Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
motivation in theory and practice (benefits to a company with a motivated…
motivation in theory and practice
motivation - a willingness to apply effort towards a particular goal. the factors that inspire an employee to complete a task at work
benefits to a company with a motivated workforce
low absenteeism
: lower number of staff are absent
low labour turnover
improved labour productivity
: may lead to improved work quality and higher customer satisfaction
easier to recruit new employees
- due to word of mouth
Maslow:
argued that employees want to have several needs met through employment. he argued that only once a lower-level need had been met would employees want to have needs higher up the hierarchy met.
self-actualisation
esteem
social
safety
physiological
Mayo:
between 1927-32 Mayo conducted a series of experiments at Hawthorne, a Western electric company in Chicago.
the first is known as the relay assembly test. six volunteer female assembly staff were separated from their workmates. a series of experiments were carried out. every 12 weeks a new working method was tried, ex. different bonus methods, different rest periods, different refreshments + different work layouts.
almost without exception productivity increased with every change. at the end the group returned to the original method [48 hour, 6 days a week with no break] and output went up to the highest
conclusion: the women gained satisfaction from their freedom. the six individuals ended up becoming a team and group norms had developed which were informal rather than formal group leaders. Mayo's work led to the development of the Personnel department
Taylor:
developed a theory about motivation [scientific management]. after conducting observations in a factory, he believed that to get the best out of employees, a piece rate scheme should be put in place, rewarding those who produced the greatest output. he also believed in close supervision of workers. despite taylor's enthusiasm for financial methods, reliance on them are short-lived + old fashioned. they have short-term impacts and are expensive for the business
Herzberg:
acknowledged that money had a role to play in ensuring an effective workforce, but took a very different approach to taylor. he believed that there were two factors affecting how employees felt about their work:
some factors directly motivated employees known as "motivators", ex. recognition.
however he felt that other factors [hygiene factors], ex. pay and working conditions - which did not motivate employees directly, but would de-motivate them if they were missing. he also found that employees did not like paperwork, particularly that which they felt was unnecessary and over amounts of supervision
job design - changing the design of jobs is a non-financial methods of motivation. creates altering tasks the workers do
job enrichment
this involves giving employees greater responsibility and more challenging tasks
it should introduce new and more difficult tasks and challenges
give individuals a complete unit of work to produce (rather than repetition of a small part of the production process in a production line)
allow employees to give feedback on their progress and allow employees to plan and organise their own work
job enlargement
this involves giving employees more varied tasks but of a similar difficulty
this aims to reduce monotony and boredom. examples include working on the checkout and then working on the shop floor, shelf stacking
this may increase training costs, it reduces boredom and increases employee's flexibility in case there is an illness though.
team-working
another way of motivation is team-working. this is designed to unite employees towards a common organisational goal. mayo had studied taylor's theories but found human relations were more crucial than money
mayo found that: work is a group-based activity and employees should be seen as members of a group
managers need to pay attention to individual's social needs and the influence of the informal groups to which they belong
empowering employees:
the process of giving employees a responsibility, ex. if a bar manager asks an employee to advertise their business by creating a flyer. the owner is appreciating the employee which can lead to increased motivation. such trust should not be given without purpose, hence it cannot be established over a short-period of time