Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2.4 Motivation
2.4 Motivation
Motivation
Motivation
Desire, effort, and passion to achieve something
Classified as intrinsic or extrinsic
Employer objectives
Motivation
Minimize cost
Prestige
Better recruitment
Reduced labour turnover
Control
Employee objectives
Purchasing power
Recognition
Compensation – high direct earnings, pensions, fringe benefits
Taylor’s Theory
Principle of scientific management
Workers are motivated by cash
Productivity can be improved by relating output/productivity to pay
Division of labour and specialisation
Standardization of work practice (seen in production lines)
Workers should be chosen for their job based on ability
Differentiated piecework
Payment based on standard level of output
Paid extra for output beyond that level
Criticisms
Ignored non-financial motivators
Non-physical contribution may not be quantified
Repetitive and monotonous work – job dissatisfaction
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
People have 5 basic needs:
Physiological/basic
Satisfied by payment
Security/safety – predictability and order
Satisfied by job security, maternity leave, fringe benefits
Social/love/belonging
Satisfied by teamworking, anti-discrimination
Esteem/ego – recognition and self-respect
Satisfied by training and development, delegation, promotion
Self-actualisation
Satisfied by giving freedom to employees
Needs must be satisfied from the bottom up (basic to self-actualisation)
Criticisms
Needs cannot be quantified
Ignores individuality of needs
Herzberg’s Theory
Two factors affected motivation
Hygiene/maintenance factors (physical)
Factors that meet basic needs
Does not motivate but demotivates if not met
Motivators (psychological)
Achievement, recognition, responsibility, and advancement leads to higher
satisfaction
Democratic management style must be used
Involves job enlargement, enrichment, empowerment (see below)
Movement vs. motivation
Movement – doing something because it needs to be done
Based on extrinsic motivation
Motivation – doing something because you want to
Based on intrinsic motivation
More important
Individualism in terms of motivation
Criticisms
Does not apply to low-skill, low-wage jobs
Some workers may not like the increased workload in job enrichment
Adam’s Equity Theory
Workers naturally compare their efforts/rewards to others in the workplace
Employees should receive remuneration that reflects his efforts and competence
Workers will be motivated if their remuneration is fair relative to others
Inequality is by caused poor job analysis and evaluation
Pink’s Theory
States the importance of intrinsic motivation
3 factors:
Autonomy
Give employees control over when, how, and what they do and whom they do it
with
Mastery
Sense of progress in work and ability
Tasks must not be too hard or too easy to foster improvement without causing
boredom or frustration
Purpose
Contributing to a greater cause
Purpose and vision must be communicated
Financial and non-financial motivation
Theory X
Extrinsic/financial motivation
Managers believe that workers are lazy and must be supervised
Theory Y
Intrinsic/non-financial motivation
Managers believe that workers are ambitious and enjoy their jobs
Financial Motivation
Wages
Time-based
Rate is based on worker’s experience and responsibilities
Overtime rate for work in excess of contracted time
Workers are rewarded for time not effort
Piece rate
Based on no. of items produced or sold in a given time
Motivated to work/sell more
Lack of financial security – pressure to sell
Workers might sacrifice quality for quantity
Salary
Fixed annual rate paid on a monthly basis
Time-rate payment
Little incentive to work hard due to consistent pay
Difficult to reward better workers
Can be improved by using appraisals
Commission
Output based system (based on how much they sell/produce)
Pays workers based on percentage of sales or output contributed rather than a
fixed amount per unit like piece rate
Similar advantages and disadvantages to piece rate
Profit-related pay
Pay linked to profits of the firm
Strengthens employee loyalty
Limits labor conflict (both managers and employees benefit from higher profits)
May be too insignificant
Performance related pay (PRP)
Based on individual performance/ability to meet goals
Various forms:
Performance bonus
Loyalty bonus
Pay rise
Gratuity – bonus for completing contract
Satisfies Equity Theory
Problems of bias or how to quantify performance
Targets may be too unrealistic
Employee share ownership schemes
Giving shares for free or at a discount
Usually only given to senior management
Impractical for most companies
Fringe benefits (perks)
Meets employee’s safety needs (Maslow) at a cost
Includes medical insurance, bonus schemes, company car, subsidised meals,
discounts
Non-financial motivation
Job enlargement
Horizontal expansion by increasing scope of work required
Enhances employee pride in work, feeling of responsibility
May lower productivity or quality because of higher workload
Job enrichment
Provides employee with more complex and fulfilling tasks
Adds sense of control, pride, and achievement
Job rotation
Shifting of cross trained workers to other tasks
Allows understanding of different operating areas of business
Can reduce fatigue, since new tasks are assigned
Employee empowerment
Employees are delegated tasks assigned to managers
Increases employee motivation and productivity
Managers must share:
Decision-making power
Rewards (based on organizational performance)
Knowledge/expertise needed to enhance performance
Employees must be highly skilled, motivated, and competent
Managers are ultimately still liable for whatever they delegate
Teamworking
Staff work together on a task
Reduce boredom, build sense of belonging, greater flexibility
Adair Model
3 parts or effective teams
Tasks – must engage whole group
Team – must work collectively
Individual – needs of the individual are met
Other forms of non-financial motivation
Recognition and praise
Working environment
Delegation
Worker participation