motivation employee essay

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Employee Motivation and Rewards

Executive summary.

Employees are key drivers of the organization and should be motivated to help meet the set goals and objectives. Encouraging and rewarding them seem to be challenging for many managers. This paper aims to explain why some workers remain unresponsive to this approach and how to use applied research methodology to address unmet needs. Maslow, McClelland, and Hertzberg conceptualized that individual demands of participants should be addressed, but their ideas failed to suggest how managers can identify and deal with them accordingly. It was established that motivation and rewards reenergize employees only to a certain extent while neglecting some people.

The study established that attempts to motivate everyone using contemporary theories were unsatisfactory. Therefore, applied research is necessary since it uses many methodologies to conduct an in-depth analysis of the problem faced by employers and offer a simple answer. Other methods that are seen as effective include ethnography and case study examination, allowing the investigator to interact with disengaged workers and understand their respective needs for meeting them. In a nutshell, it becomes challenging to apply the motivation theories to address individuals unwilling to contribute. Design thinking overlooks the existing theoretical underpinnings when handling a complex issue. This approach is an applied methodology that goes beyond the existing theoretical grounds to offer simple solutions to what is perceived as a complex problem. Managers must do several things in their attempt to motivate their employees. First, leaders should consider the individual characteristics of workers to reveal their needs. Second, they should effectively communicate with them in order to find the root cause of the issues. Lastly, the personnel at higher levels should adopt design thinking when seeking solutions to employees’ problems.

Introduction

The present-day business environment is a rapidly evolving sphere, which requires people to timely readjust to the emerging circumstances in order not to lose profits. From this perspective, the nature of the organization and the methods managers use to motivate workers are the two critical considerations, allowing to realize the set goals and aspirations. The failure to meet the objectives of a company can be frequently attributed to the participants’ unwillingness to achieve actual results by using the old schemes. Therefore, the complexity of employee motivation positively correlates with applied research methodology that provides simple answers to increasing their flexibility as per the business world requirements by using an individualized approach. In other words, this method of examination of problems corresponds to the necessity to consider the human factor when developing organization’s vision, mission and stakeholders’ aspirations.

A responsive and engaged workforce tends to be more productive than a group of employees whose members are unmotivated and apathetic, and this outcome explains the need for providing a scientific basis for a shift. For example, the reduction in stakeholders’ dividends or low company’s marginal revenues are indicators of low staff morale, whereas the link between them is not explicit. De Vito et al. (2018) argued that if employees feel motivated or satisfied, they are likely to exert more effort hence helping the company realize objectives since their contribution to the companies’ success becomes apparent. From this standpoint, it is evident that motivating and rewarding employees in the workplace are vital for enabling the organization’s progress while retaining its competitive advantage. Studies point out shows that motivated workers are more productive and usually produce better-quality results, which in turn leads to reduced turnover rates (Vito et al., 2018). Therefore, they will be more aware of the environment’s conditions and the possibility of a change and readjust timely, as per the provisions of applied research.

In the contemporary world, the impossibility of ensuring a positive attitude of employees towards the performed work explains the emergence of other problems, which are seemingly disconnected from the business. As Rybnicek, Bergner, & Gutschelhofer (2019) noted, unmotivated workers would thereby adversely affect the company’s ability to remain competitive in the industry. Economists argue that the costs of disengaged individuals are likely to run into a substantial amount of dollars, hence necessitating the need for managers to have the problem fixed as early as possible (Rybnicek et al., 2019). In this case, an optimal solution is to develop talent within the organization and effectively promote workers as per their achievements for preparing for the unpredictability of the market conditions.

My vision as a manager has always been to see all my employees well-motivated to work diligently to realize the organizational goals. However, the issue of motivation is complex because regardless of how hard companies try to reward employees based on performance, some do not respond to rewards. There must be different ways employees can get satisfied and thereby improve organizational output by paying attention to the business circumstances (Fischer, Malycha, & Schafmann, 2019). In this case, applied research of the markets of operation can be used for determining the ability of motivated staff to cope with challenges as opposed to their colleagues unwilling to improve results. In this case, creativity, passion, and deep connection to an organization serve as the main criteria correlating with the outside factors and reflecting the potential of combining the internal and external circumstances for better profits.

I have also realized that the detrimental effects of workers’ disengagement are more critical when people have opposing views on different matters. In such a case, the stanpoint of the majority when not accepted by others results in the latter’s tendency to lose hope, which slows down the overall productivity. This situation might lead to the desire of qualified and exprienced specialists, who can potentially contribute to the business’ capability to remain competitive in a rapidly changing environment, to seek other employment. Hence, as a manager, my role is to identify disengaged employees and address the reasons for their resentment by paying attention to individual needs and opinions. Also, those who do not want to cooperate in any case should be removed as they can negatively affect others’ motivation and make it impossible to rely on applied research serving as the evidence of markets’ shifts.

In addition, the coordination of actions of all participants should be done with respect to the role of rewards and responses alongside the potential failure to benefit from these provisions. I aim to use a personalized approach to this area in order to find an optimal way for people to comply with the requirements of the business. Motivational theorists, including Maslow, Hertzberg, and McClelland, claim that this method is more advantageous for better outcomes than generalizations (Paais & Pattiruhu, 2020). Therefore, varying levels of energy and enthusiasm are to be taken into account when increasing engagement and improving the systems in alignment with the external circumstances as per applied research.

Intrinsic motivation tends to positively impact employee job satisfaction; hence, employing a reward management approach that emphasizes this method is critical. As it was mentioned earlier, active participation is a force that propels people towards a given direction. In the workplace, employees are usually driven or guided by different factors. As a manager, my vision is to ensure everyone is encouraged by the benefits selected with regard to individual needs. Psychologists, particularly behavioralists, were more concerned with human behavior, studied habits, and later hypothesized theoretical frameworks or theories which, if incorporated in the workplace settings, effectively address needs. Thus, their approaches can be used for analyzing people’s conduct to provide them with necessary advantages.

Psychological approaches had various claims regarding how managers could motivate their workers. Maslow’s need theory maintained that a person is reenergized when all his needs are addressed (Paais & Pattiruhu, 2020). The keyword here is “when all,” which means when motivating, it is advisable to start from the basic needs of every worker instead of subjecting all of them to the same type of remuneration. Maslow also postulated that individuals usually work for security and money, but the manager must engage them in various activities to utilize their skills (Paais & Pattiruhu, 2020). Therefore, one cannot ascend to the next level unless their lower needs are addressed. As such, an employee cannot realize his full potential in terms of performance when they have other issues outside the workplace that are yet to be resolved. The discussed provisions allow concluding that firms’ capability to survive in the continuously evolving market conditions, presenting the main macro trends, is conditional upon the employees’ flexibility, which depends on their motivation to readjust efforts.

