Management by objective motivation and work performance

Motivation as defined0 by the WordWeb is the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action towards a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behaviour.

In the olden days, it was assumed that a good and successful Manager is the one who stood over his workers and give order on them to obey. But a Manager who thinks and decides for his men not only what to do but how it should be done more especially in the working environment might not succeed. This is effect would enhance how productivity approach might have worked in past when organisation were in small scale and the relationships were more personal than they are today. Therefore, to get people to work effectively and efficiently, in this changed situation, a total different approach is needed.

That is to say, people have to be organised in order to achieve the set objectives and to be able to do this, a Manager must understand the motive of workers and thereby mot1ivate them accordingly. This type of approach is an aspect of modern management functions of leading which is concerned with encouraging workers to put in their best towards the attainment of organisational goals and objectives. According to Donnelly Gibson and Ivancevich (1984) “Motivation is defined as the force within an individual that shows or initiates direct behavioural pattern. On the other hand, it can be seem as a state of being induced by doing certain things (works) which is a tool often applied to an employee/workers or staff in an organisation in order to make them perform efficiently towards the achievement of the organisational goals and objectives.

OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

1.

The aim and objective of this study is to identify the different types of

motivation and their effectiveness on workers.

2.

To know whether motivation to an employee is of necessity in order to

achieve maximum productivity in organisations.

3.

To enquire about things related to employee efficiency, satisfaction, productivity, the motivation they received and general working environment of the employee work.

4.

To examine the different types of motivational tools used for

individual workers.

What is Motivation?

“Motivation is a decision-making process, through which the individual chooses the desired outcomes and sets in motion the behaviour appropriate to them”.

How does motivation differ from “motives”

Buchanan defines motives as:

“learned Buchanan defines motivation as follows:

influences on human behaviour that lead us to pursue particular goals because they are valued”.

Motivation can therefore be thought of as the degree to which an individual wants AND chooses to engage in certain behaviours.

For example: are you motivated to study? The answer lies in whether you

(1) Want to study – what are the reasons, if so?

(2) Choose to study? – Why are you reading these revision notes? What factors mean that you have taken the decision to study? How much effort do you put in?

Individual behaviour is at the heart of human motivation

Why is individual behaviour so important in trying to understand and then influence motivation?

– Every individual has a set of needs and a different set of goals

– Individuals behave in a way as to satisfy their needs and fulfil their goals

– Therefore, individuals behave differently!

– Businesses, as organisations, are in a position to offer some of the satisfactions that individuals seek:

E.g. – Relationships; sense of belonging; intellectual stimulation; mental & physical challenge; self-development.

Why is motivation important for businesses?

– More employee feedback and suggestions made for improvements (It is often said that the best businesses have the best motivated workers. Why might this be important? Because well-motivated employees are usually characterised by:

– Higher productivity (i.e. they produce more for a given level of resources than poorly-motivated workers)

– Better quality work with less wastage

– A greater sense of urgency (things happen quicker – when they need to)

motivated workers take more “ownership” of their work”)

– More feedback demanded from superiors and management

– Working at 80-95% of their ability

motivation in theory – maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Introduction

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a “content theory” of motivation” (the other main one is Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory).

Maslow’s theory consisted of two parts:

(1) The classification of human needs, and

(2) Consideration of how the classes are related to each other

The classes of needs were summarised by Maslow as follows:

How does the Hierarchy Work?

– A person starts at the bottom of the hierarchy (pyramid) and will initially seek to satisfy basic needs (e.g. food, shelter)

– Once these physiological needs have been satisfied, they are no longer a motivator. the individual moves up to the next level

– Safety needs at work could include physical safety (e.g. protective clothing) as well as protection against unemployment, loss of income through sickness etc)

– Social needs recognise that most people want to belong to a group. These would include the need for love and belonging (e.g. working with colleague who support you at work, teamwork, communication)

– Esteem needs are about being given recognition for a job well done. They reflect the fact that many people seek the esteem and respect of others. A promotion at work might achieve this

– Self-actualisation is about how people think about themselves – this is often measured by the extent of success and/or challenge at work

Maslow’s model has great potential appeal in the business world. The message is clear – if management can find out which level each employee has reached, then they can decide on suitable rewards.

Problems with the Maslow Model

There are several problems with the Maslow model when real-life working practice is considered:

– Individual behaviour seems to respond to several needs – not just one

– The same need (e.g. the need to interact socially at work) may cause quite different behaviour in different individuals

– There is a problem in deciding when a level has actually been “satisfied”

– The model ignores the often-observed behaviour of individuals who tolerate low-pay for the promise of future benefits

– There is little empirical evidence to support the model. Some critics suggest that Maslow’s model is only really relevant to understanding the behaviour of middle-class workers in the UK and the USA (where Maslow undertook his research).

