Muhammad Umair Prague College/ Teeside University Msc International Management

Muhammad Umair Prague College/ Teeside University MSc International Management Factors affect employee motivation Course title: Managing People in Organizations Course instructors: Dave Gannon Stefano Cavagnetto

Abstract

This essay explains the major drives of motivation and elaborates what are the motivation factors that affect the overall motivation of employee inside the organization? What intrinsic and extrinsic factors those make an impact on employee motivation? Also discuss about the motivation theories that exist in correlation with those motivation factors. In this essay it is recommended that how to use those theories to keep employees motivated and if applied properly it brings positive impact on employee performance.

What are factors affect employee motivation? And existence of theories that support and explain how these factors effect on motivation. Employees are considered the backbone and asset of organization because they play an important role to achieve company’s long term goals and implement its vision. It is important for the organization that employees must enjoy doing their job and have a positive attitude toward their job and should be satisfied with their position in organization. Motivation is the catalyst that gives them the reason to achieve more and perform in a better way to achieve more and it makes an impact on overall performance of the organization. Employee motivation in recent era has been taken more seriously because of its importance in realization of company’s goals; it lowers employee turnover rates and better utilization of the resources as different motivation theories exist to support this argument. Motivational factors have two broader categories in general, extrinsic motivational factors and intrinsic motivational factors. Understanding these two categories enables organization management to apply appropriate type of motivational factors that are more appropriate to its employees. Extrinsic motivational factors are stimuli’s that are coming from the external environment that makes impact on employee’s performance and the employee’s works hard to achieve goals because in the end he/she knows they will be rewarded. In contrast Intrinsic motivational factors are the one in which stimuli’s comes from within the employee, individual has desire to perform such task because he/she understands that the results coming after are on the same page as his/her beliefs. Employee compensation and benefit play an important role in the performance of employee, in OECD and other developed countries employees are offered with several benefits

like medical and dental plan, health and dependent care, relocation assistance, long term care insurance, pension etc along with the basic remuneration. Recently Samsung has introduced a new program in the company to take feedback from the current employees about their healthcare and wellbeing program, and they have given the options to employees that they can tell company about what they want to be included in their benefit plan. The offer of this new program is to give employee high proportion of value and keep them engaged. This step taken by Samsung motivates employees as it is related with the Victor Vroom theory of expectancy, as this theory states that employees must be provided by appropriate compensation and benefits according to their job in organization. This is actually quite related that they can lose their motivation to work in both cases of under salaried or over salaried. Job security is another extrinsic motivational factor that effects on employee performance. SAP is a huge multinational company which exists almost everywhere in the world; it is known for work life balance and opportunity to work anywhere in the world and of course free meals are also famous with the company. On the other hand Google is famous for its laid back working environment and even one can work from home as well as some gym at the workplace. These companies are making progress because they have given their employees sense of security and belongingness so they love doing their work with motivation. It ensures them health and safety at the work place. This corresponds to the Maslow’s need for security that is the secondary need for human beings. Psychologically when security needs of human beings are fulfilled they tend to be more productive with the fear of losing something it gives them confidence to try new things to improve their performance. On other hand Tesco promotes team building and group activities in the stores to engage employees in different team building activities so they can stay close and work as a team. Tesco also offers them working home

opportunity. It all builds together a perfect environment to learn new things with people from team and groups. When employees are socially connected with others they perform better in work setting. Sense of belongingness makes them satisfied with the work. It corresponds to the Herzberg two factor theory which elaborates how advancement, recognition and nature of work itself plays role in the motivation on employee. Working conditions at work place are very important and they impact directly on the performance of workers. A day before the arrival of new IPhone 6, labor rights union found so many human rights violations going on at the supplier factory of parts for Apple in China. The company Catcher Technology Co. in Suqian, was found to be involved in serious health, safety, environmental and human rights violations. This investigation has shown serious concerns over the working conditions in the second tier supplier company of Apple. It was also reported that due to lower performing factory labor they had to import extra workers from the sister factory in another city that clearly indicate how important are the working conditions at workplace. If working conditions are up to the mark then definitely it creates an environment for optimal performance. In Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory the expression "cleanliness" is utilized as a part of the sense that these are support elements. These are extrinsic to the work itself, and include factors like company policies, supervisory practices, or wages/salary. Herzberg refers to cleanliness factors as "KITA" components, which is an acronym for "kick in the ass", the procedure of giving motivators or danger of discipline to make somebody do something. Interpersonal relations and communication devices a productive environment because it allows interchanging the ideas and relationships builds trust. Roffey park a nonprofit organization which focuses most on the interpersonal relationships and audit learning. They believe by simple candid discussion they can rearrange the organization structure. Everyone

