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Business Studies - Unit 1 > Motivation > Flashcards

Motivation Flashcards

1
Q

Motivation : definition

A

Motivation is the process of encouraging people to think and want to achieve the objectives set by management.

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2
Q

Advantages of a well motivated workforce :

A

Better productivity (amount produced by employee, can lead to lower unit costs of production hence sell at lower price), lower levels of absenteeism, lower level of staff turnover (no. of employees leaving business, lead to lower training cost and recruitment cost - want some labour turnover for new skills), improved relations with trade unions, content workers give firm good reputation, can lead to a competitive advantage.

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3
Q

Taylor : definition

A

Taylor developed the Scientific Management theory as a way of increasing productivity and lowering costs.

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4
Q

Taylor’s theory argued the following :

A

Workers don’t naturally enjoy work and need close supervision and control —> managers should breakdown production into a series of small tasks —> workers should be given appropriate training to work efficiently as possible on one task —> workers paid according to the number of items they produce in a set period of time —> as a result workers encouraged to work hard and maximise productivity.

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5
Q

Key summary for Taylor :

A

Workers given one repetitive task so they can learn to master it, managers should give orders and closely control workers, workers should be paid per item they produced.

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6
Q

Advantages of Taylor’s theory :

A

Control (managers have control over production). Division of labour (employees become specialist in their field as same task repeated). Higher productivity (by setting output and efficiency targets related to pay). Satisfaction (of needs of customer by providing higher quality products at lower price).

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7
Q

Disadvantages of Taylor’s theory :

A

Scientific management can lead to boring, repetitive, monotonous tasks. Workers are innovative and independent (not acknowledged in Taylor theory). It assumes employees only work for money, employee welfare not considered.

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8
Q

Maslow theory : definition

A

Maslow produced a theory based on the classification of needs and their relationship with each other. He placed these in a hierarchy of needs and presented it as a pyramid.

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9
Q

Hierarchy of needs : bottom to top

A

Psychological needs —> safety needs —> social needs —> self esteem needs —> self actualisation needs .

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10
Q

Level 1 : psychological needs

A

Eg : food, shelter, heat, clothing.

Business can satisfy by : paying a decent wage, good conditions of work.

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11
Q

Level 2 : safety needs

A

Eg: job security, safe equipment and environment.
Business can satisfy by : offering job security, have longer job contracts, check equipment and premises carefully, health and safety training, protection against assault.

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12
Q

Level 3 : social needs

A

Eg : interacting with other workers.

Business can satisfy by : allow working in teams, social events, good induction programmes, team building.

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13
Q

Level 4 : self esteem needs

A

Eg : promotion recognition and status.
Business can satisfy by : allow teams or workers to make decisions, provide good training so workers are confident, job title, job fringe benefits, responsibility, status, praise and encouragement.

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14
Q

Level 5 : self actualisation needs

A

Eg : workers use their talents to their fullest.
Business can satisfy by : allowing staff to develop new skills and take larger responsibility, promotion, training, job satisfaction, personal development.

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15
Q

Key summary for Maslow Theory :

A

Workers motivated by having each level of need met in order as they move up hierarchy, levels of needs are : psychological , security, social, self esteem, self actualisation, workers must have lower levels of needs fully met by a firm before being motivated by next level.

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16
Q

Advantage of Maslow Theory :

A

Identifies range of needs at every level (management should relate to to motivate staff). Provide managers with opportunities to meet stand needs to improve motivation in workforce. Simple to understand. Takes human nature into consideration.

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17
Q

Disadvantages of Maslow Theory :

A

Not all individuals think the same way (for some the levels can be different in importance). Difficulty to measure. Possible that once all needs are met employee is no longer motivated. Can be confusion and overlap as to where an employee currently is on the hierarchy. Some employees may be satisfied and don’t want to move up a level. Cost of time and money.

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18
Q

Herzberg theory : definition

A

Herzberg developed the two factor theory consisting of hygiene factors and motivators. The theory was based around the design of the actual job.

