Essay
How does motivation impact organizations?
- Institution
- University Of Leeds (UoL)
What is motivation? How does it impact on a company, etc. Includes, application of Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
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IntroductionMotivation is one of the key aspects within the organisations as it has a direct impact
on the company’s success. It is one of the top researched topics that is being used on a
daily basis in order to construct a goal-directed behaviour among employees, as it will
lead towards the overall growth of the company. It has been proven that motivated
employees are more ambitious towards accomplishment of work, as it creates a sense
of personal growth and development within a career path.
Therefore, it is essential to set an appropriate goal, as it will stimulate individuals to
perform at the higher level. However, it is also important to consider the fact that
dissatisfaction may occur when goals are not reached. This usually happens if a goal
does not include any of a SMART objective. For example, the goal has to be realistic,
as otherwise, your team would not be motivated to achieve it and will give up
eventually. “Goals create anxiety and worry about reaching them, and they often
create unrealistic expectations as well”, (Robbins & Judge, 2016, p. 272).
Motivation facilitates the overall satisfaction of employees which develops a positive
attitude towards work. Therefore, choosing among all of early and contemporary
theories of motivation can be a challenging process, but it is important to implement
some, if not only one thereof these theories within your own company. If you are an
employer, willing to skyrocket the performance of the company; you have to dip into
the development of the motivational process, as it will result in the better outcome of
the assigned tasks of your workers.
Theory: Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
There is a vast variety of ways to define motivation, but here are few of my favourite
ones: “Motivation is the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction,
and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal” (Robbins & Judge, 2016, p. 247),
“Motivation is the cognitive decision-making process through which goal-directed
behaviour is initiated, energized, directed and maintained”, (Huczynski and
Buchanan, 2017, p. 283). As you can see, both of them highlight the fact that
motivation is an essential aspect of ensuring that targets are met. Therefore,
implementation of earlier/contemporary motivational practices within a team would
benefit me as an employer, but also direct my employees’ focus to perform better, in
order to accomplish with the goal. A great example of a motivational theory is a world
known two-factor theory found by a psychologist, Fredrick Herzberg. Being one of
the normative content theories, it suggests that Herzberg was eager to explain the
factors that motivate people universally. Even though it had faced some criticism,
overall “it has been quite influential and currently is very in use in research in Asia”,
(Robbins & Judge, 2016, p. 250). The theory itself, “relates intrinsic factors to job
satisfaction and associates extrinsic factors with dissatisfaction” (Robbins & Judge,
2016, p 249). There is a clear distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic factors, even
though both are capable of motivation. Intrinsic factors include things such as,
“advancement, recognition, responsibility, and achievement, which contribute to job
satisfaction”. Whereas, extrinsic factors, on the other hand, are “supervision, pay,
company policies & administration, and work conditions”, that can cause
dissatisfaction among employees.
, Application of theory
In relation to the hypothetical scenario, it is clear that current employees do not have
any respect and passion to work under new regulator, who has been in the same
position as them, just a few weeks ago. Therefore, I would need to find an appropriate
way to contribute to my authority as a team leader and maintain general motivation at
a higher level. As a person who is in power, I would need to ensure that a good
hygiene is taking place, because a severe dissatisfaction may arise if not being
provided; which could potentially lead to disputes, lack of motivation or even quitting
of job. It is extremely crucial for me at this point, as I have to gain respect of my
colleagues, in order to maintain goal-directed behaviour.
In order to minimise unauthorised liberties within my team, I will enforce one of the
extrinsic factors, such as company policy & administration. Namely, I will go through
the grievance and disciplinary procedure to ensure that my workers are aware of their
responsibilities. Although such process would build up a higher risk of dissatisfaction
within my team; I would need to stabilise it by aligning it with the “nature of work”,
intrinsic factor. For example, I would remind my employees how is it important to
execute our service and make the most of our time to ensure that our older generation
feels cared and protected, and how our job roles play a huge role within such field of
work.
If this technique wound not be as effective as I expected, then I would need to embed
another possible solution to the issue. For example, I would expand on my workers
responsibilities, as it would keep them more engaged with the work. Alternatively, in
order to avoid dissatisfaction, a pay rise, on the other hand, would be a great exchange
coin. It might increase their morale, as they would start feeling higher valued for their
skill and knowledge.
Strengths of the approach
Despite any potential drawbacks Herzberg’s theory has, many companies still
adopting the theory. Namely, Herzberg’s theory became such a strong base for other
contemporary theories, as “despite the criticism, Herzberg’s two-factor theory still has
utility nearly 50 years after it was first developed”, (Nigel Bassett-Jones, Geoffrey C.
Lloyd, 2005, Journal of Management Development). Including my company, I believe
that it can embed favourable working condition for my employees, but also motivate
them to work hard on a long-term basis. By implementing the theory within my
organisation, it makes me feel confident in relation to my suggested solutions to the
issue. This is because, as you can see from my strategies, I will be covering and
stabilising any dissatisfaction within my team by providing better hygiene and
motivators factors, in order to gain respect and embed stronger relationships. I will
start from identifying individual values of my employees, which would help me to
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