Research Aims-Problem Solving

Workers in any organization must be motivated to improve job performance and satisfaction. Many studies have been done regarding different ways to reward employees for working hard and helping the companies accomplish the set goals. Managers have been employing various motivation theories to reenergize the disengaged employees to join others and work as a team. Sometimes, they succeed, but not all workers respond to rewards. McClelland’s motivational theory stressed the need to address individual differences to motivate every employee since they respond to rewards differently (Paais & Pattiruhu, 2020). In turn, Maslow claimed that human desires should be satisfied based on urgency, though in the workplace setting, employees tend to have varying needs because they come from different backgrounds (Paais & Pattiruhu, 2020). Addressing individual needs is key for the realization of employees’ job satisfaction problems; however, identifying the issues of every worker in a complex environment remains a big challenge for many leaders. As a manager, I would have to understand what level team members are currently at and attempt to address the specific needs that could help fulfill those aspirations. In doing so, I would help every employee move forward and cooperate to guarantee the organization’s progress.

However, addressing the individual needs alone based on Maslow’s approach might not work since it is difficult to understand or identify individual psychological needs. Research shows that psychological needs can be addressed using Hertzberg’s two-factor theory. Improving working conditions can be the best way to motivate or address these aspects of the employees’ activity in the workplace. Such needs, according to Hertzberg, can be solved by improving motivator factors that enhance job satisfaction (Paais & Pattiruhu, 2020). Promotions and recognition of individual contributions can solve the described problem. Other approaches to meet unique needs include using McClelland’s theory by addressing three motivators: achievement needs, affiliation needs, and power (Paais & Pattiruhu, 2020). From this standpoint, it is evident that there is no individual theory a manager can employ to satisfy all disengaged employees.

As a manager, I have established that employee motivation requires applied research for improvements because it appears to be one of the complex issues. Money and rewards cannot motivate all people in the workplace. Therefore, this study explores why workers respond differently to motivation and rewarding systems in the organization. Further, we shall ascertain if addressing individual needs could be a remedy to reenergize the disengaged employees. It is also evident that motivation and rewards cannot help all employees because every worker has unique individual needs. Therefore, it can be hypothesized as follows:

• Motivation and rewards have the potential to reenergize the disengaged employees at the workplace to a certain extent;
• Motivation and incentives improve worker’s job satisfaction to a certain extent;
• Addressing individual needs is the best way to motivate employees;
• No single motivation theory can be applied in the workplace place to reenergize all disengaged workers;
• It is challenging to identify the individual needs of every worker and address them accordingly.

For performing a global change in employees’ motivation, one should pay attention to proxy indicators, which should be adequately evaluated and affected. At the level of self, the number of successfully conducted initiatives will serve as evidence of productiveness. At the personnel’s level, employees’ job satisfaction, when remained unchanged as per regular surveys, alongside the amounts of strikes would be alarming factors. For stakeholders, the continuity of improvements, expressed in the duration of projects in months, is the indicator allowing for reflecting on the reduced morale stemming from the dubious effectiveness of operations. For the whole organization, the staff turnover rates, resulting from the lack of motivation, will be viewed as the conditions reflecting the insufficiency of efforts. Meanwhile, the mentioned problems as per the indicators can be addressed by adopting design thinking, allowing to precisely state the reasons for negative outcomes. As a result, the engagement will be improved by applying motivators corresponding to each of the specified areas.

The impact of unmotivated employees on the organization includes low turnover, increasing overhead costs, and losing hardworking employees due to job satisfaction. In their attempt to fix the problem, organizational managers usually resort to underpaying their workers, worsening the situation. The organizational managers can lay off the disengaged employees and hire new ones where an attempt to reenergize the disengaged ones has failed. Firing the unmotivated workers is critical to the recovery process because the recruits are likely to corporate with the hardworking and salvage the organization from shutting down. The indictors of the disengaged employees could be the withdrawal of junior managers having failed to reenergize the unmotivated workers. Many managers find it necessary to quit when they realize that their efforts to help organizations to remain afloat are insufficient for making a global shift. This issue occurs when they understand that their workers cannot effectively cooperate with one another. In this case, they should provide everyone with an opportunity to express their concerns instead of keeping them hidden from others.

Lastly, the dissatisfaction of stakeholders can be caused by the ineffective performance of workers and, consequently, result in their confidence in the organization’s failure to achieve long-term progress. In this case, the problem could include poor coordination or leadership of either junior managers or the entire management. If the whole administration is the one that has failed to motivate the employee, they can overhaul it and appoint a new one. However, overhauling can only be done after a thorough investigation into the matter. Holding a general meeting can provide insights into the challenge and help the stakeholders take the best option of salvaging the organization from shutting down. The above mentioned are key indicators of the unmotivated employees in an organization that need to reenergize as one way of helping them build teamwork and continue working towards the organizational goals.

Literature Review

Several researchers have tried to dig deeper into the issues of employee motivation in their attempt to establish the role of motivators in reenergizing workers. Every company usually wants to reward its workers for reenergizing disengaged employees to work harder and enable an organization to realize its set goals. Many studies have been conducted to ascertain the effects of motivation on workers’ morale and performance. Moreover, motivation aims at intrinsically reenergizing disengaged workers to put in more efforts and achieve the set goals. According to Fischer et al. (2017), people tend to be motivated by other factors besides intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. The study established that managers could foster creativity and innovation among their employees but use intrinsic motivators (Malycha et al., 2017). They further demonstrated that inherent motivation had a more significant impact on workers’ performance and creativity.

Workers’ job satisfaction tends to be influenced by organizational culture, motivation, and leadership. Paais and Pattiruhu (2020) argue that motivation, good leadership, and corporate culture positively improve workers’ activity when used collectively but have no effects on job satisfaction. Therefore, the manager who uses the three parameters to motivate employees might fail to achieve the organization’s target; the approach cannot be viewed as suitable. Good leadership was cited as the best motivator since it significantly increased employees’ job satisfaction (Paais & Pattiruhu, 2020). A democratic and friendly manager in a company motivates his workers because they would feel loved, work hard, and obey all the commands, improving job output. The study also noted that both motivation and organizational culture had no impact on employees’ perceptions (Paais & Pattiruhu, 2020). Good leadership has little effect on job performance, so managers must understand how to blend the three criteria to ensure that both workers’ satisfaction and positive outcomes are achieved simultaneously. It is not always easy to motivate employees to get satisfied with the job and increase the organization’s performance. Therefore, the tasks at hand should be addressed by relying on evidence, incorporating the discussed areas for modifying the overall environment.

