2016-04-09
References 12
Introduction
As we know, the labor resources are the main resource of enterprises. The results of the company and its competitiveness depend largely on the quality and effectiveness of the above mentioned resources. The difference between the labor force and other types of resources lies in the fact that each employee may waive the conditions offered to him and can require changes in working conditions, retraining or even voluntary redundancy. The concept of “labor resources of the enterprise” characterizes its potential workforce. Employees can be organized in labor unions and to act as a separate subject of negotiations with the administration on working conditions and payments. In this case, the employee motivation plays the significant role in the company’s performance.
Each big company has the human resources department in its organizational structure. This department aims to maximize employee performance and help to reach satisfaction. A well-organized human resources department can be the main key to success. One of the most important functions of such department is to support the necessary level of motivation among employees, because it impacts on the whole employee performance. Thus, the main issue of the work is how motivation can impact on the employee performance and why employee performance is so important for the companies?
Context
Let’s analyze some facts about how different companies motivate their employees. It can be companies from different businesses, small or big, which characterize by strong financial performance. I have chosen such companies as Coca-Cola, Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Luxoft, EPAM, Barclays, British Airways, Ryanair, Phillip Morris and Mayo Clinic. As we can see, companies represent different sectors of activity. Most of them use both material and non-material incentives in order to increase company’s performance and employee satisfaction. At the same time, companies usually provide their employees some benefits, which are connected to the company’s specialization. It can be the discounts on the company’s products (Coca-Cola, Nestle, P&G), free air tickets (British Airways, Ryanair), some free services (Mayo Clinic) and others. At the same time, modern companies are competing with each other in a variety of ways to non-financial motivation to attract and retain employees. The organizations often have to show remarkable ingenuity, providing more and more intangible benefits, to somehow stand out from the others. The number of bonuses, which a few years ago could be considered a significant advantage when employee chose a job, have already not represent effective tools in motivating force due to their high prevalence. In this case, it needs to analyze some extra benefits or special methods, which companies use to increase the employee motivation. For example, Coca-Cola provides employees the special total benefits package together with the annual and long-term incentives (Official Site of the Coca-Cola Company, 2016). One more factor is directly positive image of the stable company that brings joy and gladness to people. If the people are proud of their place of work, they will work effectively. Another example is Nestle. It uses the similar strategy: positive image of the company is the crucial factor thanks to which employees are motivated. One of the elements of the Total Reward Policy is providing convenient work-life environment (Official Site of Nestle, 2016).
The next company, Procter & Gamble actively uses the program of challenges for all employees (from specialist level and higher) in order to develop their professional skills and strongly motivate them to achieve more complicated tasks (Procter & Gamble. Career, 2016). IT-companies (Luxoft, EPAM) do not actively promote their image. They motivate employees through their participation in the complicated and interesting projects (Official Site of Luxoft, 2016). IT-specialists appreciate the cohesive team and project attractiveness more than any other benefits (Official Site of EPAM, 2016).
Bank institution (Barclays) provides their employees a flexible working schedule with the opportunity to work from the home and balance their home and work life (Official Site of Barclays, 2016). British Airways and Ryanair provide employees great opportunities for travelling and have an active rest (Official Site of Ryanair, 2016). The employees of these companies can also have discounts at various hotels and retail outlets. As we know, air transport becomes more popular in our world. In this case, employment at the airline company is considered as prestigious, well-paid work.
Such company as Phillip Morris provides regular challenges and complicated tasks for employees in order improve their professional skills and increase their motivation (like P&G). At the same time, this company practices often rotations of employees (Official Site of Philip Morris, 2016).
Mayo Clinic is one of the best medical institutes in the US in accordance with the different rankings (Official Site of Mayo Clinic, 2016). The strong requirements during hiring process help to choose the most motivated employees initially. In this case, the company only supports required level of motivation through comfortable working conditions, modern equipment and other useful services. It also provides their employees special system of online services through which they can plan their travel, know expense reimbursement and receive other useful information.
Thus, the investigation will be based on the motivation strategies, which are used in the above mentioned companies and their impact on the company’s performance.
