Impact of Motivation on employees Essay

Motivation is the word derived from the word ‘motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the persons. It is the process of inspiring people to actions to achieve the goals The sole reason for me in order to choose this topic is that in today’s world doing Business all over the world is a very challenging aspect. The performance that is given or delivered by the corporate is highly influenced by the Internal and the external operating environmental factors. To survive in the market in a profitable way in the highly challenging and competitive global market economy, all the factors of Employee Retention and Production like machine, materials & men should be managed in an efficient and a productive way. Among the factors of production the human resource constitutes the biggest challenge because unlike the other inputs, employee management is a very complicated process which includes the burdened task concerned with the handling of thoughts, feelings & emotions to project the highest productivity. High productivity is a long-term benefit of Employee motivation. Motivated employee is a valuable asset which delivers huge value to the Organization in maintaining and strengthening its business and revenue growth. This highlights as to why employee motivation is nessacary and also the need for learning about the impact that it bears on the employees. The importance with regard to motivation was realised as early as 1943 when Abraham Maslow wrote the theory with regards to human motivation on the basis of need hierarchy. Various theories were formulated since then due to the rising need in understanding employees and how or what are the factors that motivated them in order to increase their productivity and efficiency. Some of the theories are stated below:- 1. Abraham Maslow’s need hierarchy theory-According to this theory, individual strives to seek a higher need when lower needs are fulfilled. Once a lower-level need is satisfied, it no longer serves as a source of motivation. Needs are motivators only when they are unsatisfied. The various levels of need were classified as psychological needs, safety needs, belonging needs/social needs, self-esteem needs and self-actualisation 2. Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory – According to Herzberg, individuals are not content with the satisfaction of  lower-order needs at work rather, individuals look for the gratification of higher-level psychological needs having to do with achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, and the nature of the work itself. This appears to parallel Maslow’s theory of a need hierarchy. However, Herzberg added a new dimension to this theory by proposing a two-factor model of motivation, based on the notion that the presence of one set of job characteristics or incentives leads to worker satisfaction at work, while another and separate set of job characteristics leads to dissatisfaction at work. Thus, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on a continuum with one increasing as the other diminishes, but are independent phenomena. 3. Adams’ Equity Theory – Developed by John Stacey Adams in 1963, Equity Theory suggests that if the individual perceives that the rewards received are equitable, that is, fair or just in comparison with those received by others in similar positions in or outside the organization, then the individual feels satisfied. Adams asserted that employees seek to maintain equity between the inputs that they bring to a job and the outcomes that they receive from it against the perceived inputs and outcomes of others. Some of the other theories are theory X and Y by Douglas McGregor, ERG Theory by Clayton Alderfer, Goal-Setting Theory by Edwin Locke, expectancy theory, etc†¦ Some of techniques that can be adopted in a work place in order to motivate employees are:- 1. Know and care about the concerns of your employees 2. Develop and communicate a compelling organizational vision. 3. Address ineffective teamwork 4. Be a role model for your organization 5. Communicate with everyone respectfully 6. Provide employees with the opportunity to be creative. 7. Invest in developing employees 8. Regularly recognize and reward effort and results 9. Ensure compensation and other rewards and benefits are fair 10. Ensure that the right person is doing the right task and fully understands their role 11. Help your employees find  work/life balance The performance of employees will make or break a company; this is why it is important to find a variety of methods of motivating employees. â€Å"Motivation is the willingness to do something,† wrote Stephen Robbins and David A. DeCenzo in their book â€Å"Supervision Today.† â€Å"It is conditioned by this action’s ability to satisfy some need for the individual.† The most obvious form of motivation for an employee is money; however, there are other motivating factors that must be considered. Every employee within a company is different and, therefore, is motivated to perform well for different reasons. Due to the differences within an organization, it is important for a manager to get to know her employees and understand what motivates their performance. â€Å"If you’re going to be successful in motivating people, you have to begin by accepting and trying to understand individual differences,† Robbins and DeCenzo report in their book â€Å"Supervision Today.† Money is the most important motivator for employee performance but it is important for companies to find other ways to motivate. This involves getting to know their employees and what drives them, then making sure managers utilize appropriate motivational techniques with each employee. When appropriate motivation techniques are used, employee performance will improve. By this time we understood the various theories of motivation and the way in which employees can be motivated now lets come to the part where we learn about why it is important to motivate an employee, what kind of changes that it brings about or results in an organisation. The various changes that are bought about (i.e. impact) or seen in an individual/employee due to motivation and the benefits that the organisation derive out of such motivation are mentioned below:- 1. Puts human resources into action :- Every organisation has its own goals and objectives and in order for any organisation to be successful it needs to achive the goals and the objectives and the main means towards achieving these goals and objectives are financial and human resources there by in order for a company to be successful it needs to boost the so called human resource to produce efficiently and this efficiency is achieved through the means of motivation 2. Improves level of efficiency of employees The level of a subordinate or a employee does not only depend upon his qualifications and abilities. For getting best of his work performance, the gap between ability and willingness has to be filled which helps in improving the level of performance of subordinates. The employees in the organisation when they are less motivated and they feel bleak and dull at this particular point of time they are at the least level