Motivating Employees

Abdullah shahzad

Motivating Employees

Topics Motivation Early Theories of Motivation Contemporary Theories of

Motivation Current Issues in Motivation

Definition: The processes that account for an individual’s

intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward achieving a goal”

•    Intensity = how hard an employee tries •    Direction = should benefit the organization (i.e.

quality of effort counts!) •    Persistence = how long can an employee

maintain his/her effort?      Note: the goal is an “organizational” goal

Motivation

There are many ways to motivate employees. Managers who want to encourage productivity should work to ensure that employees:

Feel that the work they do has meaning or importance

Believe that good work is rewarded Believe that they are treated fairly

How to Motivate Employees

Motivation theory which suggests five interdependent levels of basic human needs (motivators) that must be satisfied in a strict sequence starting with the lowest level.

The theory of Maslow's hierarchy of needs basically talks about how all humans have different levels of needs for survival and we work to make money to fulfil those needs.

Theories Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory

1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep.

2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear.

3. Love and belongingness needs - friendship, intimacy, affection and love, - from work group, family, friends, romantic relationships.

4. Esteem needs - achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, self-respect, respect from others.

5. Self-Actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment , seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

five interdependent levels of basic human needs

Dislike working. Avoid responsibility and need to be directed. Have to be controlled, forced, and threatened to

deliver what's needed. Need to be supervised at every step, with

controls put in place. Need to be enticed to produce results; otherwise

they have no ambition or incentive to work. X-Type organizations tend to be top heavy, with

managers and supervisors required at every step to control workers. There is little delegation of authority and control remains firmly centralized.

McGregor Theory of X & YTheory X

Hate working. Dislike responsibility. No ideas. Only work for money.

Theory X

Take responsibility and are motivated to fulfil the goals they are given.

Seek and accept responsibility and do not need much direction.

Consider work as a natural part of life and solve work problems imaginatively.

Enjoy their work. Able to solve problem. Want to make a contribution. Accept responsibility.

Theory Y

Comparison

Management Style and Control In a Theory X organization, management is authoritarian, and centralized

control is retained, whilst in Theory Y, the management style is participative: Management involves employees in decision making, but retains power to implement decisions.

Work Organization Theory X employees tend to have specialized and often repetitive work.

In Theory Y, the work tends to be organized around wider areas of skill or knowledge; Employees are also encouraged to develop expertise and make suggestions and improvements.

Rewards and Appraisals Theory X organizations work on a ‘carrot and stick’ basis, and

performance appraisal is part of the overall mechanisms of control and remuneration. In Theory Y organizations, appraisal is also regular and important, but is usually a separate mechanism from organizational controls. Theory Y organizations also give employees frequent opportunities for promotion.

How to Deal with x & y

According to the Two Factor Theory of Herzberg people are influenced by two factors. Satisfaction and psychological growth was a factor of motivation factors. Dissatisfaction was a result of hygiene factors. Hygiene factors are needed to ensure an employee does not become dissatisfied. They do not need to higher level of motivation, but without them there is dissatisfaction.Motivation factors are needed in order to motivate an employee into higher performance. These factors result from internal generators in employees.

Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

Working conditions Quality of supervision Salary Status Security Company Job Interpersonal relations Company policies and administration

Typical Hygiene factors

Achievement Recognition for achievement Responsibility for task Interest in the job Advancement to higher level tasks Growth

Typical Motivation Factors

David McClelland describes three central motivational paradigms: achievement, affiliation and power.

AchievementPeople who are strongly achievement-

motivated are driven by the desire for mastery. They prefer working on tasks of moderate difficulty in which outcomes are the result of their effort rather than of luck. They value receiving feedback on their work.

McClelland's Theory of Needs

Affiliation People who are strongly affiliation-motivated are

driven by the desire to create and maintain social relationships. They enjoy belonging to a group and want to feel loved and accepted. They may not make effective managers because they may worry too much about how others will feel about them.

Power People who are strongly power-motivated are

driven by the desire to influence, teach, or encourage others. They enjoy work and place a high value on discipline. However, they may take a zero-sum approach to group work—for one person to win, or succeed, another must lose, or fail. If channelled appropriately, though, this can positively support group goals and help others in the group feel competent about their work.