Theoretical background
Nowadays, there is no unanimity among scholars in understanding the definition “motivation”. The educational and scientific literature provides different definitions. One of them is the following: motivation is the process of inducement yourself and others to achieve personal goals and objectives of the organization (Zeiger, 2016). Motivation is the internal state that determines human behavior (Filatova, 2012).
The literature is widely represented the materials of theoretical study of motivation and, in particular, judgments about it as a comprehensive phenomenon associated with cognitive, emotional and volitional functions of the person (Mohr, Goulet and Heller, 2004). There is also information about the features of the origin, formation and manifestations of motives; about the role of psychological factors, which are involved in a particular motivational process and define the adoption patterns of behavior by one or another person (Staying Challenged, 2016).
Numerous studies have shown that effective work is unthinkable without proper motivation. Moreover, its strength should be adequate to the goal of the company’s activity. If it is insufficient, the goal of the activities will not be reached (Manzoor, 2012). At the same time, the excessive motivation may occur errors in the work, violations of security measures, ethical standards and others (Sankaran and Bui, 2001).
There are at least nine theories, which connect with the motivation: the theory of needs (Maslow), the theory of existence, communication and growth (Alderfer), the theory of acquired needs (McClelland), the theory of two factors (Herzberg), theory of expectations (Vroom), theory of justice (Adams), the theory of Porter-Lawler, theory of goal setting (Locke) and the concept of participatory governance. The majority of the motivation theories considers the necessity for a person to meet any needs (Selvarajah et al., 2010). It should be noted that the need is a condition of the individual that is created by the desire in facilities, which are required for his existence and development; they are also of his activity (Battistella and Nonino, 2012).
The need causes a person to work when his satisfaction falls below an acceptable level (McDaniel, 2011). Satisfied need can reduce or completely lose its motivating potential for individuals. At the same time, need related to a specific subject, which able to satisfy demand, becomes a motive (Hitka and Balazova, 2015).
The content theories (for example, theories of Taylor, Maslow, Alderfer, McClelland, Herzberg) focus on the identification of human motives list, the construction of their hierarchy, allocation of motive typology and other issues (Dargahi and Mousavi, 2015).
The role of needs in the labor motivation has been investigated by the founder of scientific management, Frederick Taylor. He has formulated the classical theory of motivation. It states that acts of people are motivated by their desire to meet the growing needs, so they are interested to earn money. Based on this idea, Taylor has created a labor stimulation system, which implies an increased reward for exceeding output norms and reduced reward – in case of default. It can force the majority of people to work at full capacity.
Another motivation theory is based on the Maslow pyramid of needs (Wachter, 2013). Specialist Maslow has identified five groups of needs and has arranged them in a pyramid (Martin, 2007). This form (pyramid) is explained by the following: the needs, which are at the higher place in the hierarchy, can be real motivators of behavior for smaller number of people (Ugah and Arua, 2011).
D. McClelland has identified three types of needs: need in succession, in the power and need of being involved. The first is expressed in the human desire to achieve his goals more efficiently than before (Royle and Hall, 2012). The second is the desire to have an impact on the people’s behavior and to take responsibility for their actions. In this case, it is the power of authority and talent. Some managers need power to address urgent organizational problems which they understand better than others and are ready to charge themselves with hardships, which are related to the decisions of the above mentioned problems. The third group of the needs is realized through search and establishing good relationships with others and getting their support (Beugelsdijk and Smeets, 2008).
Specialist Herzberg has shown that not only satisfaction influences on the people’s behavior, but also the dissatisfaction or other needs can affect on it. He divided the needs into two groups: motivational and hygienic (related to working conditions) (Magloff, 2016). He has shown that the ability to meet the needs of motivational factors can improve employees’ productivity (Siemens, 2005). But when the needs are satisfied, their effects disappear. Dissatisfaction in hygienic factors can cause considerable discontent and sharply reduces incentives to activity (Duffy, 2004). At the same time, the satisfaction of the above mentioned factors does not cause great labor enthusiasm and only creates the preconditions for it. Specialist Herzberg claimed that it is impossible to motivate employees only through the wages. It is necessary to include the motivational factors in order to encourage labor efforts.
