Desk Research
Over the years many theories on motivation have been made, these theories help managers and directors make decisions on how they will attempt to make their staff work to their full potential. Some of the main theories that can be used are the theories of Maslow with the hierarchy of needs and Mc Gregor with theory X and theory Y.
Abraham Maslow came up with a hierarchy of needs, at the bottom would be the basics such as food and shelter and at the top is self actualisation where you feel that you have reached your full potential.
Process theories are what people are thinking about when they decide whether or not to put effort into their work. An example of this is a manager introducing something like a bonus system do give their staff something to look forward to, or using the ‘stick’ method by telling them that if they do not work hard enough they will be made redundant are face a pay cut.
A content theory focuses on what actually motivates people, it works towards satisfying their employees using two sorts of reward, they are; Extrinsic rewards, for example pay, and intrinsic rewards, for example recognition and praise.
Analysis
- I have found that the general employees are between 25 and 36, their motivation is almost equally divided between Job Satisfaction and Money. The results however lean towards money but this is marginal.
- Management however are not so equally divided, two thirds feel that job satisfaction is the main motivator and one third feel that the fringe benefits are the main motivators All the management are between 45 and 55 and have a company car.
- I think that the younger ones are the ones who tilt the balance of the survey, as they may not have been with the company long enough to fully appreciate their Job.
- All of the employees have been to at least one training course and have all said it was beneficial for two different reasons:
- Employees found that it provided new skills that allowed them to work more effectively and with greater ease.
- Employees also found it gave them great confidence with their job which allowed them also to work with greater ease
- Fringe Benefits, work environment and social factors where not that popular.
- This apparent lack in enthusiasm is probably due to the fact that fringe benefits at this company do not amount to that much (Just policies such as a travel allowance or if in management a company car).
- The fact management felt that fringe benefits where the third most important where as most employees thought it was fourth or fifth on the list is probably due to the quality others fringe benefits.
Evaluation
It is clear that the workforce in this area is split in the terms of what motivates them. Some do it for the money and others do it for job satisfaction, to encourage more people to enjoy their work management could introduce a system of 'top banana awards' and thus use the theory X and theory Y methods. This reward scheme, though helping to motivate the staff in the long run may become boring, as certain people may not be able to work as well as others and therefore one or two people may be winning all the time. This would therefore be a negative input to the attempt to motivate the staff, instead, a system of targets should be set for all the individual workers and if they reach them at the end of every month or year they could be rewarded by having a pay rise or getting commission as it where. Alternatively you could set group targets, this would mean that the stronger ones in the office could support the weaker ones and it would therefore raise moral and the sense of team building. Introducing a scheme could also help cut back the companies expenditure on training, as employees go on team building exercises twice a year which are no doubt expensive for the business.
Improving the quality of fringe benefits would be beneficial as staff feel that these are no all together motivators, however removing these fringe benefits would effect moral and would have disastrous on the performance. Money could be give to the staff to help pay for things such as a car or a holiday which staff would feel more motivated about.