Leadership concept that the subordinates accept a leader's behaviour only so far as they view it as resulting in immediate or future benefit. Thus, a leader's main function is to 'clear a path' to the realization of the subordinates' goals; he or she must choose the behaviour patterns that are most applicable in helping the subordinates get what they want.

The theory that specific and difficult goals lead to higher performance.

Goals tell an employee what needs to be done and how much effort will need to be expended.

Specific goals increase performance; that difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher performance than do easy goals; and that feedback leads to higher performance than does non-feedback.

Contemporary Theories Goal -Setting Theory

Specific hard goals produce a higher level of output than does the generalized goal of "do your best."◦ The specificity of the goal itself acts as an

internal stimulus. ◦ Be sure to note the importance of goal

commitment, self-efficacy, task characteristics, and national culture on goal-setting theory.

Job design is the systematic and purposeful allocation of tasks to individuals and groups within an organization.

Job Design

A counterpoint to the goal-setting theory. In reinforcement theory, a behaviouristic approach,

which argues that reinforcement conditions behaviour. Reinforcement theorists see behaviour as being

behaviourally caused. Reinforcement theory ignores the inner state of the

individual and concentrates solely on what happens to a person when he or she takes some action.

Because it does not concern itself with what initiates behaviour, it is not, strictly speaking, a theory of motivation.

It does however provide a powerful means of analysis of what controls behaviour.

Reinforcement Theory

Adams' Equity Theory calls for a fair balance to be struck between an employee's inputs (hard work, skill level, acceptance, enthusiasm, and so on) and an employee's outputs (salary, benefits, intangibles such as recognition, and so on).

Equity Theory

To do this, consider the balance or imbalance that currently exists between your employee's inputs and outputs, as follows:

Inputs typically include: Effort. Loyalty. Hard work. Commitment. Skill. Ability.

How to Apply the Adams' Equity Theory

Financial rewards (such as salary, benefits, perks). Intangibles that typically include: Recognition. Reputation. Responsibility. The theory argues that managers should seek to

find a fair balance between the inputs that an employee gives, and the outputs received.

And according to the theory, employees should be content where they perceive these to be in

balance.

Outputs typically include:

Expectancy is the belief that increased effort will lead to increased performance i.e. if I work harder then this will be better. This is affected by such things as:

Having the right resources available (e.g. raw materials, time)

Having the right skills to do the job Having the necessary support to get the job

done (e.g. supervisor support, or correct information on the job)

Expectancy Theory

Instrumentality is the belief that if you perform well that a valued outcome will be received. The degree to which a first level outcome will lead to the second level outcome. i.e. if I do a good job, there is something in it for me. This is affected by such things as:

Clear understanding of the relationship between performance and outcomes – e.g. the rules of the reward 'game'

Trust in the people who will take the decisions on who gets what outcome

Transparency of the process that decides who gets what outcome

More Explanation

Cross-cultural challengesAlthough most current motivation theories were

developed in U.S. and validated with American workers, the ways how to motivate employees are different in many countries and depends on their cultural characteristics. Managers should understand deeply cultural characteristics before they design and launch any motivational program. Despite these cross-cultural differences in motivation, there are some cross-cultural consistencies such as the desire for interesting work, growth, achievement, and responsibility

Current Issues in Motivation

The employees have different needs, personalities, skills, abitilities , interest, aptitude, and vary widely in what they want from their jobs. Hence, motivating unique groups of workers has never been an easy task.

1)Motivating a diverse workforce: To motivate employees with such diverse needs, managers should use flexible work arrangement such as:

compressed workweek flex time  job sharing  telecommuting

Motivating unique groups of workers

2)Motivating Professionals Characteristics of professionals :  Strong and long-term commitment to their

field of expertise. Loyalty is to their profession, not to the

employer. Have a need to regularly update their

knowledge. Barely define their workweek as 8:00 am to

5:00 pm. five days per week.

Motivating programs for professionals : Job challenge Organizational support of their works. Work itself3)Motivating contingent workers For that small set of individuals who prefer the freedom

of their temporary status, the lack of stability may not be an issue. But for the temporary employees are not temporary by choice, these are the answers how to motivate them :

An opportunity to become a permanent employee Opportunity for training Equity in compensation and benefits 4)Motivating low-skilled, minimum wage employees To motivate minimum-wage employees, managers should

use: Recognition programs Sincere appreciation

Thank You