employee motivation (2)

The Consortium Journal Volume 14 Issue 1

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EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION

John Honore

This paper discusses that the most important asset that any employer has is not money, product, or profit, but people; his or her employees. It thus behooves employers to keep employees motivated by creating a positive work environment, and giving employees opportunities to grow. When employees are motivated there is retention or reduction in turnover, enthusiasm, and enthusiastic employees out produce and outperform. The theories to be discussed are the, Hierarchy of Needs Theory, Hygiene Theory, Expectancy Theory, Equity Theory, Reinforcement Theory, and Achievement Motivation Theory. Motivating employees is an art that employers have sought to perfect over the years. They have asked themselves over and over what it takes to motivate an employee. There are several studies that have been done to understand the motivation process. In this paper we will examine the sources of motivational needs, initiatives of motivator theories, motivation theorists, benefits of motivation, recognition and rewards, and tactics that can be used to help motivate individuals. Keywords: Employee motivation, motivational needs, motivational theories

INTRODUCTION According to (Hellreiger, 2004), Motivation represents the forces acting on or within a person that cause the person to behave in a specific, goal-directed manner. It is the desire to do the best possible job or to exert the maximum effort to perform assigned task. Motivation energizes, directs, and sustains human behavior directed towards a goal (Gomez, 2004). In the book Concepts and Skill Building (Certo, 2004) says that, “Motivating employees requires employers to study the employee’s monetary, physical and psychological needs, because individuals are motivated John Honore, MBA CEO & President J & M Services 1041 South Park Rd #101 Hollywood, FL 33021

by a number of items namely intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.” Intrinsic reward is the pleasant feeling you get from doing a good job while extrinsic reward is something given to an individual by someone else as appreciation for doing a good job which consists of salary increases, commendations, and promotions.

In order to perform a task well or to behave in a certain way, we have to be motivated. According to George Shinn (1986), “motivation is what leads us to do things.” Even capable employees who a firm wants to retain sometimes suffer from loss of motivation. When it comes to training and development, managers need a basic understanding of work motivation because (Gomez, 2004), highly motivated employees are more likely to produce superior-quality


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product and service than employees who lack motivation. Motivation in the workplace is affected by several factors as each employee has his or her own individuality. Individuals differ in their personal needs, attitudes, interests and values thereby making it obvious that motivation might be recognized or appreciated differently by each person. The organization’s cultures and features of each job also determine what best approach should be taken to motivate. Motivational theorists have explored different possibilities of motivation which we will discuss further in this paper. Most motivation theorists assume that motivation is included in the performance of all learned reactions to be exact, a learned behavior will not happen except when it is energized. They have also questioned (Podmoroff, 2004), whether motivation is a primary or secondary influence on behavior. Specifically, whether changes in behavior is better explained by principles of environmental/ecological influences, perception, memory, cognitive development, emotion, explanatory style, or personality or are ideas exclusive to motivation more important. That been said, it is safe to say that the key to motivation is communication. It is imperative for managers to communicate with their employees as this is the only way to find out what motivates them. When we talk about motivation, we need to remember that we are talking about motivating individual people who each bring a unique set of skills and other personal factors with them to work every day. To build a strong foundation for a motivating culture, we need to

understand the power and complexity of the internal factors that motivate each of these people’s behavior. To better understand these factors we must first examine the sources of motivational needs (Podmoroff, 2004) .Sources of Motivational Needs There are several sources of motivational need, needs being anything that is required, craved or useful. Theorists have spent years studying motivation and in doing so they determined that there are several sources of motivational needs. Some of these sources are:

Spiritual – understanding ones purpose in life.

Cognitive – problem solving and decision making abilities.

Behavioral – reaction to stimulation.

External – related to behavioral. Affective – relates to self esteem

(enhance feeling good and reduce feeling bad about oneself).

Social – the need to interact with other individuals.

Biological – bodies needs (example water and food) or taste and touch (Huitt, 2001).

