Employee motivation and importance for organizations
Organisational behaviour is a vast topic which deals with subjects relating to employees performance and overall productivity of an enterprise. There are a number of current issues relating to organisational behaviour which require the management to implement appropriate policies to address such issues. In this essay, the current issue of employee motivation will be discussed by evaluating various organisational behaviour theories. The role of employee motivation has increased substantially between organisations as the demand for talented employees has grown. As per Skudiene and Auruskeviciene (2012), motivated employees are a crucial asset for corporations since they provide it a competitive advantage by efficiently achieving its objectives. Currently, organisations are hiring millennial employees which increases the issues face by them because it is difficult for the human resource department to motivate millennial and retain them in the organisation. The HR department uses both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards in order to motivate their employees; however, use of either of these rewards did not guarantee the success (Reiss, 2012). Furthermore, lack of motivation leads to increased employee attrition rates because the management did not have a positive relationship with employees. This essay will focus on evaluating the current issue of organisational behaviour relating to the motivation of employees. Furthermore, the role of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards in improving employee motivation will be discussed in the report based on evaluating various organisational behaviour theories.
In recent years, the competition between enterprises has grown substantially, and they focus on implementing business strategies in order to gain a competitive advantage in the industry. Motivated employees are crucial for their success since they assist in achieving the corporate goals of the organisation without wasting its resources. Motivated employees are highly determined, and they are focused towards achieve their targets which eventually benefits the entire organisation. Herzberg has provided ‘two-factor theory’ that provides two different factors which assist in affecting job satisfaction level of employees (Ghazi, Shahzada and Khan, 2013). The two factors include motivators and hygiene factors. Motivators include various factors such as achievement, work itself, personal growth, responsibility and recognition. When the corporation improves these factors, then it results in increasing job satisfaction level of employees. Hygiene factors include elements such as salary, working conditions, policies, regulations and supervisor quality. Improvements in these factors result in decreasing job dissatisfaction level of employees. Herzberg has argued that job satisfaction plays a crucial role in motivating employees to improve their performance and achieve the target of the company. Thus, by influencing the factors which affect job satisfaction and dissatisfaction of employees, the HR department can result in positively influencing the performance of employees by motivating them (Yusoff, Kian and Idris, 2013). While influencing these factors, the HR department uses both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards which assist them in motivating employees to improve their performance.
Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards are common factors which are used by enterprises to motivate their employees and positively influence their performance. Intrinsic are referred to rewards such as autonomy, recognition, taking pride in job, appreciation, and others. On the other hand, extrinsic are referred to rewards such as salary, bonus, commission, profit sharing, work condition, fringe benefits and others (Cho and Perry, 2012). However, just establishing a strategy is not enough to motivate employees and the organisations are required to fulfil the needs of employees in order to motivate them. As per the ‘hierarchy of needs’ theory developed by Abraham Maslow, corporations can motivate their employees by fulfilling their needs. There are five needs which are categorised by Maslow which include physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem and self-actualisation (Cao et al., 2013). Each employee has different needs which can be fulfilled by the management in order to motivate employees. An employee cannot be motivated by a need which he/she did not have, and after the fulfilment of a need, the management can use it again to motivate the employee. For example, lower level employees have physiological or safety needs, therefore, they cannot be motivated by esteem or self-actualisation rewards. On the other hand, middle or top-level employees have self-esteem and self-actualisation needs, and they cannot be satisfied by physiological or safety needs (Taormina and Gao, 2013). Thus, applying a single motivational strategy to the entire organisation to motivate employees based on either intrinsic or extrinsic rewards is not suitable for its success.
