Role of Motivation (and Techniques) in Organizational Behavior

Motivation is the driving force that drive individuals to pursue certain goals. It is the intention or reason for an individual’s activities and desires.

It involves pursuing a direction, putting in effort and persistence. It stimulates a person to do things or behave in a definite way. All employees work towards achieving organisational effectiveness but they all have their distinct needs which they would love want to fulfill.

Organisations have to keep the workforce happy and motivated because it is the people which will lead the organization to success (or failure). Employees are often the differentiating factors between organisations so to keep them in high spirits is very important.

Managers have to sense alienation and low morale among employees and do a root cause analysis (usually by talking to employees in different functions). Managers have to understand the reason behind such low motivation; are their certain factors that the organisation is either overlooking?

So managers have to take corrective measure for issues prevailing in the organisation. Addressing such concerns at the earliest helps companies reduce employee turnover.

Theories of Motivation

There are a variety of theories on motivation:

NEEDS or CONTENT theories

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1954)
• McGregor (1960)
• Herzberg 2 factor theory (1966)
• Clayton Alderfer ERG theory (1972)

COGNITIVE or PROCESS theories

• Expectancy theory – Vroom (1964)
• Equity theory – Adams (1965)
• Goal setting theory – Locke and Latham (1990)

Motivational Techniques

Companies employ motivational techniques so that the morale of the workforce is revived. These motivational techniques can be:

Monetary and Non-monetary Benefits

The organisation can provide better salary and fringe benefits to the employees. The non-monetary benefits can be some gift vouchers which can be given to employees during festive times. Salary is always a driving force for employees. Equity theory of motivation comes quite handy here as individuals always compare their input with their output. When employees find disparity, it can quickly turn into a huge demotivating factor for them. The employees’ salary should be as per the industry standards as well as their output.

Job enrichment

Lot of employees complain about their jobs being very monotonous. Job enrichment would help the organisation in retaining employee morale as well as reduction in the turnover by empowering of the employees. The employees and their managers would share their responsibilities and when such activity will take place then they (the employees) would feel more involved and committed towards their workplace. Managers should look for ways to make the jobs of the employees interesting. Job enrichment should lead to an increase in organisational effectiveness.

Job Rotation

Another motivational technique that is often used to remove monotony from work is to use job rotation. Since the employees do the same work on a regular basis, they find no challenges in their existing role and therefore monotony sets in. Therefore it is important to propose job rotation wherein the employees would be given different job profiles so that the work stays interesting and challenging. It will help increase employee morale.

Goal Setting

To increase employee involvement and interest it is important that employees sit with their managers while setting up goals. Such involvement will make them more aligned to organisational success and they will be more committed towards achieving the same.

Alternate Work Schedule

Fixed work schedules can also be a major reason why employees are demotivated. Every employee in the organisation may have their own personal commitments apart from the professional ones which one might not be able to fulfill because of the strict work schedules. Opening the perspective of having a flexible work schedule can influence the workforce to yield better performance. The organisation can opt for staggered hours where people/ individuals can work on a shift basis. This will also allow employees to have a better work life balance will in turn will motivate them further. Some companies also allow their employees to work from home once in a while.

To sum it up, it is important that the organisation keep the employees/workforce motivated in order to achieve its goals. A happy and motivated workforce can make the workplace creative and also increase organisational effectiveness. This will also save the organisation time, efforts and money for searching and training the alternatives/replacements. Management can use several motivational techniques to keep the workforce happy and motivated.

Motivating Others at Work: Exercise

Academic and Management (MBA) questions, assignments, projects on Motivation in Organizations.

Question

Motivating others at work Exercise

A factory makes cardboard spacing inserts which go into boxes which are used to package and post televisions and other similar (fragile) consumer electronic goods. The inserts are made on machines which compress shredded and recycled hot and damp cardboard. There are sixteen machines all doing the same thing. The machines can be altered to manufacture different inserts for the various customers of the firm. The machines are generally reliable and once they are set up they work continuously for a two shift 16 hour a day producing the inserts.

Task:

• You have just started with the organisation after completing your degree in Business Management and your supervisor has tasked you with (as a test of your understanding of motivational processes):
• Assessing and defining the problems in the workplace
• Proposing solutions to the problems which the organisation is currently experiencing.

Question. Ajay had always been an outstanding performer throughout academia. As expected he also got placed at his dream company. This company offered him lucrative compensation, great fringe benefits, job security and encouraging superiors. Two years have passed by at this company and Ajay no longer has the same thoughts about the job; though all has been the same. Ajay seems to have got bored of his mundane job and salary hikes don’t seem to motivate him anymore. He is on the verge of withdrawing.

a. What according to you is wrong with Ajay.
b. Discuss Herzberg’s two factor in the light of the case.

Q. Karan recently joined as manager HR in a leading E commerce company. On the surface itself he could sense that people were quite hostile with each other and the employee turnover was also high. Karan did a lot of rapport building with individuals across functions and understood that it was a clear case where people were demotivated and reasons were like less salary, no appreciation, and monotonous work, fixed and hectic working schedule. What motivational techniques can Karan use to revive the morale of the workforce? Provide concluding remarks to emphasise that why it is important for the employer/ organisation to keep the employees/ workforce motivated.

studymumbai

StudyMumbai.com is an educational resource for students, parents, and teachers, with special focus on Mumbai. Our staff includes educators with several years of experience. Our mission is to simplify learning and to provide free education. Read more about us.