Employee motivation

BME

Motivation

An employee’s reason/motivation to head to work everyday as each person in an organisation

Motivation: KPIs

KPIs for human resource management can be developed when staff motivations are known

Share bonuses (financial)

Payments in cash if KPIs are achieved

Share schemes (financial)

Employees are given shares in the business as rewards

Skill improvement training (non-financial)

Giving employees extra training to support their personal career goals can be a win-win result for the employee

Recognition and reward (non-financial)

Publicity acknowledge good performance through awards such as employee of the month, at staff meetings, in newsletters or with annual awards

Penalities for employees (non-financial)

While a penalty may provide a temporary increase in employee efforts or compliance with the business needs, it tends to lead to more stress and lower morale from employees

Human resource motivation theories

Workplace performance can be strongly linked to the employee’s movation to perform the job

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Maslow states that humans have an ordered approach to meet their needs

Each person requires the needs lowest in the hierarchy to be met first before moving on the next level of needs

Physiological needs

1

The business should pay employees appropriately and supply a protective environment or clothing as required

Safety and security

2

Met through the provision of healthy work conditions, insurance plans and stable management

Love and belonging

3

Belonging can potentially be satisfied using employees activities and social functions

Self esteem

4

Could be looked after with management praise of good work, recognition of high performing employees, improving the level of responsibility attached to a position or the use of promotions

Self actualisation

Required challenging work, the encouragement of creativity and the reward of innovation

Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory

Expanded Maslow’s theory and defined two different levels of employee needs in the workplace

• Positive and negative feelings about the workplace tendered to arise from different factors, not from different people responding to the same factors

Hygiene factors

Elements of a job that when inadequate, can lead to dis-satisfaction

• Security

• Relationship with other employees

• Policies

• Status

• Pay rate

• Physical working condition

Motivational factors (motivators)

Elements of a job that lead to satisfaction and motivation

• Achievement

• Recognition

• Challenge

• Promotion

• Responsibility

Maslow - human resources management

Affected by this theory in that the business owner or manager should take several considerations into account when planning for human resources and employee needs

Herzberg - human resources management

Affected by the theory in that the business owner or manager should ensure that long term motivators are emphasized in human resource plans

Vroom’s expectency theory

Employees will want to maximise their happiness at work and minimise “pain”

• Explains how people make decisions regarding various alternatives

• Relationship between people’s behaviour at work and their goals

• Peformance at work is reflective of personal factors

Employees of an organisation will be motivated given they believe…

1. More effort will result in better job performance

2. Better job performance will lead to organisational rewards and benefits

3. These organisational rewards are valued by the employee

Motivational forces - Expectancy

Measures the person’s confidence in being able to get the results expected

(purely subjective measure of an individual’s belief in themselves)

Motivation forces - Instrumentality

Measures the extent to which an individual believes that organisation will deliver the rewards that were promised

Motivational forces - Valence

Measures the value a person attaches to a given reward

(Extrinsic: money, promotion or time off/ Intrinsic: sense of achievement)

Adam’s equity theory

Built on Maslow and Herzberg’s theories to consider the influence of comparisons with other employee’s and situations on the individual employee’s motivation

• Employee will compare their input with workmates inputs and expect to achieve similar outcomes

• If outcomes not as expected, employee will be less motivated

• Person is motivated by what they perceive is equitale treatment in comparison to others

Adams - human resource management

Affected by this theory in that the business owner or manager should ensure that employee inputs are fairly rewarded by equitable outcomes for all in the workplace

Input

• Experience

• Skills

• Knowledge

• Effort

• Energy

• Time

• Responsiblity

• Flexibility

Work characteristics: dangerous, complex, too much bad working conditions, physical environment, working tools

Outcome

• Salary

• Reward

• Bonus

• Security

• Recognition

• Promotion

• Learning and development

• Opportunities

• Good working conditions

Work characteristics: interesting, challenging, complex job, achievement

Leadership styles

An organisation/manager will use a style based on their ability and personality, what has worked in the past and what employees respond to best

Autocratic

A typical manager does not involve others in the decision-making process

• Communication style is one way

• They tell staff what they must do

• All decisions are made by the autocratic leader and employees are directed to implement their decisions

Effectiveness of the autocratic style

Where there is a need for urgent action where the manager is the only one with the experience and expertise

• Common in workplaces that are based on standardised, repetitive processes

• The manager will focus on making sure staff follow the rules and keep up with the pace

Participative/Democratic

Employees are involved in planning and decision making in the workplace

• Manager may still make final decisions, decisions and plans are based on the ideas and feedback from staff

• Can increase job satisfaction because it gives employees more control

Effectiveness of the democratic style

Where employees are motivated, skilled and experienced

• Employees know what to do to get the job done and the role of the manager is to organise resources for the teams and help them solve problems

Situational

Where a manager uses the most appropriate behaviours and adapts their leadership style depending on the situation

• Managers adapt their actions - methods of communication and decision making

• Managers recognise the strengths and weaknesses of each style and apply this knowledge to a situation or challenge