The report as followed is based on a case study of "SOCOMETAL: REWARDING AFRICAN WORKERS". The particular company is owned by two partners. Major share is hold by a French partner and second but less share is hold by Senegalese. The firm is always held up as a model in terms of its Africanization in management of policies. Eight hundred employees have been hired by the company. The Senegalese partner wants to pay each worker for two extra hours in exchange of 30% increase in production. But the problem occurs as the French partner, an arrogant one, likes to do what he thinks is right. He doesn't encourage different views presented by other people and doesn't pay any heed to his partner's or someone else's suggestions. But the main problem in this report is that the partner with less share always gets difficulty as his partner is used to think himself more rational than anyone else present in the their firm and this attitude has overcome his personality most probably due to his maximum share in the company which makes him not to bother any ideas given by his staff, and boast himself as the perfect boss despite of the holding a partnership.
Introduction:
Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issue related to people such as compensation, performance, hiring, performance management, organizational development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration and training.
Money is a very crucial aspect in the contemporary world. It is not only the factor which motivates people to work, but is the only aspect among many others which provide people that extra boost which they often require to be on work. A competent and motivated workforce is the real factor which propels a business function to its full potential. Any business can improve its production as well as quality of production with its hard working, highly motivated, happier and ultimately more competent workforce. Positively motivated workers are usually more satisfied and can produce more effective results and help the business to improve its position. This urges an organization to be competitive and proactive in its dealings, and that helps the particular company to achieve success. These are the facets in which positive motivation makes itself apparent, and these are precisely the reasons that why it is essential for a workforce to be well motivated.
Job satisfaction too is another big factor in motivating the workers. If a worker likes his job then he will work hard and give his best. So creating a friendly and nice working environment would lead directly to a more contented and competent workforce. The primary aim of an employee is to rise gradually at the corporate ladder and achieve bright chances to get promoted and create a visible niche for himself in his respective organization, which not only gains a better rise in paying, infect winning trust to handle more responsibilities. This can also motivate people to feel valuable and as if they are indispensible, they are encouraged to understand the importance of team spirit. As it is an important need of man to get recognition so once as he gets aware of the clear bright difference of his hard work he becomes confident and more positive in many ways.
Money holds an undeniable importance in every aspect of our life that even survival itself is not possible without it in today's world. Possessing money enables us to meet our basic needs. BUT despite of this crucial fact, we cannot forget the significance of mental satisfaction which a person could get only by working in a comfortable, encouraging and facilitating environment because satisfaction does relates with financial strength but money cannot buy it.
Objective of the study:
My study aims to justify the importance of 'MOTIVATION' and the ways which influence its concept within the world of business. The study helps to analyse and make researches that why people behave in a certain way. For example, why might one employee work harder? What could be the real motivating factor for the worker? Which factor affects most the potential of a worker? etc...
Examination of the factors influencing motivation:
According to Jerald Greenberg (1999) motivation is defined "as a process of arousing, directing and maintaining behaviour towards a goal." The act of arousing is related to desire and vigour to get the outcome.
Now the question arises that 'Why motivation is crucial?'
In today's competitive world, none of the organization can be able to perform at its best levels unless its employees are committed to the work for the betterment and profit of that organization. But these days most of the organizations are being faced with ever increasing competition, maintaining the position, and even to raise it higher. They need to be ready to face new challenges every coming minute. In this respect, one of the key components of survival is to polish the ability to work with human resource efficiently and effectively. Human resource as we have learned through innumerable experiences could either be an asset or a liability for a firm. It is the resourceful and effective management of dealing with human resource that the organizations today are building blocks for success all over the world.
'Employee commitment', 'Productivity' and 'Retention' issues are emerging as the most critical challenges for workforce management. For many firms, "surprised employee departures" can have a significant effect on the execution of their business plans and may eventually cause a parallel decline in their productivity. Building the employee commitment with the workplace is yet again a crucial goal of human resource policies and practices. Research shows that commitment has a positive effect on productivity, turnover and employee's willingness to help his co-workers. The purpose of this study is to frame out numerous employee retention indicators and its relation with commitment, loyalty, and job satisfaction. It further seeks to identify a powerful force to engage employees in a manner which could promote greater job contentment, commitment to work and motivation to increase and improve business out come.
