The Role Of Monetary Benefits In Motivating Employees: A Critical Analysis

Maslow's Needs Hierarchy Theory

Discuss about the Effect of Monetary Benefits in Organizations.

Motivation acts like a force, which guides the action of employees in organizations (Grandey, Chi and Diamond 2013). It is important for all human beings but it bears a comparatively broader importance to the employees working in organizations. Nevertheless, it influences the organizational behaviours. A motivated employee is a precious asset for the concerned Company. Further, a motivated employee is extremely helpful for the organizational success (Cerasoli, Nicklin and Ford 2014). An organization runs through a collective workforce of employees. Moreover, a half-hearted dedication from employees may incur a significant loss to the organization. To serve the goal of a company, the utter dedication of its employees is of utmost importance. Motivated and skilled employees collectively construct the way for an organization to dream for a goal.

There are several theories, which support the importance of motivation in employees as an integral part of an organizational behaviour. Of all those theories, Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory holds the supreme importance for its universal appeal (Aguinis, Joo and Gottfredson 2013). As per the theory, there are different stages for an employee, which finds its inception ever since the employee has made his conjuncture with the Company. These stages are physical needs, security needs, self-respect and self-actualization. These are the four requirements that an employee seek for in organizations. Fulfilment of all these stages brings their life to a never before experience. However, in an atmosphere of diverse culture in organizations across the globe, meeting with all the stages hardly happens. There are hardly few companies, which are working with extreme care in all of these four stages. Nonetheless, they are successful entrepreneurs. All these four stages have their separate significance for an employee. However, all have separate values and all carries motivational credentials with them. A collective fulfilment of all these stages is extremely helpful for an employee but even a partial fulfilment do also hold the probable of bringing the motivation into the employee (Pilz and Gewald 2013).

Development of motivation goes through different process through the candidature of employees in organizations. Ever since the inception, the first and the foremost requirement for an employee is their salary. The nature of work and the assigned task pressure may vary but the need for having a healthy salary package is of inseparable importance in employees (Cawley and Price 2013). The expected salary is not a result of workload but rather it is their requirement to fulfil their basic needs. However, the fact is also contradicting in its justification for a factual behaviour of few employees in the organization. There are employees who understand their responsibilities and try to fulfil their responsibilities even under a lesser payment. Moreover, some never realizes the importance of their contribution in organizations even if their payments have satisfied their needs. Nevertheless, salary structures do keep a significant place in an organizational performance but it does not possess the guarantee of imparting the supreme work performance (Terera and Ngirande 2014).

Role of Salary

After the salary part, the safety of an employee in organizations also holds a significant importance in constructing the motivational thoughts in them. The places, which are always at threats of meeting with accidents such as bomb explosion, civilian attacks, and the fear of losing the life, encourages employees to develop a half-hearted commitment for their work (DuBrin 2013). The fear of losing the lives acts as a retarding force for the development of motivational force into them. However, even if the circumstances are favourable, it does not hold any guarantee of producing the desired result. Nonetheless, the case of failure in the motivational practising in such organization is also common there (Glasziou et al. 2012).

The next most important point, which an employee look for in organizations are their self-respect. To some it matters a lot whereas some are there who do not possess any regard for this. Providing self-esteem to employees presents a transparent image of organizations towards their employees (Young, Beckman and Baker 2012). It is helpful in structuring a belief of self-satisfaction into employees, which helps them further in showing their utmost dedication towards their roles and responsibilities. Nevertheless, the utmost dedication then achieved, shows its reflection in the performance of the organization. However, there are some, to whom self-respect is just a matter of dignity, which enhances the image of an individual in the organization. Moreover, self-respect never influences their thoughts as they have more concerns for other parameters such as Salary and the Service Condition (Parke et al. 2013).

Self-actualization in the Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory holds the most important characteristic of an organizational behaviour (Chng et al. 2012). Self-actualization is the one, which gives way to the motivational thoughts in employees. It happens in some cases that employees are often not aware of the consequences, which their contributions can bring to the organizational performance. In those cases, it evolves as the necessity to bring and inherit the instinct of self-actualization into such employees. Nevertheless, it arises as the necessity of incepting entrepreneurship skills in such organizations. Entrepreneurship skills by nature of it compels the management in successfully handling its employees with all the necessary elements required for incepting motivational thoughts in them. However, incepting entrepreneurship skills in an organization is not an easy task. It requires additional processing through which the inception of entrepreneurship skills happens. Moreover, foundation of entrepreneurship skills in an organization requires a huge investment for this. It put additional pressure on the financial resource of the Company. Further, this forms a boundary limit for those organizations, which are financially inefficient to cope with the changed requirement. Nonetheless, those organizations, which are financially inefficient, may fail in inheriting the self-actualization feeling into its employees (Altman, Valenzi and Hodgetts 2013).

Role of Safety

Organizational commitment is something, which dictates the right path to the desired goal. An organizational commitment is a colection of motivations, which never die (Thompson 2014). It rather compels its possessor for the utmost meeting with the set target. However, an organizational commitment is very rare in practice. Organizational commitment solely relies on the motivational thoughts of its employees, which suffers a serious loss in the otherwise situation. To make employees committed to their responsibilities, bringing the motivation in them is of supreme importance. Money and other financial awards given to employees can encourage them for the motivational thoughts, which is extremely decisive in incepting the organizational commitment. However, motivation is a broader concept, which is a collection of distinct characteristic of an organizational behaviour. Moreover, avoidance of any character may not result in as per the desire (Manzoor 2012).

