Foundation of Employee Motivation Essay

Employee motivation is a key area of personnel policy of any company. Motivation is a set of driving forces that motivate a person to certain types of actions. In the aggregate, different motives, which often push people to opposite actions, are the driving force, whose vector of application may be different depending on the strength of individual motives. Motivation to work is formed both under the influence of internal factors (needs) and external (incentives); both material and non-material factors. Still, the system of personnel motivation is most effective when it impacts those aspects that are consistent with the internal motivation of the employee. This discussion focuses on employee motivation foundations in an attempt to determine the most effective formula of motivation improvement.
There are two components of employee stimulation: external reward, which involves payment, the value of payment, and confidence in the connection between the payments and their value; and internal rewards including praise, benefits, promotion, etc. Traditionally it is believed that once an employee receives payment for his labor, he must be pleased. In the case of bad attitude to official duties, an employee can be fired, since he was provided with incentives, but just wasn’t enthusiastic enough about his job (Altman & Akdere, 2008). Generally, the most effective system of employee motivation is considered to be “motivation by the result”, because it substantiates the remuneration volumes for the business, and allows the employees to receive and to increase the income in a clear link to their efforts (Deckop & Cirka, 2000).
At the traditional approach, the majority of employees doesn’t like to work and tries to avoid it whenever possible, thus, the employees should be made to perform the work through administrative, economic and psychological pressure. Still, most employees prefer to be performers and avoid responsibility, creativity and initiative. The traditional theory X, or the method of “carrot and stick” is no longer functional even for manual workers in civilized countries (Mickel, 2008).
Therefore, the task of modern management is to create conditions under which the potential of employees can be used most effectively. Nowadays, modern prosperous corporations adhere to the approaches Y or Z, in which the primary responsibility of an effective manager is to achieve the interests of employees in labor and their own performance (Altman & Akdere, 2008; Rupp, 2011). At the contemporary approach, the employees of an organization not only desire to work, but are able to maintain self-determination and self-control, to determine strategies and achieve goals, seeking to take responsibility and develop ingenuity (Jong, 2006). Researches show that the first category (employees of companies sharing traditional approach) includes most uneducated and careless employees, and their need for internal motivation is doubtful (Mickel, 2008). It is also possible to notice that the movement from one category to another (modern approach) factually describes the evolution of the personnel.
Still, statistics says that only 1-2% of people are committed to the top of the pyramid of Maslow (Jong, 2006); and these employees really need to be provided with an opportunity for self-expression, naturally guaranteeing the stable base of the pyramid, as internal promotion is paying off only when the employee feels socially secure. Otherwise, the enthusiasm from praise is a perishable product.
Therefore, in recent years, HR managers develop new ways to stimulate employees, unifying different approaches. According to their researches, motivation brings the results only when subordinates perceive the recognition of their contribution to the whole work and have a deserved status (Rupp, 2011). The interior and size of the cabinet, attendance of prestigious congresses, a function of company’s representative in important negotiations, a trip abroad, an unusual designation of the position – this all emphasizes the position of the employee in the eyes of colleagues and strangers. However, this method should be applied delicately: the partial or total denial of the status, the employee was previously granted with, usually leads to extremely violent reactions up to dismissal (Altman & Akdere, 2008).
In addition, unexpected, unpredictable and irregular promotions and bonuses motivate better than projected ones, when they almost become a part of the salary. Still, the reinforcement must be immediate, resulting in a prompt and fair response to the activity of employees. They begin to realize that their extraordinary achievements are not only notices, but also tangibly rewarded. The work done and unexpected rewards should not be greatly separated in time; the more the time interval is, the less the effect is. Moreover, the stimulations of the manager must eventually be implemented, rather than remain in the form of pledges.
HR experts state that employees should also be encouraged for intermediate achievements, without waiting for the completion of work, as it is difficult to achieve big goals and this happens relatively rarely (Deckop & Cirka, 2000). Therefore, it is desirable to reinforce the positive motivation in not too long intervals of time. But for this, the common task must be divided and planned in stages, so that each of them could be adequately assessed and properly remunerated for, in accordance with the volume of actual work performed. Typically, significant awards granted to several employees cause envy, while small and frequent cause satisfaction (Rupp, 2011).
Thus, the typical effective incentives are rather intangible ones and bear the factors of prestige (Jung & Tak, 2008; Mickel, 2008; Rupp, 2011; Twenge, 2010): e.g., promotion; empowerment; economic bonuses for certain successes; recognition; the best seat at the table at the meeting; compliments in the presence of colleagues; the possibility of direct communication with the supreme chief; life and health insurance; payment for medical services; unscheduled paid vacation; security of employment; loans with low interest rate on studying; housing purchase/credit; payment of expenses for car repair and petrol; subsidies on food; paying bills for mobile at corporate rates; purchase of products produced by the company at lower prices; increase of working hours flexibility; providing free subscriptions to periodicals; providing tickets for various cultural activities; free Internet access, etc. Simultaneously, a particular company may not have a standard package of incentives; incentives should be targeted, focused on a specific employee and his personal motivation (Mickel, 2008).
It is clear that nowadays, companies are forced to apply only classical economic motivation in the form of high salaries and cash bonuses (bonuses for achieving certain goals and other special individual awards), but also non-economic ways to stimulate employees. Summarizing the experience of practical activities of enterprises has shown the importance of intangible incentive instruments for companies’ employees, and confirmed a misconception about the absolute importance of material factors in shaping the loyalty of the staff.
The possible directions for the revitalization of intangible factors to increase the loyalty of staff may include (Avey, 2008; Zhou, 2008): maintenance of a favorable psychological climate in the team; development of conflict management; establishment and development of organizational culture; formation of a sense of justice among employees; building effective feedback systems, distribution effective evaluation systems among the staff; attention to the problems of employees and formation of the sense of security; integration of employees in the company community; creating “one team” by increasing the tightness of positive emotional bonds and formation of positive group opinion in respect of professional activities.
In general, the interest of employees towards the organization and its successful economic activity is higher, the greater the number of available benefits and services is, including those that are not directly prescribed in the legislation. This leads to a reduction in staff turnover since the employee is unlikely to want to lose what he’s provided with in case of dismissal. Such a policy can provide additional income for the employees in case of low wage levels (e.g., in state-owned enterprises), or can be offered for attracting and retaining skilled workers at high wages.