Initiatives on Motivator Theories To maintain a stable workforce,

employers must actively engage their employees in different retention activities. These can range from customized compensation packages to the age-old family picnic. Whatever the case, people need to feel wanted, valued and appreciated. They want to do meaningful work and have some say in how their jobs are designed, managed and measured. And when these psychological needs are met, research shows that they'll be more apt to stick around. It's up to you to motivate them (Wilson, 2005).


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Employee retention strategies, in some shape or form, have been a topic of interest for about as long as business itself, but studying the psychological nuances of the issue began gaining prominence in the early part of the 20th century as theorists began linking motivation to meeting needs. Since then, as competition in the business world has intensified, motivation and employee retention have been under the microscope ever since to get a leg up on enhancing workforce support for key corporate initiatives. Several theories on employee motivation have been studied to gain a better understanding of its effect on employees, and how each can be enacted to build greater support and security in the workforce (Wilson, 2005). Studies have shown, (Wilson, 2005) “that at one time, employees were considered just another cog in the production of goods and services, but what may have changed this way of thinking about employees was research that is commonly referred to as the Hawthorne Studies conducted by Elton Mayo from 1924 to 1932.” Mayo's study found that employees are not motivated by money alone, and that their decision to stay aboard or jump ship is linked to their behavioral attitudes in the workplace. The Hawthorne Studies were instrumental as they, for all intents and purposes, began the human relations methodology to management, whereby the needs and motivation of employees become the overriding concern of managers and business owners (Wilson, 2005). Motivated employees are needed for organizational survival. Satisfied employees are more productive, and thus help organizations prosper as a result. To be effective motivators, managers need to understand just what makes their

employees tick, and what gets them going within the context of the roles they perform at the company. What motivates employees is constantly in motion, For as employees' income increases, money becomes less of a motivator. Also, as employees get older, interesting work becomes more of a motivator. Motivation Theorists

Six major approaches that have led to the modern understanding of motivation and its affects are Maslow's need-hierarchy theory, Herzberg's two-factor theory, Vroom's expectancy theory, Adams' equity theory, Skinner's reinforcement theory, and David McClelland Achievement Motivation Model. According to Maslow, (Wilson, 2005), “employees have five levels of needs: physiological, safety, social, ego and self-actualizing.” The lower level needs has to be satisfied before the next higher level need would motivate employees. He based his theory on the fact that people work to fulfill basic needs. These needs are unique to everyone. The Physiological needs are the basic needs that are crucial to sustain life which are food, water, and air. The next level is based on Security. Maslow felt that all people have the need to feel secure and safe. The third level is Affiliation. This includes the need to belong to a group and to have the respect of friends and family. The fourth level is Esteem. These include personal feelings of achievement, self-worth and recognition. The last level is Self Actualization. In this level the needs are based not on personal but on the needs of others (Bruce, 1999) The basic assumptions of this theory are that once a need has been met


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the motivation behind reaching that need decreases in importance and another need comes in. The lower level of needs must be satisfied before the higher needs can begin to be met. The lower needs are also described as Deficiency Needs, physiological, security, and affiliation. Maslow felt that if these needs were not met then a person would fail to develop into a healthy individual. The higher needs are met to make a person grow and develop into a healthy individual; these are known as Growth needs. (Hellreigel, 2004)

Herzberg's work categorized motivation into two factors (Wilson, 2005): “motivators and hygiene’s.” Motivator or intrinsic factors, such as achievement and recognition, produce job satisfaction. Hygiene or extrinsic factors, such as pay and job security, produce job dissatisfaction.

Herzberg studied people and what they liked and what they disliked about their jobs. The study brought up two factors; this is better known as the Motivator-Hygiene model. The first set of factors is the Motivator factor, which is based on the job itself, the recognition an employee may receive, any room for advancement, and the amount of responsibility the job may entail. These motivators affect job satisfaction. The factors are also directly related to how the individual relates to the job which is chiefly internal (Wilson, 2005). The second set of factors is called Hygiene factors. These factors includes company policies and top management, if there is any supervision, the conditions under which the employee works, if there is benefits available, salary and the interpersonal relations. These factors are considered to external and are related to the job environment and any pessimistic sentiment about the

