Motivating Employees For Better Productivity: A Study Of Motivation Theories

Factors Affecting Employee Productivity

Discuss about the Employee Productivity; Better Pay or Employee Happiness.

Employee productivity is one of the issues that managers struggle with in a way to increase business outputs. It is measured in terms of the level of output from individual employees relative to what the average employee does. Productivity is seen as a factor that comes from employee who enjoy their work and are satisfied working with the organization (Nemeckova, 2017). Different Scholars have tried to explain factors that increase employee productivity in the context of the organization. This is seen in the value that employees produce as the reason for the pay that they received from the organization (Miner, 2015). This element of work is influenced by different factors some which can be controlled by the organization while some cannot. In an attempt to determine the factors that affect employee productivity and developing strategies to address them, Scholars have worked on different theories of motivation stating several factors that affect workforce productivity. Some of these factors are better pay and making employees happy. According to Saks (2017) theories of motivation offer differing and similar stand points on these two-factors. This essay uses motivation theories to explain the two-factors of better and creating conditions for happiness in meeting the needs of employees.

Better pay is an approach that focuses on offering material incentives to employees to meet their needs as a way of achieving productivity. From the social contract perspective, employees give up their rights to the organization so that they can belong there and be part of the team. This approach is built around extrinsic factor through the use of carrot and stick to motivate employee (Pink, 2009).Such employees have traded part of their rights including their skills and efforts to the organization for economic, social and psychological benefits. Jones & George (2008) suggests that economic benefits gained from such processes include the salary that they received at the end of the month which they use to meet their personal needs. In the society, money is a medium of exchange that one must have to survive and live a happy life. Therefore, employees work in the organization because they are sure of being paid something at the end of the month. This means that people are always looking to put themselves in better positions financially.  This marks the reason why some employees will go for a job that offers better perks than others. This is seen where employees feel valued, thus making them better and improving company morale. Theories of motivation have focused on meeting of physiological needs of employees and use of rewards as a way of increasing employee productivity. According to Pink (2009) this approach works well where there is a simple set of rules and a clear destination to go to. These theories are Vroom’s expectancy theory, Urwick’s Theory Z. and Skinner’s reinforcement theory.

Sridevi (2010) states that Urwick’s Theory Z offers two propositions that can be used to explain the role of better pay in motivating employees. The first proposition is that each within the organization should know the goals of the business and their contributions towards meeting these goals. Then the second proposition is that the employee should understand the relation that the goals have to satisfy their needs positively. This theory implies that employee needs and organizational needs are related in a way that the organization uses the employee to meet its business needs while the employee receives benefits that enable meeting of personal needs (Soo Jung Jang, 2010). Since most needs are met by different resources and money can be used to buy almost everything, employees expect a reasonable salary from the organization at the end of the month or work period. This is the reason why some organizational offer different types of incentives to their employees on top of what they need to earn monthly. The role of this strategy is to share the benefits that the organization has received with the employee. Such workers engage with the activities of the organization since they understand the business benefits that are tied to the process. Here the more they work, the more the organization benefits and the more the trickledown effect that they received from the organization (Mirea, Naftanaila, & Mirea, 2012). For example, organizations promote their employees from one job level to another, while other review employee salaries after a certain period. The purpose of this process is to motivate employees and make them more productive to the organization. Further, employees engage with the organization not because they have skills for the job but rather because they require someone to compensate them for what they can offer with their skills.

The Role of Motivation in Employee Productivity

Vroom’s expectancy theory is founded on the notion that people are more productive when they know that the relationship between the effort that they put in and the performance that they achieve will lead to a reward or positive outcomes. Through valence employees put value and strength in their work for a particular outcome. The expectancy perspective of the employee forms the motivation element by pushing the effort to achieve the intended results. Azar & Shafighi (2013) argues that when expectations are met, the employee stays motivated and works harder to achieve the intended outcomes that will lead to better outcomes. The best example is employees who are paid based on the level of output that they produce. Such employees work harder to try and meet the set targets that will translate to a certain level of pay. In such situations the employee is motivated by pay.

On the other hand, Skinner’s reinforcement theory utilizes the control of behavior through stimuli to improve productivity. The theory works on changing employee behavior through reinforcing certain conditions that lead to achieving the intended results. This can be achieved through linking employee effort to a stimuli like a reward that pushes the employee to work harder (Azar & Shafighi, 2013). This process makes the employee attached to the reward process and works harder to meet the intended targets as a way of getting the reward. The process works on both results and behavior change as an effort to improve employee behavior.

