Motivation

Question 1

Why do people work

Answer 1

People work for several reasons:
Have a better standard of living: by earning incomes they can satisfy their needs and wants
Be secure: having a job means they can always maintain or grow that standard of living
Gain experience and status: work allows people to get better at the job they do and earn a reputable status in society
Have job satisfaction: people also work for the satisfaction of having a job

Question 2

What did F.W Taylor base his ideas on

Answer 2

F. W. Taylor: Taylor based his ideas on the assumption that workers were motivated by personal gains, mainly money and that increasing pay would increase productivity (amount of output produced).

Question 3

Who created the piece-rate system

Answer 3

F.W Taylor

Question 4

Why was the piece-rate system created

Answer 4

So workers would be motivated to work more and work more efficiently because that is what their pay is based off of

Question 5

Is F.W Taylors theory completely true

Answer 5

However, this theory is not entirely true. There are various other motivators in the modern workplace, some even more important than money.

Question 6

Why do firms go to the pain of making sure their workers are motivated?

Answer 6

When workers are well-motivated, they become highly productive and effective in their work, become absent less often, and less likely to leave the job, thus increasing the firm’s efficiency and output, leading to higher profits. For example, in the service sector, if the employee is unhappy at his work, he may act lazy and rude to customers, leading to low customer satisfaction, more complaints and ultimately a bad reputation and low profits.

Question 7

Does the piece-rate system have any flaws

Answer 7

The piece rate system is not very practical in situations where output cannot be measured (service industries) and also will lead to (high) output that doesn’t guarantee high quality. This is unfair to workers who are trying to create quality products and are being surpassed by other people who just make low quality products in terms of pay

Question 8

What is the Herzberg 2 factor theory

Answer 8

There are 2 different types of needs, basic needs ‘hygiene factors’ and motivators. According to Herzberg, the hygiene factors need to be satisfied, if not they will act as de-motivators to the workers. However hygiene factors don’t act as motivators as their effect quickly wears off. Motivators will truly motivate workers to work more effectively. All hygiene factors must be satisfied or motivators won’t be able to motivate people.

Question 9

What are some hygiene factors

Answer 9

status
security
work conditions
company policies and administration
relationship with superiors
relationship with subordinates
salary

Question 10

What are some Herzberg motivators

Answer 10

achievement
recognition
personal growth/development
promotion
work itself

Question 11

Examples of financial motivators

Answer 11

Wages: often paid weekly. They can be calculated in two ways:
- Time-Rate: pay based on the number of hours worked. Although output may increase, it doesn’t mean that workers will sincerely use the time to produce more- they may simply waste time on very little output since their pay is based only on how long they work. The productive and unproductive worker will get paid the same amount, irrespective of their output.
- Piece-Rate: pay based on the no. of output produced. Same as time-rate, this doesn’t ensure that quality output is produced. Thus, efficient workers may feel demotivated as they’re getting the same pay as inefficient workers, despite their efficiency.

Salary: paid monthly or annually.
Commission: paid to salesperson, based on a percentage of sales they’ve made. The higher the sales, the more the pay. Although this will encourage salespersons to sell more products and increase profits, it can be very stressful for them because no sales made means no pay at all.

Bonus: additional amount paid to workers for good work

Performance-related pay: paid based on performance. An appraisal (assessing the effectiveness of an employee by senior management through interviews, observations, comments from colleagues etc.) is used to measure this performance and a pay is given based on this.
Profit-sharing: a scheme whereby a proportion of the company’s profits is distributed to workers. Workers will be motivated to work better so that a higher profit is made.

Share ownership: shares in the firm are given to employees so that they can become part owners of the company. This will increase employees’ loyalty to the company, as they feel a sense of belonging.

Question 12

Difference between financial and non-financial motivators

Answer 12

Financial motivators are directly monetary but non-financial motivators are not directly related to money or not related to money at all

Question 13

What are fringe benefits

Answer 13

Fringe benefits are non-financial rewards given to employees

Question 14

Examples of fringe benefits

Answer 14

Company vehicle/car
Free healthcare
Children’s education fees paid for
Free accommodation
Free holidays/trips
Discounts on the firm’s products

Question 15

Are fringe benefits non-financial motivators

Answer 15

Yes

Question 16

Non-financial motivators examples

Answer 16

Job Satisfaction: the enjoyment derived from the feeling that you’ve done a good job. Employees have different ideas about what motivates them- it could be pay, promotional opportunities, team involvement, relationship with superiors, level of responsibility, chances for training, the working hours, status of the job etc. Responsibility, recognition and satisfaction are in particular very important.

Job Rotation: involves workers swapping around jobs and doing each specific task for only a limited time and then changing round again. This increases the variety in the work itself and will also make it easier for managers to move around workers to do other jobs if somebody is ill or absent. The tasks themselves are not made more interesting, but the switching of tasks may avoid boredom among workers. This is very common in factories with a huge production line where workers will move from retrieving products from the machine to labelling the products to packing the products to putting the products into huge cartons.

Job Enlargement: where extra tasks of similar level of work are added to a worker’s job description. These extra tasks will not add greater responsibility or work for the employee, but make work more interesting. E.g.: A worker hired to stock shelves will now, as a result of job enlargement, arrange stock on shelves, label stock, fetch stock etc.

Job Enrichment: involves adding tasks that require more skill and responsibility to a job. This gives employees a sense of trust from senior management and motivates them to carry out the extra tasks effectively. Some additional training may also be given to the employee to do so. E.g.: a receptionist employed to welcome customers will now, as a result of job enrichment, deal with telephone enquiries, word-process letters etc.

Team-working: a group of workers is given responsibility for a particular process, product or development. They can decide as a team how to organize and carry out the tasks. The workers take part in decision making and take responsibility for the process. It gives them more control over their work and thus a sense of commitment, increasing job satisfaction. Working as a group will also add to morale, fulfill social needs and lead to job satisfaction.

Opportunities for training: providing training will make workers feel that their work is being valued. Training also provides them opportunities for personal growth and development, thereby attaining job satisfaction.

Opportunities of promotion: providing opportunities for promotion will get workers to work more efficiently and fill them with a sense of self-actualisation and job satisfaction

Question 17

What is the reason why workers want to work hard

Answer 17

Motivation

Question 18

What is the main motivator

Answer 18

Money

Question 19

What are other factors that motivate a person

Answer 19

Other factors that may motivate a person to choose to do a particular job may include social needs (need to communicate and work with others), esteem needs (to feel important, worthwhile), job satisfaction (to enjoy good work), security (knowing that your job and pay are secure- that you will not lose your job).

Question 20

Did F.W Taylor suggest a scientific breakdown of labor

Answer 20

Yes

Question 21

What is Maslow’s hierarchy

Answer 21

Maslow’s Hierarchy: Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows that employees are motivated by each level of the hierarchy going from bottom to top. All the requirements of one section have to be achieved before moving onto the next. Managers can identify which level their workers are on and then take the necessary action to advance them onto the next level.

Question 22

Does Maslow’s Hierarchy have flaws

Answer 22

One limitation of this theory is that it doesn’t apply to every worker. For some employees, for example, social needs aren’t important but they would be motivated by recognition and appreciation for their work from seniors.