job. Hygiene factors also affect job dissatisfaction (Hellreigel, 2004) Vroom's theory is based on the belief that employee effort will lead to performance and performance will lead to rewards, being either positive or negative. The more positive the reward the more likely the employee will be highly motivated. Conversely, the more negative the reward the less likely the employee will be motivated (Wilson, 2005). This model is based on five variables which are first-level and second-level outcomes, expectancy, instrumentality, valence, and putting it all together. The first variable is first and second level outcomes, these are based on the job itself and rewards. The expectancy variable is the individuals’ ability to complete the job. The third variable is instrumentality, which is the probability that the performance will lead to various outcomes. Valence is the individuals’ preference of the possible rewards that may come from job performance. The last variable is putting it all together is part of the employees belief regarding the efforts of performance and the attractiveness of the outcomes that are associated with the job (Hellreigel, 2004). Adams' theory states that (Wilson, 2005), “employees strive for equity between themselves and other workers. Equity is achieved when the ratio of employee outcomes over inputs is equal to other employee outcomes over inputs.” Skinner's theory simply states that, (Wilson, 2005), “employees' behaviors that lead to positive outcomes will be repeated and behaviors that lead to negative outcomes will not be repeated.” Simply put, managers should positively reinforce employee behaviors


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that lead to positive outcomes, and should negatively reinforce employee behavior that leads to negative outcomes. Another theory of motivation is the Achievement Motivation Model proposed by David McClelland. He argued that people have three important needs for achievement, affiliation and power, and that (Hellreigel, 2004), “people are motivated according to the strength of their desire to compete or to fulfill their needs.” The level motivation that an individual has depends highly on their experiences growing up, work situations, and personal circumstances. McClelland measured an individual’s strength with the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). The TAT uses a series of pictures to stimulate responses from the person being tested. One of the goals of this test is to obtain the individuals perception of society. According to McClelland’s theory (Hellreigel, 2004), a person’s motivation lies just below the surface of full awareness, in daydreams. The daydreams are a way to test an individual to see what their goals are and motivations to reach those goals and therefore people can be taught to change their motivation by changing these daydreams. According to a survey conducted by The Ohio State University (Wilson, 2005), the top ten factors that affect employee motivation included: “(a) interesting work, (b) good wages, (c) full appreciation of work done, (d) job security, (e) good working conditions, (f) promotions and growth in the organization, (g) feeling of being in on things, (h) personal loyalty to employees, (i) tactful discipline and (j) sympathetic help with personal problems.”

Looking at the content theories of motivation Maslow (Garland, 2002) describes a hierarchy of needs', “with self actualization' or full development of potential being rated above esteem or ego/ respect in his analysis of an individual's key motivator.” How often do we assume that all of agents our aspire to be team leaders or managers, and place monetary rewards above other factors. Murray (Garland, 2002) in his 'manifest needs theory' reinforces this view stating that, “many individual's have a 'need for autonomy,” which is likely to be activated best in jobs with high degree of discretion independence, ironically these are the very same people an organization needs for detailed CRM work. These agents have a high resistance to a rule based organization, are unlikely to conform to rule based systems, and will leave the organization if their development is not properly considered. Several core themes were identified as being crucial namely; (2002), “education, counseling, communication, and community responsibility. Motivating employees by using performance-contingent rewards is a long-established management practice. Pay-for-performance is used to promote two ends. First, it is expected that these systems will motivate employees to increase their effort and thereby their performance. Second, these compensation plans are often introduced to better align the efforts of employees with organizational goals and objectives set by management (Turner, 2006). Expectancy theory describes worker motivation as a function of the individual's expectancy of successful performance (expectancy), the valence or salience of the reward (valence), and


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the belief that performance will lead to reward (instrumentality) (Turner, 2006). Several researchers and theorists have raised serious questions, however, about the efficacy of carrot-and-stick techniques of motivation. According to Festinger (Turner, 2006), “rewards would affect the attitude of individuals toward their work and their understanding of why they are working.” Following his theory of cognitive dissonance, Festinger predicted that rewards would reduce intrinsic motivation.

