How Can Managers Use Their Understanding Of Motivation And Communication Theories To Improve Performance Of Staff?
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An employee's motivation to work consists of all the drives, forces and
influences Ð'- conscious or unconscious Ð'- that cause the employee to want to
achieve certain aims. Managers need to know about the factors that create
motivation in order to be able to induce employees to work harder, faster,
more efficiently and with greater enthusiasm. Employees are motivated in
part by the need to earn a living and partly by human needs for job
satisfaction, security of tenure, the respect of colleagues and so on.
The organisation's rewards systems may applied to the first motive and job
design to the latter. Much research has sought to discover the sources of
motivation is tentative and no definite conclusions can be advanced.
For instance, "Social philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart
Mill asserted that humans are driven by the desire to obtain pleasure and
avoid pain. And B.F.Skinner's theory of operant conditioning implied that
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motivation emerges from the interplay of stimulus and response."
(H.T Graham & Roger Bennett, 1998)
With references to " The hierarchy of needs" theory by the American
psychologist, A.H. Maslow, he has divided human needs into the following
classes :
a) Physiological or basic needs
b) Security or safety needs
c) Belonging of affection needs
d) Esteem or ego needs
e) Self actualisation needs
In general, when physiological and security needs have been satisfied,
the higher needs ( belonging, esteem and self actualisation) become
important, usually, according to Maslow, in the order of the hierarchy.
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(Stephen P. Robbins, Bruce Millett, Ron Cacioppe, Terry Waters-Mash,
1998)
For example, a manager who receives a substantial salary, and thus
adequately satisfies his or her lower needs, regards status symbols like a
well-furnished office as important, but a former manager who has been
unemployed for a long time will eventually take any available job that brings
a reasonable income, even though it is of low status.
Maslow's theory is widely accepted, easy to understand and can be
used to explain much but not all behaviour at work. For instances, a poor
person may yearn for status symbols (higher level of needs) even though his
or her immediate physical and security requirements (lower level of needs)
have not been properly met. Managers who do not realise this may try to
solve all problems with people by raising pay, for example. All he does is to
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supply more of a responses to a low level needs than is necessary and
neglects the higher levels altogether. For instance, a married man who have
already more than enough money to satisfy his basic needs may yearn for
more time with his family unlike a young graduate ,who has just started out
working ,will place more emphasis on earning more.
According to David McClelland, the need to achieve is a primary
motivating factor. Other important needs, he suggested are the needs for
power and affiliation. (H.T Graham & Roger Bennett, 1998) Achievement Ð'-
oriented people worked extremely hard and constantly sought to improve
their performances. Power seekers were motivated by the prospect of
controlling subordinates and Affiliators wanted pleasant relationships with
the colleagues and to help other individuals.
Managers when motivating their subordinates can use " The
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hierarchy of needs" theory ,David McClelland's suggestion or others as
references but they should also keep in mind that "People differ in the way
they satisfy their needs in a variety of ways Ð'- through Cultural, Perceptual,
or individual" (H.T Graham & Roger Bennett, 1998) "What motivates some
employees doesn't motivate other employees and that each of them has
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