Money Is The Only Thing That Motivates People To Go To Work
Money Is The Only Thing That Motivates People To Go To Work
Many people believe that earning money is the only thing that motivates people to work. In this report I will look into whether this is true fully, partly or not at all. I will also examine the role of other motivational factors such as variety of workplace tasks and the wish to be appreciated. I predict that as I investigate further I will discover that different motivators motivate different people and maybe for some money is the sole motivator. I will start my investigation by looking into what the acknowledged experts, Maslow, Hertzberg, Mayo and Kano wrote on this subject. I will then follow it up by conducting my own research upon 25 subjects from a cross-section of society. I will then draw up my own conclusions upon whether money motivates, whether there is anything else that motivates and which motivates certain people.
Secondary Research: The need to be appreciated at work may be satisfied by the prestige attached to a particular job. The need for a variety in the workplace may be satisfied by an interesting job.
A factor which affects motivation is that every individual has different needs. For example an employee may prefer to work on his or her own than in a team. In order to have good motivational plan, employees needs have to be accurately identified and met..
An example of how employees' needs could be identified and satisfied is through involving them in discussions so that they feel recognised and wanted. A business could also set up discussions with management about goals and working practises which would make employees feel their opinion counts and also that their contribution is valuable. In the long term this may result in the employee being willing to work longer hours or take responsibility.
In 1954 Abraham Maslow identified five classes of needs these included physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging, esteem needs and self-actualisation as you can see in fig 8. 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. For example some people may be more concerned with basic needs such as food, than anything else. Although it must be noted that once each need has been satisfied the ones below become less important, with the exception of self-actualisation at the top, Maslow argued that although everybody is capable, very few actually reach this level.
Elton Mayo conducted some experiments in Hawthorne, Chicago in 1927-32 and found that better lighting equalled high productivity. He set up two groups of workers; these included a test group and also a control group. When he turned up the lights for group one, but not for group two, productivity rose in both groups. While in further experiments he reduced the lighting to its original level and turned the lighting up in the other group productivity still rose in both groups. The reason for this was that both groups were being consulted throughout and workers developed cohesiveness as a social group.
An example of such ideas being used in business today is the Volvo plant in Uddevalla, opened in 1989. This plant was designed to allow workers to work in teams of 8-10. Each team built a complete car and made decisions about production. It was found that the absenteeism rates at the Uddevalla averaged 8 per cent, compared to 25 per cent in their Gothenburg plant, which used a production line system.
Hertzberg taught us we have 'hygiene needs', which are the equivalent to Maslows basic needs. These needs cause us to be dissatisfied if not fulfilled ...
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An example of such ideas being used in business today is the Volvo plant in Uddevalla, opened in 1989. This plant was designed to allow workers to work in teams of 8-10. Each team built a complete car and made decisions about production. It was found that the absenteeism rates at the Uddevalla averaged 8 per cent, compared to 25 per cent in their Gothenburg plant, which used a production line system.
Hertzberg taught us we have 'hygiene needs', which are the equivalent to Maslows basic needs. These needs cause us to be dissatisfied if not fulfilled but if they are fulfilled merely stop us being dissatisfied. These are entirely different from 'motivational factors'.
An example of 'hygiene factors' would be not receiving your pay-check on time, which would cause you to be stressed and frustrated, but with it on time each month it would have no motivational effect on you. This could be contrasted with receiving a pat on the back which would make an employee feel better and help to motivate them.
There is finally a Japanesse psycholigist, named Kano who has a theory which draws upon many important features from other anagement theorists. There are three things you need to reach 'self-actualisation' according to Kano, 1. BASIC NEEDS these are things which you excpect to get anyway.e.g.fully inflated tyres from the new car you buy.
2. PERFORMANCE NEEDS Performance needs are those things which are at the top of our consciousness and which we will deliberately seek. If these are well met we are happy; if they are not well met, we become dissatisfied. When buying a second-hand car, these are the things that we will ask about, such as traction control and modern styling.
3.EXCITEMENT NEEDS Beyond basic and performance needs, you can still impress the other person. Excitement needs are those things that we did not expect, those little extras that make us gasp with delight. Thus you may be amazed by a new hands--free radio system or even something as simple as a soft-hold padded steering wheel. You can see the effects of these in fig 7.
Primary Research: As you can see from 'secondary research' there are many theories on the motivation for man to work, in this section I will illustrate my own findings from the research I have conducted. For my research to be accurate I would need to have a cross-section of society to draw my data from. As few people would be willing to divulge the information on their earnings, and I needed a spread of different incomes to draw data from, I judged them by their house and area, which I obviously couldn't include in the questionnaire given firstly for their privacy and secondly few gave permission. Other than income, I compared them on the grounds of age, number of children, and gender. I also compared how people who rate income highly as a motivational factor relate to people who aspire for increased recognition. The specific graphs which I drew to show various things are:
* how people who rate money as a motivator rate recognition as a motivator,
* money as a sole motivator,
* How age affects your motivations,
* how different genders rate money as a motivator.
Money And Recognition: We see in fig1 that as money as a motivator increases you also see recognition as a motivator increase. This shows that people who rate money highly also rate recognition highly. These types of people you will notice work in the A/B categories of work with high prestige jobs such as advertising and the law, both graduate recruitment only jobs. We also notice that people who work in quite obviously lower paid jobs, and are not graduates, do not aspire so much for recognition in their field.
