1.4.4 - Motivation in Theory and Practice Flashcards
What is motivation
- Having motivated staff leads to greater productivity which means less wastage and higher profitability for a business
Why is employee motivation important
- Motivated employees are more productive
- Productive employees are :
- More creative
- More accurate
- More analytical
- Better at handling problems and customer complaints
- Better at giving good customer service
- Better at selling
- Motivated staff are more reliable and loyal to the business
- Loyal staff are less likely to leave, which improves labour turnover rates
- Loyal and motivated staff are also less likely to take time off which improves absenteeism rates
- This reduces business costs of having to recruit and train new staff to replace those that leave, or of hiring temporary staff to cover
What are the different motivation theories
- Taylor (scientific management)
- Mayo (human relations theory)
- Maslow (hierarchy of needs)
- Herzberg (two factor theory)
What is Taylors scientific management (Taylorism)
Taylor and Scientific Management (1909) Taylorism
❑He believed in a “fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work”
❑He also believed that employee would do the minimum amount of work if not supervised
❑He carried out time and motion studies
The implications of Taylor’s theory for managing behaviour at work were:
✓ The main form of motivation is high wages, higher wages equalled higher output
✓ A manager’s job is to tell employees what to do
✓ A worker’s job is to do what they are told and get paid accordingly
What is Mayo’s human relations theory
- (1930) Mayo based his assumptions on research undertaken with workers at the Hawthorne factory of the Western Electric Company in Chicago
- Mayo looked at motivation in the Hawthorne factory:
- He changed the working conditions such as break times and duration of the ladies who worked in the relay assembly room at the factory
- Found that just by being studied - the employee’s levels of motivation increased
- Working in teams was more important than money
- Non-financial motivators were the most important
- Boring and repetitive work can be a demotivator
What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
- Maslow’s theory was that we all have a pyramid of needs.
- We start by meeting our needs at the bottom for example; food, water, shelter
- We then look for a secure job to meet our safety needs
- We then look for teamwork and a social job
- We then look for responsibility and promotion
- Then when all these needs are met we start to self actualise, which is where we reach our potential
What are the different categories of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
- Self-actualization needs
- Esteem needs
- Love / belonging needs
- Safety needs
- Physiological needs
What was Mayo’s Ladies of the relay assembly room that Elton Mayo studied
- Mayo stated that everything depends on how they see each other; the employees, managers, directors
- It’s about how well they communicate with each other
- It’s the recognition and appreciation that increase the internal job satisfaction of any person and as a result the overall productivity is increased
- The relay assembly production was not increased because of the environment it was the feeling of being recognised and appreciated plus more social interaction among the employees that caused the internal satisfaction and increased the productivity
- Mayo concluded from his experiments that the concept the employees purely work to earn money and living is totally false.
What is self actualization (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)
- This is the top of the pyramid
- We only rise to this level of needs once we have fulfilled all the others
- At this level we are; creative spontaneous, problem solving, accepting of our circumstances, in a challenging job, inspiring others, and highly engaged with our work environment
- We are interested in; travelling, hobbies, educating ourselves, enriching activities and realising our potential
- At this level we are playful, mindful and self- sufficient
What is Esteem needs (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)
- At this level we have the psychological need for the respect of others
- We seek independence, recognition, honour, status and responsibility
- We want to feel important at work and feel that we are vital to a business
- We seek a feeling of accomplishment and we are
focussed on building a solid work image - We might be buying cars, furniture, gym membership and credit cards
What is Love / belonging needs (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)
- At this point in the hierarchy we seek love and friendship
- We crave affection and intimacy
- We look to belong to social groups, clubs, community groups
- We wish to be trusted and accepted in society
- This is also sometimes known as social needs
- If these needs are not being met we are unlikely to be productive
What is safety needs (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)
- At this point in the hierarchy we have the need for safety and security and health
- Safety in terms of having a roof over our head, but it can also mean security of employment
- If employees think they may be sacked or made redundant they are unlikely to be productive or self actualising because their safety needs are not being met
- Equally an ill employee will not be working at their best either
What is physiological ( basic needs ) - (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)
- At the foot of the pyramid is all our basic needs
- The need we have for food, water, warmth and everything else we need for basic life
- If these are not being met we have no interest in joining clubs, actualizing, having a family, falling in love etc.
