1.4.4 Motivation in theory and practice Flashcards
Motivation
The willingness to work and achieve a given target or goal.
Importance of employee motivation to a business?
- Increased productivity and efficiency –> Generates high levels of output and quality.
- More reliable and dependable workers e.g. show up on time, fewer sick days, meet deadlines.
- Lower turnover rates.
Financial methods of motivation
- Piecework
- Commission
- Performance-related-pay
- Bonus
- Profit sharing
Piecework
Payment based on the number of units of output produced.
Advantage and disadvantage of piecework
+ Incentive to increase output.
- Employees may ignore factors such as quality.
Commission
A bonus paid based on achieving a sales target.
Advantage and disadvantage of commission
+ Incentive to increase sales revenue for the business.
- Focus taken away from other areas of the job such as customer service.
Performance-related-pay
Workers are paid extra for meeting job-related targets.
Disadvantages of performance-related-pay
- Difficult to ensure pay is fair across business.
- Expensive.
Bonus
Additional payment given to staff as a reward for achieving targets.
Profit sharing
Distributing a percentage of net profit across the workforce.
Non financial methods of motivation
- Delegation
- Consultation
- Empowerment
- Team working
- Flexible working
- Job enrichment
- Job enlargement
- Job rotation
Delegation
Transferring responsibility from a manager to their staff.
Consultation
Seek input of staff on decisions that affect their work.
Empowerment
Give staff greater control over their work and decision making.
Job enrichment
Gives employees more challenging work.
Job enlargement
Gives employees greater range of work to do at the same level.
Job rotation
Moving staff between different roles in the business.
Taylor’s scientific management
Workers do not naturally enjoy work and is need close supervision and control.
- Therefore managers should break down production into a series of small tasks.
- Workers should then be given appropriate training and tools so they can work as efficiently as possible on one set task.
- Workers are then paid according to the number of items they produce in a set period of time e.g. piece-rate-pay.
- As a result workers are encouraged to work hard and maximise their productivity.
- This theory is associated with manufacturing and factory work.
- Autocratic leadership style.
Advantages and disadvantages of Taylor’s scientific management
+ Increased efficiency.
+ Specialisation of labour.
+ Improved training can lead to better performance.
- Workers may disengage from work if they are reduced to working in a machine-like system.
- This approach may not work for roles that require high levels of creativity.
- Overemphasis on efficiency reduces worker satisfaction and creativity.
Mayo’s Theory
Mayo’s management theory is that employees are motivated far more by relational factors than by monetary rewards or environmental factors such as lighting.
- Businesses should re-organise production to encourage greater use of team working and introduce personnel departments to encourage greater management involvement.
- Involving workers in decision making and good communication helped to improve motivation.
- It is important that workers believe that their managers are interested in them.
- Financial incentives or changing working conditions did not permanently improve motivation.
- Paternalistic - workers want to feel like their managers are interested in them.
- Democratic - communication and opportunities to influence decisions are important.
Advantages and disadvantages of Mayo’s theory
+ Improved job satisfaction.
+ Increased productivity.
+ Better communication.
+ Employee empowerment - increase workers sense of ownership and responsibility.
- Time consuming to build positive relationships.
- Lack of control as workers make more decisions.
- Resistance to change.
Maslow Hierarchy of needs
- Five tiers of human needs that must be met for individuals to reach their full potential.
- At the base of the hierarchy are physical needs such as food, shelter and warmth. Businesses meet these needs by paying workers enough and providing a warm, dry, working environment.
- Once these needs are satisfied employees become motivated to achieve needs such as security and stability and so on.
- Businesses can motivate workers by giving them the opportunity to satisfy these needs at work.
- Methods to motivate employees will depend on where they are in the hierarchy.
- In very low paid jobs, money may be a motivator, but once money needs have been met, health and safety and job security become more important.
- Paternalistic leadership style.
Advantages and disadvantages of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
+ Higher employee satisfaction.
+ Increased motivation.
+ Improved employee performance.
- Businesses need to tailor their approach to meet the individual needs of their employees.
- Expensive.
- Time consuming - requires significant effort from management to connect individually to understand which opportunities for personal growth are required.
Hertzberg’s 2 factor theory
A business needs to provide hygiene factors as without these workers will be dissatisfied.
- Working conditions.
- Salary.
- Policies and rules.
- Co-worker relations.
- Quality of supervision.
Motivators: In order to motivate workers business needs to:
1. Recognise and reward achievement.
2. Make job interesting.
3. Give workers responsibility.
4. Help workers to develop and progress.
- Democratic leadership style
