Motivational Theories and Motivation at Work

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According to Aamodt, motivation is “… the internal force that drives a worker to action as well as the external factors that encourage that action” (2009). Employers spend huge sums of money in employees’ selection, training and placement. It is therefore very important for employees to perform their jobs excellently. This is the only way through which employers can get value for their money.

However, there are times when employees’ performances fail to meet the set standards due to lack of motivation. There are many different theories of workers’ motivation (Aamodt, 2009).

The first theory is the theory of scientific management developed by Fredrick Winslow Taylor, which argues that workers’ main motivation is payment. This theory asserts that work should be broken down into smaller tasks, and each task assigned a well-trained individual paid according to his work output (Beck, 2004).

The second theory is the theory of Human Relations developed by Elton Mayo. Mayo believed that money is not sufficient in motivating employees, but employees’ social needs were equally important. He further claims that good communication between workers and managers, manager’s involvement in employees’ work life, and effective work teams help achieve greater results as compared to payment.

Abraham Maslow developed the third theory, Neo-Human Relations, which focused on employees’ psychological needs. In this theory, Maslow suggests “five levels of employees’ needs” which influence their motivation (Beck, 2004).

He further explains that the needs exit in hierarchical order and that only unsatisfied needs influence individuals’ behavior. Finally, Fredrick Herzberg developed the two-factor theory of motivation.

Herzberg argues that a business that intends to motivate its employees could introduce certain factors, motivators, to motivate its employees to work hard. He also states that lack of, hygiene factors, could de-motivate employees even though the presence of these factors do not influence workers’ motivation.

Despite the many theories that explain employee motivation, I believe the Two factor theory developed by Fredrick Herzberg best explain my motivation at work.

Fredrick Herzberg explains in his theory that motivators are factors that are concerned with the job itself such as how interesting the specific tasks related to a job are, chance for additional responsibilities, availability of promotion, and recognition (Aamodt, 2009).

He proposes several methods managers can use to motivate employees, which I find reasonable and acceptable. These include job enlargement, job enrichment, and empowerment.

Job enlargement, which involves assigning workers a variety of tasks to perform, is motivating as it helps in reducing the boredom associated with performing one task repeatedly. Even though these tasks may not be challenging, the opportunity to perform them is itself challenging and greatly help in motivating employees.

Job enrichment on the other hand involves giving employees more complex and challenging tasks to perform. Due to the complexity of the problem, employees go extra miles in attempting to solve it. This may result to carrying out research and extensive consultations in line with the problem. Success achieved after such a struggle gives a great sense of achievement hence motivating the employees.

By delegating more powers to employees to make decisions that relate to their jobs, they feel respected, which motivates them in their work. Herzberg points out that hygiene factors, which are the main factors surrounding the job, do not motivate employees, but their lack may de-motivate employees.

This theory differs with Taylor’s scientific management theory, which emphasizes on pay as the main employee motivator. Pay and safe working conditions may attract an employee to work for an organization, but such cannot motivate him or her when already in the job. In conclusion, such factors as pay and work condition may have influenced my decision to take a job in the past, but the job environment determines my motivation level.

References

Aamodt, M. G. (2009). Industrial/Organizational Psychology: An Applied Approach (6th ed.). Belmont, Califonia: Cengage Learning.

Beck, R. C. (2004). Motivation: theories and principles (5th ed.). London: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

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Motivational Theories and Motivation at Work

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