Definition of motivation in work Essay Example for Free

Definition of motivation in work Essay Introduction At any enterprise the main resource is human. Orientation to the highly skilled and initiative labor integrated into system of production, a continuity of process of enrichment of knowledge and professional development, flexibility of the organization of work, delegation of responsibility from top to down, partnership between participants of production all this conducts to creation of new model of development and use of human resources. The motivation is an actual element of this process which provides reciprocity of interests of the employer and personnel and guarantees efficiency of activity of the organization. The motivation is a complex of the motives which are inducing or not inducing to certain acts, this creation of system of the incentives necessary for achievement of the purpose of the organization. Satisfaction of the employee of the enterprise with conditions and compensation, relations with colleagues and heads, management policy for the personnel, in many respects defines interest and the employees motivation on effective and productive work. The periodic assessment of satisfaction with work of firm personnel helps to reveal weak links in structure of human resource management, to develop system of the additional incentives allowing to eliminate or compensate the work factors which are least satisfying the personnel. Relevance of the chosen subject is explained by it. Motivated employees are one of the key factors that provide competitive advantage for businesses. By determining the best way to encourage and boost  employee’s performance in organizations the management ensures success of their company, on the market field. Customized employee motivation i.e. best incentive for each employee individually, is what gets the organization closer to reaching its goals and objectives. More specifically, it deals with demographically determined (age and gender) differences in the motivational profiles of the workers. The employees from both genders and all age subgroups are mostly motivated by challenging job positions, advancement opportunities, good compensation packages i.e. money and well managed/good work environment. At the same time, benefits, job security and location of the work place are less of a motivator for all demographic subgroups. Still, this research study suggests that some statistically significant differences do exist. The two genders give significantly different importance to benefits as a motivator, while, the age subgroups give significantly different importance to security, work environment and challenge. A milestone in organization’s success is to develop strong relationship with the employees, to fulfill workers’ expectations (good working conditions, fair pay, fair treatment, secure career, power and involvement in decisions) and in return, to have them follow the rules and regulations, work according the standards and achieve goals, (Khan, et al., 2010). In order to address these expectations it is required for the management to have understanding of employees’ motivation. The HRM professionals are the ones to have significant role in fulfilling this ai m and hence, to assist the company’s management in building relationship with their employees. The challenge for organizations and their policies is to bring the best applicants successfully through the recruitment and hiring process, but also to retain them and to provide them with the environment and structures in order to motivate them to give their best (Hussai, 2007). Moreover, motivation plays important role, since dissatisfaction leads to high employee turnover particularly in less developed or developing countries where little employment opportunities are available to people (Khan, et al., 2010). Motivation is a tool managers can use in organizations and if they know what drives the people working for them, they can tailor job assignments and rewards to what makes these people ―tickâ€â€" (Tella, et al., 2007). Motivation can also be considered as whatever it takes to encourage workers to perform by fulfilling or appealing to their needs. According to Gibbons (1999) and Tella, et al. (2007) high performance motivated workforce is very important element for successful businesses, and this study is inspired by the power that the motivation has within the organizations in increasing their performance. No matter how automated an organization may be, high productivity depends on the level of motivation and the effectiveness of the workforce (Tella, et al., 2007). Hence, managers who use the most effective motivation tools and techniques will provide competitive advantage and profits to their companies. Managers must be ready and willing to customize the best deals in town in order to recruit, retain, and motivate the best people, argued Gilbert (2003, p.1), referring to the importance of customized incentives provided to different generations. In this regard, the aim of this research is to examine the issue of customized motivation management, or more specifically, the issue of applying different motivation tool to different types of employees, depending on their priorities and preferences. In particular, the research will analyze some of the motivating factors and how different their importance is for workers of different age and gender. By determining what the employee’s priority is – high compensation, good work environment or maybe the location of the workplace, this research will determine what would be the best incentive the company should apply. Importance of Motivation of Employees within Organizations One of the main responsibilities of the Human Resources and other management professionals in a company is to achieve competitive success and advantage through the employees they have hired. ―The managers who can create high levels of motivation can get more work from five employees than their less inspiring counterparts can get out of ten, and this is a form of competitive advantage that is hard to denyâ€â€" (Wagner and Hollenbeck, 2010, p.81). Successful recruitment process and successful placement of an employee on the demanding position leads to a new challenging situation where both sides, employee and employer, must take and give the best of the position that was filled. Otherwise, both sides are losing money and time and are becoming dissatisfied. The motivation as career growth and business development factor is very important at this post recruitment stage and is one of the factors that catalyze the process of giving the bestâ€â€" by the  worker and ―taking the maximumâ€â€" by the employer. To summarize, the importance of motivation is high, as is the role it plays, when it comes to employee retention and performance improvement within organizations. Moreover, it can lead to: business development, increasing profits and building competitive advantage. It deserves time and effort to be evaluated and further on, to be applied as efficient managerial tool. Herzberg’s two-factor theory Herzberg’s two-factor theory argues that his hygiene factors such as salary, benefits, working conditions or job security, are also considered to be extrinsic in nature, while motivational factors, such