Abstract
The primary objective of any business organization is to make a profit be developing sustainable competitive advantage. The employees play a major role in achieving this objective, but their motivation to achieve the organizational goals may decline due to several factors. However, managers can implement different approaches to keep the employees highly motivated to achieve better outcomes. Some of the strategies that the management can utilize to improve employee motivation include giving the rewards, engaging them in the decision-making process, effective communication, and providing career development opportunities. In addition, the management can ensure their job security, provide a comfortable working environment, set high expectations, avoid dwelling on negative reviews, and ensuring work life balance. Employee motivation plays an imperative role in enhancing their productivity, which is essential for an organization. Additionally, it is essential in enhancing job stability and satisfaction, which reduces employee turnover, which is essential for the stability of the company.
The objective of any business organization is to remain profitable in a highly competitive environment by developing a sustainable competitive advantage. To achieve this, the workforce must be well motivated to inspire them to work hard to achieve better outcomes. Several studies have investigated this issue and suggested numerous approaches that the management can use to motivate the employees. The present study explores some of the approaches that have been tested in the real world. They range from improving the working environment to providing employees with career development opportunities.
Ways to Motivate Employees
Provide Rewards
It is natural for human beings to desire recognition for completing a specific task as required. This also applies to employees who are the driving force responsible for achieving the organizational goals and objectives. As such, the management can ensure that the employees are highly motivated to complete their tasks by promising them generous rewards if they successfully complete their duties (Osa, 2014). The promise of a reward other than the normal salary will motivate the employees to work hard to achieve the requirements of the task allocated to them. In their quest to complete their tasks successfully, they end up surpassing the requirements set by the management. This in turn improves the organization’s performance and profitability. However, the reward program should be open to all management levels to ensure that the entire workforce is highly motivated to achieve the set organizational goals. The rewards provided should also be relative to the complexity of the tasks to help the employees understand the importance of their contribution to the organization (Osa, 2014). By providing reasonable rewards, the employees develop a sense of belonging because they know the management values their contribution to the business.
Actively Engage the Employees
Different management styles achieve different results, but the democratic or a participative style of management is the best to motivate the employees. Essentially, it helps to build trust between the employees and the senior management. Therefore, the management should actively engage the employees in the decision-making process (Dobre, 2013). This is because the employees are responsible for executing the decisions made by the senior management and if they do not feel included, then they are likely to neglect their responsibilities. Nevertheless, adopting a democratic management style helps to eliminate communication barriers between different management levels within the organization. The employees at all management levels can share ideas freely because the communication is two way. They can also provide valuable feedback that can help the senior management to align the organization’s processes and systems to achieve the set goals and objectives (Dobre, 2013). It also helps the senior management to understand the needs of the employees, which is essential in creating a comfortable working environment for them.
Communicate with the Employees
Employees play a major role in helping an organization satisfy the needs of its customers. The least the management can do is ensure that the employees are well informed about the activities of the business. As such, it is essential to provide the employees with relevant information about upcoming products and change management strategies. Furthermore, the employees also need to know how the firm makes and loses money as well as how their skills fit into its overall organizational plan (Ganta, 2014). However, communication must be two ways to ensure that the management and the employees can share valuable insights on how they can best achieve the organizational goals. That is, the management provides information about new organizational strategies and the employees provide feedback about the effectiveness of the strategies (Ganta, 2014). Finally, establishing two-way communication helps to eliminate the aloof nature of the senior management to improve interpersonal interactions with the employees.
Provide Opportunities for Career Development
The objective of most employees when they join an organization is to develop their careers to achieve their full potential. To that end, the management should provide career growth opportunities that will allow the employees to develop their skills and upgrade their knowledge. One of the ways this can be achieved is by offering training to help the employees improve their skills and knowledge (Singh, 2013). However, training should not be provided to only a few select members of the workforce that the management considers more valuable as compared to others. Every employee should have an equal opportunity to undergo further training to enhance his or her competencies. Selective training can generate tension that may result into conflicts. Furthermore, the training provided should be relevant to the employees’ duties and responsibilities within the organization. However, training alone cannot enhance the employees’ motivation if there are no opportunities to practice the skills acquired. Therefore, promotions are essential to help the employees utilize the knowledge acquired through various training programs (Singh, 2013). Southwest Airlines is one of the few airline companies that have successfully managed to motivate and retain over 80% of the workforce through training and internal promotion. Apparently, all its middle-level managers are recruited from within the firm’s vast workforce.
Provide Job Security
Another factor that affects the employees’ motivation is job security. The fear of being laid off in case the organization decides to downsize its workforce can cause the employees to perform poorly. This is because they do not feel as valued stakeholders of the organization. As such, they see no need to work hard to achieve the objectives of an organization that does not value their contribution (Ngima & Kyongo, 2013). There are numerous ways to make an employee feel safe and secure with job security. One of the ways is to provide pay benefits that are equivalent to their duties and responsibilities with the organization. This includes providing appropriate pay for their position and other additional benefits such as health insurance. Furthermore, the employee’s salary should be subject to review to ensure their contribution to the organization is properly remunerated. The management should also focus beyond the professional duties and responsibilities of the employees to develop interpersonal relationships. This could involve celebrating the employee’s birthday or giving them time off to attend to personal needs. Finally, it is essential to remind the employees of their value to the organization, especially during tough economic times.
