MOTIVATION- NOTHING WOULD EVER BE CREATED WITHOUT IT.
Imagine yourself in the following situation. Your manger has just told you to finish up some important financial documents. It is raining and you have no interest in what you are doing. You have no clue why these documents are important, as these only consist of various numbers in different columns. You have no or very little motivation to complete this particular task. What may be the cause of this lack of motivation? Is it the rainy day, the headache, or your manager? Could it be a combination of these factors?
Motivating employees is one of the primary responsibilities of a manager in any organization. Before we go on, we have to define motivation. According to many popular text-books;motivation is the individual internal process that energizes, directs, and sustain behavior; the personal "force" that causes one to behave in a particular way. Positive motivators are of crucial importance to your organization as these will: (1) create a "team spirit", and (2) increase productivity. This is made possible by the use of eight basic motivators.
1. Recognition: -To be respected for what you are, and being able to harvest returns for having done a good job.
2. Prestige: -The ability to being proud over ones position or achievements. For example being able to attend a good university.
3. Achievement:
4. Appreciation:
5. Pride in job well done:
6. Being able to influence:
7. Responsibility:
8. Advancement
Douglas McGregor's theory Y is based on that "employees accept responsibility and work toward organizational goals if by so doing they also achieve personal rewards." Please refer to diagram "A".
DIAGRAM "A"
AREA............................................THEORY YAttitude toward work......................Involvement
Control systems.............................Internal
Supervision....................................Indirect
Level of commitment.......................High
Employee potential..........................Identified
Use of human resources..................Utilized
RECOMMENDATIONS:
STEP #1- HIRE THE BEST PEOPLE:
Hiring the best people makes motivation easier. It does this in two ways:(1)- You, as the manager has to spend less time taking care of personnel problems and other questions related to managing the human resources of the organization. A well educated (for the job) person will be able to handle such problems better than a person with less experience in the area. A manager can be great motivator, but without the right personnel, he or she may not be able to successfully motivate his/her employees.
(2)- If you follow step one you should spend less time replacing, and looking for new personnel. Motivated personnel will usually serve an organization for a longer time than non motivated and passive employees. In addition, you will be able to maintain a solid organization, in which all members can be counted for. Also, this will give more time for the manager to train and communicating with his/her staff.
STEP #2- TRAIN EMPLOYEES:
"An investment in education pays the best dividends" (Ben Franklin). Training your employees will not only be an expense for your organization, but also an investment that has a great future value attached to it. Many times, mangers will get paid back 10 times the cost of training. It is very important to keep your employees up-to date and enlighten them with the latest information available in their work field. The type of education needed may vary, but many times, subscriptions of popular journals and magazines will educate your employees and make them keep up to date with new ideas. There are several ways to educate your people.
First, do not only emphasize on technical training, but also self-management skilled and people skills. Self-management skills includes the following:
Secondly, teach people skills , which includes, listening, questioning, and feedback.
Thirdly, constant training,. "Good people cannot be over trained."
Fourth, cross training. Cross training is a process that makes it possible for employees to exchange "work habits". This will create an overall picture, and broader understanding of the company and its functions. This will boost motivation, as it is increasing their capacity for creativity.
Fifth, vertical training. The main advantage of this kind of training is to make the organization stronger. Vertical training is a form of delegation, where a manger shares his/her duties with his/hers subordinates. A manager could delegate his/her managing responsibilities to a subordinate for a limited period of time. This will open opportunities for new ideas. Another way to practice vertical training is be to let managers move down, and take lower management positions for a limited time.
When you, as a manager incorporates any kind of training. always remember that an employee needs practice, and awareness while going through a training program. Managers play a key role in the training process by letting the employees know that they are improving their skills and abilities and that they are doing a good job.
STEP #3- COMMUNICATE CONSTANTLY:
Employees have to know that someone cares for them, otherwise they will not find enough motivation. Such persons usually just barely do what they have to do in order to keep their job.. Constant communication can improve this problem. There are basically six different forms of corporate communication. These are;
CONCLUSION.
Motivation is crucial in the process of management. Without little or no motivation you, as a manger of an organization will not be able to get as much from your employees as you may need. Motivation is the driving force in people. It makes people feel committed to others, and feel responsible for the actions of an organization. Motivating to excellence deals with how to ensure a positively motivated team of employees. This document is basically based on McGregor's Y theory, that states that "employees accept responsibility and work toward organizational goals if by so doing they also achieve personal rewards."
There are basically three steps to follow to get your people motivated. These are; (1)Hiring the best people, (2) train employees, and finally (3) Communicate constantly. All of these steps are dependent on each other, and it is not possible to only incorporate one of these. Always remember that your employees do have potentials, and you are their primary motivator.