In an organization, workers’ needs influence how they respond to motivation. As mentioned above, good leadership increases employees’ job satisfaction, but organizational output, meaning both motivation and rewards, partially affects the companies’ performance. Hence, there is something beyond inspiration that can make many disengaged employees happier, which is yet to be established. Rybnicek et al. (2019) described how individual needs affect employees in the workplace to give a clue on how people respond to rewards in varying ways. They investigated the impact of rewards on workers’ satisfaction and job performance using McClellent motivation theory (Rybnicek et al., 2019). The research cited the advancement of technology in the last decades, which might have rendered some views ineffective, particularly those used in the early 60s and 70s. In most cases, individual needs determine how people respond to rewards. Rybnicek et al. (2019) also argued that heterogeneous incentives tend to have overlapping neural activation in employees’ brain’s motivation circuitry. So, if a bonus fails to activate these specific brain regions, the manager has to offer a different reward. The findings correlated with Herzberg’s statements discussed above, including his two-factor theory when he argued that employees respond differently to rewards.

Another approach to improving the situation regarding employees’ attitudes is based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory for motivating workers. Thus, De Vito et al. (2018) confirmed that this approach is critical for understanding how individuals respond to rewards. It was also cited as a critical determinant of employees’ job satisfaction and performance (De Vito et al., 2018). This theoretical method is grounded in one tenet, according to which needs should be satisfied based on their urgency level. Maslow also noted that providing a conducive working environment is a way of meeting workers’ needs (De Vito et al., 2018). The research established that a good working environment increases workers’ compensation levels, which is reflected in improved output and job satisfaction (De Vito et al., 2018). Managers must, therefore, ensure the reasonability of rewarding systems and promotion opportunities for all employees besides demonstrating good leadership skills. In other words, having proper reward management goes beyond good leadership since it does not affect output. In this way, both Maslow’s needs theory and McClelland’s motivation theory confirmed that a kind of environment shapes how managers improve job satisfaction and organizational performance.

Considering the above, it is evident that all researchers agree that regardless of the motivational approach used, they do not tend to have absolute power to impact all employees’ job satisfaction. Martono, Khoiruddin, and Wulansari (2018) argue that a reward management system improves employees’ welfare and positive perceptions. Managers in charge of this mechanism are responsible for analyzing individual needs and rewarding them accordingly to increase productivity and employees’ satisfaction (Martono et al., 2018). Meanwhile, motivation and reward methods affect the workers in different ways. For example, a good manager is likely to be loved by all people, which reflects increased job satisfaction. In this sense, good managers are seen as humane motivators who are ready to resonate with their employees when they have pressing issues.

The research implicitly shows that the concept of employee motivation is not easy as managers have always perceived it. Theoretically, it might appear easy; in reality, motivation and rewarding workers is a bit complicated. As a manager, I have to understand all issues involving employee attitudes to successfully reenergize all disengaged persons to work as a team with other hardworking colleagues in their pursuit to realize organizational goals. It is essential to understand what can motivate each worker before developing the best method to address their issues. In this regard, it is wrong to assume that all people have similar individual needs and, if they are subjected to similar rewards, reenergizing is a logical outcome. Identifying every desire of involved participants in the workplace is the key to ensuring that all of them get motivated (Stoyanova & Iliev, 2017). However, due to the intricate nature of the organizational setting, it is challenging for managers to identify personal obstacles to productivity.

Methodology and Methods

Motivating and rewarding employees using contemporary theories have been proved ineffective in addressing all disengaged workers. Even though Maslow’s need theory and McClelland’s motivation theory attempt to offer a better way of addressing individuals, they failed to show how managers can identify the needs in an intricate workplace setting (Sangaramoorthy & Kroeger, 2020). It becomes evident that employee motivation is a complex problem because no psychological theory has offered an optimal approach to have the issue fixed. Moreover, the case of unresponsiveness to rewards is due to the brain responsible for motivation failing to be stimulated by incentives. From this standpoint, there is a need to use design thinking overlooking the contemporary motivational theory’s approach. Design thinking, which is sometimes referred to as “thinking out the box,” offers unscientific answers to a complex problem.

Considering the above analysis, the research question can be formulated with regard to the revealed gaps in applied research. Hence, the focus is: How can managers ensure the flexibility of operations as per the market needs by developing effective reward and motivation systems, addressing the problems of all employees on a case-by-case basis? It incorporates the considerations of the harm caused by disengaged workers and the necessity to avoid the feeling of dissatisfaction, which is to be addressed by innovative methods. These aspects are linked to the general atmosphere in the workplace and the possible distractions as common phenomena stemming from this challenge. In this case, design thinking is viewed as more effective than previously used theories, and it is applicable to the described multi-faceted problem by adopting a corresponding methodology.

First, it is critical to conduct a survey among the disengaged employees. It should be noted that some workers do not express their opinions openly. Thus, managers must politely invite them to explain the challenge to avoid exclusion from teamwork. Leaders should ask them if there are significant obstacles and timely resolve them if any. They can be related to overworking and the feeling of not being involved. As a manager, I can solve the problem through delegation or hiring more staff to reduce time spent at the workplace.

Second, taking a genuine interest in workers can boost their confidence. This approach will promote positive attitudes towards managers and make others appreciate the exerted efforts. Hence, leaders must always be careful when communicating with disengaged employees. This method can encourage the teams to work even harder to produce the best possible results. On the contrary, the neglect of this area might lead to gradually deteriorating conditions for workers and their growing resentment.

The way to address disengaged workers’ issues is to set clear goals that they know and fully what they are supposed to work towards. Once they know the goals, they can manage and plan how they would work towards achieving them. Where the goals are complex and confusing, the workers disengage because they feel the task is confusing and time-wasting. Goals not only make employees focused but also, they can easily measure their success. Also, it is good to give workers something to strive for. A comprehensive reward system would enable the disengaged employees to work hard toward achieving the organization’s goals. The manager can create a sense of health competing in the workplace setting, and if it proves effective, it can be replicated to other departments.

Another approach offers flexibility such that a manager can also adapt to workers’ needs and reenergize them. For example, employees who want to work remotely and remain productive can be given a chance to feel valued and work hard to realize the organization’s objectives. Lastly, as a manager, it is good to build trust as those employees respect you. A leader who is not trusted by his juniors can find it challenging to motivate them. Gaining trust sometimes is not easy since it requires integrity, honesty, openness, and transparency. Once disengaged workers learn that their employers can be trusted, it becomes easy to disclose what is ailing them or making them feel unmotivated.

Ethnography

Ethnography can be the best way of understanding disengaged worker individual needs because it provides an in-depth study of people, their habits, mutual differences, and culture. Factors influencing peoples’ behavior at the workplace can emanate from where they stay. Since it is not always allowed to bring issues from home in the workplace, the affected workers remain stressed, thus making it difficult to address their sources of disengagement. Ethnography emphasizes the role of in-depth observation of the issues at hand before suggesting the best way to address the problem. The manager can study how the disengaged work interacts with co-workers and closely monitor whether the root of the problem is from how the organization is treating them or the issue if from home. The benefit of ethnography is that it allows the manager to consider the broad scope of workers’ environment in establishing what could be ailing them. It makes it challenging to respond to rewards.

