Employee Behavior and Motivation

1. Introduction

All organizations ultimate goal is to maximize its shareholders wealth and successful in
progress in an environment which is highly competitive. Organizations are facing employee
retention challenges since last two decades due to highly competitive regardless of
organizations, technology and market focus. To overcome these constrain a strong and positive
relationship should be created and maintained between employees and organizations. Human
resource of any organization is the most central part, they need to be influenced and persuaded
towards organizations achievements.

Most originations presently focus on how to have their employees motivated and how to get
work done. There are basic needs to be satisfy for an individual, for an employee; to succeed
in the workplace. Different motivation theories, include Maslows hierarchy of needs,
Herzbergs two-factor theory, and Aristotles seven causes. Each theory explain the fact that
there are needs for all people to be meet. Every employee is at a different stage in their lives,
which requires different motivation techniques.

The study focus on employees behavior towards organization, Motivation theories describe
how organizations can influence their employees to motivate and finally focus on how
organizations are able to implement different types of motivation techniques into their work
place. This will show how motivation is important to all organization and how motivated
employees contribute to create a successful organization.

2. Definition of Motivation

Just like any other word, there are variations of definitions to describe a concept. Motivation
too has many different definitions, but it is important to focus on those that are related to the
workplace. Understanding exactly what motivation is will help managers decide what actions
to take to encourage their employees. The definition of motivation starts with the root word,
motive. Websters Dictionary defines motive as, something that causes a person to act.
Therefore, motivation can be defined as, the act of providing motive that causes someone to
act. In other words, according to Nancy Shanks, motivation causes someone to act and someone

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else cannot make someone motivated. It is the discretion of the person to decide if they are
going to be motivated or not. Motivated and unmotivated are not opposites, but instead, there
are determining factors that could cause someone to be unmotivated, such as life events and
attitudes towards a specific job.

3. Motivation Theories

There are many different theories explain motivation. Scientists have been studying the topic
of motivation for over a century and have made tremendous progress for explaining motivation
which can be interpreted into the workplace. The following are some theories that have been
proven and accepted by society. These include Maslows hierarchy of needs, Herzbergs two-
factor theory, different types of motivation, such as intrinsic and extrinsic, and Aristotles seven
causes.

3.1. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow soon after he moved to Wisconsin, he started studying at the University of
Wisconsin. There he studied psychology and Maslow believed that people are motivated to
fulfill their own needs. Every person starts at the bottom of the pyramid and works to achieve
the goals of the next layer working to the top sector. One is not able to move on to the next
level of the pyramid until the needs of the first level are met. Once they move to the next level,
those needs must be met and if they are not, then it is possible to fall back down the pyramid.
According to the article, Motivation Theories, the following is a definition of the different
levels.

Exhibit 01: Maslow's hierarchy of needs

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The first level is the physiological needs. These are the basic needs that are to be met in order
to survive, including food, water, clothing, sleep, and shelter. The next step is security, which
means that the persons surroundings are not threatening to them or their family. If the
environment seems to be safe, then it means that there is a since of predictability or stability in
the surroundings. Security could also include financial security so that there is no financial
uncertainty in the future. This could be achieved by creating a retirement package, securing job
position, and insurance. The third level is affiliation which is the need to feel a since of
belonging or to be loved. In the workplace, this means to feel as though they are a part of the
group and included in the work. People have the urge to be accepted by others, especially the
people they are around the most. The fourth level is explained as esteem. This is the view that
one has of themselves. In order to fully understand this level, the person must have a high
image of them self and encompass self-respect. This level has two components: feelings of
self-worth, and the need for respect from others. The last and final stage of the hierarchy of
needs is self-actualization. This level is defined as someone being all they can be and they have
met each of the previous stages. In this particular level, the persons talents are being
completely utilized. Maslow believes that no one is ever completely self-actualized. People are
always striving to be better and use their talents in new ways. This is important to motivation
because a person must be motivated to fulfill their needs and strive for the next level until they
reach self-actualization. These needs motivate humans to care for themselves and live a rich
life.