 

motivation in theory – mcgregor – theory x and theory y

Introduction

McGregor developed two theories of human behaviour at work: Theory and X and Theory Y.

He did not imply that workers would be one type or the other. Rather, he saw the two theories as two extremes – with a whole spectrum of possible behaviours in between.

Theory X workers could be described as follows:

– Individuals who dislike work and avoid it where possible

– Individuals who lack ambition, dislike responsibility and prefer to be led

– Individuals who desire security

The management implications for Theory X workers were that, to achieve organisational objectives, a business would need to impose a management system of coercion, control and punishment.

Theory Y workers were characterised by McGregor as:

– Consider effort at work as just like rest or play

– Ordinary people who do not dislike work. Depending on the working conditions, work could be considered a source of satisfaction or punishment

– Individuals who seek responsibility (if they are motivated0

The management implications for Theory X workers are that, to achieve organisational objectives, rewards of varying kinds are likely to be the most popular motivator. The challenge for management with Theory Y workers is to create a working environment (or culture) where workers can show and develop their creativity.

motivation in theory – taylor -scientific ementmanag

Introduction

Taylor developed his theory of “scientific management” as he worked his way up from a labourer to a works manager in a US steelworks.

From his observations, Taylor made three key assumptions about human behaviour at work:

(1) Man is a rational economic animal concerned with maximising his economic gain;

(2) People respond as individuals, not as groups

(3) People can be treated in a standardised fashion, like machines

Taylor had a simple view about what motivated people at work – money. He felt that workers should get a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, and that pay should be linked to the amount produced (e.g. piece-rates). Workers who did not deliver a fair day’s work would be paid less (or nothing). Workers who did more than a fair day’s work (e.g. exceeded the target) would be paid more.

The implications of Taylor’s theory for managing behaviour at work were:

– The main form of motivation is high wages, linked to output

– A manager’s job is to tell employees what to do

The Role of Motivation:

Why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival (Smith, 1994). Motivated

employees are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces. Motivated employees help

organizations survive. Motivated employees are more productive. To be effective, managers

need to understand what motivates employees within the context of the roles they perform.

Of all the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is arguably the most

complex. This is due, in part, to the fact that what motivates employees changes constantly

(Bowen & Radhakrishna, 1991). For example, research suggests that as employees’ income

increases, money becomes less of a motivator (Kovach, 1987). Also, as employees get

older,interesting work becomes more of a motivator.

MOTIVATIONAL CHALLENGES

The framework of motivation indicates that motivation is a simple process. But in reality, the

task is more daunting.

One reason why motivation is a difficult task is that the workforce is changing. Employees

join organizations with different needs and expectations. Their values, beliefs, background,

lifestyles, perceptions and attitudes are different. Not many organizations have understood

these and not many HR experts are clear about the ways of motivating such diverse

workforce.

Motivating employees is also more challenging at a time when firms have dramatically

changed the jobs that employees perform, reduced layers of hierarchy, and jettisoned large

numbers of employees in the name of right-sizing or down-sizing .These actions have

considerably damaged the level of trust and commitment necessary for employee to put in

efforts above minimum requirements some organization have resorted to hire and fire and

pay – for- performance strategies almost giving up motivational efforts. Such strategies may

have some effects (both positive and negative) but fail to make and individual overreach him

or her.

Third, motives can only be inferred, but not seen. The dynamic nature of needs offend poses

challenge to any manager in motivating his or her subordinate. An employee, at any given

time, has a various needs, desire, and expectations. Employees who put in extra hours at work

to fulfil their needs or accomplishment may find that these extra hours conflict directly with

needs for affiliation and their desire to be with their families

However, there is no shortage of models, strategies, and tactics for motivating employees. As

a result, firms constantly experiment with next motivational programmed and practice.

Work Motivation

Craig Pinder “echoing the basic definition of motivation, define it as follows:

“Work motivation is a set of energetic force that originate both within as well as beyond and

individuals being, to initiate work – related behaviour, and to determine its form, direction,

intensity, and duration.”

While general motivation is concerned with effort towards any goal, Stephen Robbins narrow

the focus to organizational goals in order to reflect singular interest in work related behaviour

the effort element is a measure of intensity. The need means some internal state that makes

certain outcomes appear attractive. And unsatisfied need creates tension that stimulates drives

within the individual. This drives general a search behaviour to find particular goals, if

attend, will satisfied the needs and lead to the reduction of tension.