Case studies stress in-depth analysis of one worker through interviewing to dig deeper into the problem they might be going through, which makes them perform poorly and appear dissatisfied with their work. Just the ethnography, case studies seem to be more informative because it is an interview, the manager can ask other pertinent issues of management which the disengaged employees would have otherwise not easy to disclose during the meetings Merits of mixed methods allow an investigator to view the issues at hand from different angles before deciding on the best way to solve them. People come from different environments, which affect the way they respond to rewards and leadership styles. The disengaged employees might be having varying issues. If the managers fail to understand them well, there is no way they would be reenergized and work hard to help an organization achieve its set goals and objective. The mixed methodology offers the best course of addressing the individual needs when it allows the manager to analyze the root causes of the problem employees are facing before rewarding or motivating them.

Management Research Perspective

In business management, sometimes it becomes challenging to apply a single method to solve a complex problem. It has been established that applied research offers managers a wide range of approaches to solve employees’ challenging issues. From the reading, applied research was defined as a kind of research design to offer solutions to specific management issues affecting society, organization, group, or individual. In essence, applied research is more or less the same as contractual research or scientific method of inquiry because it encompasses practical applications of scientific techniques to issues facing businesses.

I have noted that the journey of applied research methodology in problem-solving entails identifying the issues or complex problems, developing a hypothesis, and then testing the suggested answers through an experiment. This study points out that applied research always employs empirical approaches to find solutions to practical problems in business or management. What has been come out clear regarding applied research is that it resembles non-systematic inquiry due to its direct way of seeking a solution to business or management problems. In other words, applied research can be conceptualized as a typical follow-up research design with the potential to investigate the finding of basic or pure research, either refute or validate the findings and use them to create an innovative solution to a complex problem.

What is interesting about applied research is that it is not confined by theoretical underpinning, which most cases influence how professionals solve the problem. For instance, in this research regarding motivation and rewarding employees, it was established that managers always think motivation is as simple as it may sound, something which is not the case. Motivation is a complex problem, which even the psychological theory such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and McClelland’s motivation theory cannot be used to a final lasting solution to all disengaged workers. Applied research can use design thinking, which is always referred to as “thinking outside the box,” to quickly find answers or solutions to the problems.

Some key insights from this assignment are that complex issues research multiple methods when seeking answers or solutions. Managers should also analyze the problems at hand and think beyond theoretical knowledge to find the best solution. The study also demonstrated how design thinking as an approach to problem-solving is best applied to the workplace. In the study, I learn that there is no single motivation they a manager can use to address the individual needs of the employees. However, thinking outside the box is deemed the quickest way of identifying individual needs that must be addressed to reenergize the disengaged employees. Disengaged employees were seen as detrimental to the organization’s success (Kuswati, 2020). For instance, if the managers cannot address their individual, they can negatively influence hardworking employees affecting teamwork.

The readings show the need to carry out comprehensive research before concluding that the problem at hand can be solved with ease or not. For example, it was established that good leadership in an organization positively affects job satisfaction but not performance. Therefore, to get to the bottom of an issue, no matter how simple it might seem, one must test several tentative solutions by conducting research using different methodologies. In such much as the motivation theory failed to give a good approach on how individual needs of employees can be identified, they are informative as far as motivating, and rewarding employee is concerned. The findings from this would always inform my decision as a manager. I will also suggest complex problems to several research methodologies to get to the bottom of the issue before suggesting tentative solutions. Where it is difficult to get a solution would apply design thinking. The best thing about design thinking (thinking outside the box) is that one has to overlook the existing facts when seeking answers to what appears to be a complex problem.

In an organization, it has been established that employees are critical drivers because they determine if the set goals would be achieved or not. Motivation is one way of propelling all the employees to get reenergized. However, finding the best ways to motivate disengaged employees has always been a problem for managers. Many leaders think motivating and rewarding employees is an easy task, which is not the case since the whole concept is complex. The motivation theories that have been in existence for a long time do not offer a comprehensive approach managers can use to address the individual needs of the employees in the workplace setting. Applied research seems to provide the best way of addressing the complex issue of employee motivation. The approach emphasizes using several methods to analyze the issues at hand and identify the simple way to solve them.

There are several things that managers must do when addressing individual needs. First, managers must always use different methods when analyzing reasons why employees get disengaged for addressing them accordingly. Second, there is a need for managers to directly ask disengaged employees the root cause of what is ailing them before rewarding them based on the identified unmet needs. Lastly, using design thinking in the workplace is better because it offers the best solution to the complex problem whereby saving on time and resources that would have been used to motivate disengaged employees.

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Stoyanova, T., & Iliev, I. (2017). Employee engagement factor for organizational excellence . International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR) , 10 (1), 23-29.

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Essay on Employee Motivation

In the society, we live in currently, the rate at which employees get depressed is rising. There is an urgent need to ensure that the employees have a good working environment. The environment is inclusive of how the employees are treated by their superiors. Employers need to learn and embrace the need for employee motivation in their places of work. This essay aims at addressing employee motivation as a whole and its benefits.

Companies and other sectors that need a workforce to run their operations must value their workers. The workers are a crucial part of any firm as no work can occur without them, and therefore, superiors must respect them. They have to feel that their worth is recognized and appreciated by their employers. Employers have to know how to recognize their workers’ work as it is one significant way of motivating the laborers. Trainers can take the Employers through a training system targeting how they handle their workers (Sabbagha et al., 2018). It will significantly improve how the workers perceive their tasks and undertake them. They will be more willing to work than in situations where they appear to be forced to work.

Scholars should not ignore the need for employee motivation to be included in the study of human resources. The unit is crucial as it is undertaken by any person who wishes to lead people or manage a firm. Incorporating employee motivation issues in such a unit will go a long way in ensuring that the managers and leaders are qualified and know how to treat workers. When set out in such a manner, managers will take the issue of employee motivation with more seriousness as it deserves (Haryono, 2020). The managers will understand better the need for conducting such practices in their firms. A way of grading the students of human resources based on who understands the topic of employee motivation will challenge the students and make them more attentive and thirstier to learn about it. The better they know it, the more effective the implementation will be.

How an employer treats their staff determines whether they will remain working for them or move to new places. When one is not satisfied or feels undermined, one will always want to look for a better place (Sabbagha et al., 2018). It is human nature to influence each other, and one person quitting the job could lead to hundreds of others following. To curb these, the management must ensure that they are satisfied. The complaints raised should be attended to in due time to make sure that the workers have an easy time as they work. When everybody feels at ease, things run smoothly, and tension is completely done away with for good. Tension can tamper with the quality of one’s work and affect the firm’s overall performance.