It is worth thinking through motivation techniques, rather than simply showering staff with unwanted gifs. Throwing money at a problem is often viewed as a quick fix rather than a long-term solution. Yet some employers spend vast sums of money on expensive motivation schemes, which may end up only serving a purpose for a short while. Equally, others may simply be unable to afford to do so, prompting them to seek cheaper alternatives to achieve the same aims (“Motivation”, Sept 14, 2006). Splashing out on tickets to high-profile events such as the Grand Prix, World Cup games or Centre Court at Wimbledon might be a poor distribution of a company's profits. If employers are prepared to invest a little time and effort in shopping around they could find ways to motivate employees without lavish spending. So by focusing on an ongoing motivation scheme as opposed to a costly one-off reward, employers may find that their money and the effects of the scheme last a lot longer (“Motivation”, Sept 14, 2006). Employers would be wise to reassess an employee's job, focusing on aspects such as working conditions, environment and whether the individual maintains a good relationship with his or

her peers. Maintaining a healthy working environment, for example, can improve an employee's productivity, and is sustainable. It is not always necessary for employers to motivate around pay and bonuses, but employers should look at other aspects of the working environment, such as personal progression and trust. These can be just as effective in motivating, and without the cost (“Motivation”, Sept 14, 2006). While it is true that improving conditions go some way to boosting staff motivation, recognition is also an important part of improving morale. This can be done without breaking the bank as employers shouldn't underestimate the effect that simply saying 'thank you' can have. Where employers do offer staff tangible rewards for their efforts, no matter what the cost, giving employees choice is vital. This not only empowers individuals, and makes them feel important but it also ensures relevant benefits are offered to the right employees (“Motivation”, Sept 14, 2006) Bonus cards that can be used to reward employees have also proved popular with organizations which are trying to cut the costs of motivating staff. These operate as an online points system whereby employees are awarded points from managers for achieving certain goals, which can be spent on a wide choice of gifts with prices to suit all budgets (“Motivation”, Sept 14, 2006). Rewards do not necessarily have to be financial for them to be motivational. As already discussed, different people respond in different ways to the various incentives that a company can offer. Whilst some people are driven by a desire to earn more money, to be given a company car, or to


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receive additional financial incentives, others may respond more favorably to the prospect of promotion or additional responsibility. Others may prefer to receive formal recognition for their personal achievements. By giving people the opportunity to maximize their potential, they are generally far more motivated and the company itself will benefit from their increased productivity (“Motivation Techniques”. n.d). In general, the most successful, motivated and productive workforce is one that feels valued, supported and challenged, with a clear direction and an understanding of the important role they play in the achievement of company objectives. The time and effort you have invested in ensuring your team is successful will reap benefits when team members begin to demonstrate increased levels of productivity and an ability to resolve complex issues without your direct involvement. Encouragement towards autonomous decision-making, and additional responsibility, will also help to make sure the team remains motivated by reassuring members of the value of the contribution they are making (“Motivation Techniques”. n.d) Benefits of Motivation One of the most important benefits of motivation is retention or reducing turnover. Motivation is the key to keeping employees rather than thinking that pay is the real motivator. There is always a cost involved with recruiting new staff members in both time and money. Long-serving staff brings a wealth of experience, increased levels of staff satisfaction lead to increased productivity and profitability while high staff turnover can be infectious, leading other staff members to consider their options. It is important to remember that people are not always

motivated by their pay packet. Research by Investors in People support this growing awareness and found that 43 percent of employees cite job content or the challenge the job presented as the main motivator in the work place whereas 14 percent noted pay as the key influence (Certo, 2004). The message is clear; a retention strategy of throwing money at the problem is expensive and will only prove an effective long-term strategy with a few staff members. Motivation leads employees to be enthusiastic for work and the firm that employs them. Enthusiasm is positive energy expressed in your personality. Your positive energy seems to spread among other workers. Enthusiastic employees out produce and outperform. They step up to do the impossible. They rally each other in tough times. Most people are enthusiastic when they're hired: hopeful, ready to work hard, eager to contribute. What happens to dampen their enthusiasm? Management, that's what.

