Employee Motivation in the Workplace Essay

Employee motivation is, or at least must be, one of the key issues for directors, managers and personnel managers. The leader must be able to find the sensitive strings of his subordinates, which can be motivated by influencing them to achieve high performance. The correct use of motivation encourages staff to make more efficient use of their knowledge, skills, and talents. In today's turbulent, often chaotic environment, commercial success depends on the employee's talent and effort. Despite the many existing theories and practices, some of the motivation of leaders today remains a mystical term. This is partly due to the fact that people are motivated by different things and techniques.

Motivation is derived from an internal force that provides an individual the opportunity to achieve their needs or goals. People are motivated by a variety of things and often have different motivating factors. Employers should be mindful of individual motivating factors when attempting to motivate staff to increase performance. While some people may be motivated by money, many are motivated by things like: recognition, promotion, and increased responsibility. Once an employer has identified motivating factors they are able to analyze a variety of motivational theories to design and implement a program that will motivate employees to go above and beyond what is expected of them.

According to Fundaments of Management book, is essential for the companies to understand individual behavior and the differences effects of those in employee’s motivation.

With this being said, motivation is very complex and is continuously fluctuating over time (Maslow, 1954). Getting employees optimally motivated is very difficult, due to the various components that go into motivation. However, when an employee is positively motivated, they will be able to accomplish any task set in front of them.

Mitchell (1982, p.82) describes motivation as “the degree to which an individual wants and chooses to engage in certain specified behaviours”. Hence, in general, behaviour is determined by certain motives, thus, Vroom and Deci (1992, p.33) considered motivation “as the causes of our behaviour”. Moreover, according to Mullins (2013, p.245) motivation is concerned with question “why do people do what they do?”, because motivation is an inner driving force which leads to particular action to achieve some aim and fulfil some need. In other words, Chartered Management Institute (cited in Mullins, 2013, p.246) observes that, “the aim of management is to give people what they really want most from work”.

The biggest problem to a manager is managing employees. This is because employers often do not know how to handle their employees. An effective manager knows that motivation is a difficult skill to acquire. So over the years, many theorist have studied motivation in order to

Motivation is the number one driving force behind anything and everything an individual does each day. “Motivation is the desire to do the best possible job or to exert the maximum effort to perform an assigned task. Motivation energizes, directs, and sustains human behavior directed towards a goal.” (Honor, 2009). Motivation can determine the outcome of projects, goals, and can set limits on what an individual can obtain or what they believe they can obtain. Motivation often is the deciding factor on how successful a project in an organization is, and an individual’s needs and desires can both influence a person’s motivation greatly. Motivation can also determine how well an individual does in school, college, or university.

Motivation on the other hand is referred to as: “the forces within a person that affect the direction, intensity and persistence of voluntary behaviour. Motivated employees are willing to exert a particular level of effort (intensity), for a certain amount of time (persistence), towards a particular goal (direction). Motivation is one of the four essential drivers of individual behaviour and performance”. (McShane et.al, 2013, pg. 138). In other words, motivation is in the form of things that stimulates us, and further enhances our knowledge. People do things, not because they have to, but because they’re somewhat interested in the activity or the task that they have to do, and people often learn from these activities, get the results that they want, thus, making them strive to continue working.

Extrinsic motivation e.g. Money is the critical incentive to motivation in today's work environment However , motivation differs from individual to individual and with their respective beliefs and values, circumstances and culture. It is important for mangers to identify which motivation factor works with which employee and apply it respectively In any environment, both Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivations are needed for work satisfaction and work performance

Or can they achieve more effective and efficient performance as motivated by organization? According to Moorhead & Griffin (1998, 1), Employee performance is frequently described as a joint function of ability and motivation, and one of the primary tasks facing a manager is motivating employees to perform to the best of their

There are various things, aspects and factors that motivate people to perform well on the job, it can be financial, professional, personal or mere ambience, each play a major role in motivating an employee thus affecting the efficiency of the work done. The most basic of the motivational techniques followed by any organization include, performance appraisals, incentives, promotional activities, et cetera.

Motivation in the workplace is one of the major concerns that managers face when trying to encourage their employees to work harder and do what is expected of them on a day-to-day basis. According to Organizational Behavior by John R. Schermerhorn, James G. Hunt and Richard N. Osborn the definition of motivation is "the individual forces that account for the direction, level, and persistence of a person's effort expended at work." They go on to say that "motivation is a key concern in firms across the globe." Through the years there have been several theories as to what motivates employees to do their best at work. In order to better understand these theories we will apply them to a fictitious organization that has the following

There are many ways in which companies can encourage and support motivation. Some of those techniques are: Involving employees in decision making, providing feedback, keeping employees informed at all times, building trust and relationships, and much more.

According to Jerald Greenberg (1999) scientist have defined motivations “as the process of arousing, directing and maintaining behavior towards a goal”. The act of arousing is related

Motivation is one of the most discussed topics in the present era’s organisations, especially since renowned psychologists like Maslow and Herzberg are dedicating their efforts to understanding it. Companies are investing a significant amount of resources in improving productivity in order to maximise profits. One of these important resources is of human nature. In order to get the very best out of employees, some motivational approaches need to be used. But what is motivation and how do I successfully motivate? I will try to relate one of my personal experiences with a friend to some of the most influential motivational theories. After introducing my story and making a definition of motivation I will address the ideas of Taylor,