One most important way of motivating employees is by paying them well and giving them reasonable allowances. With the current economy, people need jobs to sustain themselves and have something to save. The introduction of house and transport allowances in places of work will help the employee significantly save some cash as the employer has catered for some parts. It is evident that companies with these allowances in place attract more employees and retain them for a long time because they motivate them well with good pay. When the people come in large numbers to be employed, cases where laborers are overworked, are rare. Overworking can be led to hating the job and having a bad attitude towards it which will affect performance negatively (Sabbagha et al., 2018). On the other hand, where there is job satisfaction, the attitude towards work is positive, and work is done well; hence there is the growth of the business and retainment of workers.

The management of any firm must know the academic qualifications of every person working for them. It makes it easy for the company to conduct training and promotions. It can sometimes even be used to determine the amount of salary that one is paid. The aspect of training employees makes them optimistic as it shows them that the company has a plan to be with them for an extended period. A person cannot be trained and then offloaded in a short period as it will be a waste of resources. Promotion is crucial for employers as it shows them that the management recognizes their work. It will motivate them to work even harder in the posts they have been assigned, contributing to the general productivity of the farm (Lăzăroiu, 2015). management can promote them based on their academic qualifications or the time of service they have offered to the firm as it increases the experience. Employees’ salaries need to be improved whenever the company makes profits to appreciate their work and encourage them to put in more effort.

Employees are the primary unit of a firm, and they experience challenges just like any other unit. The management should always ensure that systems deal with solving issues experienced by these people. A system that begins by collecting complaints, articulating them, and delivering solutions to the workers should be implemented. The workers will be at more ease to raise their issues, and employers will make their environments better according to their suggestions. Most workers usually fear sharing their problems with their bosses directly; therefore, they work under conditions in which the job satisfaction levels are deficient. Human Resource mainly undertakes to ensure that all workers are working under the best conditions (Hanaysha & Majid, 2018). It has significantly helped firms’ growth as productivity is directly proportional to workers’ contentment with their environment.

How employees are treated is likely to affect the people they serve. Mistreatment of an employee will set them in a bad mood and breed a lousy attitude and environment for work. If one is working in an outlet store, the chances of talking badly to clients are very high as their moods are not right. The same applies to teachers when their bosses undermine them and pour their frustrations on the students, which is incorrect. Students will receive unnecessary punishments and fail to understand what is being taught. The motivation of workers also works the same way as workers will treat their clients with the kindness their superiors accord them.

The act of motivating workers does not only help in building them, but it also ensures the growth of businesses. When laborers are inspired, they do good work, and productivity is guaranteed, and it is a win-win situation for both parties. Motivation should be encouraged and embraced by managers across the globe.

De Sousa Sabbagha, M., Ledimo, O., & Martins, N. (2018). Predicting staff retention from employee motivation and job satisfaction.  Journal of Psychology in Africa ,  28 (2), 136-140.

Hanaysha, J. R., & Majid, M. (2018). Employee motivation and its role in improving productivity and organizational commitment at higher education institutions.  Journal of Entrepreneurship and Business , 6(1), 17-28

Haryono, S., Supardi, S., & Udin, U. (2020). The effect of training and job promotion on work motivation and its implications on job performance:  Evidence from Indonesia. Management Science Letters , 10(9), 2107-2112.

Lăzăroiu, G. (2015). Employee motivation and job performance. Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations , (14), 97-102

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Employee Motivation as a Component of Performance Management Synthesis Essay

Introduction, understanding employee motivation, a brief review of motivational theories, the complexity of employee motivation, how organizations motivate their employees, reference list.

A substantial number of organizations have embraced strategic human resource management practices in the modern economic times. The reason for embracing strategic human resource management is that it is comprehensive and responsive to all the issues of management that arise in organizations.

Most of the literature on organizational management point to the fact that employees are the most critical resources in organizations.

This statement is backed by the fact that employees are the key pillars behind applicability and functioning of the non-human resources in organizations.

Therefore, one of the areas that are given a lot of attention in strategic human resource management is the management of the expectations and demands of employees in organizations.

While the management of employees is termed as one of the most complex tasks, it remains to be the most vital role for organizational managers (Armstrong & Baron 2002: 42).

The complexity of managing employees comes from the fact that managing employees entails the management of their needs, expectations, as well as their emotions. Modern human resource managers in organizations are charged with managing performance (Boudreau 1998: 3).

According to Miner (2003: 250), motivation is one of the key functions of organizational performance in contemporary organizations.

A common question that is posed to people seeking human resource management positions in organizations revolves around the techniques that can be used to motivate employees (Katou & Budhwar 2006: 1223).

In this paper, it is argued that employee motivation is a complex exercise, yet the most critical function of organizational performance in modern organizations.

This paper explores motivation as one of the key components of performance management in organizations. The paper begins by developing the real value and meaning of motivation.

The paper transits to the exploration of the manner in which employees are motivated. This is done through digging deep into motivational theories and real examples of how organizations implement employee motivation programs.

As observed in the introduction, employee motivation is one of the key components of performance management. Different organizations adopt different techniques of motivating their employees. There exists no defined and static way of motivating employees in organizations.

What is evident in contemporary organizational management is that organization’s managers build on motivational techniques, while choosing best practices in employee motivation. This is due to the variation in operational structures and design of human resource development practices in each organization.

It is critical to define motivation in order to give a clear room for putting the term in the context of organizational management. Motivation can be defined as a psychological feature that is meant to make people act towards a given set of objectives.

Digging deeper into the meaning of the term motivation, it comes out that motivation is coined from the verb motive. Motive can mean desires, needs, demands, drives, and wants within a person (Gollwitzer 1996: 476).

Basing on this premise, motivation can be defined as the process of stimulating a person to behave in a way that favours the accomplishment of certain goals. Therefore, the observation that motivation is a process implies that it is a continuous exercise.

This is likened to the fact that the needs of people are complex and keep changing with the environment under which they are placed at a given time.

Moving back to the organizational context, it has been observed that the factors that stimulate the behaviour of employees include the desire for success, the desire for money, the need for recognition, and the desire for teamwork and job satisfaction among other individually and group derived needs (Armstrong 2007: 395).

Bruce (2006: 1) observed that the need for motivation in organizations is inevitable. One of the main roles of organizational managers is to ensure that employees discharge performance in the best of their skills and abilities.

Therefore, the role of organizational leaders is to ensure that they arouse interest in the employees, which is vital for gearing the employees toward improving the standards of performance when discharging their roles in the organization.

Up to this point, it can be said that the role of motivating employees lies squarely with organizational leaders. What ought to be asked is whether organizations can attain their goals without the embrace of motivation.

A simple answer to this question is that performance management is the core pillar of performance in modern organizations. This is evident across almost all industries in the world today (Bruce 2006: 2).

According to Management Study Guide (n.d.: 1), the process of employee motivation can be understood better by putting three stages into consideration.

