Economical
Sciencies/6. Marketing and Management
M. Overko
DEVELOPING MOTIVATIONAL PRINCIPLES
National University of Food Technology
People join and work in organizations to satisfy their needs. Motivation is
defined as goal-directed behavior. It concerns the level of effort one exerts
in pursuing a goal. Why are some employees better motivated than others?
Employee motivation is difficult to understand because it involves a variety of
individual and organizational factors. The individual factors include needs,
goals, attitudes, and abilities; the organizational factors include pay, job
security, co-workers, supervision, praise and the job itself.
Managers can improve the valence, instrumentality, and expectancy employees
place in their job situations by: 1-matching rewards to needs, 2- matching
rewards to performance, 3- matching job to employees.
1. Matching rewards to employee needs.
By matching rewards to needs, management can increase not only the valence
of rewards but also the level of employee satisfaction. How can management
match rewards to needs? There are a few things that managers can do:
·
figure out
what employees want. Managers can ask their employees what kinds of rewards
they prefer. This information can be used to select appropriate rewards. People
want different things from their jobs, and matching rewards to these needs
increases the valence of the rewards.
·
find people
who value rewards. The match between rewards and needs can be achieved by
finding people who may value what the organization may offer. Some
organizations are limited in their ability to offer a variety rewards. In this
case the organization needs to attract people who can be motivated by what it
can offer.
2. Matching rewards to performance.
By relating organizational rewards to job performance, management can
increase the chances of attaining both individual and organizational goals.
This strategy favorably affects the performance-reward instrumentality. There
are several things that managers can do in this effort:
·
use performance-contingent
reward systems. Some reward systems lack motivational value because they are
not tied to performance.
·
maintain
equity in reward systems. Matching rewards to performance also means that the
amount of reward should be commensurate with task complexity, labor
availability, prevailing wage level, and amount of responsibility.
·
communicate
performance-reward contingencies. It does not matter whether or not rewards are
actually tied to performance. Unless the performance-reward contingencies are
clearly communicated to employees and perceived by employees as such, the
reward systems cannot have a strong impact on employee motivation. Performance
feedback, followed by reinforcement, is essential in maintaining a high level
of performance.
3.Matching jobs to employees.
Matching the technical, physical, and psychological requirements of the job
to the employee's qualifications enhances the effort-performance expectancy. The
matching process involves the following actions:
·
design the
job to suit employee needs. People want different levels of job challenge. Some
employees may prefer complex and challenging jobs; other may prefer simple
tasks. Task complexity needs to be differentiated to reflect the technical and
psychological qualifications of employees.
·
match
employees to jobs. The match between jobs and people can also be achieved by
hiring people who will fit the jobs. When it is economically and technically
impractical to redesign jobs, it makes more sense to fit employees to jobs than
the other way around.
·
improve
employee job skills. Another way of fitting people to jobs is by training. When
employees are underqualificated to perform their jobs, training can help them
find a better fit.
·
set
challenging but attainable goals. Set performance goals that are challenging
but attainable. If the task goals are either too high or too low, employees are
not likely to feel that their efforts are related to task performance.
This discussion demonstrates how motivational principles can be applied in
managing organizational reward and work systems.
Key concepts:
- No one is “unmotivated”
Everyone is motivated by something, and that something probably lies inside
them. If you lead people, your job is to find out what motivates them and to
make environmental changes that feed their motivation.
References:
2. Mitchell P. L. How to
Motivate Yourself to Start a Business Electronic resource]. – Access mode:
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Motivate-Yourself-to-Start-a-Business&id=6009023