Motivation Flashcards
define motivation
the desire to complete a task to the best of your ability
What are the two types of motivation?
Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.
What is intrinsic motivation?
The will to work due to enjoyment of the work itself or personal ambition or work ethic.
What is extrinsic motivation?
The will or desire to complete a goal due to external factors, such as the promise of a reward or to avoid punishment.
What is employee engagement?
When an employee is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work, taking positive actions to meet the organisation’s goals.
What are the components of employee engagement?
Intellectual engagement, affective engagement, and social engagement.
What is intellectual engagement?
Thinking hard about the job and how to do it better.
What is affective engagement?
Feeling positively about doing a good job.
What is social engagement?
Actively taking opportunities to discuss work-related improvements with others at work.
What is the relationship between employee engagement and motivation?
Increased engagement can lead to higher motivation as employees feel more responsible and trusted by the business.
What are the benefits of motivated and engaged employees?
Increased labor productivity, lower unit costs, increased efficiency, lower labor turnover, improved brand image, better quality products/services, and less waste.
What is intellectual engagement?
Thinking hard about the job and how to do it better.
What is affective engagement?
Feeling positively about doing a good job.
What is social engagement?
Actively taking opportunities to discuss work-related improvements with others at work.
What is the relationship between employee engagement and motivation?
Increased engagement can lead to higher motivation as employees feel more responsible and trusted by the business.
What are the benefits of motivated and engaged employees?
Increased labor productivity, lower unit costs, increased efficiency, lower labor turnover, improved brand image, better quality products/services, and less waste.
What is a piece-rate system?
A payment system based on the number of items each worker produces.
What are some financial methods of motivation?
Methods include piece rate, commission, salary schemes, and performance-related pay.
What are the potential problems of a piece-rate system?
It may encourage workers to focus on quantity over quality, lead to increased scrap costs, and influence output based on worker needs rather than customer demand.
What did Taylor believe about piece-rate systems?
He considered it an important motivator for workers.
How can piece-rate systems affect supervision costs?
They may reduce supervision needs, but increased costs from reworking and waste can offset these savings.
What is commission in the context of employee pay?
A sum of money paid to employees based on their sales performance, often in addition to a base salary.
What is a typical mix of base salary and commission?
A common mix is 30% from base salary and 70% from commission.
What are the advantages of commission-based pay?
It allows high-performing salespeople to earn more, incentivizes hard work, and links payroll costs directly to sales revenue.
What are the disadvantages of commission-based pay?
Employees may have unreliable income and might engage in dishonest practices to increase earnings.
What are salary schemes?
Payment structures that include a base salary along with commissions based on performance.
Advantages of salary schemes
Relatively simple and cheap to administer and allow labour cost to be forecast of accuracy
Lead to stability and pay in our easily understood by the workforce who will be able to be more readily predict and check their pay
Disadvantages of salary schemes
Do not provide direct incentives to improve productivity or performance and can lead to rigid hierarchical pay ranges
Pay meant by time is payment for input rather than output
What is performance related pay?
Systems that reward employees based on an assessment of their individual performance are usually measured against pre-agreed objectives. This generally takes the form of a bonus or increase in salary.
Advantages of performance related pay
There are direct links between pay and effort
It may lead to a reduction in cost as a result of low levels of supervision and increase in productivity and an improvement in quality
There may be improve improvement in motivation and a passport reduction and labour turnover and absenteeism
Disadvantages of PRP
It may become a source of conflict among staff who are receiving differential payments for what they perceive to be the same effort
The effects on motivation is the debatable because PRP usually represents only a small proportion of salary
Define profit sharing
Profit sharing our financial incentives in which a proportion of firms profit is divided among its employees in a form of a bonus paid in addition to the employees salary
Advantages of profit sharing
It may help to reduce problems related to a feeling of them and us between employees and management or shareholders
It may lessen resistance to change because the focus is on profits of the whole organisation rather than the individuals job performance
Disadvantages of profit sharing
Unless the profit share amounts to a reasonable proportion of salary employees are unlikely to consider it a significant incentive and hence it will have little or no effects on motivation and behaviour
As it is not linked to individual performance and may encourage the free rider problem or a certain work is putting in less effort knowing that all employees receive the same awards
Define share ownership
A financial incentive whereby companies give shares to their employees or sell them at favourable rates below the market price
Advantages of share ownership
Believed to provide senior management with the incentive to perform at their very best
Disadvantages of share ownership
Some people suggest that it’s likely to lead to short-term ism, i.e. a focus on improving performance when the share options is due in order to make a profit from the sale of shares rather than a long-term commitment to improve performance
What is job enlargement?
Increasing the scope of a job either by job rotation or job enrichment
Define job rotation
Were the jobs expanded horizontally by giving the workers more task but at the same level of responsibility?
What is job enrichment ?
Whether the job is expanded vertically by giving the workers more responsibility
Advantages of job rotation
Relieves the boredom of work
Workers may be motivated because of their wider range of skills and they will become more flexible
Greatest sense of participation
Disadvantages of job rotation
Retraining costs will increase and there may be a fallen output because there is less specialisation
It could be seen as simply involving a greater number of boring task but with a reduction in the social benefits of working since groups will be constantly changing
Advantages of job enrichment
It develops workers unused skills and presents them with challenges
It allows workers to make greater contributions to the decision-making process
It enhances promotional prospects
Disadvantages of the job enrichment
Although many workers will relish the challenges, other might find the whole process intimidating and may simply feel that a place is additional pressure on them
It’s costly and benefits may only be achieved in the long-term as when re-organising the shop floor and retraining the workforce in a manufacturing business
What is job empowerment?
