Theories of motivation try to explain methods that are used so as to encourage employees to perform highly. Motivation is the inner drive that makes employees want to come to work and perform as expected by their employers or according to their needs (Miner 1994).
A well motivated workforce is a source of competitive advantage given that employees require an extra push in order for them put in additional effort towards the achievement of goals. There are many motivation theories that have been identified by scholars and these are explained in this presentation.
The theory of scientific management proposed that employers have a natural dislike for work and therefore management ought to closely monitor, supervise and control activities within the organization (Hoffmann 2007). This theory encouraged employers to provide adequate training and working tools then pay employees according to what they achieve.
The Human Relation School of thought through the Hawthorn experiment discovered that employees perform higher when their social needs are met (Holt & Wigginton 2002). This proposed that managers show interest to employees and also treat them as valuable assets of the organization.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory focuses on psychological needs of workers and proposes that employees are motivated to achieve more only when their lower level needs have been met. This differentiates workers based on the level that they are in the hierarchy of needs structure.
The two factor theory of motivation proposed that workers could be motivated by either motivators or hygiene factors. Motivators are concerned wit the job itself while hygiene factors lower motivation if they are absent.
Modern theories of motivation include goal setting theory, acquired needs theory and the expectancy theory. The goal setting theory proposes that workers get motivated when they set challenging goals which guide their activities (Green 1992; Robbins 1994). This advocates for the setting of challenging goals by employers and workers themselves so as increase the drive and effort put in order to achieve them.
The acquired needs theory is related to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory which explains how workers get motivated to achieve more when they have acquired lower level needs (Beck 2004). The expectancy theory on the other hand proposes that workers get motivated when they expect that their effort will bring about a valuable reward (Pride, Hughes & Kapoor 2012).
The best motivational theory in relation to the case of Thailand would be the expectancy theory given that the Thai already have a lot of expectation about bonuses. They expect that after reporting to work for a period of time they will receive bonuses at the end of the year regardless of the results achieved (Deresky & Christopher 2002).
This indicates that it would be difficult for a different theory of motivation to work in the country since the workers already demand monetary incentives in order to work. Goal setting theory would not be effective since goals without bonuses would not successfully make the Thai workers to put in more effort.
The expectancy theory can therefore be applied strategically so as to ensure that workers are lured into putting effort with the expectation of higher bonuses at the end of the year. Since Thai workers naturally expect to earn bonuses at the end of the year, employers can simply attach targets which if achieved at an earlier date can lead to issuance of higher bonuses.
Reference List
Beck, RC 2004. Motivation: Theories and Principles, Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Deresky, H & Christopher, E 2002. International Management: Managing Culture Diversity, (2nd Ed), Pearson Australian, Sydney.
Green, TB 1992. Performance and Motivation Strategies for Today’s Workforce A Guide to Expectancy Theory Applications, Quorum Books, London.
Hoffmann, S b2007. Classical Motivation Theories- Similarities and Differences between Them, GRIN Verlag, Munich.
Holt, DH & Wigginton, KW 2002. International Management, Harcourt College Publ, Fort Worth, TX.
Miner, JB 1994. Role Motivation Theories, Routledge, Abington, OX.
Pride, WM, Hughes, RJ & Kapoor, JR 2012. Business (11th Ed), South- Western Cengage Learning, Mason, OH.
Robbins, SP 1994. Management (4th Ed), Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.