Motivation Basics
University of La Verne
Motivating other, in particular employees who work for you, is often the most difficult thing as a manager you will need to do. There are many myths and thoughts as to what may motivate employees. Does money motivate? Does recognition motivate? What about fear? Is someone motivated by something just because maybe you are? The answer to all these may vary depending on the employee.
First I will dispel some myths about motivation. The first myth is that a manager entirely motivates an employee. This is absolutely false. One can be influenced or steered in a certain direction but the employee essentially has to have some inner motivation and take action themselves. Therefore some aspect of self motivation needs to rest inside the individual you are seeking to motivate. As manager it is your job to find out what it is that motivates that employee and provide that atmosphere or environment for that individual. Another myth is that money motivates and employee. Money is definitely something that is desired by all. However money essentially just keeps employees from getting less motivated. Fear is also not a good motivator. Fear may get you what you want temporarily but it does not drive an employee to be motivated.
So what does motivate employees? I have been to many seminars on motivation, some good ones and some bad ones. Most of the good ones I attended focused on the primary key to motivation starting with the manager and their attitude. You as a manager are the key to displaying an enthusiasm along with your great job knowledge which in turns motivates employees. Enthusiasm is contagious. I truly believe this. Have you ever seen an enthusiastic manager ...
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...ive incentive. For the first quarter of perfect attendance the employee receives a gift card for $25 to their choice of 1 of 5 different stores. For the second consecutive quarter they $50 dollars toward the stores. The third results in $125 dollars. And finally for the fourth quarter and perfect attendance they will receive $250 toward one of the stores of their choice. That is a total of $450 for the year. The year before we implemented this program our perfect attendance was less than 5%.
Motivation is an extremely difficult aspect of being a manager. You need to be able to motivate employees if you wish to succeed as a manager. There are many myths as to what motivates employees. Be wary of these myths and focus on the many proven factors which motivate employees such as an enthusiastic manager, responsibilities and buy in, and rewards and incentives.
Throughout history, motivation has been one of the components to survival. Motivation is needed to get up in the morning and go on about the day in order to survive. As humans began to evolve, so did society, which meant our drive and motivation were derived from different goals rather than one common one. Rather than depending on biological drive, humans started to depend on the system of rewarding the good behavior and punishing the bad. This operating is known as Motivation 2.0 (Pink, 2009). However, this method is flawed due to the fact that this implies that humans are no different from a herd of livestock.
Many business managers today are not aware to the response that motivation can have on their business. The size of the business is not a factor when considering motivation: whether you’re trying to get full potential from one hundred or an individual everyone is in need of some form of motivation. It is something that is tackled differently by different organisations and the reasonability of its integration lies with all the supervisors of staff. It is essential to understand the various tactics that managers and supervisors will use to motivate there working staff, also why it’s important to initiate extrinsic and intrinsic motivation techniques with the correct work design into the work place for optimum results. “There is only one way…to get anybody to do anything. And that is by making the other person want to do it” Dale Carnegie.
There are many methods to promote and expand employee motivation. The main goal to motivating your employees is to know them enough where as a leader you will know what motivates them, and as a result, you will create a motivation program based on those needs. I believe that employee satisfaction is the key to a successful workforce, and it will definitely help pay for itself.
helpful individual, and others viewed his work as being inconsistence and spotty at times. Rios is required to submit a formal performance evaluation on all of her workers, and Barlow’s performance appraisal was the most challenging yet she had to face. Lack of Motivation Barlow’s behavior at the TA can be simply defined as lack of motivation, and this can be further explained in depth by the use of expectancy theory. The expectancy model states, “People are motivated to work when they expect to achieve things they want from their jobs. A basic premise of the expectancy model is that employees are rational people. They think about what they have to do to be rewarded and how much the rewards mean to them before they perform their jobs.” (Hellriegel, Slocum, Woodman, 2001, p.146) In addition, Hellriegel, Slocum, and Woodman also explained, individuals decide their jobs that are based on their needs, motivations and past experiences. Decisions about how much to produce, how much to work and the quality of workmanship (job-performance decisions) are solely depend on the individual’s level of motivation. In another words, as it stated in the text, “the expectancy model holds that work motivation is determined by individual beliefs regarding effort-performance relationships and the desirability of various work outcomes associated with different performance levels…Unless an individual believes that effort lead to some desired performance level, he or she will not make much of an effort. ” (Hellriegel, Slocum, Woodman, 2001, p.147) In relation to Barlow, he could not find a reason to be motivated at the TA. First, through his past performance evaluation, he had been rated a score of three consecutively for the past four years. The scores were a punishment itself because he had no way to determine his performance. Regardless Barlow performed well or not, the same score will be given; this caused Barlow to become careless about his job because he saw no reward in his effort; no reason be to motivated. His attitude toward his job was manifest through his work, which was the cause of the incidents. Secondly, Barlow saw no reward from his position. He had secured his position with his expertise and his background knowledge of the TA. When the whistle-blower incident occurred, he was accused of being responsible for the incident; however, neither the TA nor anyone could ...
