Motivation in the Workplace

2207 Words5 Pages

For this assignment, I am going to describe and discuss several motivation theories. Then I will compare and contrast different aspects of the theories to each other and discuss how the different theories relate to my workplace. Why is motivation important in an organization? According to Grensing-Pophal (2002), motivation is giving employees a reason to perform something. Motivated employees are more likely to miss less work, perform at a higher level, and be more likely to stay at their current company. For a business owner, all these effects will result in a more successful business. Over the years, there have been a number of psychological theories that attempt to define the concept of motivation. The first set of theories I am going to discuss is need theories. According to Jones and George (2011), need theories of motivation center around the idea that employees are motivated to perform at work in order to fulfill some need. The first need theory is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory. Grensing-Pophal (2002) stated that Maslow developed five levels that describe the needs of a person. The first level is physiological comforts. These are the basic survival needs of a person, such as food, water and shelter. The second level is safety needs. Ramlall (2004) further described these safety needs in three areas: economic (such as wages and benefits), psychological (such as work stability), and physical (such as physical work environment and breaks). The third level is social fulfillment needs (Grensing-Pophal 2002). These needs deal with friendship and interacting with other people. The fourth level is satisfaction of the ego. These needs focus on being respected, self-esteem, and recognition. The final le... ... middle of paper ... ...mpany encounters. Works Cited Grensing-Pophal, Lin. (2002). Motivating today’s employees (2nd ed.). Bellingham, WA: Self-Counsel Press. Gupta, Ashim. (2011). Employee motivation. Retrieved from http://www.practical-management.com/Organization-Development/Employee-Motivation.html Jones, Gareth R. and George, Jennifer M. (2011). Contemporary management (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Marston, Cam. (2007). Motivating the “what’s in it for me?” workforce. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. McGregor, Douglas (2012). Human relations contributors. Retrieved from http://www.accel-team.com/human_relations/hrels_03_mcgregor.html Ramlall, Sunil. (2004). A review of employee motivation theories and their implications for employee retention within organizations. Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, 5(1/2), 52-63.

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