Money As A Sole Motivator: We see in fig 2 that only a minority believe money to be their most important motivator. There are 9 out of the 25 who believe it to be their most important motivator. The majority believe it is a secondary motivator.
Age's affect On Motivation: As you can see in fig 3 unsurprisingly as your age increases your desire to retire and pass something on to your children increases. But you can also see that the desire to retire is above the desire to pass something on something. Others may argue that, as the lines are so close between the two, people do wish to see their children have a head start in life. As you can see in fig 4 there is unsurprisingly a lower desire to socialise as your age increases, I believe this to be a combination of increased responsibilities and a lack of energy induced by ageing. Gender and Motivation: As you can see in fig 5 from our research the desire to socialise surprisingly is a larger motivator for women then men. This is in deep contrast to the 90s idea of 'superwomen', the women who achieve at home and at work. Instead it shows how women are motivated by socialising in a way thought of as primarily male. As you can see in fig 6 there is a large difference in how women and men rate money as a motivator. Women are more motivated by money. This could be in contrast to fig 5's conclusion and may show that the 'superwomen' idea is still alive in society. With women possibly not wanting to go to work for any other reason than money because of their desire to stay at home with their families, some may argue.
Conclusion: In conclusion there are many different motivations for people to go to work, but money does still play a very important role as a motivator. Few would go to work for no money, making money according to Kano and others a BASIC NEED motivation. With the remaining being PERFOMANCE NEEDS so obviously almost always in our conscious mind. I have not questioned the subjects on EXCITEMENT NEEDS because by their nature they are often spontaneous and that is often what makes them special and exciting, but also hard to question on. If I were to do this exercise again I would firstly take into consideration the anomaly of the one unemployed person I researched, I would also lay out my questionnaire differently to make it easier to read, as some had trouble with it. But in an essay like this people say if you cant end it well yourself look at how others wiser have done so, so I thought for you to carry with you, "Always do your best.- what you plant now, you will harvest later" Og Mandino.
Bibliography
Harriet Harper-managing education
Changing minds.org
Work and the nature of man -Freidrick Hertzberg
Research in industrial human nature-Ernest J. Mccormack
Blanchard, Margorie. "Motivating People to Peak Performance"
Nelson, Bob. 1001 Ways to Energize Employees
The motivation thief by Doug press
Appendix C
THE MERCHANDISE INCENTIVE
OCTOBER 21, 1991
Cash value or "trophy value"? While businesspeople will always be motivated by cash incentives, merchandise and travel-incentive programs known as trophy value provide far greater and longer lasting employee motivation.
Our industry, however, has not realized this and instead allows sums of cash to be doled out, repeatedly, stealing potential employee motivation and sabotaging the attainment of marketing objectives.
We all know how readily cash MDFs are misused. Despite the best intentions of caring manufacturers, cash often ends up as nothing more than reimbursement to the dealer for operating expenditures, which may not have any relationship to that manufacturer's product.
Or, worse yet, in a highly competitive bid situation, cash incentives are put directly to the street in the form of down-and- dirty price discounts. This form of behavior has proven suicidal.
Manufacturers need to work with their business partners to provide targeted incentives that increase a reseller's ability to generate new customers while servicing and expanding existing accounts.
What's wrong with cash incentives? Ask a man whether he would prefer cash or merchandise and travel and he will say cash. But cash has been thoroughly discredited as an effective incentive. People receive cash every payday. It is illogical to assume that more of the same thing will provide dynamic motivation, unless it is a staggering amount.
One reseller uses cash incentives and gets great motivational value by filling briefcases with $10,000 in cash and handing them out at the national sales meeting to top performers along with their Hawaiian vacation. Cannot do too many of those.
Perhaps the most negative aspect of a cash-incentive program is the danger that the salesperson will begin to think of the money as part of his/her basic compensation plan. This can create disastrous morale problem, they all must readjust to receiving less cash for each sale - a situation that can undo all the good that was accomplished and actually destroy motivation.
Merchandise awards offer a number of other compelling advantages. They are:
* Highly promotable - One of the greatest benefits of any merchandise award is its visibility. It stands out as a challenge for extra effort. It stirs the imagination.
* Memorable - A recent survey showed that participants remember more than 90 percent of what they had earned in merchandise over a 10-year period, including the brand names. Winners of cash seldom remember where the money went, even three months later.
* Permanent symbols of achievement - Winners relive their triumphs by pointing out the awards to family and friends. Their very presence serves as a constant reminder of the winner's accomplishments and the awarder's good-will, providing a continual source of pride and an ongoing inspiration for top performances.
* A family affair - More than 50 percent of all awards selected are for the family. There is strong family support for accomplishment of objectives.
* Recognizable values - The retail cost is often known, yet the participant feels that he is getting the merchandise for "free".
* Free from guilt - Participants feel free to select "luxury" items that they normally would not purchase for themselves, thus enhancing the award's value in their eyes.
One of the greatest benefits of any merchandise award is its visibility. It stands out as a challenge for extra effort. It stirs the imagination.
Finally, the beauty of a well-designed merchandise or travel incentive program is that it pays for itself, several times over. When professionally constructed by a knowledgeable incentive consultant, only a small portion of the incremental sales and profit attained goes toward the incentive-program budget.
Win-win is the best way to describe these programs. You award with immediate gratification only when the desired results have been achieved and your sales, marketing and financial objectives have been met.