Introduction
It is the dream of every organization to attain success in all its undertakings. To achieve this, organizations have to realize that success stems from the people employed to work for it. If these people are not motivated, they lack the morale to work hard. It is the responsibility of senior managers to ensure that employee’s needs are met as they strive to meet the organization’s needs. It is normal for one to feel discouraged if his/her contributions are not recognized and rewarded appropriately.
One cannot be able to achieve the goals of an organization if he feels that, he is being exploited. Motivation does not mean giving huge salaries but a simple word of mouth, for instance “well done”, can play a great deal. This paper looks at the benefits of employee motivation to an organization. How it helps in the production of quality results, achievement of goals, employee retention, and improvement performance.
Production of Quality Results
According to Pfeffer & Veiga (1999), motivated workers have ambition to produce quality results and emulate better ways of undertaking their duties. They feel part and parcel of the organization and all their efforts are aimed at making the organization better. By encouraging them, they feel valuable and ready to take any challenges that comes their way.
They involve their soul and mind in searching for better strategies to address certain issues in an organization. Motivation also comes along with respect; if managers respect the employees working under them by giving them the freedom of speech and room to express new ideas they are encouraged to be creative. Failure to motivate employees may result in poor performance of a company.
Retention of Employees
Motivation is one of the strategies that an organization can use to retain employees. The process of selection and recruitment for job appointment is usually costly and an organization cannot afford to waste such funds simply because of failing to motivate its staff. More to this, training costs are usually very high because of the cost incurred and the reduction in production an organization experiences due to the appointment of unskilled staff.
When employees are motivated, they feel obliged to work for an organization and may find it difficult to leave without valid reasons. On the other hand, when employees are not motivated they feel out of place and start looking for other places where they can feel valuable and their services being appreciated. Organizations that are able to retain employees are assured of a good performance because they do not need to train new employees every now and then (Fergusin, 2010).
From research, it is clear that employees are not only motivated by money but also their attitudes. The first furtive to efficacy is to understand the people one works with and depend on so that one can make use of their influence, their tradition of working, and their values.
An employee inputs are the positive contribution he makes for the betterment of an organization including the work he does, his skills, behavior, and experience while outcomes are the rewards he gets out of his hard work, this may be in the form of appreciation, promotion, incentives, salary rise, to name but a few.
Employees perceive that, they should be given rewards that consummate with their organizational performance. It is a form of organizational behavior that holds that, employees are likely to perform better if they perceive their rewards to be high.
It predicts that, majority of employees be motivated to work hard if they suppose the reward they expect to get to be directly proportional to the work done, and if they value the rewards expected from the organization. HR managers should provide employees with opportunities to participate in educational seminars and programs.
Employees acquire new skills which they use on their jobs for their benefit as well as that of the organization. They should also be provided with study leaves or allowances for furthering their studies. This may appear to be an added cost in the short term but the results are worth it. Employees develop new skills and strategies for handling their responsibilities, work becomes easy and more time is saved which can be used for other productive activities.
Goal setting and motivation
There is a positive relationship between goal setting and motivation. In organization behavior, goal setting is one of the most common theories. Goals help one to work hard to achieve a particular task. Organizations have goals for the different personnel employed in different departments some call them performance contracts.
An employee is given a task which he is expected to accomplish within a set deadline. Without motivation employees cannot be able to achieve these goals. Managers have realized motivation is the only way forward and many are trying to appreciate the contribution employees make in an organization, for instance the goals they help an organization to achieve. Goals act as good stimulants for organization performance and self-efficacy.
This is more so if an individual gets positive feedback in relation to goals which they have achieved. Feedback helps in increasing self motivation and self worth. When an employee has successfully achieved a certain goal and received positive comments for the same, he feels important and valuable (Neil, 2008). This motivation leads to sustained achievement and a process of goal setting emerges. Goal setting theory requires individual to evaluate their performance in relation to the goal.
That is, they need to know their current position before setting the goal. This will help them determine which areas need to be worked on. When it is incorporated into HRM systems, the individual has a ready environment and many opportunities to talk about his or her needs and take proper steps. On the other hand, the organization gains insight and information that will help ensure that the right people are placed in the right positions at the right time (McKenna, 2002).
Effective Performance
Motivation inspires employees to look for ways of undertaking their tasks effectively and lack of it can completely dishearten them. People need to be encouraged and appreciated in order to achieve their mission and that of others. Employees’ team working groups that are well structured with good communication help in fulfilling the group needs.
Self actualization needs can be fulfilled by encouraging employee developments by use of appraisal tool where employees gauge their performance. Provision of secure working environment coupled with training on safety and health issues can assist in meeting the security needs of the employees.
On the other hand, reward systems on job promotion based on employee’s efforts, skills, and experience can help in raising their self esteem and meet the needs that come with it (Bob, 1995). One critical factor is the level of trust in the organization. For the process to be successful, there first must be a background of trust and openness in the organization. Otherwise, people will not feel safe in providing the authentic feedback that is required for developing leadership skills.
Conclusion
If an organization wants to succeed, it must recognize and reward the efforts of the work force, failure to do so results in poor performance which in turn lowers production of the organization. The human nature is so simple yet so complex in some cases. Human beings respond differently to certain situations although their behavior is influenced by the surrounding circumstances. Like the saying go, “you can take a horse to the river but you can never force it to take water”, human behaviors in some way resembles this saying.
One can employ as many people in an organization as he/she wants but can never force them to take up their responsibilities. This is something that comes from inside and can only be initiated by the things we get or hear. Employees are motivated to work for an organization because of the reward they expect to get at the end of the day. If there is no recognition of the work done I doubt whether any one would be willing to offer his/her services.
Motivated employees are happy and are ready to face the daily challenges, when they are appreciated, they feel part and parcel of an organization and all their efforts are directed to the betterment of the organization. This increases organization’s performance and also helps in retaining employees. Supervisors should recognize the value of employees in the organization and the importance of thanking them either through writing or verbally for their precise contributions.
Reference List
Bob, N. (1995). Motivating employees with informal awards. Management Accounting (USA), Vol. 77 Issue 5 p30
Fergusin, W. J. (2010). Creative compensation: keeping employees on board. Journal of property management, Vol. 55 Issue 3, p12
McKenna, T. (2002). Motivating the front line. National Petroleum News, Vol. 94, Issue 11, p18
Neil, S. (2008). Employees’ benefit- It takes more than cash to make workers happy. Database: Academic Onefile, eweek, p80
Pfeffer, J. & Veiga, J. (1999). Putting people first for organizational success. The Academy of Management Executive, Vol.13 No.2