The Importance of Employee Motivation and Involvement.

By Reason Chivaka, MBA, BSc, BA(Hons), CMgr, MCMI, ACIPD

Every organisation is concerned with sustaining high levels of performance through its employees. However this can only be realised by giving close attention to how employees can be motivated though such means as incentives, rewards, good leadership and most importantly the organisational environment within which they carry out their work.

According to Armstrong (2008) motivation is concerned with the factors that influence people to behave in certain ways. Arnold etal (1991) argued that employees can only be effectively motivated when there is direction, effort and persistence. This argument makes it clear that, for employees to be motivated there should a clear direction, the opportunity to work hard and enough time to reach the desired destination. It is therefore clear that, motivating employees involves getting them to move in the direction desired by the organisation with the objective of achieving the desired results.

Employee motivation is important because it has a direct impact on performance and productivity. Consequently organisations are always endeavouring to motivate their employees in pursuit of work accomplishments.

Every employee aspires to work for an organisation that values its employees. Employees feel appreciated and valued if they are involved in decision and actions that have an impact on their jobs. Employee involvement is the creation of a work environment in which employees participate in decisions and activities that affect their jobs. Organisations that value the contributions of their employees view employee involvement as a management and leadership philosophy. Employee involvement is important because it enables employees to contribute towards organisational success.