Employee Motivation and Capitalism

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Recommended: Theories of motivation their implications

Introduction:
Motivation according to Kelley (2014) is the ‘process through which managers build the desire to be productive and effective in their employees’. If an employee is motivated, they are more likely to be productive and generally staff turnover is low. The problem of worker motivation is that workers are not seen as humans, they have a lack of freedom at the workplace and lack of job fulfilment. Taylor and McGregor Theory X argue that there is not a problem with worker motivation, workers will be obedient because of fear of losing their job motivates them to do well. Whereas Maslow and McGregor’s Theory Y argues that there is a problem with worker motivation because of class conflict between the worker and the manager. The worker is after more than just economic benefits, they long for personal fulfilment and freedom. A Marxist view is that the managers are exploiting the workers and that there is class conflict. This essay will outline and identify if there is a problem with worker motivation, and will introduce a brief description of motivation and capitalism. If problems are identified with worker motivation possible solutions will be provided. The essay will go into detail about Maslow and McGregor’s theories X and Y and refer to Taylorism. Lastly a conclusion will be made on the more befitting and justifiable argument.

Motivation:
According to Casey et al. (2012) motivation stimulates people to do things with the use of ‘incentives’. Intrinsically motivated behaviour is when a person performs well for his or her own sake. Whereas extrinsically motivated behaviour is when motivation arises from necessities for security, job and pay (Casey et al, 2012). According to Petroni, A, & Colacino, P (2008), there are thre...

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Roberts, J 1984, 'THE MORAL CHARACTER OF MANAGEMENT PRACTICE', Journal Of Management Studies, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 287-302, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 17 February 2014.

Sandrone (2014), Frederick W. Taylor: Master of Scientific Management, URL: http://www.skymark.com/resources/leaders/taylor.asp [17 February 2014]

Thomas, A 1988, 'Does Leadership Make a Difference to Organizational Performance’, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 33,No. 3, pp. 388-400, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 17 February 2014.

Zaleznik, A 1977, 'Managers and leaders: Are they different?', Harvard Business Review, Vol. 55, No. 3, pp. 67-78, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 17 February 2014.

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