Motivation
The job of the manager in the workplace is to get things done through employees. To do this the manager should be able to motivate employees. But that’s easier said than done!
Motivation practice and theory are difficult subjects, touching on several disciplines. Inspite of enormous research, basic as well as applied, the subject of motivation is not clearly understood and more often than not poor practiced. To understand motivation one must understand human nature itself. And there lies the problem!
Human nature can be very simple, yet very complex too. An understanding and appreciation of this is a prerequisite to effective employee motivation in the workplace and therefore effective management and leadership.
Why should and apply employee motivation and principles?
Quite apart from the benefit and moral value of an altruistic approach to treating colleagues as human beings and respecting human dignity in all its forms, research and observations show that well motivated employees are more productive and creative. The inverse also holds true.
Motivation is the key to performance improvement
There is an old saying you can take a horse to the water but you cannot force it to drink; it will drink only if its thirsty – so with people. They will do what they want to do or otherwise motivate to do. Whether it is to excel on the workshop floor or in the ‘ivory tower’ they must be motivated or driven to it, either by themselves or through external stimulus.
Performance is considered to be a function of ability and motivation, thus:
Job performance = f(ability) (motivation)
Ability in turn depends on education, experience and training and its improvement is a slow and long process. On the other hand motivation can be improved quickly. There are many options and an uninitiated manager may not even know where to start. As a guideline, there are broadly seven strategies for motivation.
We can motivate the employees by conducting the programs/events like R n R, etc.
The job of the manager in the workplace is to get things done through employees. To do this the manager should be able to motivate employees. But that’s easier said than done!
Motivation practice and theory are difficult subjects, touching on several disciplines. Inspite of enormous research, basic as well as applied, the subject of motivation is not clearly understood and more often than not poor practiced. To understand motivation one must understand human nature itself. And there lies the problem!
Human nature can be very simple, yet very complex too. An understanding and appreciation of this is a prerequisite to effective employee motivation in the workplace and therefore effective management and leadership.
Why should and apply employee motivation and principles?
Quite apart from the benefit and moral value of an altruistic approach to treating colleagues as human beings and respecting human dignity in all its forms, research and observations show that well motivated employees are more productive and creative. The inverse also holds true.
Motivation is the key to performance improvement
There is an old saying you can take a horse to the water but you cannot force it to drink; it will drink only if its thirsty – so with people. They will do what they want to do or otherwise motivate to do. Whether it is to excel on the workshop floor or in the ‘ivory tower’ they must be motivated or driven to it, either by themselves or through external stimulus.
Performance is considered to be a function of ability and motivation, thus:
Job performance = f(ability) (motivation)
Ability in turn depends on education, experience and training and its improvement is a slow and long process. On the other hand motivation can be improved quickly. There are many options and an uninitiated manager may not even know where to start. As a guideline, there are broadly seven strategies for motivation.
- Positive reinforcement/high expectations
- Effective discipline and punishment
- Treating people fairly
- Satisfying employee needs
- Setting work related goals
- Restructuring jobs
- Base rewards on job performance
We can motivate the employees by conducting the programs/events like R n R, etc.