Introduction of Motivation
Motivation is mainly a force driving us to do some work, and directs behavior. The force which drives the person to do something to achieve something is known as Motivation. It a kind of internal energy, which is not concerned with the people’s personality, rather pushes his/her behavior in order to achieve some tasks. It can also be defined as an internal condition which activates one’s behavior. An individual to achieve certain tasks targets his goals and achieve that through motivation and work with more zeal to complete those tasks. Motivation revolves around basically three fundamentals such as; arousal of behavior, direction of behavior and persistence of behavior. (Romando, 2009)
Employee Motivation
Demotivation is a problem that can end up the interest of an employee in working and he looses the spirit of working with full efforts. So this situation should be avoided according to the experts. The occurrence of this situation is a problem in every field. This problem mostly takes place when the employees are feeling that there is nothing new and innovative to do and they consider that they are stuck and not moving ahead. Obviously every one works for earning the bread and butter and every one wants to move ahead and also wants to progress so if the employees feel that the chances of progress are minimum or zero then they get bored of their work and are not motivated to work any more. For this very particular reasons the managers form the human resource management department are asked to introduce new ways and methods to motivate the employees and keep on introducing new benefits and bonuses for the employees as well as other such activities and regards that can encourage the employees for working and they do not feel like being stuck at a single place. If the employees are not motivated then obviously they will not be interested in working and this will be harmful for the organization as they will be no longer interested in giving their services to the organization. In today’s business world it is the strategy of most of the multinational companies that they try to introduce new methods and ways for the encouragement of the employees by providing them more benefits, rewards, certificates and bonuses etc. In such scenarios the employees are happy and are interested in working. It is not that the employees are motivated just because of money; the employees are also happy if they are getting rewards and their work is being encouraged. If the employees are motivated because of money then again it is not a bad thought as if they want to earn by working hard then it is a good intention. This approach is very much essential as to achieve the maximum output and also for making the employees to realize that there hard work id being noticed. All this can only be possible when the managers want to do this. (Employee motivation, 1, 2008)
Money and Employee Motivation
It can be proved from researches that the financial incentives given to the employees affect a lot the job performance of the employees. Companies have to keep in mind the quality of work and also the limitation of the financial incentives being paid to the employees. It is true that money can motivate the employees to the large extent and there can be many different reasons for which the employees are getting motivated for the hard work because of having in mind that in return they will be paid by the bonuses and incentives. Money is not a small element for the employees and it is a big reason for them for getting motivated as they need for fulfilling their needs but they also need some other non financial motivators apart from money. The employees that are working in an organization have different nature, thinking, opinions and reasons for working. There are some employees who need money basically but they want to earn by their hard work so they want money as well as other encouragements while there are many employees who believe on the statement that acceptance is more important than money. It is important for a manger to understand the nature of his employees and also to get the information that for what reason they are getting motivated by money. Financial incentives improve the job performance level to the large extent and this fact can not be ignored. We know that materialism is a terminology that describes the love for money over all the other things. The employees that are financially very much weak feel happy when there is an increase in the salary or they are being paid some financial bonuses and so on so such employees are mostly motivated to work for getting more money as it is their need so this is not a wrong approach because they want to earn more by working more and they do not want to earn through wrong means. But still they want that their work should be appreciated and they should also be encouraged by their seniors so it can not be said that money is the only motivation for them. Although money is a big reason for their motivation but it is not the only reason. The materialism that derives one person to get motivated for money is again of two types: instrumental materialism and terminal materialism. Instrumental materialism refers to the desire of money for achieving some personal goals while the terminal materialism is the desire of money for achieving the social status and then comparing own status with the status of others. The first type of materialism is a healthy one as one should always try to improve his own living and standard but the second type is quite negative because it is creating a feeling of jealousy and in this feelings some times the employees perform the wrong activities as well. The motivation for money is again of three types: positive, negative and freedom of action.
Positive Motives: Positive motives means to work for getting more money in order to fulfill the basic needs and necessities of life.
Negative Motives: Negative motives refer to work for the sake of money so that superiority over other people can be proved.
Freedom of Action: By using money for freedom of action it is meant that the employee wants to have money just to use it in his own wants. He does not need money for fulfilling any needs. (Houran, 2, n.d)
Importance of Financial Incentives at the Workplace
Obviously every single person on this earth is working for fulfilling his needs. Although negative motivation is a bad approach but positive motivation or working for the freedom action is not a bad approach. In today’s competitive world every employee wants to do better than the other and this can be shown by giving the fair wages, salaries, incentives and bonuses to the employees so that they can see that for their hard work they are getting some thing. This fact can not be neglected that the financial incentives are very important for the employees. The employees are motivated to work for the achievement of these incentives and encouragement and this obviously enhances the level of performance. According to a research that was conducting for forty years shows that although the money motivates the employees to the large extent but still it is not the only reason of motivation. Employees also want to perform better ad the encouragement over their performance is also a necessary element for their motivation. It is so natural that if the employees are working so hard but still they are getting very little then obviously they will be least interested in working as they will think that there is no respect being given to their hard efforts. In short the nature of a good employee can be describes as they money, respect and attention otherwise it is better to show them the door way. Obviously the relation between the money and the employees can not be denied and it can not be said that employees are not working and motivated to work for money. Although there can be many other reasons but money is a big one. (Houran, 2, n.d)
Money is Not the Only Motivation
There is a concept that money is the only motivation for the employees for working hard and making their performance better. But this is not true because although money is major factor to earn and no body works for free but when the employees work hard they also look for the encouragement and appreciation of the managers for whom they are working. Motivation is the feeling that resides in the insight of a person and motivation comes when they enjoy doing something. So if an employee is working so hard and he is not getting and appreciation rather his work is being ignored totally then he will never enjoy in working and this situation will make him bored of working. So for creating a happy feeling about work there should be some incentives, bonuses, encouragement, appreciation and rewards so that the employees get interested in working more and more. If the employees are encouraged and their work is being appreciated then their self esteem and self determination will be improved. For this reason it is now getting necessary for all the companies to develop and introduce new ways of encouraging the people associated with the company. So it can not be said that money is the only motivation rather it would be proper to say that money is the basic need for which people work but besides that they really need encouragement as well. (Ward, 1, 2007)
Ways for Motivating the Employees
There can be some ways and if these ways are used then the motivation of employees can be improved:
- Making the employees to contribute in every single activity of the company.
- The managers should personally deals with the employee so that they have the motivation just for making good reputation in front of their employer.
- All the employees should be trained for respecting all the other colleagues.
- The employees should be informed about every thing that is going on in the company.
- There must exist a good communication between the employees and the managers.
- Sound and peaceful working environment should be established.
- Employees should be provided with all the resources that are required by them. (Hawroth, 4, n.d)
Conclusion
By observing the over all paper we can conclude that although money is the major element for which people do work and obviously no body are working for free and no body should work for free. People need more and more money because of fulfilling their essential needs in today’s world. It can be said that money is a source of motivating people for working more, striving more and improving their performance so that their position in the company is improved and they can get more and more money but it can not be concluded by saying so that money is the only motivation that forces the employees to work harder. Employees are working hard so they really want the proper output and if they are getting less then obviously they will be no more interested in to working. Hence we can conclude that money is one of the sources of motivation but not the only one and same thing has been proven by many researchers as well. So it should be made sure that the managers are not only using money as a tool for motivating their employees for working hard. The employees should also be provided with more challenges, holidays, breaks, incentives and so on. (How to obtain employee motivation without using money, 1, 1997)
References
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