Motivation encourages entrepreneurial thinking. If you want your staff to be motivated to do their best, let them feel like owners of the practice. Good managers make every employee feel like a business partner, because when people feel ownership of something, they look out for it. Motivation also encourages independent thinking. It allows your employees to make decisions that involve risks. When someone makes a mistake, treat it as a teaching moment instead of a catastrophe. Set an example by letting employees know you took a chance trying something new, and be honest with the outcome, even if it's not particularly positive. Gives employees the responsibility for achieving


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something and the authority to do it their own way. Then they'll find all sorts of motivation.

Share your power with them. Allow them to make more choices. Hold them accountable for their actions and outcomes. When they have a greater sense of accountability, they'll perform better as well as using their time well. Be early for work, no extended breaks or lunch. Not leaving work early. Employees will not keep looking at their watch or companies clock. Employees will have less stress, which will lead to better health and less sick and personal days. Self-motivation is a drive within you to get things done. Motivation helps employees show initiative. Energy or ability displayed in an action that opens new areas. To have self-reliance, originality, enterprise, and resourcefulness. Workers will go the extra mile. They will keep going, when the going gets rough.

Motivation encourages people to develop action plans to reach their goals, focuses people’s attention on the goals-relevant actions, causes people to exert the effort necessary to achieve the goals, and spur people to persist in the face of obstacles. Motivation focuses on development rather than judgment, and focuses employee effort on continuous improvement. Recognition and Reward

Effective managers do more than provide oversight and direction of daily operations, they motivate employees to excel by instilling confidence in staff members ability to meet and excel expectations. Employee recognition should be in every manager’s tool kit. Public recognition shows employees that they are valued and their contributions make a difference. Manages must make

employee recognition genuine, spontaneous and shared. This may be followed with a personal word of thanks, a memo to their personal file, or some other formalized document of a job well done. Saying thank you in public and perhaps giving a tangible gift along with the words, has multiple functions beyond simple human courtesy, for to the employee it means that someone noticed and cared. To the rest of the organization, recognition creates role models, heroes, and communicates the standard. Here are a few guidelines for recognizing employees: 1. Emphasize success rather than failures. 2. Deliver recognition and reward in an open and publicized way. 3. Deliver recognition in a personal and honest manner. 4. Tailor recognition and reward to the unique needs of the people involved. 5. Timing is crucial. Recognize contribution throughout a project, and reward contribution close to the time an achievement is realized. Motivational Tactics

Motivational tactics include, recognition of each team member individually, reveling opportunity for growth, offering a challenge (to remediate when motivation is lost), praise for achievements to continue to motivate employees, and job satisfaction, when a person is happy and comfortable with their jobs, the ideal motivator (Hellreigel, 2004). People need to be recognized by focusing on the achievements a person has done within the company. Providing positive reinforcement encourages employees to provide complete work. Here are some times for effective praise:

1. Don’t over do praise. 2. Be sincere.


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3. Be specific about the reason for praise.

4. Ask for the team members’ advice in projects.

5. Publicize praise (Pell,1999) A great motivational tactic is written statements such as thank you cards, plaques, success files, and employee of the month. Scheduling meetings or presentations in which these employees can be recognized is a great motivational tactic. This shows the other employees that it can be done, and that they should also do the same.

Employees show that they want fun and variety to the routine, development of goals and challenges for all employees, promotion of social interaction and teamwork, and tolerance for errors and little to no harsh criticism. Some employees lose their ambition for their job. The challenge to the managers is to get the employees to get their drive back. To motivate them, managers give them new harder challenges. A real good motivator is job enrichment giving people more responsibility but more accountability giving real satisfaction (Hankins, 2000). Empowerment is another tactic that managers use to bring up morale. It is the sharing of power with all of the employees; this includes planning the job, and the duties to be carried out for the job. This lets the employees know that they are needed. There are the ten most important principles for managing people in a way that reinforces employee empowerment, accomplishment, and contribution. These management actions enable both the people who work with you and the people who report to you to soar: 1) Demonstrate You Value People Your regard for people shines through in all of your actions and words.