without can participate in the healthy argument without any hieratical hindrance and can contribute their beliefs and then they take feedback from coworkers, manager and subordinates to evaluate it. They motivate the employees by having a feeling that there presence matter in the company it doesn’t matter how small or big is their position in organization. This makes them socially more connected with the work place and the people around there. Social needs are secondary human need on Maslow’s hierarchy needs scale, in organization if social factor is missing or lagging than it can adversely affect the performance of organization as it is also one of the drives in motivational factors. Boeing introduces the Employee Assistance Program that is a confidential service to help its employees to solve their problems in their personal lives. This program basically connects Boeing employees and their families with the counseling professionals so they can discuss problems with them. This Program also helps in legal and financial problems to some extent. All Boeing employees and their families can use this program free of cost. A question may arise in minds of us that, why Boeing is so interested in personal lives of its employees? Because Boeing knows if it tells its employees to leave their problems at the door then probably employees will also leave their motivations too at the door. Coca Cola also has similar Employee Assistance Program. Maslow’s need of social bounding or affiliation works behind this kind of programs and it keeps stress levels low among employees and that concludes higher productivity plus enhances belongingness with the organization. This corresponds to Maslow’s theory of basic needs as we all being human beings feel need of belongingness if this factor of belongingness is missing in the organization than it will be very challenging to work for employees and there will be no or very small amount of motivation toward work.

According to Forbes Qualcomm is the top company with the highest employee development and growth rate. It has more defined career ladder for all of its departments and employees have a higher chance to grow in relation to their performance. Employees put their full potential to work hard to go further on their career path and get the higher position. This is also a motivating factor that triggers employees to work hard. As McClelland's acquired needs theory states there are three acquired human needs as follows: 

Need for achievement



Need for power



Need for affiliation

If in organization employee is being rewarded well and achievements are recognized by the organization it fulfills the need of achievement and recognition. Accordingly if employee get promoted to better position his need for power also gets fulfilled and he/she stays motivated and feel being important part of organization. Responsibility includes both the responsibility and authority in relation to the job. Responsibility refers to the employee’s control over his or her own job or being given the responsibility for the work of others. Gaps between responsibility and authority are considered under the company policies and administration factor. Lack of effort as a cause of achievement failure is more punishing than lack of ability. But at the same time being as human being we want to grow up on the career ladder and have more responsibilities and achieve better position in organization it corresponds to the Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory. As in one of part it discusses about growth and responsibility.

Employees are looking to have some challenge or learning at work place so organization need to have a look on high achievers and to keep them with it is duty of manager or seniors to find something challenging and interesting. If high achievers do not get feedback for a long time they get frustrated and probably quit their job. Supervisor and managers can make a positive impact on employee’s motivation by recognition of employee efforts and accomplishments. Recognition is an important aspect to keep employees motivated. It is cost effective and simple so often it is often over looked by managers for solving retention problems. Because employees want to feel that they are important part of organization and share the success of it. Employers often look on monetary benefits they can offer to their employees to keep them motivated, however this solution is shortsighted. In contrast employees find intangible aspects of their job as more important and motivating. Most of them they just do not work with the company for the future earning or the pension plan but they want recognition buy manager to be part of the success of company. It can be done in many ways like employee of the month program, point program or advancement opportunity. Employee recognition refers to the Herzberg’s two factor Theory. Autonomy is another factor which is focused by many organizations in this era. Autonomy is basically giving them more room to make decision by themselves without have it approved from the top managers. It gives them more independence to do things. This way they work more and take initiatives by themselves. It also allows them to find new ways of getting the things done inside and outside the department. It brings innovation in processes and builds trust of employees on organization and they engage themselves more and are ready to go extra mile for the company. This phenomenon corresponds to the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs at the top stage of self-actualization.

Conclusion As discussed these intrinsic and extrinsic factors affect the employee motivation is a positive way. Sometimes intrinsic factors are more important than extrinsic and sometimes vice versa but it depends on the type of organization and type of employee and their personal preferences and situation. To understand the importance of those factors it better to analyze the situation of employees on the pyramid of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs because the benefit company is going to offer for an employee. A business organization with motivated work force can achieve its goal and keep itself align with the long term strategy. And can also keep employees motivated by using the right blend of these motivational factors.

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