as, the job itself (challenging or not), growth and advancement, achievement (James, 2008); or job autonomy, job complexity and innovativeness (Vaananen, et al., 2005), are considered to be intrinsic in nature. The factors that will be analyzed in this research are determined based on the Frederick Herzberg’s research (Herzberg, 2003), in which he evaluated the following ten extrinsic/hygiene motivators: security, status, relationship with subordinates, relationship with peers, salary, work condition, relationship with supervisor, supervision, company policy and administration, and personal life. At the same time, the following six intrinsic motivators were evaluated: achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement and growth. This research will examine the importance of the following seven motivational factor: money, benefits, location, job security, work environment (as extrinsic), then challenge and advancement opportunities (as intrinsic factors). The motivator money refers to Herzberg’s salary factor; the motivator benefits relates to his company policy and administration; location refers to personal life, since it directly influences the work-life balance and the time employees spend on their personal needs. The motivator work environment includes Herzberg’s relationship with subordinates, relationship with peers, relationship with supervisor, supervision and work condition. Security was evaluated as it is by Herzberg, as well. As for the extrinsic factors, advancement was also evaluated as it is by Herzberg, while challenge that will be used in this research mostly relates to work itself (as per Herzberg) since it refers to specific characteristics of the job itself and how interesting and challenging they are to the employee. In  conclusion, based on the importance these seven factors have for an employee when choosing a new job and leaving the current one, or while still performing on the current position, we determine/define the term motivational profile for the research purposes of this thesis. Definition of target group of the interrogated For the analysis of this poll I chose young people aged from 22-25 years which just graduated from the university and got a job. As well as any person, these workers too have certain motivational force. So, 12 workers, from them 7 guys and 5 girls took part in my poll. Distribution by Education Distribution by Department Distribution by Industry Determining the type, strength and direction of employee motivation units Using the questions given questionnaires to determine the type, strength and direction of the motivation of employees selected structural unit. To do this, this form must be filled by a worker units (not less than 10 people). Next, i need to calculate the score for each respondents answer. Compare the answers of all respondents. About the study of labor motivation of employees Results of motivational dough On the basis of the carried-out analysis I can draw a conclusion that most of young people choose financial motives, and it means what exactly the salary plays an important role at a work place choice. Conclusion Theories of motivation is the Herzberg Two Factor Theory. His theory also relies on the needs and their satisfaction concept, but according to this theory, the needs are grouped in two levels/groups: 1) hygiene or dissatisfaction avoidance factors (imperative to be satisfied) and 2) motivating or growth factors (additional motivating force after the basic needs are satisfied). He suggests that ―the factors involved in producing job satisfaction (and motivation) are separate and distinct from the factors that lead to job dissatisfactionâ€â€" (Herzberg, 2003, p.6). Herzberg also characterized the two groups of motivating factors according their origin. The dissatisfaction avoidance or hygiene factors are extrinsic to the job, and come from outside the person, and those are: company policy and administration, supervision, interpersonal relationships, working conditions, salary, status, security etc. Growth or motivating factors are intrinsic to the job, that come from within the person and those are:  achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, and growth or advancement. At workplace, the employees must be provided with good extrinsic factors (good pay, good environment, safety etc) in order not to be unhappy. Further on, if the employers need them motivated to perform even better, they need to provide the additional intrinsic factors. Proceeding from results of motivational dough I came to a conclusion that according to the Herzberg’s two-factor theory the greatest importance for young employees is played by hygienic factors, to be exact economic factors, such as: a salary and awards, social advantages, pension privileges, holiday and training which is paid by the employer. Factors, the second for value, proceeding from results of this dough it: achievement and cooperation. And it means, what not all young workers choose hygienic factors. There are workers for whom motivators, such as are important: a freedom of action through achievements and cooperation with other workers. To conclude, many studies show that the age has an important effect on motivation. Still, in some research studies, the authors suggest that there are some motivating factors that do not have significantly different importance for employees at different age (Ross, 2005; Stead, 2009). The list of the used literature: 1. Khan, K.U., Farooq, S.U. and Ullah, M.I. (2010), The Relationship between Rewards and Employee Motivation in Commercial Banks of Pakistan, Research Journal of International Studies (14), p.37-54, [On Line], Available From: http://www.eurojournals.com/rjis_14_06.pdf, Accessed: 01.04.2011 2. Tella, A., Ayeni, C.O. and Popoola, S.O. (2007), Work Motivation, Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment of Library Personnel in Academic and Research Libraries in Oyo State, Nigeria, Library Philosophy and Practice, April 2007, [On Line], Available From: http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/tella2.pdf , Accessed: 01.01.2010 3. Wagner, J. and Hollenbeck, J. (2009), Organizational Behavior: Securing Competitive Advantage, 1st edition, New York, Routledge 4. Vaananen, A., Pahkin, K., Huuhtanen, P., Kivimaki, M. Vahtera, J., Theorell, T. and Kalimo, R. (2005), Are intrinsic motivational factors of work associated with functional incapacity similarly regardless of the country?, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2005(59), p.858-863, [On Line], Available From: http://jech.bmj.com/content/59/10/858.full , Accessed: 10.02.2010 5. Vaskova, R. (2006), Gender Differences in Performance Motivation, [On Line], Available From: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/2006/01/CZ0601NU04.htm, Accessed: 03.02.2010 6. Herzberg, F. (2003), One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?, Harvard Business Review, Jan 2003, p.86-96, [On Line], Available From: http://hbr.org/2003/01/one-more-time/ar/1, Accessed: 21.04.2010 7. Ross, W. (2005), The Relationship Between Employee Motivation, Job Satisfaction and Corporate Culture, [On Line], Available From: http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/2584/thesis_roos_w.pdf?sequence=36, Accessed: 31.07.2011