But this idea would not work in an office they need other motivational factors. The main one is self-esteem this can motivate or de-motivate workers. If the workers are constantly criticised they will not work well and their self-esteem will be lowered. People respond better to praise than criticism and are more likely to make more of an effort when they work. This makes the workers feel like they are needed and their moral and self esteem is increased which makes the workers more productive and have much higher job satisfaction.
Some firms make an effort to praise their employees for a job well done by putting a picture of the employee on the wall e.g. best employee of the month. A simple, cheap tactic, which makes the employee feel appreciated for the work he/she has done and keeps the employee stimulated or encourages others to work harder to be the employee of the month. Sometimes, all it takes is a pat on the back well done by the boss to keep the employee motivated and to show that the hard work has not gone unrecognised. So praise can motivate you to work harder.
A.H.Maslow identified five classes of needs; Physiological needs are the basic human needs, which have to be satisfied to survive. The next level is Safety needs, workers want to know that they have got a job for life not that there is a possibility of redundancy payment. After that Love and Belonging, workers would like to be apart of a team, to be trusted and to be able to support others, most people are more motivated if they get on well with their fellow workers. Next is Self-esteem, which is a higher order of needs, people want to be appreciated and valued by others and they would like their own self-respect. Self-actualisation is the highest order need, it is the ability to realise you full potential, a way to achieve this is putting forward ideas in the company.
The needs, which Maslow identified at the bottom of the pyramid, are based on basic needs concerned with survival, and these must be satisfied before a person can go to the next level e.g. some people may be more concerned with basic needs such as food, than anything else. If a need were not satisfied it can lead to de-motivation or if a lower need is not met then it wouldn’t make a difference however much the higher needs were being met. Although it must be noted that once each need has been satisfied the ones below become less important or irrelevant, with exception to self-actualisation at the top, Maslow argued that although everybody is capable, very few actually reach this level. These needs if fulfilled will result in a person being motivated to work.
Questionnaire results analysed
As you can see from my graphs and results I have found that people think that job satisfaction is the single most important factor in their workplace. This can be linked to the need for high self-esteem. If people have high self-esteem they will have good job satisfaction, which increases the motivation and productivity in the work place. Maslow also saw the need for esteem in the work place. Another main factor to motivation in the work place is the actual working environment. A number of people of people thought their environment effected the motivation of the workforce.
People must like the job to become motivated i.e. job satisfaction, most people are only motivated if they get on well with their fellow workers, you would not be motivated if you are not liked or you don't get on well with someone. Fredrick Taylor’s work is correct but it would only apply to certain types of people and their circumstances, he may have proved his ideas on people who needed the money. But I believe that money can drive you to work harder at the beginning, say your first raise, but how long will that motivation last for? It will soon die down, or if you are quite well off it probably won’t even affect you. I think I have proved my hypothesis wrong but during this investigation I have only interviewed thirty people, to get more accurate results I would have to interview a lot more, so there are limitations to my conclusions.
I should have sought more information from the interviewees on what was lacking in their work place with respect to motivation. I feel companies should conduct surveys to establish this to enable higher productivity and a better work force. A business also needs to pay their workers well. In conclusion, from my own research and research from secondary sources, money is an important motivator but job satisfaction is the main motivator that gets you out of bed and off to work.
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