The Importance Of Motivating The Workforce

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.

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.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs was introduced in the mid-1940’s by Abraham Maslow; it is one of the most popular theories of work motivation to this day. the theory was originally used specifically in a psychological setting, but was made more popular by Douglas McGregor in the late 1960’s and began to be used by not only psychologists but managers as well (Steers & Porter, 1983). The hierarchy is based on the fact that human beings have needs, Maslow took these needs and separated them into five categories: physiological needs, safety, belongingness or social needs,

“Motivating Employees” is a book about how employee motivation is driven by companies that invest and grow their employees. One of the most important traits of highly effective and successful companies is that employees are happy and have fun at work. Leadership is not assaulting your employees, but to lead your employees you need to motivate by using caring,

People are motivated by different rewards and therefore, a manager must know each employee’s reason to why they are working at the organization (Ivancevich, Konopaske and Matteson, 2014). Even though there is no best theory of motivation as a manager you have to work even harder to try and understand all your personnel’s motivation (Ivancevich, Konopaske and Matteson, 2014). One aspect of the motivational construct is for certain, the best way to influence individual performance is to have a reward system (Ivancevich, Konopaske and Matteson, 2014). This reward system can also attract outside talent to come and work at the

Over the last several years, the issue of employee motivation inside the workplace has been increasingly brought to the forefront. The reason why is because, globalization has been having an effect on the ability of firms to compete (which is placing more pressure on them). To deal with these challenges, most organizations are relying on their employees. The results are that those employers who are able to use this resource will be able to make adjustments quickly. This is when the firm will be able to maintain their dominance in the marketplace.

Motivation is an important aspect in the workplace. Employees seek it and managers develop ways to motive employees. Maslow’s needs theory can also aid in maintaining a competitive edge if applied successfully.

Many theories and studies abound to help leaders understand what prompts a person to pursue a course of action and to do so with enthusiasm and persistence; and one such group is known as the "needs-based" theory. The emphasis in “needs-based” theories is on one’s needs. It is irrefutable that all of us have certain needs which must be satisfied so that we can be happy, such as the need for food, money, safety, and recognition. Proponents of this group state that these needs are the “source of an internal drive that motivates specific behaviors with which to fulfill them”; and one will work hard- with enthusiasm and persistence to do so (Daft, 2005, p. 226). Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs” is a well-known “needs-based” theory, which proposes that humans are motivated by multiple needs, which exist in a hierarchal order of lower and higher needs (Daft, 2005, p. 229).

One of the tasks of leadership is to motivate employees and inspire others to be productive, usually done in a way that is consistent with the values and mission of the organization. There are many conventional and contemporary motivational theories, each of which may be effective for varying types of organizations. These theories range from the well known Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory to more modern cognitive theories that focus on intrinsic needs and core values (Robbins & Judge, 2007). Part of an organization’s culture is defined by how it attempts to motivate its employees and create enthusiasm within them for achieving work-related goals.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow established a theory of motivation to justify how people in diverse organizations behave. His human requirements theory states that humans are never completely satisfied; that they crave satisfaction and those requirements can be classified into a hierarchy based upon importance. The lowest level of importance includes peoples’ desire to satisfy their physical needs, such as hunger and thirst. Following the lowest level, individuals need basic security and stability. After physical and safety needs are satisfied, individuals have the desire to gain acceptance into a group and to establish meaningful relationships. Once this need is somewhat fulfilled, one will strive for self-confidence and personal achievement. Lastly, an individual must realize their potential or they will become dissatisfied and discontent. This theory assists managers to motivate subordinates in a diverse workplace by ensuring low-level needs are met first. Then, management will be able to pursue supervising employees as they complete more multifaceted tasks. An effective manager influences employees positively by creating a safe work environment, providing the necessary tools and resources and involving employees in decision-making processes (Maslow, 1943, 1954).

Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be." By championing new and innovative methods of employee motivation, companies are satisfying this need in their

In today’s turbulent, often chaotic environment, commercial success depends on employees using their full talents. Yet in spite of the available theories and practices, managers often view motivation as something of a mystery. How are employees motivated? What are other companies doing to motivate employees and is it possible to motivate employees without money? These are questions that need to be answered.


This report is based on the ways of maintaining a motivated workforce in the Tourism and Hospitality organisation and explaining ways to contribute a happy and satisfied worker in the Tourism and Hospitality organisation and the skills to show a good worker and what they need to show to be a responsible adult and worker when they are working in the Tourism industry or any industries for that matter. I also will be talking about the concepts to maintain a good workforce and the advantages and disadvantages that they have when delivering a happy workforce in the industry.

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.

Motivating individuals and groups at work often times can be a challenging task. Individuals must have the desire to want to be motivated. This challenge is difficult as individuals have different types of goals that motivate them. Motivation is typically driven by some sort of recognition. In today’s economic hardship businesses are having to do more with less. Businesses are downsizing, which causes them not to re-hire for open positions or eliminate unnecessary positions completely.