Money as a Form of Motivation in the Work Place Essay

Motivation is described as the forces that account for the stimulation, assortment, course and continuance of behavior^[1]. This then means that quite a number of things can motivate people as motivation is goal oriented behavior.

People tend to do things for the rewards they will receive at the end of the task or at the end of a period of time. Money, at the work place is one of the things that get people to work harder. This then shows that money can and is used as a motivational factor in the work place so that employees can strive to give their best and their all at the end of the day.

Nowadays, people tend to look at how much they are going to get paid rather than job satisfaction, hence in this light money becomes a motivational force for the workplace and for the employees. In short, money makes people wake up in the morning to go to work, sit behind a desk for eight or more hours and go back home tired at the end of the day ready to repeat the whole process again the following day.

When workers are money motivated, they will carry out their duties effectively, efficiently and thoroughly so that they can make as much money as possible in the shortest time possible.

According to management study guide, Motivation is very important in an organization as it improves the level of efficiency of employees which in turn leads to an increase in productivity, reducing the cost of operations and improving overall efficiency. Motivation in the work place also leads to achievement of organizational goals. Organizational goals are achieved when co-ordination and cooperation take place at the same time which can effectively be achieved through money motivation^[2].

Motivation plays a big role when it comes to survival of organizations. If the way to fully motivate employees is to offer them money then organizations will offer their employees money so as to motivate them fully in their work therefore improving the organization as a whole. Employers need to also appreciate what inspires employees within the environment of their work and the responsibility that they perform.^[3]

There are theories of motivation of employees that are linked to money in one way or another. Different researchers came up with different theories explaining the needs of workers:

According to Abraham Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory (1983),

“Employees have five levels of needs: physiological, safety, social, ego and self-actualizing. Physiological needs are important as they sustain human life and one cannot survive without them. They are; food, water, warmth, shelter, sleep, medicine and education. Safety needs are the needs to be free of physical danger, fear of losing a job, property, and protection against emotional harm.

Social needs include the need to belong and acceptance from others not forgetting the need for affection and friendship. Ego/esteem needs include satisfaction of power, prestige status and self confidence while self actualization is the drive to become “what one is capable of becoming, it includes growth, achieving one’s potential and self fulfillment”^[4]. (Maslow 1943)

Maslow insisted that for one to move on successfully to the next level, the wishes at the lower level have to be completely achieved and fulfilled so as to be motivated by the higher needs level. In simple terms, for example, one would not be motivated by social status before he has achieved security or one would not be motivated by safety before he can afford the basic needs, food, shelter, clothing, education, medication, water and sleep.

This shows that individuals have to work hard to get enough money so as to satisfy their needs and the needs of their dependants fully. In such a scenario, an employee would be motivated by the money he receives at the end of the work period as then would the employee be able to fulfill his needs therefore proving Maslow’s hierarchy needs theory.

According to Shah, and Professor Shah; and Vroom in reference to Vroom’s Valence x Expectancy theory: employee effort will lead to performance which will lead to rewards. The theory focuses on three things: efforts and performance relationship, performance and reward relationship, rewards and personal goal relationship^[5].

The theory states that the force of inclination to behave in a certain way depends on the strength of anticipation that the act will be followed by a specific result and on the allure of that result to the individual. In simple terms, valence x expectancy theory states that an employee can be motivated to work harder when their belief is that hard work will result in awareness of individual targets in form of some prize; the prize in this case being money.

Rewards can either be positive or negative, the more positive the reward the higher the level of motivation of the employee goes, while the more negative the reward, the less the level of motivation for the employee. In this sense money is seen as the positive reward, encouraging the employee to work harder and more effectively as the results of the employee’s hard work are positive, generating money for the employee, while loss of income is looked as the negative reward.

Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory states that certain aspects in the work place result in job satisfaction but when these aspects are abolished they lead to dissatisfaction.^[6] In his theory Herzberg states that intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction, while extrinsic aspects are related to dissatisfaction. He based this theory on the question: “what do people want from their Jobs? he carried out a research and concluded that removing dissatisfying characteristics from a job does not necessarily make the job satisfying.”

He claims that certain aspects when present in the work place make employees more motivated to work but when these aspects are absent, there is less motivation in the work place. In this scenario money bonuses can be seen as the aspect that brings more motivation to the work place and when there is absence of money there is less motivation amongst the employees.

For example, if employees are told they will be paid extra money to come to work during public holidays and weekends, majority of the employees will show up as they are expecting a bonus which is in form of a sum of money at the end of the day. In this way money acts as a motivator to the employees who would give up their weekends and holidays with the aim of receiving a certain amount of money.

Herzberg pointed out that there are two types of peoples needs: hygiene factors create dissatisfaction when they are missing and create satisfaction when they are there , employees often tend to take existence of these factors for granted for example; salary, working conditions, or job security. Motivators; contribute to satisfaction for example recognition in the work place, promotion, responsibility just to mention but a few. To achieve high motivation and employee output, motivation and hygiene factors must be used together^[7].

In reference to Jeremy Bentham’s the carrot and stick approach, individuals are driven by their own self-interest and they are motivated by the desire to avoid pain at all costs and achieve maximum pleasure at the lowest possible cost.

“An employee will work only if the reward is attractive and big enough or if the punishment is sufficiently horrible.”

The carrot in this theory refers to the rewards while the stick refers to the punishment, in simpler terms employers use the system of rewards and punishment to induce certain behavior traits in their employees.

In majority of motivational theories, some kind of ‘carrot’ are recognized and awarded to individuals in this case money, or some form of financial bonuses like a paid vacation, a company car that one does not have to fuel are used as motivational aspects for employees to keep working hard so that they can enjoy the financial rewards at the end of the day. The issue with the carrot approach is that more often than not, individuals get the reward, in spite of their performance levels.

The stick on the other hand refers to the punishments accorded to individuals who do not perform their duties well. In the form of fear; fear of loss of job, loss of income, reduction of a bonus, demotion or some other form of consequence has, is, and will still continue being an effective way of motivation among employees. The thought of loosing ones job and not having a steady income creates fear in the employees who work hard to keep their jobs and secure their income.

The stick approach results in poor quality work, defensive behavior from the employees and it is not the best way to use when it comes to motivation of employees. Through the stick approach employees tend to fear and work because they have no other choice and they want to keep their jobs and get income at the end of the day.

In using the carrot and stick approach to influence motivation among employees one ought to be careful so that the rewards, money and the penalties that is, loss of employment balance out. In this way an employer will have a peaceful working environment for his employees and himself. Money offers and financial bonuses should be attractive enough and sufficient enough for the employee needs so that they can work hard not only for their benefit but for the benefit of the employer and organization at large^[8].

According to B.F. Skinner he uses the term operant conditioning to illustrate the effects of the outcomes of a specific character trait on the future repetition of the particular behavior.

“There are four kinds of operant conditioning: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment and extinction. Positive and negative reinforcement fortify behavior while on the other hand punishment and extinction deteriorate behavior.” Positive reinforcement encourages behavior in that it offers rewards after certain good behaviors are observed for example; if your work is outstanding one gets an extra bonus and perhaps a promotion. Negative reinforcement on removes a stress factor as a result of good behavior.

For example, economic sanctions being lifted from a country due to an improvement on their corruption levels. Extinction refers to getting no reward for something one has done. For example: if one is not getting paid for overtime, they stop working over time. Punishment is where one has to pay for their behaviors, for example; not getting paid the day one comes into work late^[9]. In this case of operant conditioning money can be seen as positive and negative reinforcement.

