Employee Motivation: A Success

Ms. Kriti Avasthi

Lecturer, Rayat Institute of Management
Distt. S.B.S.Nagar.

Ms Priya Prashar
Student, Rayat Institute of Management
Distt. S.B.S.Nagar.

Abstract
Motivation is an important function which every manager performs for actuating the people to
work for the accomplishment of objectives of the organization. A manager has to make
appropriate use of various techniques of motivation to enthuse the employees to follow them.
Motivation is an effective instrument in the hands of manager for inspiring the workforce and
creating a confidence in it. The objective of the paper is two fold one is to discuss the tools used
to motivate and encourage top performance out of employees in the workforce and second is to
examine the ranked importance of motivational factors of employees. Without motivating
employees business can’t gain sustainable competitive advantage and be successful. Findings
suggest interesting work and good pay are key to higher employee motivation. Carefully
designed reward systems that include job enlargement, job enrichment, promotions, internal and
external stipends, monetary, and non-monetary compensation should be considered.
Keywords: Job Enlargement, Job Enrichment ,Motivation, Motivational Theories, Promotions,
Success.

Introduction to Motivation
At one time, employees were considered just another input into the production of goods and
services. What perhaps changed this way of thinking about employees was research, referred to
as the Hawthorne Studies, conducted by Elton Mayo from 1924 to 1932 (Dickson, 1973). This
study found employees are not motivated solely by money and employee behavior is linked to
their attitudes (Dickson, 1973). The Hawthorne Studies began the human relations approach to
management, whereby the needs and motivation of employees become the primary focus of
managers (Bedeian, 1993).

Motivation Theories
Understanding what motivated employees and how they were motivated was the focus of many
researchers following the publication of the Hawthorne Study results (Terpstra, 1979). Five
major approaches that have led to our understanding of motivation are Maslow's need-hierarchy
theory, Herzberg's two- factor theory, Vroom's expectancy theory, Adams' equity theory, and
Skinner's reinforcement theory.
According to Maslow, employees have five levels of needs (Maslow, 1943): physiological,
safety, social, ego, and self- actualizing. Maslow argued that lower level needs had to be satisfied
before the next higher level need would motivate employees. Herzberg's work categorized
motivation into two factors: motivators and hygienes (Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959).
Motivator or intrinsic factors, such as achievement and recognition, produce job satisfaction.
Hygiene or extrinsic factors, such as pay and job security, produce job dissatisfaction.
Vroom's theory is based on the belief that employee effort will lead to performance and
performance will lead to rewards (Vroom, 1964). Rewards may be either positive or negative.
The more positive the reward the more likely the employee will be highly motivated.
Conversely, the more negative the reward the less likely the employee will be motivated.
Adams' theory states that employees strive for equity between themselves and other workers.
Equity is achieved when the ratio of employee outcomes over inputs is equal to other employee
outcomes over inputs (Adams, 1965).
Skinner's theory simply states those employees' behaviors that lead to positive outcomes will be
repeated and behaviors that lead to negative outcomes will not be repeated (Skinner, 1953).
Managers should positively reinforce employee behaviors that lead to positive outcomes.
Managers should negatively reinforce employee behavior that leads to negative outcomes.

Motivation Defined
Many contemporary authors have also defined the concept of motivation. Motivation has been
defined as: the psychological process that gives behavior purpose and direction (Kreitner, 1995);
a predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific, unmet needs (Buford,
Bedeian, & Lindner, 1995); an internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need (Higgins, 1994); and
the will to achieve (Bedeian, 1993). For this paper, motivation is operationally defined as the
inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals.

The Role of Motivation

Why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival (Smith, 1994). Motivated
employees are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces. Motivated employees help
organizations survive. Motivated employees are more productive. To be effective, managers
need to understand what motivates employees within the context of the roles they perform. Of all
the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is arguably the most complex. This is
due, in part, to the fact that what motivates employees changes constantly (Bowen &
Radhakrishna, 1991). For example, research suggests that as employees' income increases,
money becomes less of a motivator (Kovach, 1987). Also, as employees get older, interesting
work becomes more of a motivator.

Objectives
1. To discuss the tools used to motivate and encourage top performance out of employees in the
workforce
2. To examine the ranked importance of motivational factors of employees.

Purpose
The purpose of this study was to describe the importance of certain factors in motivating employees at the
Piketon Research and Extension Center and Enterprise Center. Specifically, the study sought to describe
the ranked importance of the following ten motivating factors: (a) job security, (b) sympathetic help with
personal problems, (c) personal loyalty to employees, (d) interesting work, (e) good working conditions,
(f) tactful discipline, (g) good wages, (h) promotions and growth in the organization, (i) feeling of being
in on things, and (j) full appreciation of work done. A secondary purpose of the study was to compare the
results of this study with the study results from other populations.

