Motivating Employees in Actual Practice:
We now know which motivation has something to do with our way of life and thinking. Because there is a huge spectrum of human nature, there is no single magic wand to motivate employees as their requirement and priorities of satisfaction differ. What might motivate one may not necessarily motivate the other. Therefore, the employer should search out the right way which could make workers more productive. Because an employee has a lot of untapped energy, s/he would be ready to work and contribute the most if trained properly and treated fairly. In managing an organisation, some of the significant factors which could improve motivation and morale of its employees are as follows:
1. Devising a well-defined humanistic personnel policy, while the workforce is regarded as the valuable asset of the organisation, and enough care is taken to manage and develop it, not only to attain organisational objectives but also to satisfy the normal aspirations of employees.
2. A long-term employment policy projecting image of fairness in recruitment and selection, placement of the right person to the right job, sound and fair promotion & transfer policies, well-planned need-based training and development programmes for grooming employees for higher job or building their career in the organisation, and suitable workforce planning.
3. Fair wages and salary administration ensuring equitable wage structure free from internal and external inequalities.
4. Rewarding good performance adequately at the earliest and also giving it deserving publicity.
5. A constructive and objective system of performance appraisal and merit rating of employees aimed at servicing and improving them and not punishing them.
6. Prompt handling of workers' grievances by having a short time-bound procedure well-known to employees. Within handling grievances, the attitude of persons managing grievances should be cooperative and positive and not negative, and the worker should have the feeling that s/he will be properly heard and justice will be done.
7. In handling disciplinary cases, a management should not just be fair but also seem to be fair. Disciplinary procedure should conform to the principles of natural justice. A corrective and not punitive approach in this respect may be more motivating.
8. Participative and consultative style of management & supervision and increasing autonomy within work might create essential conditions for motivating workers to provide their best.
9. Job enrichment and enlargement, or making a job more demanding are also necessary for motivating the workers to provide their best, as these will not only reduce job boredom and frustration, other than also increase job satisfaction, or satisfy the esteem or ego and self-actualisation needs of employees, that are perpetual motivators.
10. Self-motivation through top management, senior and center managers and supervisors is necessary if the persons working under them are to be motivated. A dictum before you motivate others, you must first motivate yourself should not be lost sight of. Seniors are expected to give their juniors effective leadership and set an example of dedication and superior skill.