Your goal is to demonstrate your appreciation for each person's unique value. No matter how an employee is performing on their current task, your value for the employee as a human being should never falter and always be visible. 2) Share Leadership Vision Help people feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves and their individual job. Do this by making sure they know and have access to the organization's overall mission, vision, and strategic plans. 3) Share Goals and Direction Share the most important goals and direction for your group. Where possible, either make progress on goals measurable and observable, or ascertain that you have shared your picture of a positive outcome with the people responsible for accomplishing the results. 4) Trust People Trust the intentions of people to do the right thing, make the right decision, and make choices that, while maybe not exactly what you would decide, still work. 5) Provide Information for Decision Making Make certain that you have given people, or made sure that they have access to, all of the information they need to make thoughtful decisions. 6) Delegate Authority and Impact Opportunities, Not Just More Work Don't just delegate the drudge work; delegate some of the fun stuff, too. Delegate the important meetings, the committee memberships that influence product development and decision making, and the projects that people and customers notice. The employee will grow and develop new skills. Your plate will be less full so you


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can concentrate on contribution. Your reporting staff will gratefully shine - and so will you. 7) Provide Frequent Feedback Provide frequent feedback so that people know how they are doing. Sometimes, the purpose of feedback is reward and recognition. People deserve your constructive feedback, too, so they can continue to develop their knowledge and skills. 8) Solve Problems: Don't Pinpoint Problem People When a problem occurs, ask what is wrong with the work system that caused the people to fail, not what is wrong with the people. Worst case response to problems? Seek to identify and punish the guilty. 9) Listen to Learn and Ask Questions to Provide Guidance Provide a space in which people will communicate by listening to them and asking them questions. Guide by asking questions, not by telling grown up people what to do. People generally know the right answers if they have the opportunity to produce them. When an employee brings you a problem to solve, ask, what do you think you should do to solve this problem? Or, ask, what action steps do you recommend? Employees can demonstrate what they know and grow in the process. 10) Help Employees Feel Rewarded and Recognized for Empowered Behavior When employees feel under-compensated, under-titled for the responsibilities they take on, under-noticed, under-praised, and under-appreciated, don’t expect results from employee empowerment. The basic needs of employees must feel met for employees to give you their discretionary energy, that extra effort that people voluntarily invest in work

(“Employee Empowerment.” n.d.) . Is Money a Motivator?

Regardless of what the humanists would have managers believe (Kinni, 1998), “money is what most employees need most from their work.” There is also plenty of proof that money is the at-work reward that works best for employers, too. The spread of ESOPs and the recent burgeoning of employee-stock-option plans are indicative of management's realization that stakeholders in a company by definition require a stake. Gates says (Kinni, 1998), "If you want people to participate, it helps to build an economic foundation that supports participation. How else do you connect people to organizations?" Roughly 10,000 companies and 10 percent of the nation's work force now participate in ESOPs. A National Center for Employee Ownership study in 1987 found that companies that combined financial incentives with participative management practices grew at rates 8 percent to 10 percent faster than they would have without such plans.

Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Jeffrey Pfeffer examined the characteristics of successful companies; he found that high-performing companies tended to be high-paying companies. Why? Here's one simple reason: (Kinni, 1998), "There is, in fact, a labor market," says Pfeffen "It is difficult to be under the standard wage or even at the standard and still get a competitive work force." This was contradicted by the idea that motivating people was more complicated than motivating donkeys which was introduced in the 1950s and '60s with the rise of the humanist school. Prominent among its members were