This means that the rewards an employee gets for working hard are in form of money either a bonus, or an increase in salary the more the money, the higher the level of motivation among employees . Punishment and extinction in this case can be looked at as loss of work, loss of a steady income and this will lower motivation levels among the employees.

People have witnessed workers striking around the world due to payment issues that have arisen from delayed wages, salary arrears, more taxes, or minimum wages. Employee strikes have become a common site mostly due to the financial situations. When employees refuse to work and strike or go on a go-slow, the employer suffers a lot as work becomes stagnant.

Most employees strike due to lack of motivation in the financial aspect. In the United Kingdom, college staff of the University and College Union went on strike over pay changes. The employees were demanding a standardized payment scheme while the college was proposing a new scheme that would pay employees according to the number of people passing a course.

From this example, we see that the financial security of the employees was threatened hence they decided to go on strike to force their employer to reconsider his decision. We see that indeed money was the motivating factor here and since money was to be taken out of the picture, the employees reacted and made their opinions known as well as securing their income^[10].

In England, July 8^th 2010, 200 workers walked out of the Astrum plant in Stanhope that manufactures tank track over lack of a pay rise that was to be given during the year. The employees, complained that overtime had been banned and that talks for a pay rise had not succeeded. This shows that the overtime and pay raise motivated the employees to work hard and gave them an incentive to go to work each morning as they knew that they would have something to look forward to at the end of the day.

This price they were looking forward to was the overtime pay and the pay rise which when both of them were canceled pushed the workers to strike. This shows that money is indeed a motivational factor in the work place and that without money work would not take place as effectively as it should.^[11]

In Middle East, the first ever workers strike was witnessed in Turkey, in the IT sector on the 9^th of July 2010. The employees went on strike claiming that their salaries were far much lower than those who worked in other companies in the same positions. This shows that the employees felt cheated and used as their knowledge and hard work was not being rewarded accordingly.

These employees wanted to feel appreciated by their colleagues and their employer and wanted to feel equal to their fellow employees who worked in other companies. They claimed that collective bargaining about the salaries and failed and that they would resume work only if their salaries were raised to the standard of their colleagues in other companies.^[12]

In Africa, Egyptian textile workers recommence their demonstrations over owing wages after guarantees of payments went unpaid for four months.

The workers had not received payment from the year 2007; this made the workers vow not to go back to work until they were paid. Abraham Maslow’s notes “after a 21- day sit-in by employees outside parliament buildings, an agreement between the Manpower Ministry and Immigration and Bank Misr agreed that the employees were going to be paid LE 106 million which they were owed.”^[13]

This scenario shows and reinforces the idea that money is a huge motivational factor when it comes to employees as without money the employees do not work. When these Egyptian employees were promised to be paid the first time they went back to work hoping that the employer would keep his word and pay them as he had promised.

After four months of no pay, the aggravated employees decided to go on strike and even sit outside parliament buildings to make sure that their voices were heard and their needs taken care off. If money was not a motivational factor for employees they would not have gone on strike they would have kept on working but because money is a big motivational factor for employees they went on strike and demanded to be paid for their hard work^[14].

In Nigeria, health and medical workers suspended their on-going industrial action because the government agreed to pay 50% of their arrears.

They however gave the government an ultimatum that if their arrears were not going to be paid in the course of a week’s time they would resume their industrial action. This shows that money is the underlying factor for employees in all job sectors. If the health workers go on strike it means sick people are suffering more than they should be as they are not being attended they way they should be attended to.

The Nigerian government then shifted the payment issue to the bank claiming that the banks were holding the money for their own selfish interests. This however does not matter to the employees as all they want is their money paid so that they could fulfill the needs and wants. This situation again shows distinctively that money is an underlying factor that motivates employees to work and work hard for that matter^[15]

In conclusion, this paper has proved that indeed money is a motivational factor in relation to employees at the work place. Nobody wants to get tired working for nothing so the incentives at the end of the day, that is salary and bonuses give individuals the strength and zeal to work everyday without complaining that they have to go thorough the same routine every single day.

