Questions On Understanding Employee Motivation

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 researcher Lindner (1998), motivated employees are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces to aid in the survival of organizations. Not only is it important to meet the needs of the consumer, it is equally important that to make sure that associates are taken care of and remain motivated. For this reason, Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly and Konopaske (2012) “states much of management’s time is spent addressing the motivation of their employees” (p. 125). According to the Encyclopedia of Small Business (2007), employee motivation is the level of energy, commitment, and creativity employees bring to their jobs; the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals (Lindner, 1988). Despite its obvious importance, employee motivation can be an elusive quest for managers due to the multiplicity of incentives that can influence employees to do their best work. The reality is that every employee has different ways to become motivated and the knowledge of how to motivate them is key to organizational success. It is imperative that employers get to know the personal needs and wants of their employees in order to establish tactics in which to motivate each of them. Once achieved, “managers are in a better position to encourage and reward employees to behave in effective ways” (Gibson et al, 2012, p.

There are as many different methods of motivating employees today as there are companies operating in the global business environment. Still, some strategies are prevalent across all organizations striving to improve employee motivation. The best employee motivation efforts will focus on what the employees deem to be important. It may be that employees within the same department of the same organization will have different motivators. Many organizations today find that flexibility in job design and reward systems has resulted in employees ' increased longevity with the company, improved productivity, and better morale.

The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate and review three journal articles by John Honore (2009), James Lindner (1998), and an article by Fred Herrera (2002). All three articles discussed the topic of employee motivation in the workplace. The authors examined several motivational theories and put forward their ideas on the concepts and application of motivational techniques. The authors’ work provides insight into the psychology of motivation and the different factors and theories that affect it. My conclusion is in line with the authors’, motivated employees are needed for the organisational survival and just like our constantly changing environment and each individual is different, motivational techniques need to be continuously explored and developed.

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

Human behavior in organizations may be affected by the individual’s motivation. All human activity is directed toward satisfying certain needs. Motivation must be

In organizations all across the world you will find management working diligently to enhance or maintain productivity. There are many things that can affect productivity, some that are within our control and some that are not. Employee motivation is something that can directly affect an organizations production. It is no secret that un-motivated employees equates to un-productive workers, but how can we combat this? In order to better understand this concept we will look at the definition of employee motivation, some of the motivation theories and some motivation techniques that could be useful in our organizations.

This is a current and topical issue as motivation matters a great deal; Forsyth (2000 p. 2) states that motivation “increases efficiency, effectiveness and productivity” and allows organisations to meet their aims and objectives. Hageman (1992) suggests that motivation is the internal incentive that which brings out pleasure from work; happiness and efficiency are closely connected. This then makes employees desire to do what is required of them.

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

Motivation is giving somebody a reason or incentive to do something. It can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is focused by an awareness or satisfaction in the task itself and usually occurs within the person rather than relying on external force. Extrinsic motivation is from outside the individual. Some common extrinsic motivators are rewards or punishments like evaluations or money, pressure, and threat of reprimand. The key to an organization’s success is the motivation of the staff. It is clear

Motivation is a crucial tool to retain and bring the best out of human capital of an organization. Most successful organizations plan their motivational strategies based on employee needs and requirement. Likewise, motivational strategies may differ for employees in early career from that of late career workers.

Generally, motivation is defined as “the intention of achieving a goal, leading to goal-directed behavior which is reflected at the end of a project” (Whittington and Evans, 2005). Motivation therefore is a perceived drive that can be enforced into an employee and can either make the employee achieve or not to achieve the organizational goals and attain personal goals as the end results (Young, 2009).

What is motivation? Motivation is defined as “an individual’s willingness to respond to the organization’s requirements in short run.” (P.71 Dixon, 1998) For the purposes of this research paper, I find the most fitting definition of motivation is to define it as “the force that Energizes, Directs, and Sustains behavior.” (uri.com, 2014) Motivation is imperative to productivity. A highly motivated staff often leads to high productivity from the workforce.

Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology is devoted to the study of employee behavior in the workplace and understanding the issues facing organizations and employees in today’s complex and ever changing environment. Motivation refers to the set of forces that influence people to choose various behaviors among several alternatives available to them. An organization depends on the ability of management to provide a positive, fostering and motivating environment for its employees in order to increase profits, productivity and lower turnover rates of its employees. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and compare six academic journal articles and explore the behavior, job, and need based theories of motivation that can aid management in motivating and understanding their employees. Finding that delicate balance to can sometimes be elusive so effectively learning how to motivate by understanding, controlling and influencing factors to manipulate behavior and choices that are available to employees can produce the desired outcome.

Motivation of employees plays a crucial factor in determining their performance with regard to productivity and engagement in their respective duties. Actually, employees who are adequately motivated tend to enhance their performance, be more productive, feel more satisfied, and be more engaged in their work. Managers should take responsibility to enhance their employees in order to enhance their contributions to the organization or company resulting in increased productivity. The significance of employee motivation to organizational productivity is linked to the widely accepted belief that motivation is the basic driver of human behavior. The significance of motivation in driving human behavior has contributed to the development of various theories of motivation, which are mostly applied in real life organizations or businesses. The application of these theories has considerable effects on organizational productivity, employee turnover, and employee satisfaction.