Motivation for the effective management of organisation
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Shafiqul Alam
The management of people at work is an integral part of the management process. To understand the critical importance of people in the organisation is to recognise that the human element and the organisation are synonymous. A well-managed organisation usually sees an average worker as the root source of quality and productivity gains. An organisation is effective to the degree to which it achieves its goals. An effective organisation will make sure that there is a spirit of cooperation and sense of commitment and satisfaction within the sphere of its influence. In order to make employees satisfied and committed to their jobs, there is need for strong and effective motivation at the various levels, departments, and sections of the organisation.
Motivation is a basic psychological process. Along with perception, personality, attitudes, and learning, motivation is a very important element of behavior. Nevertheless, motivation is not the only explanation of behavior; it interacts with and acts in conjunction with other cognitive processes.
Specific employee attitudes relating to job satisfaction and organisational commitment are of major interest to the field of organisational behaviour and the practice of human resources management. Attitude has direct impact on job satisfaction. Organisational commitment on the other hand, focuses on their attitudes towards the entire organisation.
To use salaries as a motivator effectively, personnel managers must consider four major components of a salary structures. These are the job rates, which relates to the importance the organisation attaching to each job; payment, which encourages workers or groups by rewarding them according to their performance; personal or special allowances, associated with factors such as scarcity of particular skills or certain categories of information professionals, or with long service; and fringe benefits such as holidays with pay, contributory provident fund, and so on. Money remains as the most significant motivational strategy. As far back as 1911, Frederick Taylor and his scientific management associate described money as the most important factor in motivating the industrial workers to achieve greater productivity. Taylor advocated the establishment of incentive wage systems as a means of stimulating workers to higher performance, commitment, and eventually satisfaction. Money possesses significant motivating power in as much as it symbolises intangible goals like security, power, prestige, and a feeling of accomplishment and success.
No matter how automated an organisation may be, high productivity depends on the level of motivation and the effectiveness of the workforce. Staff training is an indispensable strategy for motivating workers. This will give the opportunities for self-improvement and development to meet the challenges and requirements of new equipment and new techniques of performing a task.
Information availability and communication: Information availability brings to bear a powerful peer pressure, where two or more people running together will run faster than when running alone or running without awareness of the pace of the other runners. By sharing information, subordinates compete with one another.
Job satisfaction: Job satisfaction is an emotional response to a job situation. As such it cannot be seen, it can only be inferred. Job satisfaction is often determined by how well outcome meet or exceed expectations. For instance, if employees feel that they are working much harder than others in the department but are receiving fewer rewards they will probably have a negative attitudes towards the work, the boss and or the coworkers. On the other hand, if they feel they are being treated very well and are being paid equitably, they are likely to have positive attitudes towards the job. Job satisfaction is so important in that its absence often leads to lethargy and reduced organisational commitment (Levinson, 1997, Moser, 1997). Lack of job satisfaction is a predictor of quitting a job.
This motivation will create commitment, an attitude reflecting an employee's loyalty to the organisation, and an ongoing process through which organisation members express their concern for the organisation and its continued success and well being. Motivation is the process that arouses, energizes, directs, and sustains behavior and performance. That is, it is the process of stimulating people to action and to achieve a desired task. One way of stimulating people is to employ effective motivation, which makes workers more satisfied with and committed to their jobs. Money is not the only motivator; there are other incentives which can also serve as motivators.
An engineer, Shafiqul Alam is a freelance writer. He can be e-mail : shafiq@iidfc.com
The management of people at work is an integral part of the management process. To understand the critical importance of people in the organisation is to recognise that the human element and the organisation are synonymous. A well-managed organisation usually sees an average worker as the root source of quality and productivity gains. An organisation is effective to the degree to which it achieves its goals. An effective organisation will make sure that there is a spirit of cooperation and sense of commitment and satisfaction within the sphere of its influence. In order to make employees satisfied and committed to their jobs, there is need for strong and effective motivation at the various levels, departments, and sections of the organisation.
Motivation is a basic psychological process. Along with perception, personality, attitudes, and learning, motivation is a very important element of behavior. Nevertheless, motivation is not the only explanation of behavior; it interacts with and acts in conjunction with other cognitive processes.
Specific employee attitudes relating to job satisfaction and organisational commitment are of major interest to the field of organisational behaviour and the practice of human resources management. Attitude has direct impact on job satisfaction. Organisational commitment on the other hand, focuses on their attitudes towards the entire organisation.
To use salaries as a motivator effectively, personnel managers must consider four major components of a salary structures. These are the job rates, which relates to the importance the organisation attaching to each job; payment, which encourages workers or groups by rewarding them according to their performance; personal or special allowances, associated with factors such as scarcity of particular skills or certain categories of information professionals, or with long service; and fringe benefits such as holidays with pay, contributory provident fund, and so on. Money remains as the most significant motivational strategy. As far back as 1911, Frederick Taylor and his scientific management associate described money as the most important factor in motivating the industrial workers to achieve greater productivity. Taylor advocated the establishment of incentive wage systems as a means of stimulating workers to higher performance, commitment, and eventually satisfaction. Money possesses significant motivating power in as much as it symbolises intangible goals like security, power, prestige, and a feeling of accomplishment and success.
No matter how automated an organisation may be, high productivity depends on the level of motivation and the effectiveness of the workforce. Staff training is an indispensable strategy for motivating workers. This will give the opportunities for self-improvement and development to meet the challenges and requirements of new equipment and new techniques of performing a task.
Information availability and communication: Information availability brings to bear a powerful peer pressure, where two or more people running together will run faster than when running alone or running without awareness of the pace of the other runners. By sharing information, subordinates compete with one another.
Job satisfaction: Job satisfaction is an emotional response to a job situation. As such it cannot be seen, it can only be inferred. Job satisfaction is often determined by how well outcome meet or exceed expectations. For instance, if employees feel that they are working much harder than others in the department but are receiving fewer rewards they will probably have a negative attitudes towards the work, the boss and or the coworkers. On the other hand, if they feel they are being treated very well and are being paid equitably, they are likely to have positive attitudes towards the job. Job satisfaction is so important in that its absence often leads to lethargy and reduced organisational commitment (Levinson, 1997, Moser, 1997). Lack of job satisfaction is a predictor of quitting a job.
This motivation will create commitment, an attitude reflecting an employee's loyalty to the organisation, and an ongoing process through which organisation members express their concern for the organisation and its continued success and well being. Motivation is the process that arouses, energizes, directs, and sustains behavior and performance. That is, it is the process of stimulating people to action and to achieve a desired task. One way of stimulating people is to employ effective motivation, which makes workers more satisfied with and committed to their jobs. Money is not the only motivator; there are other incentives which can also serve as motivators.
An engineer, Shafiqul Alam is a freelance writer. He can be e-mail : shafiq@iidfc.com