Motivation could be described as a driving force that makes people willingly to give their best in what they do. The concept of motivation is that there is no need to force or threaten people to work harder, as any such force or threat is likely to be ineffective in the long run. Rather, it is better that people should be motivated as it is believed that the driving force resulting from motivation would compel people to put in their best with their willingness and not under pressure of any force or threat. Motivation is believed to lead to an increase in employees' active performance that eventually leads to an increase in the overall organisational productivity levels. Furthermore, motivating factor is considered to improve employee's satisfaction in his work. Nevertheless, it should be clearly understood that motivation is not a 'magic show which performs tricks and seems to show miracles. Thus, for the motivation, to be effective, not only the staff must be motivated but the management should be assured that the staffs have the ability to do the given job.
Boredom, stress and job dissatisfaction are increasingly becoming overwhelming at work present day, that some commentators believe that motivation of staff could be the key to ameliorating the problem .A committed, loyal work force is a 'treasure' for any organization, however, various factors like Job satisfaction and Motivation has its own identity in the creation of this highly spirited work force. There are various theories which elaborate the relationship among commitment, job satisfaction and motivation. A M and Expectancy theory helps me in regard to justify my statements given above.
Organizational data to explain my hypothesis and theory Purpose:
Then, Organizational data meaningfully shows its presence in my hypothesis and theory Purpose. The basic purpose of this study has been to describe the significance of certain factors in motivating employees. The study ought to describe the ranked importance of the following ten motivating factors:
job security,
sympathetic help with personal problems,
personal loyalty to employees,
interesting work,
good working conditions,
tactful discipline,
good wages,
promotions and growth in the organization,
feeling of being in on things, and
Full appreciation of work done.
A secondary purpose of the study is to compare the results of this research with the results taken from other cultures. This study has meant to be done to learn the importance of elements which influence motivation, the given example highlights the importance of 'Good working condition' , 'job security ', discipline , wages , promotion , growth, and recognitions as well as appreciation for the contribution.
In this example I would like to order the motivational factors in to
Interest in work with proper work condition
Good wages and compensation
Recognition appreciation and promotion (feel of being important )
Tactful discipline
Symphatatic concern or personal help and how this affects in creating a highly spirited committed and loyal work force
Relating my work example with the Maslow's theory has given me some interesting insight:
The example as followed relates the transporting business in Pakistan, where the business was started with one employee and less than 0.1 million as capital investment is now with a number of thirty five (35) employees and more than 1.5 million turn over.
Freedom of work was always imperative; also the staffs was permitted to take timely decisions when and where they feel necessary, this bit of power gave them a sense of autonomy and recognition as well.
Compensation benefits like basic pay and opportunities for variable pay like bonus, commissions, monitory rewards, paid off ect.
I used to provide them with incentives and celebrated individual achievements through proper recognition as well as rewards.
There was a good work-relationship with superiors and employees; the entire administration was operated through guided and able supervisors, so that there could be a good interaction with employees at every level.
I had given utmost importance to employee's relationship with the management through better communication, independence, freedom of expression in every task given to them. I had asked for their participation in making decisions, which made them feel 'important' which resulted in their good work as the partners of the business and not as paid employees only.
A healthy working environment had been provided to them and so as the flexible working conditions were applied - which helped them to work enthusiastically.
I created a happy and friendly working atmosphere for my employees to build up their confidence in job security, good professional relationship and attractive salary packages, and this effort made my employees work whole heartedly and with excitement and interest. They shown their best in work and they were ready to face the challenges as they were aware of the fact that each challenge is said to be a mark of reorganization.
Though, through this management tactics, I moulded my workers in a team of highly committed, satisfied and motivated staff, and they in return put all their efforts to make my business touch the peaks of success.
This example compares the two highest motivational factors to Herzberg's two-factor theory. The highest motivator, 'interesting work', is a great motivating factor. The second motivator, 'good wages' is a hygiene factor. The success of my business was almost impossible without the selfless co-operation of my committed team I had...
Critical analysis:
Throughout the history of mankind people have always been attracted towards money, that's why money always acts as a motivating factor. But money had not been deeply involved in creating motivation, but it still may have a dominating power, because it is a basic necessity to accomplish many intangible goals or desires. Moreover, power of money and its significance is different according to different people. But without any doubt, salary against work has its own dominant power and possesses its own identity in the matter of 'stay or not to stay' in an organization.
