Motivating employees 2.1

Question 1

Why do people work

Answer 1

Money-Essential to live and some luxuries
Esteem needs-Feeling important and the job you do is important
Social needs-Meeting new people at work or making frineds at work

Question 2

What are the benefits of a well motivated worker

Answer 2

High output per worker meaning keeping costs low whilst increasing profits
Willing to accept change such as new methods of working
Loyal workforce reducing cost of recruiting workers because workers may not leave

Question 3

What are the different concepts of human needs

Answer 3

Physiological needs- Food,rest and shelter
Safety needs-Protection against poverty and having job security
social needs-Friendship and a sense of belonging
Esteem needs-Given recognition for doing a good job well
Self actualisation-succeeding to full potential feeling you have done a good job not just for financial rewards

Question 4

What is Taylors motivation theory

Answer 4

Taylor thought all individuals would be motivated just by money, Therefore he broke down peoples jobs in factories and how much they should be able to do in a day. If they achieved this goal they would be paid more money

Question 5

What are the down sides of Taylors motivation thoery

Answer 5

Not all employees are motivated by money

More money can be paid but if they are still not motivated there will be no productivity gains

Question 6

What is Herzbergs motivation theory

Answer 6

Herzberg things there are 2 sets of human needs (Motivation and hygiene)
Hygiene factors may act as the demotivates if hygiene factors are not satisfied but if fulfilled they will not act as motivators where the motivation factors act as the main motivators

Question 7

What are the financial methods of motivation

Answer 7

Wages
Salary
Bonus
Commision
Profit sharing

Question 8

What are the advantages if Wage to workers

Answer 8

Wages paid every week
Worker does not have to wait long to be paid
If employee work extra hours they may get paid an extra amount

Question 9

Disadvantages of wage

Answer 9

Take time and money to calculate how much needs to be paid every week and usually need to hire people to do this

Question 10

Advantages of salaries

Answer 10

Easy to calculate amount because it is divided in to 12 monthly amounts
Payment has to only be calculated once a month instead of 4 times a month

Question 11

Disadvantages of salaries

Answer 11

Workers may prefer weekly payments

No payment for extra time worked possibly leading to workers reluctant to work longer hours

Question 12

Advantages of bonuses

Answer 12

Motivate workers with extra money

Workers feel motivated after feeling recognition if they are paid bonus

Question 13

Disadvantages of bonuses

Answer 13

If only a few receive bonuses other workers may be questioning why they did not receive one
Bonus could be expected by workers and if the business had a poor year workers may be hard to manage

Question 14

Advantages of commisions

Answer 14

More sales more pay meaning they would be encourages to sell more
Good for business because sales may increase

Question 15

Disadvantages of commisions

Answer 15

Very stressful for sales staff because pay will fall if they have a bad month

Question 16

Advantage of profit sharing

Answer 16

some of the profits earned by the business will be paid to workers
Motivate employees to work harder

Question 17

Disadvantages of profit sharing

Answer 17

If business makes low profits or a loss there will be no profit share disappointing workers
Profit share calculated on workers exising wage, higher paid workers mean higher profit share so this may seem unfair on lower paid workers who work just as hard

Question 18

What are the Non financial methods of motivation

Answer 18

Job rotation
Job enrichment
Teamworking
Training
Opportunities for promotion

Question 19

Advantages of job rotation

Answer 19

Easier to move workers around factor if people are ill and jobs need covering

Question 20

Disadvantages of job rotation

Answer 20

This does not necessarily make jobs more interesting

Question 21

Advantages of job enrichment

Answer 21

More satisfaction from workers completing more tasks raising the productivity

Question 22

Disadvantages of job enrichment

Answer 22

Additional training may be necessary to take on extra tasks

Question 23

Advantages of team working

Answer 23

More freedom on how to complete the task

More satisfaction because they have more control over jobs

Question 24

Disadvantages of team working

Answer 24

Some workers may prefer to work alone rather than in a team

Question 25

Advantages of training

Answer 25

Workers feel achievement when they gain and apply new work based skills
Workers can be selected for training courses which can give them a feeling of recognition

Question 26

Disadvantages of training

Answer 26

The cost of training courses may be a lot of time and money where the workers may not learn that much

Question 27

Advantages of promotion

Answer 27

Employees who are offered promotions feel that their work may be recognised giving them more motivation

Question 28

Disadvantages of promotion

Answer 28

Cause arguments between employees because some may think they deserve it more than the actual one who gets promoted