Findings And Results

The ranked order of motivating factors were: (a) interesting work, (b) good wages, (c) full appreciation of
work done, (d) job security, (e) good working conditions, (f) promotions and growth in the organization,
(g) feeling of being in on things, (h) personal loyalty to employees, (i) tactful discipline, and (j)
sympathetic help with personal problems.

A comparison of these results to Maslow's need-hierarchy theory provides some interesting insight into
employee motivation. The number one ranked motivator, interesting work, is a self-actualizing factor.
The number two ranked motivator, good wages, is a physiological factor. The number three ranked
motivator, full appreciation of work done, is an esteem factor. The number four ranked motivator, job
security, is a safety factor. Therefore, according to Maslow (1943), if managers wish to address the most
important motivational factor of Centers' employees, interesting work, physiological, safety, social, and
esteem factors must first be satisfied. If managers wished to address the second most important
motivational factor of centers' employees, good pay, increased pay would suffice. Contrary to what
Maslow's theory suggests, the range of motivational factors are mixed in this study. Maslow's conclusions
that lower level motivational factors must be met before ascending to the next level were not confirmed
by this study.

The following example compares the highest ranked motivational factor (interesting work) to Vroom's
expectancy theory. Assume that a Centers employee just attended a staff meeting where he/she learned a
major emphasis would be placed on seeking additional external program funds. Additionally, employees
who are successful in securing funds will be given more opportunities to explore their own research and
extension interests (interesting work). Employees who do not secure additional funds will be required to
work on research and extension programs identified by the director. The employee realizes that the more
research he/she does regarding funding sources and the more proposals he/she writes, the greater the
likelihood he/she will receive external funding.

Because the state legislature has not increased appropriations to the centers for the next two years (funds
for independent research and extension projects will be scaled back), the employee sees a direct
relationship between performance (obtaining external funds) and rewards (independent research and
Extension projects). Further, the employee went to work for the centers, in part, because of the
opportunity to conduct independent research and extension projects. The employee will be motivated if
he/she is successful in obtaining external funds and given the opportunity to conduct independent
research and extension projects. On the other hand, motivation will be diminished if the employee is
successful in obtaining external funds and the director denies the request to conduct independent research
and Extension projects.

The following example compares the third highest ranked motivational factor (full appreciation of work
done) to Adams's equity theory. If an employee at the centers feels that there is a lack of appreciation for
work done, as being too low relative to another employee, an inequity may exist and the employee will be
dis-motivated. Further, if all the employees at the centers feel that there is a lack of appreciation for work
done, inequity may exist. Adams (1965) stated employees will attempt to restore equity through various
means, some of which may be counter- productive to organizational goals and objectives. For instance,
employees who feel their work is not being appreciated may work less or undervalue the work of other
employees.
This final example compares the two highest motivational factors to Herzberg's two-factor theory. The
highest ranked motivator, interesting work, is a motivator factor. The second ranked motivator, good
wages is a hygiene factor. Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman (1959) stated that to the degree that
motivators are present in a job, motivation will occur. The absence of motivators does not lead to
dissatisfaction. Further, they stated that to the degree that hygienes are absent from a job, dissatisfaction
will occur. When present, hygienes prevent dissatisfaction, but do not lead to satisfaction. In our example,
the lack of interesting work (motivator) for the centers' employees would not lead to dissatisfaction.
Paying centers' employees lower wages (hygiene) than what they believe to be fair may lead to job
dissatisfaction. Conversely, employees will be motivated when they are doing interesting work and but
will not necessarily be motivated by higher pay.

The discussion above, about the ranked importance of motivational factors as related to motivational
theory, is only part of the picture. The other part is how these rankings compare with related research. A
study of industrial employees, conducted by Kovach (1987), yielded the following ranked order of
motivational factors: (a) interesting work, (b) full appreciation of work done, and (c) feeling of being in
on things. Another study of employees, conducted by Harpaz (1990), yielded the following ranked order
of motivational factors: (a) interesting work, (b) good wages, and (c) job security.

In this study and the two cited above, interesting work ranked as the most important motivational factor.
Pay was not ranked as one of the most important motivational factors by Kovach (1987), but was ranked
second in this research and by Harpaz (1990). Full appreciation of work done was not ranked as one of
the most important motivational factors by Harpaz (1990), but was ranked second in this research and by
Kovach (1987). The discrepancies in these research findings supports the idea that what motivates
employees differs given the context in which the employee works. What is clear, however, is that
employees rank interesting work as the most important motivational factor.

Conclusion
Motivation is the activation of goal-oriented behavior essentially there is a gap between an
individuals actual state and some desired state, motivation is in effect a means to reduce and
manipulate this gap.
Managers should be aware of the available approaches to understanding interpersonal behavior.
we have discussed some of the pertinent theories bearing on human motivation and this is
balanced by some of the practical factors which can lead to excellence.

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