Another specialist, Vroom, considered that people are driven by the hope for a fair remuneration in addition to the conscious needs (Vroom and Deci, 1983). In this case, the definition “expectation” is considered as how people understand to what extent their actions will lead to certain results (Scholl, 2016). It can refer to the possibility of performing some work and receive fair remuneration for it. Expectation depends on the psychology of the individual, his experience, intuition and the ability to assess the situation. It has a significant impact on the activity of employees and their desire to achieve set goals.
One more motivation theory is connected with the specialist Adams. He claimed that the fairness of activity and results evaluation largely influence the human motivation (Sengupta, 2011). Fairness is defined by comparing the current evaluation with the previous ones as well as with evaluation of similar achievements of other employees. If the employee sees that all staff is estimated through the same measures, he will feel satisfied and will be proactive and motivated (Gambrel and Cianci, 2003).
Specialist Locke has pointed out that people perceive the purpose of the organization as their own and strive to achieve it. If the goals are realistic, clear and acceptable to the employee, he will strive harder for their achievement (Thoreau, 2016). At the same time, he will be satisfied with the process performance and, in spite the complexity, he will be able to achieve great results with it. The achievement of above mentioned results can increase employee motivation, and failure can reduce it (Moller et al., 2005).
The last important motivation theory is called a participative management concept. It proceeds from that employee gets satisfaction from participating in the affairs of the company. In this case, the employee works not only with increased efficiency, but also maximally shows their abilities and opportunities (Kudadjie-Gyamfi, 2006).
After analyzing the most important motivation theories, one can say that employee behavior in the workplace is controlled by his needs, which are caused by lifestyle, personal characteristics and other factors.
Research Assumptions
The main goal of the paper is to analyze the impact of employee motivation on his efficiency in the work and to what extent people should be motivated in order to achieve high performance. The theoretical study of the problem can allow formulating two main assumptions (hypothesis) of the work:
the process of employee motivation is significantly influenced by his personal characteristics: anxiety, emotional balance / irritability as well as his motivation to succeed or protection;
directly clear goals strongly contribute to the high employee performance.
It should be noted that methods of material and non-material incentives should be combined in a well-balanced proportion in order to increase employee motivation. Precisely this combination is used in the majority of companies.
Methodologies
Staff assessment is a system that allows researcher to measure the overall level of the work results and the level of professional competence of the employees, their potential in the context of the company’s strategic goals. Current investigation needs to use two groups of methods: common scientific methods and specific ones. The first group of methods includes analysis and synthesis, comparison, observation and also generalization method. The group of specific methods allows to research the process of employee motivation in more detail. This group includes experimental and qualitative methods. It should be noted that the most commonly used methods for the study of motivation are the following: interview, testing, expert assessment, survey and observation. Qualitative methods allow to test existing hypotheses and assumptions in conversation with employees at different levels from different companies.
At the same time, there are several technologies of formalized assessment, which are used in the majority of the US companies. Examples of them are the following: management by objectives, performance management, “360 grades” and assessment center (Filatova, 2012). The first technique allows evaluating personal achievements of each employee who works in the company. The second one provides performance management. It assesses not only the results, but also specific ways to achieve them. The technique “360 degrees” involves a systematic survey of employees at different levels, including line managers, their subordinates, colleagues and clients. The last technique can be useful in the evaluation of senior management in the context of the staff competencies. All these methods should be used in the analysis the employee motivation in the above mentioned companies, and the impact of motivation to the employee performance.
Plan of work
After analyzing a lot of literary sources and forming the hypothesis for research, it is possible to form the plan for work. It consists of three main stages:
stage 1: preparations for the research, secondary source readings;
stage 2: data collection;
stage 3: analysis of research findings, making conclusions, paper writing, preparation of articles and conference presentations.
The paper will be divided into six chapters and appendix section. The first chapter of the work will be devoted to the investigation of the main principles of employee motivation, types of motivation and the structure of the need-motivational sphere. The second chapter will represent the process of employee motivation (based on the particular companies): examples of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Analysis of the motivational impact on the both employees’ and companies’ performance will be presented in the next chapters. The paper will be finished by conclusions, which summarize the main results of the investigation and their practical importance and also analyze opportunities for further research of employees’ motivation.
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