Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Sociology Motivation in the workplace Motivation in the workplace There are people out there in the workforce that believe they are obligated to do their best at their job simply because that is what is expected from all of us as humans. On the other hand, there are those out there that want to only do as much as they can get away with doing. No matter which one of these employees you are or are working with companies and employer’s need to understand the concept of motivation. Motivation comes in many forms such as money, benefits, or simple recognition within. Motivation also leads to higher productivity and profit and that is what we are all looking for in business. The key to unlocking peak performance from your work force is the concept of human motivation. In addition, the key to motivation revolves around one fundamental principle: “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM). We have all been socialized to believe that only “selfish” people consider “What’s in store for me.” When in reality all people are motivated first by self-interest. The word selfish is used as a negative label for someone’s perceived behavior. Understanding the concept of self-interest is perhaps the only way we will understand our need to achieve. Self-interest or feeling good about your self is a fundamental ingredient of motivation. When you work an extra hour, not on the clock, you are doing it for one real reason. It makes you feel good to either get the job done well or to help someone else. In the end you might get some sort of recognition in the company but usually you will not stay an hour extra today to get a gold star in two weeks from now. Dr. Gerald Kushel, has stated in his book “Reaching the Peak Performance Zone”; there are several variables involved in motivation. Among them are intensity, durability, context and value (reward). Motivation intensity has a big part in how hard someone will work for his or her reward. If an employer offers a reward that does not mean a lot to the employee then they will not work for it. Intensity has to do with how strongly the person wants the reward (Opportunities in Human Resource Management Careers, Traynor and McKenzie). A person can be highly motivated, mildly motivated or only slightly motivated. The person answers the question “What’s in it for me?” with “Something I want very much,” the performer is considered highly motivated. If the answer is “I can take it or leave it,” that performer is considered only slightly motivated. Durability has to do with how long lasting the motivation is (duration) (Managing Human Resources, Sherman, Bohlander, Snell). Motivation tends to last longer when it is reinforced intermittently rather the consistently. Some how, intermittent rewards are stronger. A person can come to expect the reward rather than see it as a treat, which it is supposed to be. Psychologists have believed this for years. Perhaps it has to do with the uncertainty or the surprise factor of the stimulus. We tend to take for granted and not appreciate the thing that has become routine. There is a certain excitement factor and something we cannot take for granted or assume. We have learned that the intensity and duration of a given motivator are enhanced if the reward is immediately given following the act of behavior (Managing Human Resources, Sherman, Bohlander, Snell). This immediate reinforcement leaves no confusion in the mind of the performer, as to what the reward is for. For example if you tell an employee, “If you finish this stack of paper work and type this letter for me I will treat you to lunch.” If you choose to tell this person “I owe you one.” and do not give them their reward until the following week, they might have already forgotten what it was for. In turn, when you ask for another favor and promise a reward your employee will be less motivated to do it. What might ordinarily be perceived as a reward to one person it might be a punishment to another. You must custom fit a reward system to your employees and jobs to get the ultimate performance from you reward system. Furthermore, the more value the recipient of the reward places on the completion of the behavior that is being rewarded, the more powerful and personally rewarding it is. Context is the time, the place and the way the reward is delivered (Managing Human Resources, Sherman, Bohlander, Snell). Context is partly a matter of the culture of a particular organization. What that mans is, when a certain motivator is offered in a particular corporation, it may not have the same value it has when it is offered in another place. For example, an “employee of the month” parking space may be a meaningful reward in some companies, meaningless in some companies, or even a demotivator for some people in other companies. It all depends on what is perceived as “valued” by the corporate culture. To be demotivated means that neither the energy nor the commitments are there. Negative reinforcement often proves to be highly demotivating. In one form or another, these have been used in business settings for a long time. Negative reinforces include such things as “taking names,” “kicking butt,” penalties, reprimands, docking or withholding pay, canceling vacations, removing privileges, and showing contempt for or ignoring the performer. Demotivation is worse then no motivation at all. Positive reinforcement works better. Positive reinforces include such things as recognition, respect, praise, better working conditions, money, paid vacations, fringe benefits, prizes, etc. There are two types of motivators, intrinsic and extrinsic (Managing Human Resources, Sherman, Bohlander, Snell). The word motivation often brings things to mind like money, or special privileges, like the key to the executive washroom. These are extrinsic, meaning external. Someone else is dangling this particular item in front of you as a way of getting you to do something. Intrinsic motivators are internal. They originate entirely from within you. Intrinsic motivation tends to be deeper and more powerful than extrinsic motivation. The effects tend to last longer too, with intrinsic motivation. The following motivations are usually intrinsic: -Enjoyment of the work itself for its own sake -Desire to have a “piece of the action,” such as sharing visions, missions, leadership, authority and responsibility -Proving some secret point to oneself -Achievement of deep-seated value (such as helping another person) -Having a deep and abiding belief in the importance of the work one is doing -Desire to exceed one’s previous level of job performance (being self-competitive) A self-responsible performer can find a sufficient reason to excel if there is a WIIFM or two to strike the proper sensitive nerve. Some of the following WIIFM’s are likely to motivate your probable peak performers: -A quality work life balanced with a home life Here is how 1,000 employees, in a survey, ranked their needs in the workplace in order of preference (www.thelab@busreslab.com): 3. Feeling “in on things” 6. Promotions and growth opportunities 10. Sympathetic help with personal problems In another survey by Dr. Gerald Graham, Wichita State University, the top five motivating techniques reported by employees in order of preference are (www.thelab@busreslab.com): Motivation is not always a reason to instill rewards in your company. Sometimes as an employer you need to address problems that you already have rather than