Employee motivation
Understanding Employee Motivation
By Bertil Hjert
There were times when employees were considered to be another addition to enhance the production of services or goods. However, a lot has changed now.
Elton Mayo conducted a research during the year 1924 and 1932 altered the way of thinking about employees. This research was known as Hawthorne Studies.
According to this study, employees require much more than just money. The study introduced the human relations approach to a company’s management. The main focus was given to the basic requirements and motivation factors of employees. The publication of the Hawthorne Study facilitated the understanding of factors that helped in motivating employees.
There are several reasons that employees require to be motivated first, an organization can easily survive when employees are motivated. Studies have proved that motivated employees are more productive. Managers must under the factor that motivates employees with respect to the roles they perform.
Here are some basic things to remember when moving towards motivation of employees:
a) First, you need to motivate yourself prior to thinking about motivating your employees. It’s simple. If you hate your job, people around you will feel the same. Enthusiasm spreads like wild fire. You can easily excite other people around you if you are excited. You can be crystal clear about how others are doing if you do a great job. Understand what motivates you in the kind of tasks your company usually undertake. Understand what motivates your employees. You may consider several factors yourself
such as more time for family, fame, facilities, creativity, accomplished of a job etc.
b) You should always match organization goals with the goals of employees. Employees can be easily instigated to do good work and can work really hard if you want. It is crucial for the supervisions and managers to know what they really want from their employees. First, identity the goals of the organization via strategic planning. When taking steps to support employees motivation, you need to make sure that employees have strong input when it comes to identifying their goals.
c) Talk to your employees if you really want to know what motivates them. Every individual is motivated by different things. When takes steps towards employee motivation, find out what motivates each employee. The key is to listen to them.
d) Have one-on-one meetings with each employee. This will let you know about what interest them and what they really want.
e) Rewards are very important when it comes to motivating your employees. Make sure that performance of your employees is based on their behavior towards goals.
f) As soon as you see an employee having great concerns for his or her work, give away some rewards. This will boost his or her spirit.
g) Establish smart goals. The goals you set for your organization should be specific, realistic, measurable, timely and rewarding to your employees. These should also focus of enhancing their capabilities.
When your employees achieve a particular target, make sure that you celebrate their achievements. This will provide great motivation to them. They would feel that their efforts are appreciated.
For more Articles, News, Information, Advice, and Resources about Motivation and Self Help please visit http://www.motivationbuzz.com and http://www.motivation-tips.com and http://www.meditationbuzz.com
Employee Motivation – Does it improve performance, productivity, keep them motivated and loyal?
By Bob Urichuck
Employee motivation is not always the easiest of tasks, but it does pay off for you, your customers and the employee.
Recognition is ranked the number one motivating factor when it comes to employee motivation in the workplace. If you want to maintain motivated employees, and encourage others to do better, recognizing them publicly may save yourself the time and money of having to find and re-train new staff.
One of the best techniques to build and maintain employee motivation is to make it a practice to have an event or period end staff meeting, followed by a employee, & maybe spouse dinner, staff recognition awards and a closing party. This will build and maintain employee motivation though ongoing sincere recognition and deserving reward.
You may find it hard to believe, but recognition is the most powerful employee motivator of all. Research has shown that there is a stronger need in society today for recognition than there is for sex and money. Now, that says something about employee motivation.
Let’s think about it.
We could provide employee motivation through a bonus in the form of money at the end of a period. Sure they’ll be happy and thankful. They may even perform better, but what are their expectations at the end of the next period? Right; more money. External employee motivation is temporary – it is never lasting.
Money is an external employee motivator and it is never lasting. It’s an incentive that once acquired, leads to expectations for more, bigger or better. But if you have a bad period will they care? They’ll want a bonus at least equal to what they got last year, but preferably more, not less.
A survey of thousands of workers around the world compared rankings by supervisors and employees on employee motivating factors. The typical supervisory group ranked the factors in the following order:
1. High wages 2. Job security 3. Promotion in the organization 4. Good working conditions 5. Interesting work 6. Personal loyalty of supervisor 7. Tactful discipline 8. Full appreciation of work done 9. Help on personal problems 10. Feeling of being in on things
However, when employees were given the same exercise and asked what affects their morale and employee motivation the most, their answers followed this pattern;
1. Full appreciation of work done 2. Feeling of being in on things 3. Help on personal problems 4. Job security 5. High wages 6. Interesting work 7. Promotion in the organization 8. Personal Loyalty of supervisor 9. Good working conditions 10. Tactful discipline
Note that the top three employee motivating factors marked by the employees are the last three felt to be important for them by their supervisors.
Do you think it would be any different in your business?
So it is fair to say that money, over and above wages, is not a main motivating factor, but full appreciation of work done is. This is recognition: the number one employee motivating factor in building and maintaining a motivated employee.
Why is it so important?
When someone gives you a compliment or recognizes you for doing something, how do you feel? Imagine, for a moment, being complimented by all your family, friends, staff and customers all day, every day.
What would it do to your self-esteem your self confidence and your self respect? Without it going to your head, how do you think you would perform? Would you be outstanding or what? Is this not the basis of employee motivation?
Employee motivation through recognition is positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement of actions gets those actions repeated. Recognition and praise reinforces our beliefs about ourselves and helps make us think we are better than we thought we were. That is what employee motivation is all about.
Employee motivation is positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcements is what builds our self-esteem. Our self-esteem is the way we see and feel about ourselves either internally, through our own beliefs, or externally through what we accept as the beliefs of others.
If we feel good about ourselves and we believe others feel good about us, we perform better than we would when we see the opposite side of the coin. Employee motivation starts from within.
People perform in a manner that is consistent with how they see themselves conceptually. So, the key is to help people build their self-esteem. That is the foundation of employee motivation.
Bob Urichuck is an International Speaker, Trainer and Best-Selling Author. Learn personally from Bob in the areas of Sales, Motivation, Leadership and Team Skills. Bob presents a series of great ideas and strategies with combination of facts, humor, and practical concept in a high-energy and self-discovery process that you can apply right away to achieve results. Subscribe to Bob’s Free Newsletter, worth $297, visit http://www.BobU.com Now!
Presented by Pierre Du Plessis – Career Builders Club
Tags: creativity, Family Fame, Hawthorne Studies, Human Relations Approach, Job, Money, Motivating Employees, Motivating Your Employees, Motivation Factors, Motivation Of Employees, Moving, Organization Goals, People, Several Factors, Understanding Employee Motivation, Wild Fire