Money has become a motivational factor at the workplace because every single thing in the world is becoming expensive due to the inflation rates that seem to be escalating every single day.

Without money, it is extremely difficult for one to survive so one has to work hard at their jobs so as to earn enough money to sustain themselves and their dependants. Money is the driving force behind all jobs that an individual takes up. Majority of employees all want to become millionaires or billionaires at one point in their lives so that they could stop working and sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor

Money motivates and provides incentives to employees to give their all when at work as once they have the money in their hands there is a level of satisfaction that they have achieved and this satisfaction encourages then to work more harder so as keep getting the money.

Money is a motivational factor for employees as it allows them to purchase luxury items and enjoy their money in any way they feel like. Without money many people who are employees in one place or another, would not be able to purchase items like cars, houses, entertainment systems for their houses just to mention but a few.

Money also brings about status quo among employees and respect. In the world today, the more money you have the more respect you get from other people. Individuals tend to compare themselves in terms of how much money they have in their bank accounts. Musicians are producing songs about how much money they have so as to get respect not only from their peers but also from other people.

The kind of car one drives and the kind of house one lives in will earn one respect and this is all possible because of the amount of money one has that comes from ones hard work.

In short money makes the world go round, if one has enough money, ones world will spin smoothly and efficiently according to his needs, on the other hand if one does not have money, yes, ones world will spin but it will have difficulties and major ones for that matter as one will be unable to take care of his needs let alone the needs of the people who depend on him.

Money is a form of motivation for employees in that the more they work, the more money they get to contribute to their monthly pensions and the more the monthly pensions gain interest therefore at the end of the working term, one will be looking forward to a huge amount of money that resulted from his hard work. For Example, retirements benefits corporate offer this attractive package to employees increasing their motivation in their work.

Bibliography

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An, ‘Importance of motivation’, Management study guide, 2001. Web.

Bentham, J., Jeremy Bentham: Life, Influence and Perspectives on his thought, Routledge, New York, 1993.

Biehler, R. & Snowman, J., Psychology Applied to Teaching, 12th ed, Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1997.

Knights, D. & Willmott, H., Organizational behavior and management, London, Thomson Learning, 2007.

Maslow, A. H., ‘A theory of human motivation,’ Psychological Review, vol. 25, 1943, pp. 370-396.

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Ukwuoma, B., Muanya, C. & Olayinka C., ‘Health workers suspend strike, govt to pay 50% arrears’, 2000. Web.

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Footnotes

1. R. Biehler & J. Snowman, Psychology Applied to Teaching, 12^th ed. Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1997, 399.
2. Management study guide: importance of motivation
3. V. H. Vroom, Work and Motivation, Krieger Publishing Company, Manhattan, 1982, pp. 48.
4. A. Maslow, ‘A theory of human motivation,’ Psychological Review, vol. 25, 1943, pp. 370-396.
5. K. Shah & J. Shah, Vroom,V. H. work and motivation, Laynetworks, 2000.
6. D. Knights & H. Willmott, Organizational behavior and management, London, Thomson Learning, 2007, 83.
7. D. Knights & H. Willmott, Organizational behavior and management, London, Thomson Learning, 2007, 104.
8. J. Bentham, Jeremy Bentham: Life, Influence and Perspectives on his thought, Routledge, New York, 1993, 65.
9. An, ‘Theories of motivation’, Analytictech.com, 2003.
10. ‘Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa’, World Socialist.
11. ‘Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa’, World Socialist.
12. ‘Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa’, World Socialist, 2010.
13. A. H. Maslow, ‘A theory of human motivation,’ Psychological Review, vol. 25, 1943, pp. 370-396.
14. ‘Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa’, World Socialist, 2010.
15. B. Ukwuoma, C. Muanya & C. Olayinka, ‘Health workers suspend strike, govt to pay 50% arrears’, 2000.