Employee Motivation Essay

Simple acts such as eating are motivated by hunger. Educatio n is motivated by desire for knowledge. Motivators can be anything from reward to coercion. From the scientific viewpoint, by most accounts, motivation is defined as an inner state of need or desire. That state of desire creates a movement or activity towards satisfying that desire. In my never-ending quest to spread the word about turning ideas into action, I view inspiration as the state of mind that primes us to come up with great ideas, and motivation as the state of mind that spurs us to action. Concept of Motivation In order to understand the concept of motivation, we have to examine three terms : motive, motivating and motivation and their relationship Motive ?A motive is an inner state that energizes, activates, or moves and directs behavior towards goals.? Motivating ?Motivating is a term which implies that one person includes another, to engage in action by ensuring that a channel to satisfy the motive becomes available and accessible to the individ ual.? 2 Motivation Dubin has defined motivation as; ?Motivation is the complex force starting and keeping a person at work in an organization. Motivation is something that moves the person to action, and continues him in the course of action already initiated? According to McFarland; ?Motivation refers to the way in which urges, drives, aspirations, strivings, or needs direct, control, or explain the behavior of human being. .. Based on Motives: Motivation is based on individual‘s motives which are internal to the individual. These motives are in the form of feelings that the individual lacks something. In order to overcome this feeling, he tries to behave in a manner which helps in overcoming this feeling. 2. Affected by Motivating: Motivation is affected by way the individual is motivated. It can also activate the latent needs in the individual, that is, the needs that are the less strong and somewhat dormant, and harness them in a manner that would be functional for the organization. 3. Goal–directed Behavior: Motivation leads to goal-directed behavior. A goal-directed behavior is one which satisfies the cau se for which behavior takes place. 4. Related to Satisfaction: satisfaction refers to the contentment experiences of an individual which he derives out of need fulfillment. Thus satisfaction is a consequence of rewards and punishments associated with past experiences. 5. Complex Process: Motivation is a complex process; complexity emerges because of the nature of needs and the type of behavior that is attempted to satisfy those needs. 6. Person Motivated in Totality: A person is motivated in totality and not in part. Each individual in the organization is a self-contained unit and his needs are interrelated. These affect his behavior in different ways. 3 Motivation Motivation is a force that drives people to do things. Employees are normally motivated to achieve their needs, whatever they may include. Motivation is inside another person’s head and heart. It may be intrinsic or extrinsic. This is what we call motivation. Employees of a company will be motivated if they associate certain incentives with an activity of work. Motivation is an important function which every manager performs by assigning the people to work for accomplishment of objectives of the organization . Issuance of well conceived instructions and orders does not mean that they will be followed . A manager has to make appropriate use of motivation to enthuse the employees to follow them. Effective motivation succeeds not only in having an order accepted but also in gaining a determination to see that it is executed efficiently and effectively. In order to motivate workers to work for the organizational goals, the managers must Determine the motives or needs of the workers and provide an environment in which Appropriate incentives are available for their satisfaction . If the management is successful in doing so; it will also be successful in increasing the willingness of the workers to work. This will increase efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. There will be better utilization of resources and workers abilities and capacities. Concept of motivation The word motivation has been derived from motive which means any idea, need or emotion that prompts a man in to action. Whatever may be the behavior of man, there is some stimulus behind it . Stimulus is dependent upon the motive of the person concerned. Motive can be known by studying his needs and desires. There is no universal theory that can explain the factors influencing motives which control mans behaviour at any particular point of ime. In general, the different motives operate at different times among different people and influence their behaviours. The process of motivation studies the motives of individuals which cause different type of behavior. 4 Need of motivation Management‘s basic job is the effective utilization of human resources for achie vements of organizational objectives. The personn el management is concerned with organizing human resources in such a way to get maximum output to the enterprise and to develop the talent of people at work to the fullest satisfaction. Motivation implies that one person, in organization context a manager, includes another, say an employee, to engage in action by ensuring that a channel to satisfy those needs and aspirations becomes available to the person. In addition to this, the strong needs in a direction that is satisfying to the latent needs in employees and Harness them in a manner that would be functional for the organization. Employee motivation is one of the major issues faced by every organization. It is the major task of every manager to motivate his subordinates or to create the ? ill to work‘ among the subordinates. It should also be remembered that a worker may be immensely capable of doing some work; nothing can be achieved if he is not willing to work. A manager has to make appropriate use of motivation to enthuse the employees to follow them. Significance of Motivation Motivation involves getting the members of the group to pull weight effectively, to give their loyalty to the group, to carry out properly the purpose of the organization. The following results may be expected if the employees are properly motivated. 1. The workforce will be better satisfied if the management provides them with Opportunities to fulfil their physiological and psychological needs. The workers will Cooperate voluntarily with the management and will contribute their maximum towards the goals of the enterprise. 