Motivation

What is Motivation?
Motivation is the word derived from the word ’motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish the goals. In the work goal context the psychological factors stimulating the people’s behaviour can be -
desire for money success recognition job-satisfaction team work, etc
One of the most important functions of management is to create willingness amongst the employees to perform in the best of their abilities. Therefore the role of a leader is to arouse interest in performance of employees in their jobs. The process of motivation consists of three stages:-
A felt need or drive A stimulus in which needs have to be aroused When needs are satisfied, the satisfaction or accomplishment of goals.
Therefore, we can say that motivation is a psychological phenomenon which means needs and wants of the individuals have to be tackled by framing an incentive plan.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
If motivation is driven by the existence of unsatisfied needs, then it is worthwhile for a manager to understand which needs are the more important for individual employees. In this regard, Abraham Maslow developed a model in which basic, low-level needs such as physiological requirements and safety must be satisfied before higher-level needs such as self-fulfillment are pursued. In this hierarchical model, when a need is mostly satisfied it no longer motivates and the next higher need takes its place. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is shown in the following diagram:
Physiological Needs Physiological needs are those required to sustain life, such as: air water nourishment sleep According to Maslow's theory, if such needs are not satisfied then one's motivation will arise from the quest to satisfy them. Higher needs such as social needs and esteem are not felt until one has met the needs basic to one's bodily functioning. Safety Once physiological needs are met, one's attention turns to safety and security in order to be free from the threat of physical and emotional harm. Such needs might be fulfilled by: Living in a safe area Medical insurance Job security Financial reserves According to Maslow's hierarchy, if a person feels that he or she is in harm's way, higher needs will not receive much attention. Social Needs Once a person has met the lower level physiological and safety needs, higher level needs become important, the first of which are social needs. Social needs are those related to interaction with other people and may include: Need for friends Need for belonging Need to give and receive love Esteem Once a person feels a sense of "belonging", the need to feel important arises. Esteem needs may be classified as internal or external. Internal esteem needs are those related to self-esteem such as self respect and achievement. External esteem needs are those such as social status and recognition. Some esteem needs are: Self-respect Achievement Attention Recognition Reputation Maslow later refined his model to include a level between esteem needs and self-actualization: the need for knowledge and aesthetics. Self-Actualization Self-actualization is the summit of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It is the quest of reaching one's full potential as a person. Unlike lower level needs, this need is never fully satisfied; as one grows psychologically there are always new opportunities to continue to grow. Self-actualized people tend to have needs such as: Truth Justice Wisdom Meaning Self-actualized persons have frequent occurrences of peak experiences, which are energized moments of profound happiness and harmony. According to Maslow, only a small percentage of the population reaches the level of self-actualization. Implications for Management If Maslow's theory holds, there are some important implications for management. There are opportunities to motivate employees through management style, job design, company events, and compensation packages, some examples of which follow: Physiological needs: Provide lunch breaks, rest breaks, and wages that are sufficient to purchase the essentials of life. Safety Needs: Provide a safe working environment, retirement benefits, and job security. Social Needs: Create a sense of community via team-based projects and social events. Esteem Needs: Recognize achievements to make employees feel appreciated and valued. Offer job titles that convey the importance of the position. Self-Actualization: Provide employees a challenge and the opportunity to reach their full career potential. However, not all people are driven by the same needs - at any time different people may be motivated by entirely different factors. It is important to understand the needs being pursued by each employee. To motivate an employee, the manager must be able to recognize the needs level at which the employee is operating, and use those needs as levers of motivation. Limitations of Maslow's Hierarchy While Maslow's hierarchy makes sense from an intuitive standpoint, there is little evidence to support its hierarchical aspect. In fact, there is evidence that contradicts the order of needs specified by the model. For example, some cultures appear to place social needs before any others. Maslow's hierarchy also has difficulty explaining cases such as the "starving artist" in which a person neglects lower needs in pursuit of higher ones. Finally, there is little evidence to suggest that people are motivated to satisfy only one need level at a time, except in situations where there is a conflict between needs. Even though Maslow's hierarchy lacks scientific support, it is quite well-known and is the first theory of motivation to which many people they are exposed. To address some of the issues of Maslow's theory, Clayton Alderfer developed the ERG theory, a needs-based model that is more consistent with empirical findings.
