1.4.4 Motivation in theory and practice Flashcards
What is motivation and what can it lead to?
- How inclined and enthusiastic employees are about carrying out certain tasks.
- Greater productivity = less wastage = higher profitability.
3 things that employees may do if they feel demotivated:
- Higher absenteeism.
- Lack commitment/loyalty to the business.
- Low productivity.
If many employees, on a wider scale, feel demotivated, what may this lead to?
- Industrial disputes.
- High labour turnover.
What was Taylor’s motivation theory?
- Scientific management
- “fair days pay for fair days work”
- believed that if employees weren’t supervised they would do the bare minimum.
- carried out time and motion studies to find the most efficient ways to do things by breaking down each job into smaller, repetitive tasks (division of labour) and the most efficient workers to carry out the jobs.
- employees that did more should get paid more.
Conclusions of Taylor’s motivation theory:
- higher motivation = needs higher wages. higher wages = higher output
- managers should tell employees what to do.
- workers should just do as they are told and get paid based on this.
Main drawback of Taylor’s motivation theory:
- Repetitive tasks can be highly demotivating.
What is Mayo’s motivation theory?
- human relations theory.
- workers at hawthorne factory.
- one group of workers worked in typical conditions while the others had their conditions changed.
- changes such as lengths and times of breaks, brightness etc.
- those that faced changes were more productive.
- people worked better in teams rather than solo.
- needed attention from management to motivate them better, those with changed conditions had more focus on them from management.
Conclusions that we can draw from Mayo’s motivation theory:
- managers should boost communication and value their employees more.
- meet social needs = higher motivation
What did Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory say?
- pyramid of needs.
- once one level had been met they could move up to the next.
- each need will have some importance to all workers.
What were the levels in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
Bottom - top
1. Basic (food, water, clothes)
2. Safety (safe work environment and job security)
3. Social (friends, teamwork)
4. Self-esteem (achievement)
5. Self-actualisation (meeting potential)
Drawbacks of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:
- isn’t always obvious which level the individual is at.
- different workers may put their needs in different orders.
- life experiences outside of work may impact on which level the individual is on.
What’s Herzberg’s motivation theory?
- two factors that impact on the motivation of workers.
- hygiene : good supervision, working conditions, pay. Don’t motivate but if they aren’t good, workers may get dissatisfied.
- motivation : interesting work, personal achievement, scope for responsibility, etc. Do positively motivate workers.
- recognises that motivation comes from individuals’ needs.
What is the main criticism of Herzberg’s motivation theory?
- based on a small sample.
- doesn’t consider that different people will have different hygiene and motivational factors.
Five financial methods of motivating employees:
Piecework
Commission
Bonus
Performance-related pay
Profit share
What is piecework?
One adv plus two dis
- workers paid per unit produced.
+ may motivate to work harder/faster in order to make more units. - quality may suffer as employees may rush
- slow workers may be working at below minimum wage