MOTIVATIONFaculty: Dr. Seeta Gupta

Motivation - Human problem – requiring human solutions.

Fitting people to Organisational plan & motivating them is the most difficult problem for managers. Group cohesiveness has tremendous influence on motivation. Group goals coinciding with Management Goals is imperative. ILO – “Human Relations is the weakest point of Management In India.”

Personnel Department can affect Motivation in many ways:-Orientation, Training & Development, Career planning, Counseling, Safety & Health, Appraisal, Compensation, Benefits, etc.

Money acts as a substitute for things denied by Organisations - But it alone cannot satisfy needs for Achievement, Affiliation, Power or Growth.

If monetary awards cannot be dispersed, non-monetary awards do not cost much, e.g.:- Involving staff in generating ideasrecognising talentsdesigning challenging jobsgiving responsibilityoffering support to innovative employees

Gallup’s poll found that 61 percent of employees stated that they haven’t received a sincere “thank you” from management in the past year. Findings such as these are troubling, as verbal rewards are not only inexpensive for companies to hand out but also are quick and easy to distribute.

“Distinguish and differentially award superior performance.”By knowing how to motivate employees, managers can help them to satisfy their strong motives while activating their dormant motives which lead to accomplishment of individual & orgnisational goals.

Some simple principles can help to understand Motivations better.-

THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

1950s – Development of Motivation concepts. Four theories, heavily attacked but still the best known explanation for employee motivation. Earlier theories are important because they provide foundation for contemporary theories and are still used.

1) Maslow2) Herzberg3) Alderfer4) McClelland’s N-Achievement Theory

5) McGregor - Theory X & Y 6) Vroom’s Expectancy Theory7) Goal Theory – Edwin & Locke8) MBO9) Equity Theory

MaslowThis theory is of limited in value because :- Not everyone is seeking self-actualisation Some aspects of the job satisfy many needs at the same time. This theory implies that satisfying needs will lead to Motivation; but it is not true.

Need hierarchy cannot follow the ladder pattern. It also does not form a pyramid. It should be some kind of spiral which has a tendency to revert everytime.

Maslow identifies needs of workers and Herzberg identifies the hygiene factors and motivators that satisfy these needs.

Thus if you know what are high strength needs (Maslow) you want to influence; then you should know what goals (Herzberg) you can provide to motivate employees.

Herzberg is the father of Job Design Theory. Good Job Design will lead to internal motivation of workers and result in good performance and satisfaction.

Employee Involvement programs can provide intrinsic satisfaction by increasing opportunities for growth, responsibility and work itself.

Application of Herzberg’s theory is called job enrichment which involves building motivators like opportunities for achievement into the job.

Avoid cookie-cutter approach for giving recognition and consider each individual for his own merit. Managers should constantly observe employees in different settings and identify each one’s needs.

McClelland’s N-Achievement Theory

High N-Ach people require – Moderately challenging jobs, responsibility, autonomy & feedbackHigh N-Aff people require – Supportive feedback, cooperation, friendly managers & supervisorsHigh N-Power people require – Control, recognition, and influence

Douglas McGregor, after viewing the way managers deal with employees concluded that managers view human beings from a grouping of assumptions which are Theory X and Y and then accordingly mold their behavior towards employees according to the assumptions (self-serving bias).

He himself held that Theory Y assumptions are more valid than Theory X. Hence he proposed the following ideas to maximize an employee’s job motivation:

1. Participative Decision-making2. Responsible and challenging jobs3. Good group relations

There is no empirical support to this theory or to Maslow’s; but they are intrinsically and intuitively logical.

Vroom’s Expectancy Theory

“Strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that act will be followed by an outcome & on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.”

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