2. Workers will tend to be as efficient as possible by improving upon their skills and Knowledge so that they are able to contribute to the progress of the organization. This will also result in increased productivity. 3. The rates of labor‘s turnover and absenteeism among the workers will be low. 4. There will be good human relations in the organization as friction among the workers themselves and between the workers and the management will decrease. 5. The number of complaints and grievances will come down. Accident will also be low. 5 6. There will be increase in the quantity and quality of products. Wastage and scrap will be less. Better quality of products will also increase the public image of the business. Motivation is the activation or energization of goal-oriented behavior; Intrinsic Extrinsic From a practical standpoint, we can dig into our motives in order to get better results, and move ourselves from point A to point B. For example, if you know what motivates you, you can use those motives to get yourself to do things that you wouldn’t do otherwise. These same principles can be applied to motivating others as well. Motivational techniques, therefore, are useful to teachers, leaders, parents, employers, and really, almost anyone. The key is in understanding that you are not motivating someone else. Instead, you are simply providing a circumstance that triggers that person to be motivation. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Intrinsic Motivation Intrinsic motivation comes from rewards inherent to a task or activity itself – the enjoyment of a puzzle or the love of playing. This form of motivation has been studied by social and educational psychologists since the early 1970s. Research has found that it is usually associated with high educational achievement and enjoyment by students. Intrinsic motivation has been explained by Fritz Heider’ attributional theory, Bandura’s work on self effeciency,and Ryan and Deci’s cognitive evaluation theory. Students are likely to be intrinsically motivated if they: Attribute their educational results to internal factors that they can control (e. . the amount of effort they put in), Believe they can be effective agents in reaching desired goals (i. e. the results are not determined by luck), 6 Are interested in mastering a topic, rather than just rote- learning to achieve good grades. Extrinsic motivation Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the performer. M oney is the most obvious example, but coercion and threat of punishment are also common extrinsic motivations. While competing, the crowd may cheer on the performer, which may motivate him or her to do well. Trophies are also extrinsic incentives. Competition is in general extrinsic because it encourages the performer to win and beat others, not to enjoy the intrinsic rewards of the activity. Social psychological research has indicated that extrinsic rewards can lead to over justification and a subsequent reduction in intrinsic motivation. In one study demonstrating this effect, children who expected to be (and were) rewarded with a ribbon and a gold star for drawing pictures spent less time playing with the drawing materials in subsequent observations than children who were assigned to an unexpected reward condition and to children who received no extrinsic reward. Motivation starts with you! As you aspire to be more successful in life, your attitude towards yourself and others will play a huge role. Positive people learn how to handle life’s challenges differently and use these opportunities to grow. So can you! Self Motivation The self-control of motivation is increasingly understood as a subset of emotional intelligence; a person may be highly intelligent according to a more conservative definition (as measured by many intelligence test), yet unmotivated to dedicate this intelligence to certain tasks. Yale School of Management Professor Victor Vroom’s â€Å"expectancy theory† provides an account of when people will decide whether to exert self control to pursue a particular goal. Drives and desires can be described as a deficiency or need that activates behavior that is aimed at a goal or an incentive. These are thought to originate within the individual and may not require external stimuli to encourage the behavior. Basic drives could be sparked by deficiencies such as hunger, which motivates a person to seek food; whereas more subtle drives might be the 7 esire for praise and approval, which motivates a person to behave in a manner pleasing to others. Motivation Process 1. Identification of need 2. Tension 3. Course of action 4. Result –Positive/Negative 5. Feed back TYPES OF NEEDS There are many needs which an individual may have and there are various ways in which these may be classified. The basic objective behind classification of needs into different ca tegories is to find out similarity and dissimilarity in various needs so that incentives are grouped to satisfy the needs falling under one category or the other. Thus needs may be grouped into three categories. 1. Primary Needs: Primary needs are also known as psychological , biological , basic or unlearned needs . These needs are common to all human beings , though their intensity may differ . Some of the needs are food , sleep , air to breathe etc. These needs arise out of the basic physiology of life and are important for survival and preservation of species These needs are conditioned by social practice . 2. Secondary Needs: As contrast to the primary needs, secondary needs are not natural but are learned by the individual through his experience and interaction . Therefore, these are also called learned or derived needs. Emergence of these needs depends on learning . There may be different types of secondary needs like need of power, achievement, status, affiliation, etc. 8 3. General Needs: There are a number of needs which lie in the grey area between the primary and secondary classifications. In fact, there are certain such needs for competence, curiosity, manipulation, affection etc. Motivation and Behavior Motivation causes goal-directed behavior. Feeling of a need by an individual generates a feeling that he lacks something. This lack of something creates tension in the mind of individual. To overcome this state he engages himself in a behaviour to satisfy his needs. This is goaldirected behaviour.