Motivational Theory: How to motivate a work force

By Kobe Eru Godwin

Regardless of the size of your company, having a motivated workforce is critical to your success, particularly in today’s business world. For any business, one fact always stands out; a happy workforce is a productive workforce. Motivated employees are needed in our changing work environment, because it is a key to excellence. Being able to motivate and inspire your employees will always take your business to greater heights. Theories state that people are motivated by the need to satisfy physiological needs. So what is motivation? Motivation: an inner state that moves a person or groups of people towards the fulfillment of some goal.  It could also be referred to as a psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior. Motivation can be channeled down to 3 vital elements: Mastery; the desire to continually improve at something that is of great value to us (the power to dominate), Purpose; the desire to do things in service of something bigger than ourselves, and Autonomy; the desire to be the masters and directors of our own lives. Motivated employees make a business stay buoyant, and keep it on top of the food chain, setting a pace for other brands to follow. Life is a marathon not a sprint, so is business, if you want your business to stand the test of time, the motivational theories have to come into play. Reviews from Harvard Business authors (Nitin Nohria, Boris Groysberg and Linda-Eling Lee) describe a new model of employee motivation. Four fundamental emotional drivers were outlined, they underlie motivation as: the drive to acquire, the drive to bond, the drive to comprehend and the drive to defend. The drive to acquire is the passion of acquisition, in search for scarce material things, including financial compensation, to feel better. The drive to bond is the act and art of love, developing strong bonds of love, caring and belonging. The drive to comprehend is understanding our world and making right decisions. The drive to defend is to protect ourselves, properties and accomplishments. Employees cling to the need for growth and achievement. Alignment of aims, purpose and values are the most fundamental aspect of motivation between staff, teams and organization. Research has shown that people are motivated by interesting work, challenges, and increasing responsibility (intrinsic factors). Motivation is not all about the use of money; using money as a reward for a task or accomplishment is not the best tool to motivate employees. People are motivated through different means; there are no fixed ways to motivate a work force. Listed below are ways to motivate your staff or work force. A good career Path. Humans love to envision an end from the beginning. Employees need to know what is potentially ahead for them, what opportunities there are for growth. A career path is an essential tool in motivation. Development Programs andTraining.  Design programs that can increase employee productivity.The organization should develop programs for training and work development for its employees with the aim of increasing motivation. Incentives: It is important for organizations to devise a system of offering incentives to employees such as setting performance targets among employees. Incentives include salary bonuses, awards and competitions. This builds work performance, increases productivity of employees and also encourages positive competition among the work force. Good Working conditions and Environment. Human beings perform and dwell well in comfortable environments. The human brain is wired for comfort; employee output will be much improved in environments with good working conditions. Social Gatherings. Social gatherings, offsite events create a high level of bonding which in turn helps team spirit, which ultimately impacts your positive work environment. Social gatherings bring unity that triggers the drive to bond, which is quite a motivational tool. Create good job titles. A good job title comes with a level of pride. The way an employee is perceived in the workforce is a critical component in terms of attitude and self-confidence. When you talk about job titles you are dealing directly with the self-esteem of people. The importance of feeling proud of who you are and what you do is priceless. Titles are very sensitive, they enhance a positive attitude, the pride + positive attitude is just a beautiful ingredient for continuity, and in other words, it keeps passion burning. Some other key factors can come in too, like Recognition, Attention, Respect, Leadership Role, Mentoring, Stress/Time management and Team Building events among others. Organisations should apply such motivational theories on employees and see the positive outcome. Organisations should be good managers and coaches at the same time, remember a good manager controls resources and spending, just as a coach helps team members grow.

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This article was first published on 1st March 2013

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