NEEDS: Needs are created whenever there is a physiological or psychological imbalance

For example: A need exists when cells in the body are deprived of food and water or when

the personality is deprived of other people who serve friends or companions. Although

psychological may be based on a deficiency, sometimes they are not. For instant, and

individuals with a strong need to get ahead may have a history of consistent success

DRIVES: “Drives (Or motives) are set up to alleviate needs. Psychological needs can be

simply defined as a deficiency with direction. Physiological or psychological drives are

action – oriented and provide energizing thrust towards reaching an incentive or goals. They

are at the very heart of the motivational process. The needs for food and water are translated

into hunger and thrust drives, and the need for friend becomes a drives affiliation. Thus, a

drive is a psychological state which moves an individual’s satisfying needs

GOALS: At the end of the motivational cycle is the goal or incentive. It is anything that

wills that will alleviate a need and reduce a drive. Thus, attaining a goal will tend to restore

physiological or psychological balance and will reduce or cut off the drive. Eating food,

drinking water and obtaining friends will tend to restore the balance and reduce the

correspondin

QUALITY OF WORK LIFE

The term ‘quality of work life’ (QWL) has different connotations to different person.

For example, to a worker in an assembly line, it may just mean a fair day’s pay, safe working

conditions, and a supervisor who treats himher with dignity. To a young new entrant, it may

mean opportunities for advancement, creative tasks and a successful career. To academics it

means the degree to which members of work organization are able to satisfy important

personal needs through their experiences in the organization. There are many factors which

can contribute to QWL. They are:

1. Adequate and fair compensation, adequacy to the extent to which the income from a full-

time work meets the needs of the socially determined standard of living.

2. Safety and healthy working condition, including reasonable hours of work and rest pauses,

physical working conditions that ensure safety, minimize risk of illness and occupational

diseases and special measures for protection of women and children.

3. Security and growth opportunity, including factors like security of employment, and

opportunity for advancement and self-improvement.

4. Opportunity to use and develop creativity, such as work autonomy, nature of supervision,

use of multiple skills, workers’ role in the total work process and hisher appreciation of the

outcome of hisher own efforts and self-regulation.

5. Respect for the individual’s personal rights, such as application of the principles of natural

justice and equity, acceptance of the right to free speech, and right to personal privacy in

respect of the worker’s off the job behaviour.

6. Work and family life, including transfers, schedule of hours of work, travel requirement,

overtime requirement, and so fourth.

It is worth noting that often the conditions that contribute to motivation [equitable

Salaries financial incentives, effective employee selection, etc] will also contribute to QWL

some of these activities [like job enrichment] might contribute indirectly to QWL by tappingthe worker’s higher .order needs and motivating them. Still, other activities may contribute

directly to QWL providing for a safer workplace, less discrimination on the job, and so forth

g drives foo

WAYS TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES AND TO

INCREASE WORK PERFORMANCE.

SET GOALS

It’s important to help your employees set goals for themselves. These can include both long-

term and short-term goals and they can be both work-related and personal in nature. Often,

goals are set on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or even yearly basis. Many companies use

“performance management systems,” which get every employee on the same page, regardless

of his or her position. If they understand the relationship between their specific job and the

company’s success, they’ll often approach their work with a sense of belonging. Frequently,

that sense is all it takes to get that individual to finish a given task. And, of course, rewarding

your employees for achieving their goals goes a long way toward creating a consistently

motivated workforce.

ENCOURAGE CREATIVE THINKING

Successful companies promote an environment in which creative thinking by the employees

is allowed, if not encouraged. If you’ve been successful in explaining your company’s overall

objectives in detail, employees will often come up with their own creative strategies for

achieving these goals. In the case of the sales force that I help manage, I usually tell them the

successful tactics that I used while making sales but I also add that there’s no one correct

way. Everyone has a unique personality that might translate into an effective method of

making sales. The challenge of figuring out an effective method on their own can be

liberating and much more fulfilling. Plus, employees are more apt to listen to future advice if

you let them figure out that you are right on their own.

DEVISE A SYSTEM OF TEAMWORK AND TRUST

Employees are never going to produce the way you expect them to if they think you don’t care about them. Start off by learning about your employees’ personal lives. This will give you insights into how to deal with them in certain situations. Your relationship with your workers should seem like one between partners as opposed to one between employee and boss. Also, spread specific assignments around among your workers. By giving employees special tasks, you make them feel more important. When your employees feel like they are being trusted with added responsibilities, they are motivated to work even harder so they

won’t let the company down.

FOSTER AN ENVIRONMENT OF FUN

Studies have shown that employees are more dependable and productive when they think

their workplace is a fun place to come to every day. I’ve found that one of the most effective

methods of doing this is simply engaging my sales reps in conversations about topics that we

both find interesting. It’s not necessary to talk to them all day long, but a few minutes here

and there throughout the day can work wonders. Little talks like these allow the employee to

see you as a regular person, and when your employees like you as a person, they are more

likely to listen to you when you need them to get something done.

REWARDS

People join organizations expecting rewards. Firms distribute money and other benefit in

exchange for the employee’s availability, competence and behaviours.

The following identifies four types of rewards: membership and seniority, job status,

competency and performance.

