Reference no: EM13982986

What Is Employee Motivation?

Jenny works at Taco Queen, a popular fast food restaurant. Her boss, Jeremy, has noticed that Jenny hasn't been completing all of her tasks each day. No one else seems to have an issue completing the same tasks on their shifts. Jeremy looks in the corporate handbook, which tells him he should use employee motivation to encourage slacking employees. But what is employee motivation?

Employee motivation is a factor, or factors, that cause(s) an employee to pursue work tasks or goals. It's what causes you to act in a certain way. There are two primary theories of motivation that are often used by employers: extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. In this lesson, we'll look at these two types of motivation and how employers can use them.

Importance of motivation

Motivation is the bunch of "internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in people to be continually interested in and committed to a job, role, or subject and to exert persistent effort in attaining a goal". Being motivated intrinsically means that you take pleasure from what you are doing, and are less concerned with the external rewards.

We have seen employees doing as little as they can, mostly miss deadlines and whatever they do, needs supervision and corrections, while on the other side, there are some who are trying to do their best, putting into their work 100% of effort, do not complain about difficulties, and take them as challenge. Those people are not aliens at all, they are motivated employees.

The significance of motivation in the workplace is high because of the following benefits it provides.

Firstly, motivation puts human resources into action and improves level of efficiency of employees. Every concern requires financial and human resources to accomplish the goals. Having the employees only physically, does not mean that you manage to make full use of it. You need their desire and wish to be there where actually are. The performance of motivated employees is high, which results into: increased productivity and reduced cost of operations. Motivated employee will not try to get by with little effort; will be more oriented on his job. If those workers, who spend most of their time on facebook or other pages, use their potential and keep instead themselves busy with their job, increased productivity will be very conspicuous.

Secondly, motivation leads to the stability of workforce that is very important from the point of view of reputation and goodwill of the company. In order to keep employees loyal, they should feel themselves as part of the organization, feel that they are needed and appreciated. The longer the person works in the organization, more experience he gathers, as say "Old is gold". When people are willing to work for one organization for a long time, and they do not consider the company as one of the steps of staircase, it will prevent the organization from the high index of turnover and the positive image that will be created from the word of mouth marketing, will attract competent and qualified people into a concern.

Thirdly, motivated people are not resistant to the changes taken into the organizations. Change is the law of nature and companies have to incorporate different essential ones. With the help of effectively motivated workforce, those changes will be accepted, introduced and implemented without negative attitude and the organization will be kept on the right track of progress.

Fourthly, Motivation brings employees closer to organization. As long as needs of employees are met through attractive rewards, promotional opportunities, etc. employees begin to take more interest in their company. They begin to think that there is no difference between the interests of the enterprise and their interests. This helps in developing cordial relations between management and workers.

These are the main reasons why the motivation is important to the business. But of course this is significant for both parties: motivation is essential for an individual as it helps him achieve his personal goals, develop and what is very important, be satisfied with his job.

Motivation therefore is a continuous process since motivation process is based on needs which are unlimited. The process has to be continued throughout. On the other hand, needs, wants and desires differ among the people; this is an internal feeling that should be understood by the manager if only he is in close contact with the subordinates

Type of motivation

There are two types of motivation, Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation. It's important to understand that we are not all the same; thus effectively motivating your employees requires that you gain an understanding of the different types of motivation. Such an understanding will enable you to better categorize your team members and apply the appropriate type of motivation. You will find each member different and each member's motivational needs will be varied as well. Some people respond best to intrinsic which means "from within" and will meet any obligation of an area of their passion. Quite the reverse, others will respond better to extrinsic motivation which, in their world, provides that difficult tasks can be dealt with provided there is a reward upon completion of that task. Become an expert in determining which type will work best with which team members.

Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation means that the individual's motivational stimuli are coming from within. The individual has the desire to perform a specific task, because its results are in accordance with his belief system or fulfills a desire and therefore importance is attached to it.

Our deep-rooted desires have the highest motivational power. Below are some examples:

· Acceptance: We all need to feel that we, as well as our decisions, are accepted by our co-workers.
· Curiosity: We all have the desire to be in the know.
· Honor: We all need to respect the rules and to be ethical.
· Independence: We all need to feel we are unique.
· Order: We all need to be organized.
· Power: We all have the desire to be able to have influence.
· Social contact: We all need to have some social interactions.
· Social Status: We all have the desire to feel important.
Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation means that the individual's motivational stimuli are coming from outside. In other words, our desires to perform a task are controlled by an outside source. Note that even though the stimuli are coming from outside, the result of performing the task will still be rewarding for the individual performing the task.