In 'dangling carrot' motivation the employee has been attracted to a reward attached to the work .In prima face, the reward attached will lure the employee to work harder. But this type of motivation does not last for a long time. It naturally develops a tendency to work for the reward and if in any case the employer fails to satisfy the employee with a better reward, employee will lose motivation to work harder next time. However, this cannot be denied that money is one of the greatest factors for motivation, with the help of example given above, it can be said that it is not the proper way to motivate an employee because there is no guarantee that this financial incentive can furnish a better work force for a long run.
Besides the importance of retaining the potential staff, it is equally important to mould a truly motivated work force. Motivation is affected by many factors like reward, recognition, promotion and salary etc. Here reward has an important role as if the organization fails to pay its employees' effort there would be possible chances to develop a 'worthless feel' towards the effort they put. It is important as well to understand that employees have got satisfied for their own welfare or not. Satisfying these motives would probably result in a committed group of people towards the betterment of the organization.
It is imperative to understand that a well flourished business is the creation of a highly spirited, enthusiastic and motivated work force and by valuing the best of its employees is the way to make them feel empowered. This empowerment makes people more committed to the organization; this will make the employees to indulge themselves into their respective work.
The need to be appreciated for the work done is very important factor in proper motivation. Every individual has different needs for his aim of showing his effort. For example an employee may prefer to work on his/ her own rather than in a friendly team. In order to motivate this category of employees, one thing should be kept in mind always that every individual has his/her own specialities and style. The employer is ought to be aware of this and must appreciate each employee's hard work and bright ideas individually as well as in form of a team. This appreciation would make every employee realize that their abilities are best recognized by the employer. This would develop the owner-worker relationship and more respect will be gained from the employees for the owner.
Involving the employees into discussions and decision making process will make the employees feel that their contributions and opinions are valuable to the organization; it is a kind of recognition which would make employee to involve more affectively and more efficiently in all tasks for the benefits of the organization.
Understanding the needs of the employee is one of the main reasons of job satisfaction. Successful management, employees' emotional well being and psychological health have great impacts on factor of 'job satisfaction'. There is a continuous change always in employee's expectation and value. It is really important to study the influence of cultural and demographic differences in job satisfaction.
Challenging work assignments:
Challenging/new work assignments polish the employees to achieve new goals in their career, which would also provide them the opportunity to improve their skills and widen their knowledge. This challenging work assignment would surely help the employee to present him/her self in a very impressive way to the organization. Professional growth and development, opportunities and participation in continuous education and training will have bright impacts on satisfaction. All these programmes may help employee to develop and expand his talent and this additional expertise have dual faced impact on job satisfaction, productivity, excellence in the work and as well as achieving new dimensions in the business . These challenging tasks will motivate employee with a feeling of achievement and advancement in work .The knowledge advancement will help the employee to perform the responsibilities in a positive way. The advancement in knowledge will lead employees to enjoy the work without fear of failure and this would make them learn more and effectively. Financial rewards are important, but it should be kept in mind that there are other factors that also motivate employees and influence the level of their performance. To ensure that the reward system is effective and motivates the desired behaviours, it is important that the rewards should be based purely on performance. Job recruiting has a powerful impact on increasing the confidence and trust of employee's .This feeling of security will provide a relaxed mental status and hope of a better future. Business improvement is the outcome from relaxed minds. This will make employee decide to retain his job as permanence and continuity of employment of a potential work force is essential for the success of any organization. Employees are highly concerned about the safety of the environment in which they exist and work. A threat free and calm and safe atmosphere would give no chance of hopelessness or loss of concentration to the employee.
A perfectly designed job is one which provides job satisfaction in every way as it will make employee able to create a well balanced strategy in the work load and his performance. This will make him free from the unnecessary work stress and boredom and boredom of extra work. By paying heed to these different aspects which influence the personality of workers result in creation of satisfied employees. Money alone cannot create a satisfied, highly committed employee; it could only attract them but would not inspire them.
