Retention And Motivation Of The Employee Business Essays

Introduction:

The assignment requires us to select a topic; identify two associated peer reviewed journal articles, and make our own comparative analysis of them in relation to the topic.

The topic selected is the “The relationship between retention of the employee and the employee’s motivation”.

Accordingly two articles were selected “Performance and Motivation” prepared by Alfred W. Huf III, and “Employee retention and turnover: Using Motivational Variables as a panacea,” by Michael O. Samuel and Crispen Chipunza.

The author of the first article says that this main aim is to look at the link between performance and motivation. This article mainly considers the employee’s perspective, and how they have performed in relation to improvement in the quality of their working life. Most of the cases in the article show how performance can be kept at a top level, getting the best from each employee. Motivation always follows the standard of the leadership, and if there is a good leadership in the organization there will be top level motivation as well. This article also discusses how employees are motivated by having “non-cash rewards” and / or the “cash rewards”. Importantly, it also describes that there are contradictions in the work of a few major policy makers such as Herzberg, Maslow, and Taylor. The author shows and discusses the facts regarding this matter.

The authors of the second article – “Employee retention and turnover: using motivational variables as a panacea” aim to emphasize research that tells the story of why the people working in an organisation are leaving. It describes intrinsic and extrinsic factors that will influence the turnover of employees in the workplace. And for this the authors have chosen a few organizations and have focused research regarding this. They have also identified the motivational factors that affect the turnover and the retention of staff. So this is a research based article that will guide us to consider the important factors of motivation and the turnover or retention of employees in an organisation. It is often hard to keep skilled employees in an organisation. We have to provide many incentives and many rewards to retain these people. So, motivational factors are the most important factors to be considered in any kind of organization. In this article the authors have shown some theoretical and practical factors that influenced the turnover and retention of employees. As it very hard for mangers to retain their skilled employees in the organisation, a good plan is needed which has to be worked hard at.

With this understanding we can also identify certain similarities as well as disparities in these two articles. This report will provide more specific analysis of them.

Comparative Analysis:

In the first article, ‘Performance and Motivation; the author is mainly aiming to identify the link between motivation and performance within large organisational behaviors. He suggests that is really essential to improve to improve motivation and so reduce the turnover in the organization. But in the second article “Employee Retention and Turnover: Using Motivational Variables as a Panacea.” The authors discuss the motivational factors or the variables that will keep the workers in the organisation, and affirm how important it is to keep the skilled workers bonded to the organisation. So the two articles share the focus on the motivation and the retention of skilled workers.

In the first article the few case studies which will guide us to identify some factors that are important to understand the motivational factors in an organization are discussed. It also describes the theoretical comparison.

The “non-cash rewards” can be a vital part of employee’s motivation. The author of the first article suggests that the non-cash rewards such as flexi time, goal based incentives, and rewarding the ’employee of the month’ will motivate rather more than giving an amount of money to the workers. It is also said that communicating this among the employees is the most important part of motivating them. So these kinds of ‘rewards’ may lead to the top performing employees remaining in an organization.

In the incentive packages they offer the authority can consider that giving merchandise awards is more effective than giving top seller trips. In weekly or monthly meetings the authority can decide to offer such awards to the top sales teams or individuals as a motivation tactic. This falls into the category of motivation by no-cash rewards.

The author also identifies another critical motivational factor, i.e. employees being asked to suggest, or demonstrate, change that could be made to improve performance. This is crucial, particularly if an employee is looking elsewhere for a better offer, as it gives the opportunity to explain their need to look elsewhere, and to suggest what might improve their immediate situation. It also gives people who are performing well the opportunity to negotiate incentives. Within such a culture, one in which the need to perform well is encouraged, employees have to worry less about employees turnover.

And there is one thing that arises in the article that the relationship between employer and employee is so important to the retention of employees. This can be done by having a conversation with the employee and the employer. The employer can ask the stories that the bad and the good situation from the employees of their life. So this will create a big bond between the two parties and the employee may unable to bargain incentives after this kind of conversation.

And finally an important motivational factor is identified in the latter part of the article. The motivating language used by the leader or the manger when taking to employees is one of the most powerful ways in such better motivation and high work performance can be encourage.

As we can see, the above factors can be used as motivational strategies in an organisation. So, it is important to consider the other well-established factors in the second article to compare the linkage between the two articles.

We have found in the second article that the authors state the theoretical aspects of the motivation. They propose that Herzberg has defined some motivational factors that can be taken into consideration. He defined the intrinsic variables as achievements, recognitions, advancements, responsibility, work itself and the growth of employee. These are some of the most well-known motivational factors that can be used to retain employees.

However, the article also states that extrinsic factors also may have some influence on the retention and turnover of employees. The factors we have identified in this article are: competitive salary, friendly working environment, better interpersonal relationships and, the most important, job security.

According to the article the most effective employee retention strategy would be the combination of both intrinsic and extrinsic variables.

This article is focuses on linking the literature of motivational factors with current practical knowledge, and constructs a model to describe the entire story of why the employee, turnover and retention happen.

The second article distinguished many practical factors that directly affect the motivation and retention of employees. So we can identify some extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors that influence employee turnover and retention. The following motivation variables appear to have significant influence over employee motivation, retention and the turnover as well.

Training and development

Job security

Sense of belonging to the organisation

Interesting / challenging work environment

Freedom and encouragement of innovative thinking

Performance – based promotion rather than automatic seniority.

Building a life-long relationship

Work autonomy.

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Conclusion:

As discussed in the study, there are many motivational factors that can be identified from the two articles.

The major findings from the first article identify the theoretical aspects of how motivation could be used to develop better performance in an organisation. It also specifies the motivational factors that are related to the cases explored, and this is the essence of that study. Some motivational factors identified in the article can be very important to the performance of the workers. The main motivational techniques discussed in this article are goal incentives, flexi time, employees of the month, merchandise award, top seller tips and language to employee. Basically, this article gives emphasize on motivational factors for maximize the employee performance.

The second article identifies practical approaches to the development of the motivation that will reduce turnover and retain the skilled workers in the organization. Some important factors related to growth in the organisation can also be identified in the article, factors which are required in order to retain skilled workers; meanwhile employees can be given wider experience and offered further training. In this article it becomes clear that certain motivational factors are crucial in influencing the employee’s decisions.

Analysis of the two articles leads to the conclusion that, though approaching issues of motivation and retention of employees from different directions, both agree that training and development, a competitive salary package, job security, work autonomy and recognition / rewards are the main motivational variables that will influence workforce stability, increase ability, higher skill base, and better performance in the workplace.