Five Conditions for Employee Motivation

Some Important Links to More Enthusiasm

Oct 14, 2009 Paul Larson

Why does a business need motivated employees?

The answer is the survival of the enterprise. Motivated employees make all the difference in the rapidly changing workplaces that today’s global economy demands. These are the people that help organizations survive. Motivated employees are just more productive, plain and simple.

Managers need to understand what motivates employees within the context of the roles they perform in the organization. This is a complex and fluid issue due to the fact that what motivates employees seems to change constantly. For example, pay incentives might be appealing to young workers, professional development opportunities might interest mid-career associates and being part of policy and strategic planning might interest long-term associates.

Five Conditions for Employee Motivation

Here are five conditions that if met, will create a stimulating environment that will fan the flames of motivation in the workplace.

Interesting work – This is a self-actualizing factor. As in the old saying that a horse can be led to water but not forced to drink as it will drink only if it's thirsty, so with people. They will do what they want to do or otherwise motivated to do. Interesting work is the key to the “want to” part of this picture.
Good wages – An example of how this motivates is the number of people back in college as mid career adults working toward those degrees that will ease their move into higher paying positions.
Appreciation of the work done – Full appreciation of the work done is an esteem factor. People who feel their work is not being appreciated may apply themselves at a lower level or undervalue the work of other employees.
Promotions and growth in the organization – These growth opportunities provide the organizational means to give the important recognition to those who deserve it through their achievements.
Feeling of being in on things – Feelings of involvement also lead to the cohesiveness that binds a group together and increases the likelihood of motivation to insure that group will be successful.

Some Important Links to More Enthusiasm

Knowing how to use this information in motivating employees is complex but interesting work and employee pay are important links to higher motivation of the people in an organization. Options such as job enlargement, job enrichment, promotions, internal and external stipends, monetary, and non-monetary compensation should be considered.

Managers to make work more interesting can use Job enlargement. By increasing the number and variety of activities performed more is called for from the employee and that is stimulating. Job enrichment can used to make work more interesting and increase pay by adding higher level responsibilities to a job and providing monetary compensation to employees for accepting this responsibility.

Knowing what motivates employees and incorporating this knowledge into the reward system will help identify, recruit, employ, train, and retain a productive workforce.

And as a last note, employees must be willing to let managers know what motivates them, and managers must be willing to design reward systems that motivate employees.

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Motivation is a Difference Maker Today