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19
Q

Motivator factor :

A

Factors that directly motivate people to work harder.

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20
Q

Motivators : egs

A

These will enhance job satisfaction and motivation ; achievement, recognition ie praise and promotion, work itself, responsibility, growth, advancement.

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21
Q

Hygiene factors :

A

Factors that can de-motivate if not present but do not actually motivate employees to work harder.

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22
Q

Hygiene factors : egs

A

These lead to worker dissatisfaction if they aren’t sorted properly ; company policy (administration), supervision, security, working conditions, salary, status.

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23
Q

Job enlargement : definition

A

Workers being given a greater variety of tasks to perform (not necessarily more challenging) which should make the work more interesting.

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24
Q

Job enrichment : definition

A

Involves workers being given a wider range of more complex and challenging tasks surrounding a complete unit of work. This should give a greater sense of achievement.

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25
Q

Empowerment : definition

A

Means delegating more power to employees to make their own decisions over areas of their working life.

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26
Q

Key summary for herzberg theory :

A

Workers are motivated to work harder by motivators eg more responsibility, more interesting work. Workers can become demotivated if hygiene factors aren’t met eg pay, working conditions.

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27
Q

Advantages of Herzberg theory :

A

Identifies issues that may motivate staff, provides managers with opportunities to provide resources to support staff motivation.

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28
Q

Disadvantages of Herzberg theory :

A

It assumes that motivated employees increase production. Each factor likely to affect different staff members. Employees react differently to managements attempts to motivate staff. Job satisfaction doesn’t guarantee motivation. Not every individual will seek motivators such as increased responsibility. What is classified as a motivator for one person could cause job satisfaction for someone else .

29
Q

Monetary method of motivation : definition

A

Include money or other financial incentives that play a key rol on motivation workers.

30
Q

Benefits of monetary motivators :

A

They encourage efficiency and high levels of productivity, aid a competitive working environment.

31
Q

Problems cause by monetary motivators :

A

Employees can rely on them. If based on quantity then quality can suffer. Business must be mindful that if rewards are based on individual performance then conflict can arise between employees.

32
Q

Time rate : summary

A

Employees that are paid for the number of hours they work.
Simplistic method of remuneration.
Calculate by multiplying the number of hours that an employee works by the hourly rate of pay.

33
Q

Advantages of time rate :

A

Rewards employees for amount of time they spend on work, workers don’t have to rush their work which should help maintain quality, useful when employees are working in groups or in service sector.

34
Q

Disadvantages of time rate :

A

Can mean reduction in productivity, time wasting cbs occur.

35
Q

Piece rate : summary

A

Employees are paid for each unit they produce.
With this system there’s no sick pay,basic shift pay, holiday pay or company pension.
Quality control will be used to assess payment.

36
Q

Advantages of piece rate :

A

Enables organisation to reward employees for their effort, effective in situations where output is easily quantifiable, usually encourages high levels or efficiency and productivity.

37
Q

Disadvantages of piece rate :

A

Focus is on speed, no incentive to improve quality beyond acceptable level, if machine breaks down employee can be penalised, worker may work harder at certain periods of the year, employees become resistant to change.

38
Q

Commission : summary

A

Mainly used with sales representatives.
It’s a financial reward made to an employee which is based on the value of the sales they have achieved.
Employee is paid a percentage of the value of the good or service that is sold.

39
Q

Performance related pay : summary

A

Links the employees annual salary to their performance.
A financial reward to staff whose performance is above average.
Any a2rd usually rolls an appraisal of the employees performance against an agreed target.

40
Q

Advantages of performance related pay :

A

It can motivate more,re to perform better

41
Q

Disadvantages of performance related Pay :

A

Agreed targets must be attainable otherwise set opus for failure, won’t work if reward isn’t perceived as valuable, may serve to encourage anti teamwork attitude, often the incentives are too low to act as a motivator.

42
Q

Fees : summary

A 
Fees are one-off payments made to employees for one off tasks 
Amount paid will depend on :
- time spent to complete the task
- complexity of the task 
- skills required to do the tasks
43
Q

Advantages of fees :

A

Fees usually sufficient to pay the professionals and generate a profit for the firm which keeps staff motivated.