Extrinsic motivation is external in nature. The most well-known and the most debated motivation is money. Below are some other examples:

· Employee of the month award
· Benefit package
· Bonuses
· Organized activities

Teamwork

Teamwork in organizational settings is an important aspect of creating a well-oiled machine to get tasks and projects done. A single team often has a team leader, who guides all members to reach the company's expectations. In addition, each team leader must include all workers to boost motivation and workplace morale. However, the role of teams in organizations also has a practical importance. Teamwork is important in an organization because of the scope of the work it performs on a daily basis. A single employee cannot take on all of the responsibilities of an organization, according to Net Team. Each employee hired by the company has a certain skill set, which contributes to a single department. In other words, a single department has a collection of workers who each contribute something to reach the organization's goals and objectives.?

Physical Distances?Some organizations have managers and executives who travel frequently, meaning they are not in the office every day. These individuals communicate via email and telephone to stay updated with tasks, assignments and production. Teamwork is important in these situations, because modern technology allows all employees to stay in touch about tasks and assignments despite being miles or time zones apart. Teamwork in these situations also shows trust and reliability, because employees trust that other workers get the job done in their absence.?

Related Reading: Teamwork Delivering Objectives?Departments and Teamwork?Each organization is made up of various departments. Sometimes these departments must work together in creating a project or task for the organization, such as the production department working closely with the accounting department to create products on a budget. These departments must work together as a team to meet the company's goals and objectives, despite having very different functions within the organization.?Ethnicities and Backgrounds?Another important reason for teamwork in an organization is the different backgrounds and ethnicities of people working in a single organization. Each employee has a different background or experience, meaning each of them can perform differently on any given tasks. Teamwork is important as these differences get ironed out, so all employees think and perform with the same goal in mind. In addition, all employees understand the methods used to reach these goals.

Team Pros

Teamwork is used across many different industries to increase performance, employee unity and company culture. Companies that must frequently develop new ideas or products using a project-based approach assemble teams in order to diffuse responsibility. Team members use teamwork to bounce ideas off of one another before deciding on a development path for a project.

Solving

Teamwork is important due to the problem-solving synergy gained from multiple minds working on a solution. When one person works on a specific company problem, that person only has her personal experience and knowledge from which to pull for solutions. Using teamwork, team members pool their collective ideas together to generate unique ideas for dealing with problems. Problems in this case are not purely negative. The problem could be developing a product for a consumer to address a need that the consumer does not know that she has.

Communication

Teamwork is the backbone of effective communication within a company. When employees work as individuals or independently on projects, they may not readily share knowledge or new information. This lack of communication increases the time it takes to complete projects, tasks or the development of solutions. Teamwork promotes conversation between employees regarding the task at hand, possibly preventing employees from working in opposite directions. For example, if one employee does not communicate that one method of addressing a problem is a dead end, and another employee is still trying to use that method, productivity is lowered.

Learning

When employees work together as a team within a company, every employee learns from one another. This knowledge is not limited to the personal experiences of coworkers; employees from different departments may learn information from each other regarding the limitations and possibilities of those departments. For example, if a marketing department consistently makes demands with unrealistic deadlines to another department, the marketing department may see through teamwork why its requests are unreasonable.

Disadvantage

Much has been written and said about the concept of teamwork in the workplace. Teamwork is typically viewed as a positive concept, as it brings together a group of employees who work for the benefit of the business. While teamwork does offer a variety of advantages, there are also some potential disadvantages you should be aware of when implementing a team concept in your workplace.

Unequal Participation

With some teams, there can be a tendency for members to sit back and let others do most of the work. This can cause resentment in the workplace, especially if you as a business owner recognize only the efforts of the team and not those of its leaders. Conflict may occur as a result, which can have a detrimental effect on workplace morale.

Not Team Players

Some workers may not function well as part of a team, preferring to work on their own. If your work environment requires working as a team to accomplish a task, you'll need to be sure you're screening out the "loners" during the hiring process. While these individuals may be excellent workers in the right environment, they'll likely have difficulty fitting into your work culture, resulting in dissatisfaction.

Limiting Creativity

Teamwork may also limit creative thinking. Employees may be so focused on working for the overall good of the team and fitting in to the team concept that they put their own ideas on the back burner. This lack of innovative thinking may keep your company from moving forward, resulting in stagnation.

Longer Process

According to the Entrepreneur.com, a team can sometimes take longer to produce a desired result. Teams typically need to go through a variety of processes, such as member selection, organization and socialization on the way to completing the task at hand. Teams can also result in added expense, as they can tie up resources like money, manpower and equipment.

Inherent Conflict

Whenever a group of people is assembled to achieve a goal, at least some conflict is likely to occur. Contrasting personal styles can clash and some members may have difficulty accepting ideas that differ from their own. Peer pressure can also result in a team member going against her better judgment to escape the wrath of other members or to facilitate the completion of a project.

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