These stages are: a need or drive, a stimulating ground in which the needs of employees are aroused and the satisfaction of the needs of employees, which is often accompanied by the accomplishment of the organizational performance goals.

The second stage implies that the employees may have needs that are not visible or understood by the management. Therefore, it is the role of the human resource managers to provide a ground on which the employees feel comfortable to raise their demands in which their needs are depicted.

It can, thus, be said that motivation is the source of employee morale, which comes from the feeling that their needs have been met. The needs are best met through development and implementation of a desirable incentive plan.

Of critical relevance in employee motivation is the increase of the level of attachment of the employees to the organization (Management Study Guide n.d.: 1).

A critical observation of management denotes that employee motivation is an exercise that has been in application in organizations even before the 20 th century.

The existence of motivational theories that date back to the pre-classical times to the classical theories of motivation and the contemporary motivational theories denotes that motivation is a vital and an applicable theory in organizational management.

The classical theories of motivation were prevalent during the 1950s, the time when most organizations in Western Europe were setting up proper structures to enhance competitiveness.

The three main motivational theories that were developed in the mid 20 th century and which have remained relevant into modern organizational managers include the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, Herzberg’s two factor theory and the theory X and theory Y (Management Study Guide n.d.: 1).

These theories provide the main ground on which the modern concepts and models of motivation are derived.

It can be noted that the contemporary organizational environment depicts an increase in the number of factors that are affecting organizational management, yet the classical theories remain to be the core pillars on which the foundations of motivation are based (Hoffmann 2007: 11).

The contemporary theories of motivation try to absorb emerging issues of management. This is due to the observation that the contemporary environment in which employees work is quite dynamic.

Contemporary theories bring out the significant changes in human behaviours and non-human factors and how they play out in the motivation of organizational employees.

These theories include: the goal setting theory, the reinforcement theory, the expectancy theory of motivation, the equity theory of motivation, and the McClelland’s theory of needs among other theories and models of motivation.

One of the main differences between the classical theories and the contemporary theories is that the contemporary theories of motivation are applied within the spectrum of human resource management.

This implies that the contemporary theories are more responsive to organizational change compared to the classical theories, which were based on the principles of personnel management (Hoffmann 2007: 11).

There is another category of employee motivation theory known as content motivational theories. These theories are often based on the needs of the workers in organizations.

The needs of employees keep shifting and so do these theories seek to explore how employee motivation can be attained within such an environment. Motivation is mostly seen as a factor that comes from the internal drive of the employees, which comes from the satisfaction of the demands of the workers.

The role of managers is expansive under these theories. Managers are charged with an extra role of ensuring that employees air out their views about the developments in the external and internal environment of the organization.

Changes in the internal and external environment of the organizations result in shifts in the demands and needs of employees. The change may be positive, meaning that it has a minimal impact on the employees and their needs.

The change may also be negative, meaning that it attracts new demands and needs of the employees. Most of the contemporary theories of employee motivation mentioned in the above paragraph can also fit in this category of motivational theories (Naoum 2001: 230).

Ankli and Palliam 2006 (7) observed that the most critical question that comes to the mind of people when talking about employee motivation is whether employees can be motivated.

According to Meyers et al. (2004: 991), research in the field of organizational motivation is still highly fragmented, which makes it difficult to develop a common understanding of how motivation ought to be implemented by organizational managers.

Instead of building on each other’s findings, researchers prefer to explore their researches on factors that impact on employee motivation solely. This is one of the sources of difficulties in comprehending the issue of employee motivation.

The other concern about the applicability of employee motivation comes from the fact that the operational environment in which organizations prevail is quite dynamic and often results in changes in the needs of employees.

The dynamics of the environment can result in scenarios where the needs of employees override the capacity of the organization to fulfil or respond to the needs and demands.

An example is the recent global economic recession where the financial needs of employees rose significantly, yet most organizations suffered massive financial losses and could not meet the financial needs of their employees.

However, it has been observed that organizations apply diverse tactics of managing the needs and expectations of employees (“Keeping employees motivated during difficult times” 2009: 53-54).

According to Ankli and Palliam (2006: 8), the needs of employees may be satisfied directly or indirectly, which means that motivation is exercised irrespective of the conditions that are facing the organization.

In fact, the real test of the potential of human resource managers to motivate organizations is seen during times when organizations are facing tough economic times. This implies that other tactics, other than the direct fulfilment of the employee needs and demands, have to be applied.

A lot of uncertainties take course in organizations during tough times. This raises the level of anxiety among employees, who worry about the potential of the organization to meet their needs. In such events, organizational managers are forced to reassure the employees through application of motivational models that are meant to retain the employees.

This is a daunting task, considering the fact that other organizations may be offering attractive opportunities to the skilled employees. This can come out clearly when trying to explore the relationship between motivation and employee retention.

What is evident in the study of employee motivation is that motivation is a complex activity that has to be effectively approached by the organization in order to meet the goals of organizational performance (“Keeping employees motivated during difficult times” 2009: 53-54).

In their exploratory research, in which they sought to establish the sources of employee motivation in organizations, Ankli and Palliam (2006: 8) found out that motivation is directly linked to the behaviour of employees. Therefore, motivating employees entails the effort to change the behaviour of employees.

By factoring the aspects of organizational behaviour in organizational performance appraisal, it comes out clearly that motivation is a complex process since it is not only bases on changing behaviour, but also a set of behaviours. In a number of circumstances, the behaviours may be generative and circular.

The aspect of employee behaviour change in motivation invites organizational managers to divide motivation into distinct categories of factors that affect the needs and demands of employees, and by extension affecting the behaviour of employees (Ankli & Palliam 2006: 8-9).

According to (Beswick 2007: 1), the linkage between employees and rewards, on the other hand, depicts a broader picture of the concept of motivating employees. The rewards go hand in hand with motivation. However, it is not clear whether all rewards fulfil their intended purpose.

Rewards may fail to achieve the desired objectives, especially in scenarios where organizational managers have not fully inspired the employees to bring out their needs and demands (Management Study Guide n.d.: 1).

As noted earlier in this paper, organizational performance management is one of the most critical parameters that determine the ability of an organization to compete with other organizations in the industry and the collective economy in which an organization operate.

Performance management cannot be fully explored without the explication of performance appraisal. According to Benson and Dundis (2003: 315), one of the key components of organizational appraisal systems is motivation. By extension, it can be said that motivation lies at the centre of performance management.

A deeper look across most organizations in the contemporary world reveals the emphasis on strategic human resource management (Latham & Pinder 2005: 485). One of the strategies of managing employees, which receives a vast amount of attention in most organizations, is motivation.

This can be understood by factoring in the theory of hierarchy of needs by Abraham Maslow. Irrespective of the fact that it is a classical theory, the Maslow’s theory provides the ground on which motivational practices are devised and implemented in contemporary organizations.

The main feature of the Maslow theory is the needs of people (Benson & Dundis 2003: 316).