It is an undeniable fact that motivational thoughts influence the organizational characteristic of behaviours (Sageer, Rafat and Agarwal 2012). However, it is hard to find out a single characteristic that has with it a solid proof measures for the inception of motivational thoughts into employees. All the important aspects of the Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory can produce wonder as a collective workforce but it is very difficult for an organization to posses all these aspects. Nevertheless, different organizations have different work approach, which varies distinctively from one organization to other (Dalal et al. 2012). The adherence of all the aspects of the Maslow’s theory is not realistic. However, a partial adherence of these aspects are possible but still, it becomes difficult to analyse a single potential aspect out of all those, which can produce notable productivity. This is where the problem arises for those organizations, which have chosen a partial portion of those aspects. The chosen strategy based on any of the established theories in specific the Maslow’s Theory, might not produce the expected outcome to the organization.

There are some arguments regarding the fact that money really motivates. Some have made this argument that intrinsic motivation is comparatively superior predictor of performance than the extrinsic motivation (Pinder 2014). It is very much feasible that focussing more on the monetary benefits keeps away a significant attention of one from its actual role in the organization. The actual role for an employee in the organization is way above the monetary and other physical rewards. It rather forms the backbone of an organization as it involves pleasing their rational curiosity, having enjoyment, learning fresh skills. These all are the core elements of an employee, which motivates it for the fundamental character of organizational behaviour. Some may argue that money is the most powerful weapon of all the battles of life but it does not establishes the fact that money satisfaction can bring all joy to the organization. An organization runs on the wheel of collective efforts of all its employees and the management (Adzei and Atinga 2012). Moreover, an organization cannot efficiently walk on its way without the collective contributions of all these fundamental elements of organizational behaviour.

Role of Self-Respect

A more contemporary explanation of an organization suggests that the fundamentals of organizational behaviour are a collection of group efforts, working in the same direction to achieve the desired goal (Chiang and Birtch 2012). It is clear from the explanation that the absence of any of the necessary fundamental elements can cause significant loss to the organization. Organizational management and the motivation inception in employees have a very crucial link in between them, which are tying them in a crucial bonding that needs a serious care of established facts of organizational behaviour. However, this is not the scenario in most of the organizations in the contemporary world. In most of the cases, employees have no attachment with the organizational requirement, which can be because of their negligence due to irrespective of the reason. Money and other physical rewards do satisfy few employees but it carries with it a less probability of incepting the motivational thoughts in such employees (Garbers and Konradt 2014). Even a high salary payment does not possess any assurance of imparting the pure organizational fundamentals into employees. Moreover, the high salary payment does produce excitement but rarely encourages for fulfilling the desire of the Company. Indeed the entrepreneurship skills help in incepting the motivational thoughts into the employees. Money is the utmost requirement of an employee or of an organization but it requires certain processing for this to generate. For an employee, it requires their honest dedication towards the requirement of the organization. Further, to an organization, it requires utmost caring of them towards their employees with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Both move on the same wheel but with different directions.

The first and the foremost aspect of the inception of an employee is the salary part, all the things then come later. It is hard to survive without money but again the same goes to everyone. Performance of employees dictates the path to the Company, which further creates the monetary benefits to the Company by achieving the set goals (Chiang and Birtch 2012). Moreover, an organization depends heavily on its employees as they form the workforce for the organization. Nonetheless, an organization can never move without its collective workforce. The performance of an organization caters home to many of the common people who are working there. In case of underperforming of an organization for any reason, it can leave its impact on its employees. They might lose their job, which has served them as their financial resource. These cases are very common today, which are creating a sense of fear among employees. In case of no projects to an organization, it generally keep those workforce with them who have proved their worthy in past with their organizational fundamentals. Rest who could not prove their worthiness rather their focus was more on salaries, organization generally ask them to leave, as there is no project. All the established facts and the contemporary thoughts arrive to the same conclusion that fundamental characteristic of an organization is way above the monetary benefits and the other physical rewards. For a long-term partnership in between the employees and the organizations they represent, there is an utter urgency of the motivated employees. Nevertheless, intrinsic rewards not the extrinsic rewards are the vital factor for incepting motivational thoughts into employees (Chiang and Birtch 2012).

Role of Self-Actualization

Money and the other physical rewards are a fundamental part of an organizational behaviour but it cannot effectively construct the motivational thoughts into employees. It rather can take them away from their prime role, which is to serve the organizations with full dedication. Focussing on the salary part most of the time distract the concentration of employees from the organizational values, which is extremely danger for the organization and for them also. Having desire for a good salary is not any sin but destroying anything, just for the sake of salary is not acceptable. The core values of an organizational fundamental are extremely important for both the organization and the employees. This brings the relation of harmony in between the employees and the organization, which they represent. Nevertheless, fulfilling the single desire and leaving rest apart, is not advisable for a peaceful run of an organization. However, the entire core values of organizational fundamentals under the light of Maslow’s Theory do not find a foot hold in the organizational behaviour. Moreover, a collective inclusion of the entire fundamental characteristic can do wonder in favour of both the organization and its employees. It rather has the potential to turn things in favour of such organization, which have failed in catching the worldly attention. However, organizations in contemporary world are comparatively more attracted towards the extrinsic form of motivation. They believe in making employees satisfied as long as feasible in the organization. However, these are not the characteristic of an entrepreneur. A successful entrepreneur rather possesses all the necessary elements of fundamental behaviours for the organization it represent. Extrinsic motivation such as money and other physical rewards are important but not effective as much as the intrinsic form of motivation.

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