Motivation Methods

Short statement of intent

Motivation is a key element in the workplace and it is very important to know the basic theories methods and application because it is something that unavoidable all for us will come up with in our working environment. It is a necessary skill for a future manager or leader to know how to motivate other people in order to work more efficient. Thought this project I become more familiar with the subject and more realized about the importance of motivation.

Executive summary

Motivating employees is a key issue for most managers. In order to achieve a high level of performance and productivity, managers nowadays are inclined to pay more attention on this issue. Different employees need different motivation. This assignment will first look at the different characteristics of professional workers and lower level contingent workers. It will also address the different motivation approaches which are generally used by managers towards these two different groups. And then, by applying a set of motivation theories, we will explain why managers should use such different methods.

Motivation Methods and Applications

The main question facing managers in an organization is motivation, how does it work, when to apply and to whom they should apply on. Motivation reflects how innovative and productive things get done within work organizations.Since motivation influences productivity supervisors need to understand what motivates employees to reach peak performance.

Motivation is a conscious decision to perform one or more activities with greater effort than other competing activities (2/199). It is the set of attitudes and values that predispose a person to act in a specific goal directed manner that affects his or her direction, intensity and persistence of voluntary behavior. Motivated behaviours are voluntary choices controlled by the individual employee. The supervisor (motivator) wants to influence the factors that motivate employees to higher levels of productivity. When people get motivated, they will have a reason to put more efforts on what they are doing. Motivation is a crucial management tool in lifting the organization's work force's ability. Within an organization the desired goals is often clearly defined. In motivation a manager normally seeks to change or maintain certain environmental factors so as to influence the inner drives which may change or sustain the behaviors of his subordinates. The key challenge in terms of motivation is how to encourage workers to contribute inputs to their jobs and to the organization. Managers want workers to be motivated to contribute inputs such as, efforts, specific job behaviors, skills, knowledge, time and experience because inputs influence job performance and ultimately, organizational performance.

In an organization, different employees have different needs. One explanation of human motivation focuses on the content of people's needs. The content approach to motivation focuses on the assumption that individuals are motivated by the desire to fulfil inner needs. Content theories focus on the needs that motivate people. Needs are deficiencies that energize or trigger behaviours to satisfy those needs. Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory is one of the content theories of motivation which attempt to explain motivation in terms of what arouses and energizes behavior. Maslow identified five human needs that motivate people as physiological needs, security needs, social needs, self-esteem needs and self actualization needs. The five needs are arranged in a hierarchy and are divided into higher order and lower order. Maslow's theory can help managers to identify the needs of professional workers and contingent workers. A satisfied need is not a motivator. The most powerful employee need is the one that has not been satisfied. According to Maslow's theory, unsatisfied needs are the prime motivators of behaviors, and needs at the lowest levels are of the hierarchy take precedence over the needs at higher levels. At any particular time, however only one set of needs motivates behavior and it is not possible to skip levels. Once the need is satisfied, then the individual will try to satisfy the next level. Salary and working conditions do play an important role in the motivation of the employees to do better. Salary is important especially in the first two stages of the hierarchy as they need to work in order to survive.

Another important theory is Alderfer's ERG theory. Alderfer modified Maslow's hierarchy of needs by collapsing the five needs levels into three, namely existence needs, relatedness needs and growth needs. Existence needs refer to basic survival needs that everyone must satisfy to maintain life. Relatedness needs draw people into interpersonal contact for social emotional acceptance, caring and status. Growth needs involve personal development and a sense of self-worth. Alderfer modified Maslow's hierarchy of needs by collapsing the five needs levels into three, namely existence needs, relatedness needs and growth needs.

Herzberg's theory of motivation however is different from the other motivational theories. After many years of research, he concluded that there were two kinds of factors in any jobs, hygiene and motivation. The motivation-hygiene model is based on the idea that one set of job characteristics determines the degree of worker dissatisfaction (hygiene) and another set determines the degree of positive satisfaction (motivation). The hygiene factors involve the context in which the work is preformed. They include company policy and administration job security; and working conditions. Herzberg's findings suggested that if these conditions were poor, they could lead to physiological or physiological withdrawal from the job. The conditions surrounding the job must be adequate before a person is motivated to work, but other factors are necessary as well. This proves that in order from employee to perform well in a company, the working conditions must be satisfactory.

When the working condition is good, it not only encourages a healthy working environment but also provides the motivation for the staff to work harder for the particular organization. So often we find that unsuccessful firms have staff that do not perform well according to their expected rate because of bad working conditions. The motivation factors include a sense of achievement, recognition, advancement, enjoyment of the work itself, the possibility of personal growth, and a sense of responsibility. Increasing job satisfaction and motivation and improving mental health, therefore, lead to increase productivity. Herzberg has called for attention