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Employee Motivation INTRODUCTION In the quest to obtain the maximum from employees and achieve organizational success, employers recognised the need to acknowledge that people have complex needs. With the growing affluence of our society, Singaporeans of today are no longer solely driven by money but also challenges inherent in their responsibility. This is supported by our Senior Minister Goh who recently commented that Singaporeans prefer the experience of working abroad than locally as the foreign employer advocate the importance of not only work, but also the employee’s needs.(TODAY, 15 March 07). Before discussing the motivational strategies, a simplistic approach will be taken, using Hackman Oldham’s Job Characteristics Model, which defines the workforce into two categories. The first category consist of staff in job settings which are low in skill variety, task identity, task significance, low autonomy and feedback and followed by staff in complicated job settings with scorer high in all fronts (Robbins, Millet, Waters-Marsh, 2004). GOAL SETTING / EXPECTANCY THEORY “Specific hard goals produce a higher level of output than does the generalised goal of ‘do your best” (Robbins, 2003). This statement defines Edwin Locke’s goal-setting theory which advocates giving employees clear targets so that they are aware of what needs to be done and how much effort to be expended. While easier goals are more readily accepted, difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher performance as the specificity of goals itself acts as an internal stimulus. Also, people tend to perform better when timely feedback is provided (Bartol, Tein, Matthews, and Martin, 2005). When applied to individuals who are motivated by inhe... ... middle of paper ... ...cShane, S and Glinow, MA 2003, Organisational Behaviour, McGraw-Hill, New York. McShane, S and Travaglione, T 2007, Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim, Irwin/McGraw-Hill, Sydney. Robbins, SP 2003, Organisational Behaviour, Prentice Hall, Sydney Robbins, SP, Millet, B, and Waters-Marsh, T, 2004, Organisational Behaviour, Prentice-Hall, Sydney Wood, J, Chapman, K, Fromholtz, M, Morrison, V, Wallace, J, Zeffane, R, Kennedy, R, Schermerhorn, J, Hunt, J and Osborn, R 2004, Organisational Behaviour: A Global Perspective, John Wiley & Sons, Brisbane. Internet References “Singapore leaking talent” http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/specialreport/news/264096_8/1/.html Fortune’s “Best companies to work for.”http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/01/22/8397996/index.htm AIA Singapore http://www.aia.com.sg/Content.asp?ca_typeid=4
The theory of goal setting was developed by Edward Locke and Gary Latham (1990) and states that there is a direct relationship between the setting of specific high goals and task performance. A higher degree of employee performance is obtained when specific goals are set compared to the performance achieved when employees are simply told to do their best (Latham & Locke, 2007). These findings have helped shape leadership styles and improve employee performance and job satisfaction (Posthuma & Al-Riyami, 2012).
Langton, Nancy, Stephen Robbins, and Timothy Judge.Organizational Behaviour: Concepts, Controversies, Applications. Fifth Canadian Edition. Toronto: Pearson Canada, 2009. 141, 574-84. Print.
pp. 146-170. Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A., (2004). Organizational Behavior (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Robbins, S., Odendaal, A. and Roodt, A. (2007). “Organizational Behaviour: Global and Sothern African Prospect”. 7th edition. South Africa: Pearson Education.
The basic premises of the goal-setting theory is the relationship between how difficult and specific a goal is and people’s performance. We live in a goal-oriented society as people usually adhere to specific targets with a plan of action for guidance. Lack of accomplishment of goals leads to job dissatisfaction. Locke’s Goal-Setting Theory from 1968 has been a powerful way of motivating people and is often utilized in whole organizations to increase focus and productivity. The more specific and difficult goals are designed the more likely staff can achieve these goals as opposed to being too vague or easy goals. An organization should consider the five following principles of goal setting: clarity, goal difficulty, goal acceptance, goal specificity and feedback. Organizations that set clear and challenging goals and are open to honest feedback have a greater chance of achieving goals. According to Locke and Latham (2002), goal setting can be useful in predicting job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is an important attribute for employee productivity and commitment to the
McShane, S.L., Olekalns, M. & Travaglione, A. 2013, Organizational Behavior: Emerging Knowledge, Global Insights 4th ed., McGraw-Hill, Sydney.
Ivancevich, J., Konopaske, R. & Matteson, M. (2011). Organizational Behavior and Management. NewYork, NY: McGraw Hill.
When it is discovered that a worker can fulfill the requirements of their job, but are experiencing shortcomings in doing so, many times it is believed that worker motivation may be the root of the problem (Laird 95). What, though, is work motivation? According to Laird (2006), “motivation is a fundamental component of performance “ and “is the reason that someone chooses to do some things and chooses not to do others”. In other words, work motivation is what energizes workers to the level of output required to fulfill a task, directs their energy towards the objectives that they need to accomplish, and sustains that level of effort over a period of time (Steers et al., 2004). In essence, worker motivation is what gets the job done. Employee motivation has always been a central problem in the workplace, and, as an individual in a supervisory position, it becomes ones duty to understand and institute systems that ensure the proper motivation of your subordinates. Proper motivation of employees can ensure high productivity and successful workflow, while low worker motivation can result in absenteeism, decreased productivity rates, and turnover. A large body of research has been produced regarding motivation, and much of this research is applicable to the workplace. Due to the nature of man, motivation varies from individual to individual, and, because of this, there is no one system that is the best for ensuring worker motivation in every organizational situation, and, as a product, many theories have been created to outline what drives people to satisfactorily complete their work tasks. Throughout the course of this document, the three main types of these motivational theories will be outlined and examples of each as well...
Research has shown that motivation in an employee is an important factor which determines his performance. Motivation is the “driving force within individuals” (Mullins, 2007, p. 285). It is the concerned with finding out the reasons which shape and direct the behaviour of the individuals. The people act to achieve something so that they can satisfy some needs (Gitman and Daniel, 2008). It is important for the manager to understand this motivation of individual employees in order to inspire them and devise an appropriate set of incentives and rewards which would satisfy the needs that they have individually (Kerr, 2003). Once these needs are expected to be met in return for some specific behaviour or action, they would work more diligently to have that behaviour in them and to achieve that objective (Meyer and Hersovitch, 2001). Since it would lead to early and fuller achievement of the company objectives as the individual would work more diligently, it would lead to better organizational performance (Wiley, 1997).
Ivancevich, John, Knopaske, Robert, Matteson, Michael, Organizational Behaviour and Management (10 edition (January 30, 2013). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2011). Essentials of Organizational Behavior. Harlow England: Pearson Education Limited.
Morley, M., Moore, S., Heraty, N., Linehan, M. and Maccurtain, S. 2004. Principals of Organisational Behavior: An Irish Text. 2nd ed. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.
Ability in in turn depends on education, experience and training and its improvement is a slow and long process. On the other hand motivation can be improved quickly. There are many options and an uninitiated manager may even know where to start. As a guideline seven strategies for motivation.
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).
Thompson, P & Mchugh, D 2002, Work organisations: A critical introduction, 3rd edn, MacMillan Palgrave, New York, viewed 4 April 2014, http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/lib/uow/docDetail.action?docID=10038997&p00=organisational+behaviour.