Salah (2016) establishes that modern organisational success or failure is dictated by the quality of it’s employees with researchers such as Ramlall (2008) arguing that organisations depend on employee creativity, innovation, and commitment for success. According to Asim (2013), there are clear indications that increased levels of motivation among employees results in increased levels of performance with scholars such as Vance (2006) declaring that motivated employees are more engaged in their duties, more committed to their organisations while being a definite source of competitive advantage to these organisations.
Furthermore, Varma (2017) states that it has become essential
for organisations
to have motivated employees and establishes that having such motivated employees
will help an organisation secure strategically important advantages such as:
- Groups/teams taking a more cohesive and focused direction
- Greater effectiveness and efficiency across the organisation
- Intensified organizational commitment at all levels
- Optimal utilization of resources with minimal waste
- A performance-oriented environment driven by creativity and innovation
- Confidence to overcome uncertain business challenges
- Employee retention and loyalty
- Becoming more attractive to high-potential job seekers
Considering the above, the importance of employee motivation
for the success of today’s companies can be well defined. Furthermore, Varma (2017)
points out that motivated and satisfied employees will be more committed
towards organisational objectives and alternatively, it is vital that the organisation
also shows parallel commitment towards meeting employees’ objectives. On these
lines, celebrated management guru Peter Drucker (2002) states, more than it was
fifty years ago, it is more relevant and essential today that companies pay
attention to the health and wellbeing of its employees and look after them.
Concerning the motivation of
employees, Akinwunmi et al., (2018) argues that it can be practically
impossible to find a perfect solution that will enhance both job satisfaction and
performance continuously and states that to stimulate better performance, motivational
factors must be considered a vital part of organisational growth and sustainability,
given high priority and applied systematically. They go on to state that such
factors include, and are not limited to, satisfactory remuneration, better training,
effective & unhindered communication, promotions & recognition, and
safe working conditions among others.
It is also interesting to note that in the latter part of the 2000s, researchers Nohria et al., (2008) published a new model, which proposes that employee motivation is influenced by a complex system of managerial and organizational factors and established that the following four primordial drivers are hardwired into the human brain, which dictate emotions and behaviours according to the level of satisfaction of these drivers:
- The drive to acquire – obtaining requirements
for one’s benefit and wellbeing
- The drive to bond – attachment to and relationships
with others
- The drive to comprehend – understanding and
making sense of things
- The drive to defend – protecting oneself and
what is important to them
References
- Akinwunmi, A., Ajewole, O. & Ogbeifun, I., (2018). Motivation and Employees Performance among Health Workers in Nigeria. European Journal of Business and Management, 10(6), p.80.
- Asim, M. (2013). Impact of Motivation on Employee Performance with Effect of Training: Specific to Education Sector of Pakistan. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 3(9), p.9.
- Drucker, P., (2002). They're not employees, they're people. Harvard Business Review, 80(2), 70-7.
- Nohria, N., Groysberg, B. & Lee, L., (2008). Employee motivation. Harvard business review, 86(7/8), pp.78-84.
- Ramlall, S. (2008). Enhancing Employee Performance Through Positive Organizational Behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38(6), p.1582.
- Salah, M. (2016). The Impact of Training and Development on Employees Performance and Productivity - A case Study of Jordanian Private Sector transportation companies located in the Southern region of Jordan. International Journal of Management Sciences and Business Research, 5, p.36.
- Vance, R. J. (2006). Employee Engagement and Commitment - A guide to understanding, measuring and increasing engagement in your organization. SHRM Foundation, 1, p.1.
- Varma, C. (2017). Importance of employee motivation & job satisfaction for organizational performance. International Journal of Social Science & Interdisciplinary Research, 6(2), pp.10-20.
Interesting Article. agree with the content. how ever there are some disadvantages of motivation as well. According to Kwon (2022) some disadvantages are Employees that are unmotivated are uninterested in their company, They participate in the dissemination of 'rumors., Unmotivated personnel refuse to cooperate, The prospect of strikes, demonstrations, and other protests causes issues for management.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. To offset these adverse affects, organizations need to instill a sense of involvement, positive emotions about their work and a sense of community in their employees. Emphasis should be given to employee opinions and opportunities should be provided for them to be heard. Transparency from the senior leadership will also make the organization culture more open (Chandani et al., 2016)
DeleteAgreed with the article, Employee motivation is highlighted and discussed in the subject of organizational behavior which has a distinctive feature of models and theories pertaining to motivation. The development and growth of employees are significantly focused. As for Maslow, Alderfer, McClelland, Hackman, and Hertzberg; growth is the most influential and intrinsic motivator for individuals that exploit the potential of employees. It is found that an undeniable link exists between employee motivation and their satisfaction with their jobs and organizational commitment.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, Shahzadi et al., (2014) goes to add that motivation is fundamentally meant to facilitate behavioral alteration and that it is a force that enables an individual to act in the direction of a particular objective. They go on to state that organizations in this dynamic globalized world are continuously trying to develop and motivate their employees to help achieve enhanced performance with various Human Resource applications and practices.
DeleteAgreed with the content Nelushan. Furthermore, Every successful organization is backed by a committed employee base, and the commitment is the outcome of motivation and job satisfaction. It is the energy that compels employees towards organizational objective. It would be impossible for the organization to generate performance without commitment. In order to create a competitive advantage organization need to have a competitive employee policies and practices (Varma 2018).
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Manodya. The benefits of employee motivation is obvious as researchers such as Chintallo & Mahadeo (2013) points out that employee motivation is the most important element for all organizations to attain achievement of goals, regardless of them being public or private entities.
DeleteGood Blog Nelushan. The famous Steve Job said "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle".
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment Dayan. On these lines Sandhu et al., (2017) states that it is important to note that Motivation is key to bring about great work that is satisfying as it is one of the most important concepts of human psychology. In this backdrop, it has become vital for managers to direct the growth of their subordinates towards worthwhile goals.
DeleteHi Nelushan. Good article. To add more to article, Employees are at the heart of your business. Without them, be unable to achieve most of your goals. That’s why employee retention is so important. not only that some industry for instance, IT industry, skill labors are core competence which is created competitive advance. the motivation Factors is major factor that influence highly to retained the talent pool. These factor may be diffed organization to organization. Then, the study of own organization employees' behaviors mush be carried out before the set policy level decision by manager towards align it with an organization overall objective.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Rasika and to add further, "company goodwill also plays an important role in retaining the employees. The maintenance of goodwill of a company is possible only if the attrition rates are low. By maintaining higher employee retention rates the employer can motivate potentially talented employees to join the organization by creating a secured environment" (Sandhya & Kumar, 2011).
DeleteGood Post Nelushan, Organizations must support employee initiative and involvement as doing so will foster leadership development at all levels. Formal authority is not a requirement for leadership positions; rather, initiative and invention are. If given the chance, workers at all levels can decide to take on a leadership role, which aids in inspiring and influencing other workers (Jeffrey L. Herman et al, 2011).
ReplyDeleteEmployees are a key assets to any company and as you have elaborated, the success of a business could be determined upon the quality and the talents of its employees. Together with this, employee motivation and talent management would weigh in for better performance by the employees (Cravens and Oliver, 2006).
ReplyDelete