Introduction
The essay presents a critical examination of the lack of motivation at the place of work. To accomplish this, the paper will identify characteristics and the impact of lack of motivation; possible ways of curbing the problem and, finally, a review of existing literature regarding employee’s motivation.
It is worth noting that employees are the most important assets that the organization has, and they are responsible for success or failure of the institution. Although there are various definitions of motivation, the one discussed here is that motivation refers to the inner force that drives people have to accomplish or attain personally, as well as discusses organizational goals and objectives.
Thus, it is a psychological process that offers personal behaviours, purpose, as well as direction (Smith 19). The main reason of the organization is to motivate workforce and ensure that will survive in the future.
It is no doubt that the current world of business is characterized by huge changes. It will then be rational to have motivated workers since they are more productive and capable of successfully adopting to changes. Despite this fact, there are certain organizations that do not emphasize employee motivation due to the lack of knowledge, resources or ignorance.
Irrespective of the size of the organization, having motivated employee is imperative. Additional motivation strategies are usually approached in different ways. In situations when an organization fails to motivate its workers, there might be serious problems, such as “low team morale, lack of initiative, lack of energy, mistakes and high staff turnover” (Maslow 73) among others.
Identification and Impact of Lack of Motivation
Identifying the lack of motivation
For those organizations that do not bother to motivate their workers, one can easily identify the situation in a number of ways. For instance, workers fail to achieve goals and objectives of the organization, workers also lead a mediocre life.
In addition, other characteristics of workers who lack motivation include: being passive, in case of failures workers blame everyone around them, as well as bringing forth excuses when they are not capable of accomplishing their task.
It is worth remembering that lack of motivation at workplace can be depicted not only at the place of work but also at home, in relationships, and in pursuing personal goals resulting in indifference, unhappiness and feelings of dissatisfaction (Smith 76).
Impacts of lack of motivation
Absenteeism and lateness at work; lack of motivation causes lack of interest and indifference with employees. Due to the fact that employees do not find things that can encourage them to pay attention to punctuality, they turn the habit into a daily routine. Absenteeism and lateness are dangerous phenomena for all institutions. Sometimes, the issue becomes more dangerous, for instance, employee may strike.
This can be seen with regards to what happened to the telecommunication company in Saudi Arabia: some employees stopped working to protest against the policy of preventing annual awards after achieving annual profits; at that time the company announced it would lose millions, if they didn’t deal with the employees who were on strike.
High rates of employees’ turnover is another serious impact of lack of motivation. When employees are of the view that the organization they are working for doesn’t have their interest at heart, they will look for job opportunities elsewhere (McClelland 96). It has been noted that this phenomenon is a very expensive thing to an organization, since an organization will be forced to hire new workers and train them.
Lack of productivity: this problem is important to the institutions and companies, as well as to the country, because it affects the economic growth of the country. The productivity of workers is one of the important factors in determining worker’s income in the long term, as well as the success of the organization.
It is worth noting when workers are not motivated, their dedication to the company goes down translating to poor service delivery, low quality products resulting in closing down of businesses. This is dangerous not only locally but also regionally, since the levels of poverty will arise due to the lack of jobs.
Other serious impact of lack of motivation at place of work include low self- esteem. Employees lack the sense of belonging, lack of enough interest; they demonstrate procrastination, laziness, as well as being stressed and nervous while carrying out duties, tasks and responsibilities that can result in mistakes that would compromise the quality of service delivery, as well as products produced (McClelland 107).
Literature review
It is acknowledged in various sources that motivation is a driving force that makes people do things successfully, usually stemming from employees feeling satisfied hence feeling inspired. To understand lack of motivation, studies have been carried out to establish the importance of motivation. Ideally, motivated workers are capable of enhancing high quality goods and services delivery.
This ultimately leads to a successful organization guaranteed to survive in the future. Indeed, organizations that have managed to have highly motivated workforce have attained competitive advantage (McClelland 23).
Lack of motivation not only impacts on the organization negatively, but creates an unpleasant environment that will hinder one’s chances to succeed in terms of career as well. A majority of sources, regarding lack of motivation, state that people are misled with the belief that it is only money that motivates employees.
The major causes of employees’ turnover are as follows; not being happy with the manner in which the management manages employees’ affairs, workers are not respected for good work, lack of opportunities for personal development and advancement, inadequate monetary benefits, and other reasons, such as retirement, change of carrier among others (Smith 49).
There are various mechanisms that the organization can use to obtain information concerning employees’ motivation, performance, and satisfaction. It is very important since it will guide the organization to make strategic decisions.
The guiding theories of human understanding of motivation or lack of it rest on the works by Maslow, his need of hierarchy theory; the two-factor theory developed by Herzberg; the theory of expectancy by Vroom; equity theory and reinforcement theories developed by Adam and Skinner respectively.
For instance, using the Maslow’s need of hierarchy theory; workers need to realize physiological, safety, social, ego and self-actualization needs (Maslow 163).
Herzberg provided the view that motivators are factors that are intrinsic and will lead to job satisfaction while extrinsic factors, for instance, pay leads to job dissatisfaction. Based on what Vroom believed, the higher the frequency of positive rewards, the more employees will feel motivated and vice versa.
Despite the fact that lack of motivation results in serious consequences, as previously noted, there are motivating factors that managers opt to fully understand in order for them to develop strategies that will help reverse the situation.
Among them are job security, sympathetic help with work, as well as personal issues, showing personal loyalty to workers, developing interesting duties, tasks and responsibility, conducive working environment, good salaries and other allowances, full appreciation of employees achievements, and ability of promotion, as well as personal growth (Emmons 213).
Conclusion
From the review of lack of motivation in the place of work, there are certain characteristics that help one to identify the problem. Among these things are higher rates of employee turnover, low team morale, lack of initiative, lack of energy and being prone to mistakes.
The serious implications of lack of motivation are imaginable and can lead to lack of jobs, decline in economy, and higher rates of employee turnover among others. There are theories that fully explain the concept of employee motivation, such as Maslow’s theory of need.
If an organization realizes that its workers are not motivated, there is a room for it to reverse the situation by adopting a number of strategies that will help it realize such factors as ensuring employees job security, respecting and rewarding their efforts among others.
Works Cited
Emmons, Robert. The Psychology of Ultimate Concerns: Motivation and Spirituality in Personality. New York: Guilford Press, 2003. Print.
Maslow, Abraham. Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper and Row, 1987. Print.
McClelland, David. Human Motivation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. Print.
Smith, Peter. Motivation, New York: Free Press, 1994. Print.