3.2. Herzbergs Two-Factor Theory

Herzbergs work centered on the job or work itself and what can be done with it to enhance
individual motivation. Basically Herzbergs work looks at such issues surrounding
restructuring a job to increase subordinate performance. His studies deal with factors which are
job satisfiers and how they differ from factors which result in dissatisfaction. His work lead
him to draw two main categories of factors:

Maintenance factors. There are factors/conditions which serve primarily as

dissatisfies to workers when they are not present. Herzberg called these factors the
Maintenance Factors. The presence of Maintenance Factors does not result in strong
motivation. Rather, it is the absence of these factors which leads to dissatisfaction. In
other words, the factors are more potent as dissatisfies when they are absent than they
are as motivators when they are present. Some of these factors include:

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 o Policy and administration o Personal life
o Technical supervision o Work condition
o Salary o Status
o Job Security o Inter-relationship with co workers

Motivational factors. Herzberg also identified a second set of factors that lead to high
levels of motivation and job satisfaction when they are present, but which do not prove
to be highly dissatisfying if they are absent. Herzberg named these factors Motivational
Factors. The following factors are among those he identified as Motivational Factors:

o Achievement o The work itself

o Advancement o Possibility of personal growth
o Recognition o Responsibility

Thus, Herzberg found that the opposite of job satisfaction is not dissatisfaction but no
satisfaction.

Factor Type Absence of factor Presence of factor

Maintenance Factors Dissatisfaction No dissatisfaction
Motivational Factors No satisfaction Satisfaction

Herzbergs work has led to interest in job enrichment that attempts to restructure the job to
increase the workers job satisfaction. Herzbergs theory implies that if leaders focus on
Maintenance Factors, motivation will not occur. Motivation must be built into the job itself
in order to improve motivation.

4. Techniques of Motivation
There are 2 main broad categories of motivation techniques intrinsic motivation and
extrinsic motivation techniques.
Extrinsic motivation refers to behavior that is driven by external rewards such as money,
fame, grades, and praise. This type of motivation arises from outside the individual, as
opposed to intrinsic motivation, which originates inside of the individual.

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"Extrinsic motivation refers to our tendency to perform activities for known external
rewards, whether they be tangible (e.g., money) or psychological (e.g., praise) in nature.
(Brown, Psychology of Motivation, 2007)

Intrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from within. It comes from the personal
enjoyment and educational achievement that we derive from doing that particular thing.
For example for people who love music, their motivation to practice the instrument, attend
classes etc. is intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is crucial in today's work
environment. Research shows that it is a key factor in performance and innovation. At a
personal level, intrinsic motivation makes your work fulfilling. It's a major reason for
deciding to stay on a job. It helps keep your stress level down.

Job Enlargement
Job enlargement involves expanding the job of an employee that has them doing more work
of a similar nature to what they already do. This may be allowing them to complete the
whole task instead of just part of it, for example, packaging the products as well as
manufacturing them. This process ideally removes the boredom out of the job by
eliminating the repetitiveness out of tasks and allowing them to complete the whole
process, further increasing their responsibility.

Job Enrichment
Job enrichment is an attempt to give workers more control over their tasks and more
responsibility for design, execution, and output. The worker assumes some of the functions
previously carried out by his or her immediate supervisor or by other staff.

Job Rotation
Job rotation is a practice whereby each employee learns several operations in
manufacturing process and rotates through each in a set period. Job rotation has important
implications for firm learning. On one hand, when employees rotate, the firm receives
information about the quality of various job-employee matches. On the other hand, without
rotation, the firm receives only direct information about one match, but the information it
gets about this one match is very reliable.

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5. Conclusion

Motivation is a complex concept and can help or harm an organization depending on how it is
used within an organization. If top management of an organization takes the time to understand
the needs of his/her employees, then the recognition can be extremely useful. There have been
many philosophers who have tried to understand what motivates people, but every person is
different and a theory cannot describe all people. It is understandable the management have a
full time job and do not have much down time to be spending on rewards, but it also gives them
the opportunity to understand their employees and connect with them on a personal level.

Top managements are not the only ones who can recognize others in the workplace. Employees
can recognize each other as well. It has been proven to that one cannot directly motivate
someone else, but they can give them the tools they need to motivate themselves. Managers are
the resources for employees and they should make sure that their work environment is pleasant.

Reference

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Society for Human Resource Management (2009): 6-17. Web. 14 Feb. 2012.

Brown, L. V. (2007). Psychology of motivation. New York: Nova Publishers.

Griggs, R. A. (2010). Psychology: A concise introduction. New York: Worth Publishers.

Lepper, M. R. & Greene, D. (1974). Effects of extrinsic rewards on children's subsequent

intrinsic interest. Child Development, 45, 1141-1145.

"2009 Employee Job Satisfaction: Understanding the Factors That Make Work Gratifying."
Society for Human Resource Management (2009): 6-17. Web. 14 Feb. 2012.

"Biography - Frederick I. Herzberg (1923-2000)." Western Libraries. Web. 01 Mar. 2012.

"Employee Motivation: Theory and Practice." Team Building Training and Development.
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