2.4. 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

 

Kim De Leon2.4. Motivation

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