Evidence across a substantial number of organizations across the globe reveals that motivation often begins with the unearthing of the needs of the employees and the devise and the implementation of plans to satisfy the needs of the employees.

The question that should be posed at this point is whether motivation is only founded on the needs and satisfaction of the needs.

This is not the truth; however, it is evident that motivation cannot be fully attained in any organization without satisfying the needs of employees.

It is the needs of employees that have to be opened up in order to reflect the increasingly challenging and competitive environment in which organizations operate (Latham & Pinder 2005: 485).

Having noted that the modern operational environment is very dynamic and challenging, it is apparent that modern managers ought to be proactive in the application of motivation in organizational functioning. There are a lot of changes in the functional environment of modern organizations.

These changes include the emerging technologies and the need for organizations to adopt the technologies, mounting competition between firms and the dynamic economic conditions.

Organizations that have proven to have the power to thrive in the current economy are those that balance the needs of employees and the organizational dynamics.

Benchmark organizations like Apple Incorporated, Microsoft Corporation and Tesco among others are often reported to invest vast amounts of resources in human resource development.

Part of the human resource development activities that are given maximum attention is the motivation of employees through physical rewards (Latham & Pinder 2005: 485).

Müller (2011: 2) argued that the rise of the Apple Incorporated into the scale of production that it enjoys today is largely attributed to the motivating factor in the organization. One can simply inquire about the mode of organizational motivation that is utilized in Apple Incorporated.

An exploration of the theories of motivation reveals that no organization can rely on a single source of motivation. Apple embraces both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. The balance between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation is crucial to the balancing of performance in the company.

This is backed by the 50/50 theory of motivation by John Adair, which emphasizes on the need to strike a balance between extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation.

According to Adair (2006: 43) intrinsic factors of employee motivation include job design and the culture of the organization, while extrinsic factors include positive and negative incentives.

Most organizations, Apple included, are trying to draw away negative incentives, such as threats. The argument behind this development is that negative incentives have proven to be unsustainable since they only shape behaviours and actions of employees in the short-run.

In the long-run, negative incentives often degenerate into revolt by the employees, thus failing to attain its key goal of motivating employees (Wang & Lim 2008: 701-702). According to the motivational crowding theory, extrinsic motivational factors undermine the worth of the intrinsic factors of motivation in organizations.

Extrinsic motivational factors, like the fear of sanctions, put a lot of pressure on the employees, and may kill the will and the desire of the employees to work for results (Dzuranin & Stuart 2012: 3).

Müller (2011:3) observed that the organizational culture of Apple Incorporated is moulded around innovation. As part of the intrinsic factors, the company often ensures that the employees are presented with all the possible resources that are required to advance the projects of the company.

A similar practice is embraced in Microsoft Corporation. This is justified by the billions of dollars that are spent by these companies in enhancing research and development. Once the intrinsic factors have been accomplished, it becomes easy for Apple to factor in the extrinsic factors of motivation.

Not all attributes of extrinsic motivation give attention to the motivational practices in the Apple Company. The company ensures that all its employees are retained in order to enhance organizational projects, which results in innovation.

The company has an elaborate benefit scheme that ensures that its employees are remunerated accordingly. The company also offers its employees other non-performance driven incentives like insurance cover and product discounts. This creates an enabling room for a competitive organization (Müller 2011: 4).

Motivation is, thus, one of the main success factors for Apple Incorporated. The company has demonstrated its ability to sustain organizational motivation, thus remaining to be one of the most flexible organizations in the world today.

This gives the company an upper hand when it comes to competition and attraction of employees in the competitive global labour industry.

Organizations keep competing for employees who have outstanding skills; therefore, lack of motivation among employees in one company can be used as an attracting factor in another company.

Organizations value experienced employees and they are often willing to go an extra mile to maintain skills and experience (Müller 2011: 3).

While a substantial number of organizational management researchers argue for tangible rewards as one of the most embraced ways of motivating employees, the reality on the ground shows that both the tangible and intangible rewards are utilized by organizational managers.

The most common tangible reward that is used to motivate employees in organizations is financial rewards. However, it has been noted that employees do not only value financial rewards.

In order to fully motivate the employees, as opined by the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the financial rewards often come first because they help employees to fulfil their basic needs. However, the other level of motivation, which is the fulfilment of the psychological needs of the employees, is also critical.

Employees value the sense of belonging and feel more motivated when they are appreciated by the organizational management. This is better understood through an exploration of the psychological theories of organizational behaviour.

Research on organizational performance has revealed that both tangible and non-tangible resources complement one other, especially in the production setting in organizations (Dzuranin & Stuart 2012: 3).

Employee motivation if one of the most valid practices in organizational management. Most theories of organizational management point to the critical relevance of organizational employees to the existence and sustainability of organizational operations. This paper has explored the topic of employee motivation deeply.

The paper sought to answer three main questions, which are: What is employee motivation? Can employees be motivated? How can employees be motivated? As observed in the paper, there are positives and negative to each side of the questions posed.

It can be concluded that the concept of employee motivation is one of the critical features in the management of performance in organizations.

The definition of employee motivation brought about the aspect of needs, demands and aspirations, which must be guarded in order to propel the organizational employees towards attainment of the goals of organizations.

In an attempt to factor whether employee motivation is a possible exercise, it came out that employee motivation is an activity that has been implemented by organizations for a long period, ranging from the pre-classical times to the contemporary managerial era.

This was backed by the existence of theories of employee motivation theories, whose development can be traced from the early years of the 20 th century.

Motivation is a complex activity, though it remains critical to the performance of organizations. The first aspect of complexity in employee motivation is the fact that the needs of employees are diverse, which makes it daunting for organizational managers to meet these diverse needs.

This compounds the problem of attaining the desired level of motivation in employees.

The second complexity of employee motivation resonates from the fact that the contemporary operational environment of most organizations keeps changing at paces that cannot be easily anticipated, thus swaying the needs of the employees.

In spite of the complexities, organizations keep inventing techniques of managing the needs, aspirations and expectations of their employees. This is due to the fact that motivation is one of the core tools for developing an efficient workforce, which can help organizations beat the odds of competition.

“Keeping employees motivated during difficult times”, Leader to Leader , vol. 2009 no. 51, pp. 53-54.

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Armstrong, M & Baron, A 2002, Strategic HRM: The key to improved business performance , Chartered Inst. of Personnel and Development, London.

Armstrong, M 2007, A handbook of employee reward management and practice , Kogan Page, Philadelphia, PA.

Benson, SG & Dundis, SP 2003, ‘Understanding and motivating health care employees: integrating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, training and technology’, Journal of Nursing Management , vol. 11 no. 5, pp. 315-320.

Beswick, D 2007, Management implications of the interaction between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic rewards, paper presented at a Seminar, University of Melbourne, Melbourne.