Giving employees the means by which they can power over their working life
What is teamwork?
Teamwork generally means a system wire production is organised into large units of work and a group of employees work together in order to meet shared objectives
How does Taylor theory increase labour productivity?
That small repetitive work and high divisions of labour but also uses piece rate so worker has produced more in the same time
Why do businesses want to increase labour productivity?
Increases output, which is good if demand is rising and it also lowers unit cost which causes a bigger operating profit margin on the lower price
What are the problems of Taylor’s theory?
Poor quality items
Large number of defect
High wastelevel
Links to hard HRM workers don’t feel appreciated and it can lead to large labour turnover
Define hygiene needs with examples
Factors that demotivate if not present for example working conditions, supervision and pay
Define motivators with examples
Factors that motivating employees to work hard for example job enrichment job empowerment and training
Links between hygiene needs and motivators?
Both are equally important and need to be present to have motivated workers
How does the hierarchy of needs work?
- you can move up and down the hierarchy
- Maslow didn’t say there was one best way to motivate it depends on the level you are on
- There are a range of motivational methods
Describe levels in hierarchy of needs
Psychological needs – do you pay enough to cover the employees basic needs?
Safety/security needs – contract to ensure job and financial security, we should ensure working conditions are safe (health and safety training) free from discrimination/harassment
Esteem needs – praise, recognition, promotion, enrichment, empowerment
Self actualisation – reaching full potential in workplace, enrichment/empowerment
What can improving business’ relations with its employees improve ?
It can improve the performance of the business’s workforce as well as the reputations as an employer.
Leading to:
- improved communication within business
-improved motivation-decrease labour turnover
-increased engagement and involvement
What is collective bargaining?
Negotiations between mangagement and employee’s representatives (usually trade unions)
What are features of collective bargaining?
Employer must recognise the right for employee representatives to act on behalf of the workforce
The terms negotiated by the employee representatives are binding for the entire workforce
Benefits of collective bargaining
-easier to get better pay/ working conditions
-more powerful as group
- more time effective
-more realistic
What are the two legislations that help ensure large firms partake in collective bargaining?
Employment Relations Act 2000
This meant that a trade union with membership of 50% or more demand union recognition and thereby reintroduce collective bargaining . If the union has more than 10% of the workforce as members then it can call a ballot and needs the support of 40% of the employees to be successful
Impact of EU
in 2000 the EU announced that it is compulsory to consult with employees if they have 50 or more employees
Why has the number of trade union members decreases?
Decline of traditional union based industries such as coal mining and ship building
Rise in self employment and temporary employment
How does leadership and management style used in the business influence the extent of employee representation?
If an autocratic leadership is used, employee representation is less likely due to employees not being involved in decision-making
If a democratic leadership is used then employee representation is more likely to be used as employees are already involved in decisions ( uses soft HRM)
How did the corporate objectives influence the extent of employee representation?
If profit maximisation is the objective you don’t wanna engage too much as it can decrease profits if wages increase
If you have more ethical or social objectives involving employees more shows that you care as you’re going above the legal requirement and this gives a positive brand image for the business
How does history and ownership of the business influence the extent of employee representation?
Views of founder/owners
Ownership – if you see employees as partners you’re more likely to engage in an employee representation
How does the nature of work employees hide in influence the extent of employee representation?
Skilled employees means more employee representation as they can make better decisions and you want high staff retention as they are more valuable and not easy to replace ( and this is the opposite for unskilled employees)
How does employee legislation influence the extent of employee representation?
It is a legal requirement so some firms may decide to just do what is legally required and not go above
What is a trade union?
This is an organisation of workers established to protect and improve the economic position and working conditions of its members
What are the likely objectives of trade unions?
Maximise pay
Achieving safe and secure working conditions
Attaining job security
Participating in an influencing decisions in the workplace
What are the benefits of trade unions for employers
They act as a communication link between management and employees, compromises are more likely to be accepted by the workforce and met with less resistance if sold to them by the shop steward
Professional negotiation on behalf of a large number of employees can save time and less than the likelihood if disputes occur occurring
what does the shop steward do?
The region is made up of a number of branches in each branch has an elected shops steward.
The shop to communicate communicates with employers on behalf of the union members and reports back to the members of management decisions
What is a work council?
A work counsellor is a form within a business where workers a management meets to discuss issues such as working conditions pay and training
What are the qualities of a work council?
Workers are elected by other workers to represent their views to management
It’s his common for work council to be used in workplaces where no trade union representation exist however work councils and trade unions can coexist
What differs a work council from a trade union?
If a trade union is represented in the workplace, the trade union rap for negotiate on pay and working conditions whilst the work council would discuss other issues related to the workforce
How many employees do you need to involve workers in consultation
50 or more
How does employee representation differ from trade unions?
They are not backed by regional and national organisations
They are organised solely for the individual business
Examples of other employee representation
Factory or office committees that run along alongside the employee representatives within the works council staff associations operate on behalf of a single company and are often independent from external influences.
They are frequently established at the request of the employer to avoid trade unions gaining recognition for negotiation
Describe job rotation
Systematic program switching jobs provide greater variety. The employee will thus have a more varied and interesting job compared to doing the same tasks.
