Challenges Human Resource Management face with Motivating Employees

Much behaviour is routine, based on habit, precedent and unconscious scripts. For some people work is an occasion for hard, enthusiastic and imaginative activity, a source of rich satisfaction. They are motivated, in the sense that they put efforts into their work. For others it is something they do grudgingly-work does not arouse their enthusiasm, or merely passes the time until they find something more interesting.

The quality of being able to do something in an employee is not enough. The employee’s ambition to finish the given work is also very important. Any organisation becomes only successful when a worker who is hired to perform a job has skills and urges to complete his given work and the overall excellent work only comes from the employees when management keep on boosting their confidence and praise them for their good performance.

The Framework of Motivation

Expectation of employers and employees from each other:

What employees expect from their employer:

To be treated fairly as human being

To be provided with work that suits their ability

To have oppurtunities for self development and promotion

For employer’s promises to be kept

To know what is expected of them

To be rewarded equitably

To have a friendly and safe working environment

What employers expect from their employees:

To work hard for the organisation

To be committed to the organisation values

To be loyal and dependable

For employees to keep their promises

To keep to the work standards set by management

To be prepared for change in the job they do

To think about how tehy can improve the work they do

Importace of Employee motivation:

Motivated empoyees are always ready to and excited to give their best performance for their work. This statement can apply to corporate stategists, and to production workers. When people actively seek new ways of doing things, they usually find them. It is the duty of seniors of the management to boost their employees and guide them to give their best work each time. An understanding of the nature of motivation is helpful to get a better performance from the employees.

A motivated employee, generally, is more equily oriented. This is true whether we are talking about a top manager spending extra time on data gathering and analysis for a report, or a clerk taking extra care when filing importance documents. In either case, the organisation benefits, because individuals in and outside the organisation see the enterprise as a quality conscious. A clear understanding of the way motivation works helps a manager make his employee to produce impressive work.

The employees who are more motivated are able to give much more quality work than the workers who has does show lack of interest or concern about their work. The high productivity of Japanese workers and the fact that fewer workers are needed to produce an automobile in Japan than elsewhere is well known. The high productivity of Japanese workers is attributable to many reasons, but motivation is the main factor. Productivity of workers becomes a question of the management’s ability to motivate its employees. An appreciation of the nature of motivation is highly useful for managers.

Every organisation requires human resources, in addition to financial and physical resources for it to function. These behavioural dimensions of HR are significant to the organisations;

Before joining any firm the employees must not only attracted but also they must think to keep on remaining working for the same firm and take the organisation on the next level.

It is each employees duty to perform the tasks for which they are hired, and must do so in a dependable manner

Employees must perform beyond this reliable role performance but also involve in creative, enthusiastic and creative behaviour at work place.

For an organisation to be effective, it must come to grips with the motivational problems of simulation both the decision to participate and the decision to produce at work.

Motivation represents a highly overall development that affects, and also gets affected by, a so many factors in the firm. A complete understanding of the way in which an organisation functions, requires that increasing attention be directed towards the question of why people behave as they do on their jobs. An understanding of the topic of motivation is essential in order to complete more fully the effects of variations in other reactions such as leadership style, salary system etc, as they related to performance and satisfaction.

Another reason is why motivation to employees is important because motivation can be found in the present and future technology required for production. As technology increases in complexity, machines tend to become necessary, yet sufficient, vehicles of effective an efficient operation.

Example: The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle’s (PSLV) lift-off has been the result of 12 years of development work, transfer of technology to the private industry, smoothening the manufacture of components and subsystems, complex project management and dedicated work by literally thousands in the ISRO, industry and other national laboratories and research institutes. With this feat, India has joined the exclusive club of half a dozen nations that can build and, more importantly, launch its own satellites.

The secret behind the success of ISRO has been its employees who are both capable of using and are willing to use the advance technology to reach the goals.

Motivational challenges and changes and implementing changes in workforce:

One reason why motivation is difficult task is that the workforce is changing. Employees join organisations with different needs and expectations. Their values, beliefs, backgrounds, lifestyles, perceptions and attitudes are different. Not many organisations have understood these and not many HR experts are clear about the ways of motivating such diverse workforce.

Motivation can only be deduct, but not seen.

Example; The director of a school-A finds two boys working in his office showing varying performance, though both of them are of same age, same educational qualifications and identical work experience. What motivates one boy and fails with another is difficult to understand. The dynamic nature of needs often poses challenges to any manager motivating his or her supporter. An employee, at any given time, has various needs, desires and expectations. Further, all these change overtime and may also conflict with each offer. Employees who put in extra hours at work to fulfil their needs for accomplishment may find that these extra hours conflict directly with needs of affiliation and their desire to be with their families.

However, there is no shortage of models, strategies and tricks for motivating employees. As a result constantly experiment with next motivational programmes and practices.

Employees Challenges:

Everyone has motivational energy. Although many problem employees display a marked lack of drive and commitment in their jobs, these qualities are usually alive and well in other areas of their lives.

The energy which the problem employees possess is often blocked in the workplace. The blockage may occur because of new and sudden changes at home or frustrated dreams or broken promises at work.

Removing blockage of energy requires people’s participation. To motivate an employee to work towards organisational goals, it is necessary to find his or her place of energy and purchase it. Instead of pushing solutions on people with the force of argument, the manger should pull solutions out of them.

Beyond a certain point, there is no need to show mercy to problem people.

The following are some tips to deal with problem employees:

Try to reach out to the employee even if it appears to be a climb down on the boss part. This is the necessary in the interest of the organisation.

Change the place of work. Probably a new boss, new peers and a new environment may change the employee.

Issue verbal threats- threats of severe actions. Severity of actions attentively to differ from workers to managers.

Translate threats into actions. If problem employees are workers, suspension may work. If the problem employees are manager, sack them.

Example: Coca-Cola India, regularly does an analysis based on performance feedback, dividing employees into five levels-high potentials, promotable, matches, mismatches and non-performers. The ‘matches’ form Coke’s majority employees who are not star neither are they laggards. They do their jobs competently, steer the course and define the organisation’s values and culture. They receive the least attention from top management, since they are un-ambitious and unexciting.

Another way to motivate employees and solve their problem of dissatisfaction at work place is “Reward”; people join organisations expecting rewards. Firms distribute money and other benefits in exchange for the employee’s availability, well qualified physically and intellectually and behaviours.

Rewards:

Membership and Seniority-based Rewards: Benefits an employee receives depend on the firm which he or she joins.

Example: In India an MBA taking up a job in Wipro or Infosys gets more benefits than the boy or gal who joins a state government undertaking. In the same firm, a senior employee receives more benefits than his or her junior employee. Advancement, pay raises, retirement benefits and A payment or profit received in addition to a regular wage or salary depend on seniority of an employee.

Performance-based Rewards: The trend that emerging recently is to link pay to performance rather than seniority or membership.

EXAMPLE: Firms in North America, Europe and Asia are paying their employees more for performance than ever before. For instant in a recent survey of 2010 large firms in Japan, Tokyo, 24 % awarded pay increases on the basis of performance than seniority.

Competency-based Rewards: Increasingly organisations are linking rewards to competencies of employees. Competencies are reflected through skills, knowledge and traits that lead to desirable behaviours. Competency-based rewards have merits. They have been praised for developing a better-skilled and flexible workforce. Customer needs are met more quickly. Employees can handle any job with great happiness.

Job Status-based Rewards: Every firm rewards employee for the status of the job they are holding. Firms use job evaluation system which helps establish differentials in status off jobs. Status differentials are used as the basis for establishing wages/salary differentials.