Boudreau, JW 1998, ‘Strategic human resource management measures: Key linkages and the peoplevantage model’, Strategic HR Metrics and PeopleVantage, WP, pp. 98-128.

Bruce, A 2006, How to motivate every employee: 24 proven tactics to spark productivity in the workplace , McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.

Dzuranin, A & Stuart, N 2012, ‘The effect of tangible and intangible noncash rewards on performance and satisfaction in a production setting’, Management Accounting Quarterly , vol. 13 no. 4, pp. 1-9.

Gollwitzer, PM 1996, The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behaviour , Guilford Press, New York, NY.

Hoffmann, S 2007, Classical motivation theories – Similarities and differences between them , GRIN Verlag GmbH, München.

Katou, A & Budhwar, P 2006, ‘Human resource management systems on organizational performance: A test of mediating model in the Greek manufacturing context’, International Journal of Human Resource Management , vol. 17 no. 7, pp. 1223-1253.

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Management Study Guide n.d., What is motivation? Web.

Meyers, JP, Becker, TE & Vandenberghe, C 2004, ‘Employee commitment and motivation: A conceptual analysis and integrative model’, Journal of Applied Psychology , vol. 89 no. 6, pp. 991-1007.

Miner, JB 2003, ‘The rated importance, scientific validity, and practical usefulness of organizational behavior theories: a quantitative review’, Academy of Management Learning & Education , vol. 2 no. 3, pp. 250-68.

Müller, C 2011, Employee motivation and incentives at Apple: Do incentives really help to motivate employees? , GRIN Verlag GmbH, München.

Naoum, S 2001, People and organizational management in construction , Telford, London.

Wang, H & Lim, SS 2008, ‘Real options and real value: the role of employee incentives to make specific knowledge investments’, Strategic Management Journal , vol. 29 no. 7, pp. 701-721.

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Motivating Employees Essay Examples

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Workplace , Employee , Motivation , Employees , Order , Leadership , Leader , Achieve

Published: 03/08/2023

ORDER PAPER LIKE THIS

The Top 9 Things That Ultimately Motivate Employees to Achieve

http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/06/04/top-9-things-that-ultimately-motivate-employees-to-achieve/#4c6332004fa7

Personal response to the article

For sure, everyone needs a little bit of motivation in order to achieve something. In business you are working with other individuals, you are working for other individuals, and as an employee, you are significant to the company: there would be no company without employees. While business requires success in order to be long term, success can only be derived with highly motivated for success people. I completely agree with six out of nine mentioned in the article things in order to motivate the employee for achievements. I have no issues with the following ideas: the leader has to earn trust and once that is done, the employee will keep willing to let you keep motivating them, since they will believe you act in their interest; helping employees increase their own relevancy will motivate them for constant improvement; taking responsible risk is needed in order to encourage them to exceed established expectations; career advancement opportunity provokes to stand out from the crowd; “self-indulgence can bring tremendous short term benefits – with longer term repercussions” (Llopis, 2012); the leader has to allow employees’ sustainable impact to be present, thus, worker would be carrying and responsible for the task he/she performs. However, I find the need of employees’ general happiness to be present, the minimization of experienced regrets, and the possession of knowledge about stable future uncertain. I believe that both positive and negative reinforcements have to be professionally manipulated. A person must be unhappy (or at least not completely happy) in order to do something; moreover, he\she sometimes needs to be sorry for the past mistakes in order to learn on them and be motivated to fix the situation; and the perception of stable future decreases persons’’ adaptive abilities and eliminates its need for future development.

In his article author’s main point is a simple phrase that the leader has to “get to know those whom you are leading and be specific about how you help each of them achieve their goals, desires and aspirations” (Llopis, 2012). It is as simple as it is logical: when gardener wants to receive his harvest, he has to first invest into the garden and take care after the plants for a while; thus a leader is the one responsible for establishing purposeful and meaningful relations that truly matter with employees.

Additional important factors to consider

In order to motivate employee, you have to have one. I believe that there are two most damaging employees’ number periods: the first one takes place during the orientation process, while the second one comes over time after a lot has been invested into the individual. In my opinion, for leader motivating workers should be as important as providing them with practical, smooth and productive orientation period, so they re felt welcome, educated and needed. Another significant issue is employee retention: the leader has to be attentive to employees’ needs, motivate them correctly and in timely manner, not to lose his investments into individual. A good leader has to be able to balance his attention to the workers, take care about their needs, listen to their desires, providing for their development.

Llopis, G. (Jun 4, 2012). The Top 9 Things That Ultimately Motivate Employees to Achieve. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/06/04/top-9-things-that-ultimately-motivate-employees-to-achieve/#4c6332004fa7

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117 Employee Motivation Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Employee motivation is a crucial aspect of any successful organization. Motivated employees are more productive, engaged, and satisfied with their work, leading to increased job performance and overall business success. However, motivating employees can be a challenging task for managers and leaders. To help inspire and engage your team, here are 117 employee motivation essay topic ideas and examples:

• The importance of employee motivation in the workplace
• Strategies for motivating employees in a remote work environment
• The impact of recognition and rewards on employee motivation
• How to create a positive work culture that motivates employees
• The role of leadership in motivating employees
• The benefits of setting clear goals and expectations for employees
• How to empower employees to take ownership of their work
• The impact of feedback and communication on employee motivation
• The connection between employee engagement and motivation
• The role of training and development in motivating employees
• The impact of job design and job enrichment on employee motivation
• The importance of work-life balance in employee motivation
• Strategies for motivating a diverse workforce
• The impact of workplace stress on employee motivation
• The role of company values and mission in motivating employees
• The benefits of offering flexible work arrangements for employee motivation
• The impact of job security on employee motivation
• The role of creativity and innovation in motivating employees
• The importance of recognition programs in motivating employees
• The benefits of fostering a culture of trust and transparency in motivating employees
• The impact of employee morale on motivation
• The role of autonomy and empowerment in motivating employees
• The benefits of promoting work-life balance for employee motivation
• The connection between employee motivation and job satisfaction
• The impact of employee motivation on organizational performance
• The role of emotional intelligence in motivating employees
• The importance of setting SMART goals for employee motivation
• The benefits of offering career development opportunities for employee motivation
• The impact of peer recognition on employee motivation
• The role of employee wellness programs in motivating employees
• The benefits of promoting a culture of learning and growth for employee motivation
• The impact of employee recognition programs on motivation
• The connection between employee motivation and job engagement
• The role of intrinsic motivation in motivating employees
• The importance of providing regular feedback for employee motivation
• The benefits of offering competitive compensation and benefits for employee motivation
• The impact of job satisfaction on employee motivation
• The role of performance evaluations in motivating employees
• The benefits of promoting a culture of teamwork and collaboration for employee motivation
• The connection between employee motivation and organizational culture
• The impact of job enrichment on employee motivation

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