of productivity this is caused due to lack of excitement and satisfaction or even repeated jobs thus in order to avoid all these and in order to build on to the efficiency of the employees many motivational techniques can be used this will lead to a great level of improvement in the performance of the employees, reduces the cost of operation and improves overall efficiency and productivity of the firm. 3. Leads to achievement of organizational goals Goals of an organisation are the drivers with regard to success of an organisation and it has a direct impact on the performance of the organisation and also the employees working within. When employees are demotivated they will not care about the organisation and they will start having a negative impact toward the organisation thereby when they are motivated by various incentives and other such techniques and made to understand the goals they tend to work toward the development, i.e. they work toward goal development rather than going haywire. Goals can only be achieved only when coordination and cooperation takes place simultaneously occurs and this can be achieved with the help of motivation 4. Leads to employee satisfaction The satisfaction of the employee is nothing but how happy an individual is in working within an organisation without feeling the need to quit or discontinue. Only when the employees are satisfied will they be able to work properly and in turn be able to satisfy the end customer. In case the employee is not satisfied this will lead to a huge downturn in the organisation as it will start losing its customer base and clients start shifting to a more friendly and cooperative organisation. Thus some of  motivational techniques lead to satisfaction of employee’s which in turn leads to customer satisfaction. 5. Builds friendly relationship The employees when they are reinforced with some kind of reward system there tends to be a friendlier atmosphere all around which leads to better co-operation between the employees which leads to steady and stable environment, all the industrial disputes will come to a rest, employees will no more show any resistance toward change all this directly leads to a smooth and sound concern where the individual interests will coincide with the interests of the organisation 6. Builds stability in the workforce The employees will gain more benefits if they are working for longer periods of time they get bonuses they get more incentives this will help in building a stable workforce where the rate of turnover of the organisation will reduce which in turn will reduce the training cost and recruitment cost of fresh employees. The skills efficiency and the experience of the employees will be a great advantage to the organisation which will lead to a great public image and building the brand reputation of the organisation. 7. Leads to an optimistic and challenging work place In an organisation the employees are motivated to think creatively only when they get something in return and when any such kind of reward is kept then the people in the organisation will start thinking creatively and will start taking interest in the work that they do they will start competing against each other which will help the organisation to get more number of creative ideas which ultimately lead to profit making by the firm, 8. Boosts employee confidence When the people who work in the organisation are given a reward in terms of money or in terms of appreciation or any other kind they will get a confidence boost and they will think of it as the right path and it kind of becomes a positive reinforcement to them in order for them to work in a better manner and more efficiently 9. Employees tend to go the extra mile Whenever people know that there is something waiting for them at the end of the day they will tend to work hard and they will want to go that extra distance and put in that extra effort in order to achieve the reward. These rewards are different for different kinds of people it cannot be generalised it is the duty of the manager to make sure the rewards are appealing and also interesting in order to extract more work out of the employees. The more the desire to have the reward the more harder the person will work on order to attain the same. 10. Less number of mistakes caused by employees When there is some kind of a punishment that is kept for people who make mistakes and have lower productivity like cutting of salary, delay of promotions, taking away the perk and benefits given to them will all help in motivating a person in order to work more efficiently and also effectively without any mistakes and causing losses to the organisation 11. Increases the contribution/productivity The main outcome of any kind of motivation ultimately leads to this. The productivity of the employees and motivation are having a direct relationship and go hand in hand. When the employee is motivated using various kinds of techniques the outcome or the impact that such motivation holds is increase in the productivity or the contribution that is given by an employee. RESEARCH DATA University of Colorado boulder – guide to motivating employees In 2006, and again in 2012, classified and exempt professional staff on the Boulder campus participated in an Employee Engagement Survey. Through this process, the campus has been able to identify what it is doing well and where it can improve. Results and key trends from the surveys are highlighted below. In 2012, 90% of employees saw their job as vital to the overall purpose of the University, an increase from 88% in 2006. In 2006, 80% of employees were willing to go above and beyond their normal work duties. In 2012, this number increased to nearly 89%. From 2006 to 2012, the percentage of employees who believe they are utilizing their talents increased by 9% (75%  overall). Currently, 72% of employees would recommend a friend to work here (an increase from 60% in 2006). In today’s world motivation has gained a lot of importance in all fields and across organisations. Organisations cannot achieve their goals or attain maximum efficiency without the motivational aspect. By looking at the impact that motivation has caused on the employees as well as the organisation every organisation should understand its importance of motivation and start implying and do more of research in order to keep employees motivated, keep up with the pace of the world and in turn reap all the benefits that are associated with it. My learning’s with regards to this topic is knowing what motivation is, what are the theories behind motivation, the different techniques of motivation and finally the importance of motivation where both the employee and the employer are benefited by the application of this powerful tool. REFERENCES 1. Patel sandeep g. (n.d).information of employee motivation and research methodology. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/ravi2907/employee-motivation-17006508 2. Silverstien Barry. (2007). BEST PRACTICES: MOTIVATING EMPLOYEES. New York, U.S.A: hydra publishing. 3. (n.d). Guide to motivating employees. Retrieved from http://hr.colorado.edu/search/Results.aspx?k=guide%20to%20motivating%20employees