Self Motivation at Work
Self-motivation is a power that drives us to keep moving ahead. It encourages continuous learning and success, whatever be the scenario. Self-motivation is a primary means of realizing our goals and progressing. It is basically related to our inventiveness in setting dynamic goals for ourselves, and our faith that we possess the required skills and competencies for achieving those challenging goals. We often feel the need for self-motivation.
Following are the ways/techniques for self-motivation:
Remain optimistic: When facing hurdles; we always make efforts to find how to overcome them. Also, one should understand the good in bad. Discover your interest area: If you lack interest in current task, you should not proceed and continue with it. If an individual has no interest in the task, but if it is essential to perform, he should correlate it with a bigger ultimate goal. Self-acknowledgement: One should know when his motivation level is saturated and he feels like on top of the world. There will be a blueprint that once an individual acknowledge, he can proceed with his job and can grow. Monitor and record your success: Maintain a success bar for the assignments you are currently working on. When you observe any progress, you will obviously want to foster it. Uplift energy level: Energy is very essential for self-motivation. Do regular exercises. Have proper sleep. Have tea/coffee during breaks to refresh you. Assist, support and motivate others: Discuss and share your views and ideas with your friends and peers and assist them in getting motivated. When we observe others performing good, it will keep us motivated too. Invite feedback from others on your achievements. Encourage learning: Always encourage learning. Read and grasp the logic and jist of the reading. Learning makes an individual more confident in commencing new assignments. Break your bigger goals into smaller goals: Set a short time deadline for each smaller goal so as to achieve bigger goal on time.
Workplace Motivation
“I am in this job because I have no other option.” If this is what an employee of your company feels, read on to know how this statement can be changed to something more positive - “I love what I do.” First things first - whose responsibility is it to ensure that an employee loves his job? While an employee would say - the employer, the human resource experts have a different point of view which sounds fair. It’s both the employer and the employee who should work together to make work fun for each other. It is interesting to know here, that employees do not rank ’salary’ as the top factor in determining whether they like their jobs or not. What is important to them then - the opportunity to do what is ’important’. Almost all the employees would like to feel part of the big picture and would want to contribute to the organizational goals in some way or the other. Doing the mundane, routine work will never excite them - what excites them is - work that challenges them to use their talent. Right Management Consultants conducted a survey sometime back and found that 83% of about 500 workers surveyed were motivated by “challenges at work”. Also, as per an executive editor of the Harvard Business Review, while salary and promotions could do a great job of demotivating people if handled ineffectively, they aren’t so much effective in motivating people. So then what needs to be done for effective motivation at workplace?
Link Rewards directly to Performance- An organization should adopt a fair reward structure which provides incentive to the most deserving employee. Have an incentive structure in place doesn’t solve the problem... what makes it workable is the employees trust in the system and believe that they will be rewarded if they perform well. Compliment employees- Even though an employee’s name has not appeared in the list of people getting incentives, go ahead and compliment that employee for a job well done - no matter how small. There is nothing more satisfying to an employee than a pat on his back. Be transparent- While there may be some strategic decisions which you might want to share with the employees at a later stage, make sure employees do not give in to the rumours. Stay in touch with the employees. Work on your PDP- Every employee is responsible for his / her own career. He / she should work towards his ’Personal Development Plan’ [PDP] as discussed and agreed by his manager. Find out what are the training company offers and which is best suited to his development needs. How this will motivate you - remember training always increase your marketability and enhance your career. Participate and Network- Remember you work for a company where a one-on-one attention might not be possible. Do not wait for an invitation to participate in a discussion. If you are a part of a forum, then you have full right to express your opinion and be a part of the process. Expressing yourself is a good way of motivating yourself.