Create a Comfortable Working Environment
Another factor that influences the performance of the employee is the nature of the working environment. Employees spend several hours daily within an environment that can significantly affect their overall performance. Therefore, the management should ensure that the working environment is conducive to all the employees. This means catering for the welfare of the employees to keep them happy and motivated (Ali, Ali, & Adan, 2013). This can be achieved by providing the resources the employees need to fulfil their duties and responsibilities. It is also essential to create a working environment where no form of discrimination is tolerated. This will help to avoid racial and gender segregation, which are common issues that plague the working environment. Furthermore, it is important to ensure that each employee has enough space and resources to complete their tasks. The management should provide recreation areas that allow the employees to take a break and relieve stress related to work (Ali, Ali, & Adan, 2013). For example, Google allows its employees to take a break from their workstations to smoke or relax on the rooftop of its office. This technique has yielded great results with regard to employee motivation forcing other technology companies to emulate Google’s strategy.
Set High Expectations
Another approach that the management can use to motivate the employees is by setting high expectations to encourage them to work harder. Working on the same tasks for a long period can at times become boring, hence low motivation (Muogbo, 2013). Providing new challenges by setting high standards can help to keep the employees motivated. Therefore, the management can practice job rotation to ensure that the employees do not get used to routines that often lead to boredom. Another way is to change the modalities of working to ensure employees participate in group assignments to break the boredom of working alone. By setting high expectations, the management encourages the employees to challenge themselves to improve their competencies. New challenges provide learning opportunities that can help the employees to test their abilities within a working environment (Muogbo, 2013). Working on challenging tasks also gauges an employee’s strengths in performing their duties under stressful conditions.
Personally Thank the Employees
Employees expect to receive remuneration for their contribution, but rarely do they expect to be thanked for their achievements. They know it is their duty to fulfil their responsibilities and are accustomed to transactional relationships with the senior management (Cong & Van, 2013). However, by personally thanking the employees for their contribution, the managers make the employees know their contribution to the organization is valued. A great way to implement this strategy is by sending congratulatory messages and thank you notes to employees every time they surpass the requirements of their tasks. However, face-to-face interaction is the best way to thank the employees for their achievement. It is more effective than a simple note that may not achieve the same impact as personal interaction. Face-to-face complements mean more to an employee because they value the effort and time that the manager sacrificed to deliver the message.
Avoiding Dwelling on Negative Reviews
Employees have a tendency to fear employers who constantly remind them of their failures. Although it is essential to inform the employees of mistakes that they have committed, it is not advisable to dwell on it. Instead, the employer or manager should provide encouraging reviews that inform the employees of ways they can improve their performance. This is because the employees are likely to listen and respond to constructive criticism that challenges them to improve on their weaknesses. It is advisable to avoid negative criticism because it dampens the morale of the employees (Nakhate, 2016). They begin to doubt their abilities in performing their tasks, which causes them to contemplate quitting their job. An employee that has lost faith in their capabilities is unlikely to perform their duties as required. They are in constant denial, which can trigger depression. Other than dwelling on negative reviews, it is also important for the manager to avoid being cold, distant, or rude to the employees. Employers or managers that are always rude instil fear in their employees, which forces them to avoid any form of interaction within the organization. The employees are afraid to provide useful suggestions or share ideas for fear of being scorned or ridiculed by their manager or employer. As a result, they prefer to remain silent even when they are aware of problems that they can offer solutions.
Encourage Employees to Maintain a Healthy Work-Life Balance
Another critical issue that affects the employee motivation and performance is work-life balance. It involves proper prioritizing between work and personal needs. The manager should ensure that the employees have sufficient time to meet both personal and organizational needs. This can be achieved by developing work schedules that allow the employees opportunities to spend time with their friends and families as a means to recharge their energy. Working long shifts or hours is not only detrimental to the employee’s health, but also their overall performance (Dobre, 2013). Naturally, the human body needs time to rest and regain the energy spent working. In addition, emergencies may occur forcing the employee to leave work to attend personal issues. If employees are given time to take care of their personal issues, they are likely to work harder to ensure they do not cancel their appointments with family and friends.
In conclusion, employers and managers alike can use numerous ways or management approaches to motivate the employees. However, each approach should be implemented after considering the immediate needs of the employees. For instance, rewards help to motivate the employees if the task to be completed is more demanding than their normal duties. Rewards act as an incentive to encourage the employees to challenge themselves to achieve better outcomes. Training on the other hand is key to retaining the most competent employees in the organization. This is because training provides career development opportunities that the majority of the employees need to achieve their full potential. Setting high expectations encourages the employees to be creative in their work to come up with efficient means of surpassing their previous achievements. It is also essential not to dwell on negative reviews as they discourage the employees to try new things for fear of being scorned or ridiculed by their manager or employer. They lose faith in their abilities to fulfil the requirements of the tasks assigned to them by the senior management. It is also essential to communicate with the employees to ensure they are well informed about the organization’s activities and practices. By helping the employees understand their role within the organization, the management is poised to receive valuable input that can be utilized to improve organizational efficacy. Another important issue that affects employees’ motivation is job security. Essentially, the employees need assurance from the management that their job within the organization is guaranteed even during tough economic times. This can be achieved by providing proper remuneration for their contribution in addition to providing pay benefits such as bonuses.
References
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