Membership and Seniority-based Rewards

Benefit an employee receives depends on the firm which he or she joins. An MBA taking up

a job in Wipro or Infosys gets more benefits than boy or girl who joins a state government

undertaking. In the same firm, a senior employee receives more benefits than employee.

Advancement, pay raises, retirement benefits and perquisites depend on seniority of an

employee.

Membership& Seniority

Task

Performance

Job Status

Competency

Organizational Rewards

Types of organizational rewards

There are advantages and limitations associated with membership and seniority based reward

Membership based reward attract job applicants but the problem is such reward may not

directly motivate job performance .Seniority based rewards tend to reduce turnover but may

fail to motivate achievers to perform better. Another problem with is that they discourage

poor performers form leaving the film voluntarily because alternative jobs are simply not

available to them.

Job Status-based Rewards

Every firm rewards employees for the status of the jobs they are holding firms use job

evaluation system which helps establish differentials in status of jobs. Status differentials are

used as the basis for establishing salary / wage differentials. Jobs that require more skill and

effort, have more responsibility and have difficult working conditions would have more value

and consequently would be placed in higher pay grades. Firms that do not use job evaluation

system still reward job status based on pay survey information about the labour market.

A supervisor will receive higher rewards than purchasing assistant as the job of the former

enjoys better status than the latter. It has more value to the organization (calculated by job

evaluation system or pay survey) and therefore employees in that job receive more status-

based rewards in the organization. High status job holders are also rewarded with more

perquisites.

One advantage of status-based pay is that it helps maintain feelings of equity. Job evaluation

system try to maintain internal equity, that is, to ensure that employees feel their pay is fair

when compared to how much other jobs in the firm are paid. Pay survey helps maintain

external equity, that is, ensure that employees feel their pay is fair when compared to how

much people I other firms are paid. Job-based rewards also motivate employees to compete

for positions higher up the organizational hierarchy.

Job-based rewards are criticized by man. For one thing, such benefit fails to motivate

achievers to perform better. Just because an employee holds a high priced job, he or she is

rewarded better, not with standing the level of performance attained by the individual.

Further, employees tend to exaggerate their job descriptions and job specifications to garner

higher grading for their job through job evaluation systems. Higher grades confer higher

rewards on the jobs.

Competency-based Rewards

Increasingly organizations are linking rewards to competencies of employees. Competencies

are reflected through skills, knowledge and traits that lead to desirable behaviours.

Employees are expected to have several competencies and these competencies are evaluated

by observing specific behaviour patterns.

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 felicity, product or service quality tends to improve because employees who

have work experiences in several jobs are more likely to know where problems originate.

Moreover, employees find it easier to discover ways to improve the work process as they

learn more skills and tasks in the process. Rather than paying for jobs, skill-based pay

rewards skills, underlying the principle that employees are hired for their skills and not just to

hold jobs.

Performance-based Rewards

The trend that is emerging recently is to link pay to performance rather than to seniority or

membership. Firms in N.America, Europe and Asia are paying their employees more for

performance than ever before. For instance, in a recent survey of 210 large firms in Tokyo,

Japan, 24 per cent awarded pay increases on the basis of performance than seniority

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CONCLUSION

Motivation is an important concept that has been receiving considerable attention from

academicians, researchers and practicing HR managers. In its essence, motivation comprises

important elements such as the need or content, search and choice of strategies, goal-directed

behaviour, social comparison of rewards reinforcement, and performance-satisfaction.

The increasing attention paid towards motivation is justified because of several reasons.

Motivated employees come out with new ways of doing jobs. They are quality oriented. They

are more productive. Any technology needs motivated employees to adopt it successfully.

Several approaches to motivation are available. Early theories are too simplistic in their

approach towards motivation. For example, advocates of scientific Management believe that

money is the motivating factor. The Human Relations Movement posits that social contacts

will motivate workers.

Mere knowledge about the theories of motivation will not help manager their subordinates.

They need to have certain techniques that help them change the behaviour of employees.

One such technique is reward. Reward, particularly money, is a motivator according to need-

based and process theories of motivation. For the behavioural scientists, however, money is

not important as a motivator. Whatever may be the arguments, it can be stated that money can

influence some people in certain circumstance.

Being an outgrowth of Herzberg’s, two factor theory of motivation, job enrichment is

considered to be a powerful motivator. An enriched job has added responsibilities. The makes

the job interesting and rewarding. Job enlargement refers to adding a few more task elements

horizontally. Task variety helps motivate job holders. Job rotation involves shifting an

incumbent from one job to another. This reduces boredom and disinterest.

OB Mod uses the reinforcement principle of B.F. skinner to give the management a powerful

technique to change employee behaviour. Several reputed organizations in a America have

used OB Mod programmes successfully to achieve positive results

ter and friends are the incentive are the goals in this example