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thinkers such as Abraham Maslow, Frederick Herzberg and Douglas McGregor. Maslow theorized that humans are driven by a hierarchy of needs. Maslow's pyramid composed of progressive levels, starts with basic physiological needs - warmth, shelter, and food, and ascends to more complex needs: love, belonging, esteem, and knowledge. Finally, at the top of the pyramid, is self-actualization; the realization of one's full potential (Kinni, 1998). Herzberg described motivation in terms of hygiene factors, which roughly correspond to Maslow's basic needs, and motivator factors, which represent more sophisticated needs. Finally, McGregor offered us Theory Y: the idea that people actually care about doing a good job and that they need achievement and satisfaction from their work (Kinni, 1998). After constructing a convincing argument that profit is directly correlated to a company's effectiveness in managing its work force, Pfeffer offers seven practices that successful companies share (Kinni, 1998), “Employment security, Selective hiring of new personnel, Self-managed teams and decentralization of decision-making as the basic principles of organizational design, Comparatively high compensation, contingent on organizational performance, Extensive training, Reduced status distinctions and barriers, including dress, language, office arrangements, and wage differences across levels, and Extensive sharing of financial and performance information throughout the organization.” Three of the practices; job security, above-average wages, and reduced wage differentials, support

Maslow's basic needs, and three; self-management, extensive training, and information sharing, support higher needs. The remaining practice, selective hiring, is possible because these are good places to work. Pfeffer concludes that, (Kinni, 1998), “high performance requires enriched work and good pay.” Motivational Facts Ultimately, the success of any business rests in the hands of its employee’s, ranging from profitability and productivity to recruitment and retention. Motivating employees in today’s society has become extremely challenging. The fact is, motivational techniques are vital and should be used to earn the employees’ loyalty and trust, in addition to enhancing job performance and overall satisfaction. The key to motivating others is to utilize the right method for each individual. Organizations use numerous methods in order to motivate their employees. Some essential motivational techniques include creating a fun workplace, open communication, recognition, rewards or incentives, and growth opportunities. Creating a fun environment in the workplace stimulates a positive emotion. Employee’s who enjoy the activities at work always look forward to each working day. One way of creating fun is by finding which tasks are enjoyed most by each employee and assigning those tasks when appropriate.

A second way of creating fun is to arrange a theme day in celebration of a specific holiday, sports event, or even someone’s birthday. A third way of creating fun is to arrange a social gathering outside of the office such as a picnic in a park, a barbeque at the beach, or attending a sports event like a football or baseball game.


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Open communication is extremely important and considered a top priority by the majority of employees. Employees often feel their manager or supervisor lacks open communication skills. The simplest way to open these lines of communication is to give employees the opportunity to ask questions either one-on-one, via email, or in team meetings. The manager or supervisor must then obtain an answer to those questions and provide the answers to those questions in an honest and timely manner. This will help to avoid any further doubts, concerns, or misunderstandings. Recognition on an achievement by peers, managers, supervisors, or the company as a whole is also extremely important. Recognition can be as simple as praise in front of other people, showing appreciation for the work employees do each day, giving positive feedback on the individual or group’s performance, and just letting the employees know that they are important to the company and to their superior. These simple, yet effective ways to recognize an employee offer positive reinforcement and stimulate team spirit. Rewards or an incentive provides an opportunity to enhance job productivity and performance. Rewards and incentives can be in a monetary form or in a tangible form. Monetary rewards include a salary increase based upon an individual’s performance, bonuses for the top performer of each department, or offering a paid day off when a specific goal has been achieved. Tangible rewards include certificates, awards, and trophies, providing free lunches or even an employee-of-the-month parking spot. Growth opportunities not only enhance an employee’s knowledge and

skills, but also increase valuable hands on experience. In general, employees strive to be challenged and to achieve attainable goals. Some types of growth opportunities include a job promotion, allowing the employee to implement problem solving techniques, or creating specialized training and certifications for a specific job function. Conclusion

We have examined motivation and the different factors and theories that affect it, but one thing is for sure and that is motivated employees are needed for organizational survival. Motivation can range from as simple and cost effective as just praising an employee, to as costly as providing a company car. Motivation can take several forms, but the sooner employees realize this, the happier and more productive their employees will be. Although there are no disadvantages to motivation but a lack thereof will lead to dissatisfaction, which leads to job avoidance, absenteeism and lateness, Psychological defenses, Constructive Protest, Defiance, and Aggression. REFERENCE Certo, S. C., (1998). Supervision –

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