The statement: “It is not possible to actually “motivate” another person; the best we can do is create the circumstances under which the person can become self-motivated,” is one that brings much truth to the idea of motivation. Motivation in and of itself cannot, and should not be perceived as a tangible entity. One cannot give another individual “motivation” like one would present a gift. Managers can create situations that produce motivation, but they cannot actually give motivation itself. There are methods that they can implement to promote this feeling of motivation, therefore allowing employees to be self-motivated.
One of the many opportunities we have in the United States today is access to an education. I believe that being educated by teachers is very important. There are many benefits for pursuing a college degree. A few valuable advantages of higher education are African-Americans (and other minorities), like me, are able to be educated, job security, and a great salary. When I was growing up, my mom always let my siblings and I know the importance of education. For example, if I did not know the meaning of a word, my mom would say, “Look it up in the dictionary.” This taught me to read and research information instead of asking my mom for the answer. Every summer my brother, sister and I always participated in the Children’s Summer Reading Program at the Kalamazoo Public Library. My mom
“Motivation is the will and desire that a person has to engage in a particular behaviour or perform a particular task” (Lawley & King, P269). In life motivation will be needed to enhance the workforce in various ways, many organisations will use motivation to increase the percentage yield of an individual or to make an individual feel a part of the business or organisation. Incentives have a huge influence on behaviourist & extrinsic approach. In addition other aspects; humanist theorist, intrinsic approach, Taylorism and Fordism have a part in perception of motivation.
Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” Studies have found that high employee motivation goes hand in hand with strong organizational performance and profits. Therefore, managers are given the responsibility of finding the right combination of motivational techniques and rewards to satisfy employees’ needs and encourage great work performance. This becomes a bit more challenging as employees’ needs change from one generation to another. Three of the biggest challenges a manager faces in motivating employees today are the economy and threats to job security, technological advances, and company cultures that primarily focus on the bottom line.
It is important for manager to understand that what motivates the individuals. There are different kinds of motivation theories which reveal that individuals are motivated by different factors. For example there is extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation (Amabile, 1993). Extrinsic motivation refers to the motivation that one has for the extrinsic rewards such as pay, status, power, etc. Then there are intrinsic motivating factors such as the chance to exercise one’s skills, the opportunity to learn and personal development. Research suggests that various factors motivate employees in a different degree depending on their nature. It would therefore be important for the manager to understand that what are the motivating factors for individual employees and then provide them incentives accordingly so that they can work in a more productive fashion. Once the individuals work with greater excitement and vigour it would automatically lead to better performance.
The key to understanding what employees’ motivations are, and how managers can support them in their aims and objectives, is to understand that different people are motivated by different things. Managers should make a conscience effort to stay in touch with the interest, skills and abilities that their employees possess. Given the opportunity, it is possible that employees can provide valuable information about how to motivate each other to do a better job.
Another way to motivate them is by providing them with opportunities to develop and improve their skills, which can be done by allowing them to attend seminars, meetings and activities. Appreciating employee’s work and efforts also motivates them to work even harder and
The job of a manager in the workplace is to get things done through employees. To do this the manager should be able to motivate employees. But that’s easier said than done! Motivation practice and theory are difficult subject, touching on several disciplines.
Motivation is the process of getting someone to act on a particular situation. According to (Adelhardt, S, K. 2015, December 2) lack of motivation in the workplace is the most problematic subject for all managers, because it leads to decreasing productivity, performance and yet it increases the chances of employee resignation. Many employers suppose that managers these days are struggling to motivate their employees due to lack of significantly vital experience as well as knowledge in the employee engagement developing process. One of the successful strategies that managers can use to increase employee inspiration is by offering an attractive remuneration and benefits to their employees. Remuneration and benefits such as an extrinsic bonus
Motivation is the force that transforms and uplifts people to be productive and perform in their jobs. Maximizing employee’s motivation is a necessary and vital to successfully accomplish the organization’s targets and objectives. However, this is a considerable challenge to any organizations managers, due to the complexity of motivation and the fact that, there is no ready made solution or an answer to what motivates people to work well (Mullins,2002).
Motivation, in my own words, is being excited about participating in something. I think motivation is one of the most important things in my life and it is definitely something I think about every day. When I am motivated to do something, I become obsessed with getting it done. Motivation is something that influences my choices every day. I am always thinking of things I can do to better myself and keep me motivated. I think motivation is an amazing thing to have as a high school student, especially since I am a senior. I plan to use my motivation to my own advantage to make sure I finish this school year with good grades, scholarships, and being accepted into the school that I want to go to next year.