However, Pink (2009) gives a TEDtalk analysis on how the use of rewards to motivate employees cannot work. In this video, he argues that motivation is far from rewards and other monetary incentives but rather should focus on other factors for employee motivation that are beyond rewards. The talk is based on nine reward experiments where eight of them failed to motivate employees and improve performance. He further argues that the use carrot and stick is buod around twentieth century tasks ut for twenty-first century tasks, the reward-punishment approach does not work  and often does harm to the employee and organization. Landy & Conte (2010) suggests that these factors are intrinsic are exist within the job itselff or the organization. In the presentation, experiments were done of different employee groups to determine the effect of rewards like better pay to employee motivation. The results were similar to those employes who were not motivated at all. Scholars that have opposed the rewards and better pay approach argue that this system narrows the focus and concentration of the mind and cannot work in real candle problems. This means that happy employees are more productive that better-paid employees since this approach focuses on the unseen intrinsic drive to do things because they matter (Cole, 2011). Theories that focus on employee happiness seeks to create conditions that make employee comfortable to easily do their work. These theories are Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, McClelland need for achievement , affiliation and power and lastly Herzberg’s two-factor theory.

Motivation Theories and Employee Productivity

From Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, employees have a set of needs that make them motivated to work in an organization. These needs range from the basic biological and physiological need to the higher level need of self-actualization. In this hierarchy employees seek to climb the ladder every time they accomplish one need. This means that better pay only works for lower level needs of physiological needs and safety or security (Jirjahn, 2016). Most of these needs are met within the first few years of an employees career and then they seek to move up the ladder. The remaining factors relate to the conditions of work that make the employee comfortable to stay longer in the organization. D'Souza & Gurin (2016) suggests that factors like career growth and development, realization of potential abilities and the comfort that the jo itself brings to the individual work better here. Employees will seek for jobs that offer autonomy and create conditions that allow employees to do what they feel is right for the organization rather than sticking on the carrot and stick approach. This theory indicates that employee motivation is achieved through happinesss where conditions are created to make the employee happy.

Herzberg’s two-factor theory  is based on the motivational factors that improve productivity and hygiene factors through which lack of them leads to no satisfaction. Hygiene factors include working conditions, work environment and security. On the other hand, motivating factors increase job satisfaction and is based on personal need for growth, this includes job autonomy and other conditions that make the employee satisfied (Jirjahn, 2016). Hyiene factors are used to reduce dissatisfaction while employee factors ensure employee satisfaction to create higher performance. Oswald, Proto, & Sgroi (2015) adds that job satisfaction achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility and advancement are used to create conditions that satisfy and motivate employees. These factors create what is called motivating factors that allow employees to be motivated thus increasing productivity (Boehm & Lyubomirsky, 2008).  For employees to be motivated, the factors that contribute to productivity are related to motivation and are beyond the salary that the employee receiveds. Such factors lie life the job itselff rather than the rewards that come with the job.

From the arguments above, employee motivation relates to several factors that create conditions for the employee to work better. Better pay motivates employees to perform well but does not create conditions   that make the employee motivated to be more creative. Employees require to be motivated to be able to work well and increase productivity within the organization. Better pay motivates employees but leaves other factors hanging that are required to make the employee happy and more productive (Bockerman & Ilmakunnas, 2012). Organizations that rely more on use of better pay and rewards utilise this approach for working on direct tasks that require straight approaches towards achieving the intended. The rewards approach therefore can be used better in situations where the tasks needed are short-lived rather than long-lived.

Therefore, happy employees are more productive that better employees since happinesss includes many factors that are both intrinsic and extrinsic. Sharifzadeh & Almaraz (2014)  sugests that intrinsic factors like creation of good working conditions, work life balance and autonomy are better than use of rewards. Purcell, Kinnie, & Hutchinson (2013) adds that when work conditions are made better, the employee becomes satisfied with their work thus creating conditions that make the emplpyee more productive. Content motivation theories have focused on  the work environment that the employee works in can be used to improve work and create conditions that make them more productive. By meeting these needs, employee are happier and more productive. Work conditions are better in improving work productivity rather than process theories.

Conclusion

This essay closes the argument y suggesting that employee motivation stems from focusing on employee happinesss which is beyond use pay and rewards. The role that rewards play in the organization is to make employees more productive but lacks sustainability mechanisms. Approaches that increase employee productivity should focus on sustainable mechanisms that create conditions rather than situations of work. Better pay is a situational approach to employee productivity and motivation since it focuses on the needs of the individual. In an organizational context, it becomes difficult to satisfy the pay needs of every employee which makes the approach less effective. In this case, the strategy cannot be used to motivate employees and improve productivity.  On the other hand, through working on work conditions, management ensurees that employees work in an environment that address all-round needs of employees. Therefore, happy employees are more productive than better-paid employees since they work in conditions that meet their personal and career needs. Since motivation is an intrinsic element, then intrinsic strategies should be used to create the conditions that make the employee motivated to improve productivity.

References

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