Motivational Factors

Abstract

This paper will explore and discuss the motivational factors that managers must be proficient with in order to accomplish the organization’s goals and objectives. This exploration and discussion will include aspects of different theories to understand how motivation affects the accomplishment of the organization’s goals and objectives. This exploration will be emphasized and interconnected with motivational theories to increase the success of today’s organizations and explain the impact managers have on the success of their organizations.

In addition, this explanation will discuss how motivation is initiated and how this affects the personal and organizational goal settings. Implications and conclusions will be drawn from the application of ample discussion setting forth a better management practice that strengthens the understanding of the need of more motivation in today’s organizations. Motivational Factors and Organizational Goals Accomplishment Managers must consider many motivational factors to motivate their employees to perform at their highest ability.

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Motivation has internal and external forces, which influence employees’ behavior. “Motivation refers to the forces either within or external to a person that arouse enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a certain course of action” (Daft & Marcic, 2010, p. 404). Any person who is successful in whatever they are doing it is very likely due to set goals. Goal Setting is extremely important to motivation and success. Motivating employees is beneficial for both managers and employees because it enhances productivity and the accomplishment of the organizational goals.

In order to achieve these goals, employees need to be well trained and motivated by managers which are the key factors in the success of this task. Employees are the most important assets and they are human being first and then the employees. For that reason, they must be treated fairly and with dignity. This is one of the most prominent motivating factors in any organization. Leaders and managers need to earn the respect of their employees in order to excel in their task. Departing from the premise of treating others with respect and dignity, employees will react in the same way.

Managers can show respect to their employees by assigning them tasks that they are best suited for them. Every employee has a unique set of skills and talents that are an enormous resource for managers. Managers by communicating employees’ strong points will motivate them to accomplish their task resulting in a higher level of job satisfaction. It also builds the employee’s self-esteem and confidence leading to very strong and loyal employees. This starts a cycle of self-motivation and confidence that continually builds upon its own momentum if carefully managed.

Organizations with this type of management achieve their organizational goals with ease. Everything starts with a common cycle of motivation that needs to be fulfilled to attain the motivation desired of the employees. Figure1 shows this cycle. Figure 1. A simple model of motivation. This figure illustrates the basic elements of human motivation: need, behavior, and rewards.

While motivation is universal and each employees needs are unique, managers must focus on identifying what needs are important to each individual in order to satisfy these needs and encourage the motivational environment within the organization. It is important that “managers take into account theories that will provide them a full understanding of motivation and its implementation in the workplace” (Patterson, 2007, p. 57). For instance, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory proposes that within every person there are needs that must be satisfied.

These include safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization needs. Within each of these stages, there is a vast range of needs that could fit into each category suggesting each individuals needs could be different and unique as illustrated in table 1. Behavior “Motivation is what influences behavior” (Daft & Marcic, 2010, p. 72). Therefore, employees’ motivation must be what influences employee behavior at work. Employees can be motivated by an employer, a co-worker, or any situation in their life.

While employees behave at the level their employer is looking for, managers must develop proficiency in the motivational arena. This proficiency of the application of the motivational factors will help managers to motivate their employees and fulfillment of their needs. It is important to mention that employees are human beings that have needs and they want to fulfill those needs in a successful manner.

They also need to understand what makes employees behave well in the workplace. Reward Employee motivation, positive employee morale, and rewards are important for the success of every organization. People have unique characteristics that make them special. These characteristics will define the level of satisfaction needed to satisfy their needs whether physically, economically, emotionally, or among others. The satisfaction level will affect morale, motivation, and their quality of life in a positive or negative way. Therefore, it is imperative every organization develop a recognition program that is motivational and rewarding.

No discussion of rewards would be complete without addressing intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. When someone feels gratification when doing something it is considered as an intrinsic reward. “Intrinsic rewards are the satisfaction a person receives in the process of performing a particular action” (Daft, 2008, p. 522). This satisfaction is caused by choices and perception a person has when accomplishing a task. Keun and Kulviwat (2008) mentioned in their research that “expectancy is the perceived connection between the effort and the outcome and the perception between the outcome and the reward” (p. 95). Expectancy theory is about the mental processes that an individual undergoes to make choices. Intrinsic motivation is motivated by the interest or enjoyment in the task itself and exists within the individual rather than relying on any external pressure as in the case of extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic rewards can be considered as when somebody tries to make someone else do something by giving them an external incentive that gratifies the receiver. Daft (2008) mentioned, “Extrinsic rewards are originated externally as a result of pleasing others” (p. 522).

External rewards are extra pay, bonuses, promotion, incentives, among others. In the article, James (2005) presents a point of view of the cognitive evaluation theory to explain how “external motivation occurs when explicit rewards are implemented, which results in individuals having greater satisfaction” (p. 549). This theory is a theory in Psychology that is designed to explain the effects of external consequences on internal motivation. Intrinsic motivational factors are part of the job itself and boost the personal satisfaction by accomplishing something worthwhile.

Many organizations need a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators to encourage top-notch performance. Managers must ensure their organization has a very good employee reward program in place that promotes creativity and excellence. Feedback Providing ample feedback would work for employees motivated by esteem, while “providing predictable work, with minimal risk and uncertainty” would satisfy employees who desire security (Moyer ; Dunphy, 2007, p. 37). Any company that values its employees should provide feedback to their employee regularly.

Feedback offers invaluable insight to employees about their performance that ultimately can affect the employees’ motivation. The key to a successful feedback is to focus on positive rather than negative feedback on the employees’ performance, which is the primary purpose of feedback. Feedback is not difficult but is a skill that all managers must master. Once mastered, managers have a powerful tool for sharing knowledge and facilitating knowledge skill enhancement. From Where Motivation Comes From Motivation may come from within a person or as the result of the situation.

In contemporary workplaces, employees have become accustomed to external motivations such as bonuses, extra days off, contest prizes, etc... The problem with motivation resulting from a situation is that they no longer motivate employees when they are no longer in the situation. External Motivation can make people dependent on things that are never part of a long-term motivational scene. If people want motivation to go deeper, they will have to find a way to create it within themselves or intrinsically. Internal motivation is self-motivation. It resides in everyone although it may be dormant. It is lasting and powerful.

In combination with the external motivators mentioned earlier it is the foundation for success of organizations. Therefore, motivation comes from within and from a situation but self-motivation may be more powerful and last longer. Conclusion Overall, the motivational process is universal as all organizations through various strategies attempt to motivate employees in order to attain high performance and achieve organizational goals. The categories within these theories are wide-ranging thus suggesting that there are no definite motivator factors for each employee but each individual motivation is unique.

Managers must consider many motivational factors and apply them to the employee’s need uniqueness. The basic element of the motivational process in management starts with the satisfaction of employees’ needs. For that reason, managers have to be proficient in the motivation arena in order to have employees performing and behaving well in the organization. It is essential for each organization to develop a motivational and rewarding recognition program. In addition, a good feedback program must be implemented to provide employees a valuable insight about their performance allowing them to realize the achievement of their goals.

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