U3AOS2 Flashcards
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs - Key Principles
- states that employees are motivated by a hierarchy of five human needs
- Starts from bottom and works way up
- Once a need has been met, it no longer motivates
- A manager can use Maslow’s theory to identify where an employee is on the hierarchy and then provide strategies to move them up the higher order needs.
Locke and Latham - Key Principles
- Employees are motivated to achieve goals they have helped to set
- Goals should be clear and specific
- Goals challenging yet achievable
- Constant feedback on progress and recognition for effort is vital
Lawrence and Nohria - Key Prinicples
Drive to acquire - motivated by the need to acquire both material goods and status or power.
- Drive to learn - motivated when they are engaged in tasks they are performing and learning at work.*
- Drive to bond - Employees seek relationships with others in the workplace and collaboration/teamwork are valued.*
- Drive to defend - Employees want to defend themselves and their accomplishments.*
Performance related pay
Definition:
Is a financial reward to employees whose work has reached or exceeded expectations
Short term:
possibility of receiving more money will motivate employees to work harder
Long term:
may not motivate in future as as employees are not concerned about the future affect on business performance/meeting objectives instead only care about getting a bonus or increase in salary
Strengths:
- Motivate some employees to be more productive in order to gain the financial reward
- Very goal focused and easy to measure
- Rewards high performers
Weaknesses:
- Can be costly to a business
- Money is not a motivator for everybody
- Typically only provides short-term motivation
Career Advancement
Definition:
Promoting employees to positions that include more responsibility or authority
Short term:
Providing possibility of a promotion can improve motivation, as employees strive to take on the increased responsibility
- usually brings pay rise and greater job security which satisfy the
low order needs on Maslow’s hierarchy.
Long term:
Motivate employees because they may see the position they would like to be in the future, and set out a career path.
- which may satisfy self-actualisation needs
- help achieve self-esteem needs
Advantages:
- Helps busines retain its talented employees
- Act as a reward for employees past performance
Disadvantages:
- Employee promoted above their capability level
- Potential to demotivate employees overlooked for selection
Physiological (basic needs)
The basic needs an employee needs such as minimum pay and working conditions as well as work-life balance
Met by:
Provide minimum wage
Good employee conditions
Remuneration
On-the Job Training
occurs when employees need to learn a specific set of skills to perform particular tasks in the workplace
Advantages
- Less costly
- Familiar environment
Disadvantages
- Environment may be distracting and or noisy
- Bad habits of staff may be passed on
Off-the Job training
occurs when employees learn skills in a location away from the workplace.
Advantages
- No workplace distractions
- Availability to learn wider range of skills outside workplace
Disadvantages
- More expensive
- Timely
Investment in Training
Employees gain skills and job knowledge through training and job experience
Short term
- A more highly skilled job will usually pay more, so employees are motivated to take on additional training in the short term to give them access to those types of jobs.
Long term
- Employees are encouraged and motivated to continuously improve by learning new skills.
Advantages
- Shows that the business want to advance their careers of their employees
- can satisfy high level needs of Maslow’s theory and Drive to learn
Disadvantages
- time consuming
- costly
Support
Business provides individual assistance and services to help employees cope with change and any problems that will negatively affect their lives and work performance.
Short term
- Providing support and encouragement for employees can motivate them to do better in their day to day tasks
Long Term
- as employees feel valued and supported by the business which builds loyalty and increased motivation both by affected and non-affected employees. The employee’s willingness to remain in that work environment can increase.
Advantages
- Helps improve mental wellbeing of employees
- forms of support such as encouragement provide no cost
Disadvantages
- Can take long time to see benefits
- business must have a positive corporate culture
-
Sanction
A sanction is a penalty for poor performance or disobeying a business policy.
Short term - Effective
- tasks are completed due to fear of receiving a sanction which may
motivate employees
Long term - Ineffective
- Sanctions can harm the relationships between the business and employees, which may make it harder to motivate employees
Advantages
- Some employees are more motivated by sanction than incentives
- May quickly stop inappropriate behaviour of some employees
Disadvantages
- Only short term motivation
- May cause conflict between employees and business
Termination
working relationship ends due to the employee leaving the business either voluntarily or Involuntarily.
Retirement
when an employee decides to give up full-time or part-time work and no longer be part of the labour force
Redundancy
occurs when a person’s job no longer exists, usually due to technological changes, a business restructure or a merger or acquisition
Involuntary
- An employee is told they won’t have a position within the business and are forced to leave
Voluntary
- Employees are given the option to decide to leave their job
Resignation
employee decides to leave the business
- Voluntary
- due to changing careers, moving on, unhappy with current job, moving to new location