Conclusion:
As the sum up of the details above, it is obvious that all the mentioned aspects have an important and valid impact in creating motivation. Motivation will lead to employee's satisfaction and improved results in his work. Identifying the motivational aspects discussed above will help the organization to establish criteria to mould perfect job satisfaction methods for its employees. This would help the organization to maintain a highly dedicated, loyal and enthusiastic workgroup. Committed work force is the real treasure for any organizations, which can be helpful to achieve beyond expectations. It is a fact that the success of any organization lies in their employees' hard work. Salary has secondary role in the process of creating a highly spirited work force though it is the source of meeting all the basic needs of a person and it ought to be paid in time to the worker, still it does not affect employee's devotion to its owner as he (employee) would b relaxed from this matter with the confidence in his organization's policies for employee's benefits. Recognitions, job security, development opportunities, good working atmosphere, work conditions and leadership are coupled together to create a satisfied and motivated team.
In earlier days, it was believed that punishment is the best way to keep an employee on track of his work. There was misbelieve that an average human being has an inherent dislike to do work and tries to avoid work. (McGregor's theory X theory Y).Therefore, the managers opted for a commanding or authorities style of management. 'Socometal' : 'Rewarding African workers' is a classical example of this theory - in which the French manager used to believe that being the authority, commandment and fear of punishment are the best tools to take good work from the employees. At that time the owner was not in habit to bother to understand the hidden potentials of his work force, this ignorance gradually created a frustrated atmosphere among the African workers. With the passage of time a small effort of encouragement and motivation ignited their spirits and they started realizing that they have been recognized and their effort in the organization do have a value, that is why they accepted the new work challenges and they considered them as chance to express themselves and through their confidence they proved that they could achieve the heights of success. This success made them highly spirited and motivated and they became ready to continue till far with this spirit without being taken away with the attraction towards money.
But in the modern thinking, motivation (Y Theory), job satisfaction and employees' recognition are considered to be more important. There are numerous theories like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, process and content theories explains different needs and desires of employees present in the organization and the modern thought of management believes that motivation and job satisfaction would surely be the key to success. Thus forming a management for employee owner relationship, one should apply the motivation theory.
Management staff
Theory Y-liberating and developmental, control, achievement and continuous improvement achieved by enabling, empowering and giving responsibility,
Theory X-authoritarian repressive style, tight control, no development, produces limited, depressed culture
staff
Management
Theory X Theory Y
Douglas McGregor's XY-Theory
Recommendation:
Job Satisfaction can be understood as a positive approach in a person's attitude. Moreover it is considered as vital to the performance of any firm.
Inspiring a person to achieve goals with the utmost efficiency and effectiveness will lead the firm and the individual to great progress.
A dedicated workforce is the sum substance of Manager's involvement and knowledge about the specialities of his employees. It is important to understand employees' needs and that provides scope for better results and open performance and participation in decision making. All these factors will make the employee an integral part of the organization, and would increase the performance output to a larger extent too.
Therefore, the presence of money as the salary and monitory benefit's role in the motivation should not be ignored. A reduced salary package will result in a negative approach and lower effort and vice versa. One thing must be ensured that the right amount of responsibility and authority have been implemented on the employees without losing managements' influence over them. This will make an employee highly motivated as well as committed towards the organization. Employee's motivation should be skilfully applied in all aspects.
From the motivational point of view, Command has a short influence on the life of an enterprise. It could sometimes create reverse effects on the employees. They could get separated from decision making and vital performance.
There should be a clear and reliable recognition method for the employees. The method should be fair, properly organized and consistent. This proper method would then overtake all other unorganised structures and avoid dissatisfaction among employees. This method can add the feeling of being an important part of the system, which would increase his loyalty towards the organization. A proper strategy will make the employee understand his being treated equally and fairly among all people.
Proper job design helps to keep the employees motivated, this design will provide him/her new chances to perform and use the particular skills they have effectively and efficiently. A proper job design will keep the enthusiasm level high and boredom in work is avoided as well.
Through the implementation of the recommendations discussed above, organisations can increase the retention of its potential work force that are considered to be the real treasure for the subsistent and continued successful performance.
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www.businessballs.com 2002 developed by Alan Chapman
MOTIVATING Employees Anne Bruce James S pepitoneChapter 1
How to motivate every employee Anne Bruce
Management and organizational behaviour Laurie J Mullins
An Introduction to Human resource management John Stredwick
Managing employee retention -A strategic accountability approach Jack J Philips Adde O Connel
Leadership of follower commitment - David Cooper , David John Cooper
Employee retention : John Gernnard ,Graham judge