44
Q

Disadvantages of fees :

A

Fees to professional bodies are very expensive and can increase costs. Some businesses are required by law to incur such expenses.

45
Q

Fringe benefits : summary

A

No taxable incentives :

  • employee discount
  • free or private health insurance
  • company car
  • company pension scheme
46
Q

Advantages of fringe benefits :

A

Can make employee more loyal to a company and help the company retain staff, top perks are given to senior managers ( motivate junior staff to work hard), prevent negative publicity.

47
Q

Disadvantages of fringe benefits :

A

Not as attractive to an employee as once were, now taxable by HMRC.

48
Q

Profit sharing : summary

A

Employees receive a part of the overall business profits at the end of the financial year.

49
Q

Advantage of profit sharing :

A

Encourage employees to be efficient in work, tends to unify workforce as all are looking towards a common goa,, increase staff loyalty and reduce staff turnover.

50
Q

Disadvantages of profit sharing :

A

Rewards all employees on equal basis, if organisation doesn’t make a high level of employees wi,l receive little or nothing, may reduce shareholder payments or reduce capital available for reinvestment.

51
Q

Non-monetary methods of motivation: definition

A

Non financial incentives involve employees being rewarded by gaining a sense of achievement, recognition and responsibility from their job.

52
Q

Job rotation : summary

A

Involves moving employees between different jobs to make them less bored and become more motivated.

53
Q

Positive of job rotation :

A

Benefit of making the employee more multi,idled and gives the business more options in times of staff absences.

54
Q

Negatives of job rotation :

A

Burden of training costs
Decreases productivity short term as employees need to become familiar.
Demotivates specialist skilled employees.

55
Q

Job enlargement : summary

A

Horizontal expansion of employees duties.
Adding additional tasks, of same skill level.
Makes work more interesting and less boring.

56
Q

Positives of job enlargement :

A

Encourage motivated employees to accept status associated with job enlargement instead of giving them a real promotion and so save money.

57
Q

Negatives of job enlargement :

A

Adding tasks and duties may demotivate employees, ignores benefits of specialisation.

58
Q

Job enrichment : summary

A

Vertical expansion of tasks and duties.
It increase employees degree of control, or increase responsibility.
Can be used as motivators or satisfies in herzberg’s two factor theory.

59
Q

Positives of job enrichment :

A

Should make work more interesting, challenging and rewarding.
Encourages satisfaction and increases responsibility.
Lead to lower levels of absenteeism.

60
Q

Negatives of job enrichment :

A

Not all employees want additional responsibility.

61
Q

Employee empowerment: summary

A

Take more ownership of their work.
Get involved in decision making process.
Independent decisions about how to carry put tasks. Practical application of Herzberg.
Important concept of total quality management.

62
Q

Positives of employee empowerment:

A

Employee participation in business decision making should improve motivation and productivity.

63
Q

Negatives of employee empowerment :

A

Doesn’t suit all types of employees. Should be highly skilled and trusted. Must have adequate training levels to be trusted or bad decisions will be made.

64
Q

Team working : summary

A

An attempt to maximise staff satisfaction envolvement.
Each team has a specific target.
Team members organise how work is distributed and how problem solving should take place.

65
Q

Positives of team working :

A

Productivity can increase, innovative ideas generated.
Increase job satisfaction.
Facilitated continuous improvement to meet new challenges.

66
Q

Negatives of team working :

A 
Hard to find the right people to be part of the team. If team members class it becomes ineffective. 
Some members won’t participate as much as others.
67
Q

Quality circle : summary

A

Groups of workers who meet regularly to identify methods of improving quality of products.

68
Q

Positives of quality circles :

A

Focused on quality so improves quality of product/service.

Sharing of best practice and ideas may motivate employees.

69
Q

Negatives of quality circles :

A

Only successful when both management and employees fully support one another.

Business Studies - Unit 1 (12 decks)

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