Evaluation of organizational behavior theories on employee motivation
Millennial employees have different characteristics, and they are difficult to motivate by the HR department. While motivating millennial employees, it is necessary that the HR managers evaluate their personality traits which is crucial for motivating them. Millennial employees did not prefer to work in the hierarchical model, and they prefer flexible working environments (Ertas, 2015). Generally, employees did not prefer change, however, millennial accepts change in policies, and they are more open for job rotation programs. In order to motivate millennial employees, the HR managers are required to evaluate these personality traits in order to ensure that they increase job satisfaction level of employees to retain them in the organisation. Firstly, millennial employees are motivated by meaning, and they prefer to work for an organisation which has a bigger impact on their lives. They prefer to do the work which assists in helping a large number of people, and they prefer to find a sense of pride in their work (Holland and Piper, 2014). The management should avoid hierarchical structure while dealing with employees, and they should let millennial share their ideas and views regarding the corporation. By increasing the contribution of millennial employees in the corporation, the HR managers can motivate them since they feel like a crucial part of the enterprise. The management should rely on intrinsic rewards while motivating millennial rather than extrinsic rewards; it also increases their chances to retain in the organisation if they are receiving intrinsic rewards (Thompson and Gregory, 2012). Thus, implementing an effective intrinsic rewards motivation strategy can result in motivating millennial employees in the organisation and motivating them to perform better.
Due to increase competition between employees, the role of motivational strategies has increased substantially between organisations. Following are various recommendations based on organisational behaviour theories based on which the management can resolve the issue of motivating employees. Firstly, the management should not implement a single strategy to motivate all employees in the organisations. It is necessary that different strategies are implemented for different division of employees which assist them in motivating a wider range of employees (Morgan, Dill and Kalleberg, 2013). For example, ‘equity theory’ of motivation was introduced by Stacey Adams which provides that individuals are motivated by fairness. The theory argues that if employees sense inequality between the inputs which they put in the organisation and outputs which they receive result in influencing their employees. Employees are more likely to adjust their inputs as per their outputs in order to seek equity in their performance (Al-Zawahreh and Al-Madi, 2012). Thus, if they did not receive equal rewards as per their performance, then they are less likely to be motivated. For example, an employee who works really hard to receive appreciation from its superior is likely to be demotivated if he only receives monetary rewards. In case of millennial employees, they prefer intrinsic rewards over extrinsic rewards. The management should interact with millennial employees to find what motivates them in order to implement motivational strategies which are focused towards fulfilling their needs. Furthermore, the management should continuously monitor and change their motivational policies because, after fulfilment of a need, it cannot be used by the management to motivate employees.
Based on the above observations, it can be concluded that motivating employees is a current issue relating to organisational behaviour which affects the profitability of enterprises. Highly motivated employees work hard to achieve their corporate goals which benefit the organisation. On the other hand, the performance of demotivated employees is poor, and it is difficult for the HR department to retain such employees in the company. Therefore, implementation of appropriate policies to motivate the employees is substantial for the success of an enterprise. Various organisational behaviour theories are discussed in the report based on which the management can implement an appropriate motivational strategy in the corporation. By evaluating the needs of employees, the management can provide either intrinsic or extrinsic rewards to employees in order to motivate them to perform better. Both of these rewards strategies provide different benefits to the management since they can use them to motivate both low level and top-level employees. Millennial employees are more likely to be motivated by intrinsic rewards since they prefer to find meaning in their work. Various recommendations for the management are given to improve their motivational strategies such as continuous monitoring, regular change, rewards as per employees’ needs and others. Based on these factors, the corporations can address the issue of employee motivation and find appropriate solutions which result in sustaining their overall growth.
References:
Al-Zawahreh, A. and Al-Madi, F. (2012) The utility of equity theory in enhancing organizational effectiveness. European journal of economics, finance and administrative sciences, 46(3), pp.159-169.
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Ghazi, S.R., Shahzada, G. and Khan, M.S. (2013) Resurrecting Herzberg’s two factor theory: An implication to the university teachers. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 3(2), p.445.
Holland, D.D. and Piper, R.T. (2014) A Technology Integration Education (Tie) Model: Millennial Preservice Teachers’ Motivations about Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (Tpack) Competencies. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 51(3), pp.257-294.
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Taormina, R.J. and Gao, J.H. (2013) Maslow and the motivation hierarchy: Measuring satisfaction of the needs. The American journal of psychology, 126(2), pp.155-177.
Thompson, C. and Gregory, J.B. (2012) Managing millennials: A framework for improving attraction, motivation, and retention. The Psychologist-Manager Journal, 15(4), pp.237-246.
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