Motivation Theory and Practice

What is Motivation?

• Motivation is the process of stimulating an action.
• It involves providing incentive or motive for a specific action.
• It's what drives people to act in a positive way.

Motivation Theory

• Motivation theory studies the factors that influence employee behavior.
• It focuses on why people are motivated to work.

Poor Staff Motivation

• Absenteeism: Deliberate unexcused absences, often following a pattern.
• Lateness: Arriving late can become habitual.
• Poor Performance: Low-quality work, reduced work levels, or increased material waste.
• Accidents: Poorly motivated workers tend to be careless, less concentrated, and more likely to distract others, leading to increased accidents.
• Labor Turnover: Employees leave for negative reasons, even if they don't have another job, spending time seeking new opportunities.
• Grievances: Increased complaints within the workforce and potential union disputes.
• Poor Response Rate: Workers respond slowly or poorly to orders and leadership.

Meeting Human Needs at Work

• Social Connection: Working in groups or teams.
• Challenge: Offering diverse tasks and opportunities for promotion.
• Significance: Recognizing and praising performance.
• Certainty: Providing employment contracts and job security.

E.W. Taylor's Scientific Management

• Frederick Winslow Taylor (American engineer) developed work-study and the scientific approach to management.
• He believed money was the primary motivator for workers.
• Scientific Management: Business decision-making based on quantitative research and testing to improve organizational efficiency.
• The goal was to increase efficiency, resulting in higher profits and ultimately, higher wages for employees.
• Taylor's scientific approach to improve output per,worker or productivity:
  • Select workers for specific tasks.
  • Observe them performing the task and identify key elements.
  • Record the time taken.
  • Identify the fastest method.
  • Train all workers in this fastest method, forbidding changes.
  • Supervise workers to ensure they follow the best method, timing them to avoid exceeding the set time.
  • Pay workers based on results, aligning with the "economic man" theory.

Taylor's Recommendations

• Division of Labor: Breaking a job into small, repetitive tasks easily learned and performed at speed.
• Piecework: Payment based on results, e.g., a specific amount of money for each unit produced.
• Tight Management: Ensures workers focus solely on their tasks, following established processes.

Evaluating Taylor's Views in Modern Industry

• Some managers still believe money is the primary motivator.
• However, modern views recognize workers have diverse needs, not just financial, and these can be met, at least partially, through work.
• Taylor's key principles:
  • Select the right people for each job: Carefully selecting staff remains crucial in modern businesses.
  • Observe and record staff performance: Time and motion studies, initially met with suspicion, remain a technique, often used in cooperation with staff.
  • Establish the best method for a task: This remains critical for efficiency, but incorporating worker participation in developing best practices is preferred over the Taylorist approach of unilateral management instructions.
  • Piecework payment systems: No longer widely used. Quality can be sacrificed for quantity, output fluctuates based on financial needs, and it discourages workers from embracing change as it could impact earnings.

Elton Mayo and the Hawthorne Effect

• Elton Mayo (psychologist) conducted research at the Western Electric Company in Chicago in the 1920s.
• Hawthorne Effect: Workers' productivity increased not because of changes in working conditions, but because they felt they were being observed and their input was valued.
• This revealed the importance of:
  • meaningful units of work
  • high levels of knowledge and skills
  • opportunities for personal development
  • • increased autonomy*
  • responsibility

David McClelland's Motivational Needs Theory

• Achievement Motivation: Individuals with a strong need to achieve goals and advance in their jobs.
• Authority/Power Motivation: Individuals who are motivated by leadership roles and influence.
• Affiliation Motivation: Individuals who focus on creating and maintaining positive relationships with others.

Victor Vroom's Expectancy Theory

• Vroom's theory suggests employee motivation to complete tasks is influenced by their beliefs about:
  • Expectancy: The likelihood of achieving a desired level of performance through effort.
  • Instrumentality: The belief that achieving performance will lead to the desired outcome or reward.
  • Valence: The attractiveness or value of the reward itself.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Time-Based Wage Rates

• Advantages:
  • Offers some security over pay levels, especially during periods with low demand.
  • Allows for different rates for different types of workers.
• Disadvantages:
  • No incentive to increase output, as pay is not linked to results.
  • Focus on quality might be more important than quantity.
  • Labor cost per unit will fluctuate depending on output.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Piece-Rate Payment Systems

• Advantages:
  • Motivates workers to increase output.
  • Easy to calculate labor cost per unit.
• Disadvantages:
  • Quality might suffer due to prioritization of quantity.
  • Difficult to calculate individual output in many jobs.
  • Lack of pay security during production delays.
  • Potential for stress and ill-health while trying to earn more.

Explore the essentials of motivation, including its definition and the factors influencing employee behavior. This quiz covers motivation theory, its impact on work performance, and the consequences of poor staff motivation. Test your understanding of how motivation drives workplace dynamics.