just trying to avoid future ones. One of the biggest problems for employers is absenteeism. On any given day, 10% of employees are absent from work for more reasons than sickness (www.employer-employee.com). There are four ways to combat this problem: We are all aware of that when employees call in ill, it does not mean they are truly too physically ill to work. One reason, outside of illness, that employees are absent is stress (www.employer-employee.com). The number one reason employees are stressed has to do with their relationship with their manager or supervisor. Management styles that are authoritarian tend to promote high levels of absenteeism among employees. Authoritarian managers are managers who have poor listening skills, set unreachable goals, have poor communication skills, and are inflexible (Managing Human Resources, Sherman, Bohlander, Snell). In other words, they yell too much, blame others for problem and make others feel that it must be their way or the “highway.” By identifying managers who use an authoritarian style, and by providing them with management training, you will be taking a positive step toward not only reducing absenteeism, but also reducing turnover, job burnout, and employee health problems such as backaches and headaches. Not only does relationship stress occur between the employee and manager, but it also exists between employees. Frequently I hear employees say they did not go to work because they are fearful of or angry with another employee. These employees usually report they just could not deal with a certain person today, so they called in ill. Companies that adopted policies and values that promote employee respect and professionalism, and promote an internal conflict resolution procedure, are companies that reduce employee stress. A reduction in employee stress reduces employee absenteeism. An incentive provides an employee with a boost to their motivation to avoid unnecessary absenteeism. Some companies allow employees to cash in their unused sick days at the end of a quarter. Others give an employee two hours of bonus pay for every month of perfect attendance or unused sick days. Still others provide employees with a buffet lunch, a certificate of achievement, or even a chance at winning prizes. The type of incentive program your company uses should be created for your company. As I said before, incentives and rewards can be unimportant or punishments to some while they are incentives to work harder and rewards to others. For example, my employees might not care about getting an extra $20 at the end of the month but might respond greatly to getting a weekend off the next month or getting free lunch for perfect attendance. At my current place of business, the only real form of motivation used is money in the form of yearly bonuses. These yearly bonuses are tied to both performance of the individual and the profits of the company. In my opinion, there are more than a few flaws with this motivational philosophy. First, it is the only form of motivation so a tremendous amount of focus is placed on the bonus as a measure of the employee’s accomplishments. Second, by combining the performance of the individual with the performance of the company there is a lot of room for external factors to influence the bonus that are perceived to be out of the employees’ control. As an example, if overall profits are down over the previous year, the bonus is going to be smaller than the previous year no matter what the level of performance by any one individual. An employee can work hard outside of the spotlight of the sales arena and all measurable performance levels can be vastly improved or running at peak levels, but because new construction sales plummet due to external economic factors causing overall profits to drop, his or her yearly bonus will reflect the downturn in the economy and not reflect the individual’s performance. The perception becomes instilled in the employee that doing a good job just does not matter. The employee becomes aware that doing a job just good enough to get by will be rewarded just the same as working hard. This instills an atmosphere mediocrity that cares little about inspiring greatness or trying harder or aiming higher. Additionally, the opposite perception can be just as harmful. An employee that only ever cared about doing just enough to get by will see the yearly bonus as reaffirmation to continue with putting forth a minimal effort. Especially in a profitable year for the company when the bonus may be higher than other years. While I believe in a system that rewards its employees when profits are up is beneficial and tying employees to the companies profits can be a tremendous motivator, I can not believe that this should be the one and only motivational tool used by the current owners. Nor do I believe that anything other than company profits should be used when determining the amount of the bonus. This simply allows for too much freedom of interpretation from the employee about the meaning of the size of the bonus and the reasons for getting a bonus to begin with. If the current administration is determined to keep with tradition and continue to use the current bonus system as a motivational tool, two different bonuses should be given. One tied to the profits of the company and one tied to the performance of the employee. I would go so far as to give out these bonuses at different times as well. That way an explanation can be given as to the size of the bonus and the meaning behind the bonus. The profit sharing bonus would be clear cut in its meaning as a reward and the performance bonus would begin to mean something as well and could be used as a chance to discuss an employees job performance and the direction of the company and what that means to the employee and his or her position. We all know what it means to be deprived of time. The way it is today, everything you do has to be done “in a New York minute”. An added stress people have to worry about is not having time to do the little day-to-day things such as doctor’s appointments and the dry cleaning. Another way a company can motivate employees and keep stress down is to come up with solutions to their workers problems. For instance, the dry cleaning, find a service near by that will pick up and deliver from the office. What about grocery shopping? What would it be like to call in an order ready for pickup when you get off of work? Perhaps all those interested could turn in shopping lists one day a week or one day every two weeks for the receptionist to call in to a nearby grocery. Whatever the motivational techniques used, they should be customized to coincide with the corporate culture unique to the organization. They also need to be meaningful to the employees and used in ways that the purpose of the reward is obvious. There are all kinds of employees out there with different work ethics and a small amount of thought into the motivational techniques used by an organization can go a long way to getting those unique individuals working together in a more productive and profitable way. 1. Eye, David E.,1,001 Ways to Inspire 1999 New York Publishing 2. Newman, Dr. Fred, Let’s Develop 1994 Castillo International, Inc. 3. Sherman, Arthur W., Managing Human Resources 1998 (11th ed.) South-Western Publishing 4. Traynor, William J., Opportunities in Human Resource Management Careers 1997 VGM Career Horizons Bibliography: Word Count: 2584
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