are placed in the theory Y category and are considered stronger motivators than money.
- Motivated employees always seek better ways to do a job
- Motivated employees are more quality oriented
- Motivated workers are more productive
The average workplace is about midway between the extremes of high treat and high opportunity.
What is motivation?
Motivation is a set of reasons that compels one to engage in a particular behaviour. The term is generally used for human motivation but theoretically can be used to describe the causes for animal behaviour as well. Here the focus is on human motivation which is the force within or external of a person that arouses the enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a particular course of action.
According to motivation theories, motivation may be rooted in the basic need to minimise physical pain and maximise pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting or a desired object; hobby, goal, state of being, ideal; or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism, morality or overcoming mortality.
According to psychologists, employee motivation affects productivity. Therefore, part of the duties of the manager is to channel motivation toward the accomplishment of organizational goals.
Do you motivate employees?
So how do you treat your workers? Do you treat them such that they do not feel a sense of belonging? Or do you treat them as sacks of potatoes? Do you give priority to other factors of production than you give to your employees? Do you consider your employees when you take decisions that affect them? Are you too busy that you cannot attend to the needs of an employee even though they are part of your responsibilities? Do you lie to them? Do you fulfil your promises to them as well due? Do you meet your financial obligations to them? Do you at all bother that workers can be motivated and find out what motivates them? How do you motivate them
Work can be fun if people are motivated to work; that is if managers make efforts to motivate them. Happy workers lead to happy customers and happy customers lead to a successful business. On the other hand, unhappy worker leads to unhappy customers which is very disastrous for the business. When employees are unhappy, they are likely to leave the business and when they do , the organization bears the cost of replacements and the cost of waiting for them to acquire the necessary skills while learning on the job. Added to this are the loss of intellectual capital, decreased moral, increased employee stress and negative reputation. Another form of cost that arises from this is sabotage. Frustrated workers are likely to sabotage the organization and at the end it is the organization that bears the brunt. It is therefore the duty of the manager to motivate employees towards common organisational goals.
Incentive theory
Motivation is all about reward. According to psychologists, a reward, tangible or intangible is presented after the occurrence of an action i.e. behaviour with the intent to cause the behaviour to occur again. Associating positive meaning to the behaviour does this. Studies show that if the person receives the reward immediately, the effect would be greater and duration lengthens. Repetitive action rewarding combination can cause the action to become a habit. Motivation comes from two things: you and other people. There is extrinsic motivation which comes from others and intrinsic motivation which comes from within you.
What can be gleaned from the preceding argument is that there are two types of reward namely intrinsic and extrinsic. An intrinsic reward means satisfaction a person gets in the process of performing a particular action. The belief that one is making contributions to the progress of an organization or society is a form of intrinsic reward. An extrinsic reward is something given to one by another, in this case the manager in recognition of good works. Typically, it comes in the form of pay increase, promotions and gifts
Brief Analysis of Motivation theories
At lower levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, such a s physiological needs, money is a motivator, however it tends to have a motivating effect on staff that lasts only for a short period ( in accordance with Herzberg’s two factor model of motivation). At the higher level, praise respect, recognition, empowerment and a sense of belonging are far more powerful motivators than money, as both Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation and Douglas McGregor’s theory X and theory y( pertaining to the theory of leadership) demonstrate.
Maslow has money at the lowest level of the hierarchy and shows other needs are better motivator to staff. McGregor places money in his theory X category and feels it is a poor motivator. Praise and recognition are placed in the theory Y category and are considered stronger motivators than money.
- Motivated employees always seek better ways to do a job
- Motivated employees are more quality oriented
- Motivated workers are more productive
The average workplace is about midway between the extremes of high treat and high opportunity.
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