Motivation is a primary need for employees to appreciate their jobs and have optimal performance. Employees are motivated differently. There are those motivated by money while others are not motivated by money but by being recognized and rewarded (Lauby, 2005). Although money, as a form of extrinsic motivation, is one of the main reasons why people go to work every day, the workplace is a bit different since it relies on staff motivation to achieve a high level of productivity from the employees, which on the other hand increases revenue. Motivation can be defined as the different processes that to contribute to a person’s strength, direction, as well as the tenacity to struggle towards achieving a particular goal (Scott, 2014). This can be understood as the force that determines why people may execute certain undertakings. Motivated and excited employees will perform their tasks to the best of their abilities, which would lead to an increase in production numbers. This paper is therefore aimed at discussing the workplace motivation in Apple Inc. The paper will look at various motivational strategies employed by the company and their impacts on productivity, different ways used to improve employee performance, staff resistance to increasing productivity, the effects of motivation on employees and the management, and the application of motivational theory. Whenever an individual becomes employed at the Apple Inc., they always attain a sense of commitment and pride because of the company’s success hence they gain a convinced expectation level from the enterprise. This gives the company responsibility to sustain those expectations, which could be more through motivating them.
Motivational Strategies and their Effects on Productivity
There are several motivational strategies that do affect productivity. In fact, the inner motivation of an individual is what makes them have the courage to go to work every day. Productivity, on the other hand, is determined by increased performance, which results from motivated and willing staff. One thing that Apple has been done to achieve employee productivity is by ensuring that its personnel have all the requirements necessary for performing their tasks. These include office supplies, which are important in the assessment of important information for the completion of specific duties. It is clear that employees become discouraged when they are forced by circumstances to waste much time searching for specific items that are necessary to complete their daily tasks effectively (Lauby, 2005). It is also significant for every company to ensure that the staff has access to the specific needs they require. For instance, if the person who is in control of the only key to the supply room acts in ways that depict that his workmates might steal the supplies, he might create tension to the employees, which demotivates them. Petty issues like looking for office supplies can greatly affect the motivational levels of employees (Dozier, 2011).
The company strategizes on offering effective training for the ongoing career development. This has proved to be a fundamental element of the process of performance that does greatly affect the productivity within the institution. For instance, assisting the employees to meet their personal goals proves to them that the company values their development and therefore, they would execute all their duties willingly, which is a key thing to giving their best for the business success. It is also important to engage the staff in solving business issues. For instance, the employees would like to be involved in developing the solution of new ideas after they are identified in the organization. This would show them that their contribution is valuable hence a key motivation factor, which would see them struggle to achieve organizational objectives.
The employees should also be recognized for their efforts and praised. There are instances when workers do take on extra responsibilities like when the business is unsettled. This would call for the management to have a system of recognizing these additional efforts, which might be through simple appreciations like telling an individual “thank you” or even “good job.” These might seem like small words, but they have an effect on employee motivation for they can greatly build loyalty. A workplace that has effective systems of rewarding its employees has a great advantage of increased staff productivity (Lauby, 2005). In fact, a rewarding employee does bring positive reinforcement. The system should focus more on the staff behavior than the finances. Employees would work harder to achieve the outlined awards, which effectively increases productivity.
In every institution, several organizational efforts are significant in increasing productivity. An organization’s success is determined by staff productivity. This is achieved mainly in sales, and it is imperative to ensure that the customers are handled in the right manner to promote their loyalty, which has great effect on the total sales. It is the responsibility of the leadership to recognize the strengths and the abilities of their subordinates. These might include pinpointing their unexploited potential to become leaders and cultivate efficient communication skills. These elements would lead to an improved personal performance level as well as a more effective and cohesive company.
It is, therefore, paramount for an organization to develop plans and strategies to advance performance. This can be achieved through several steps. First, the management should employ effective communication of their expectations and highlight personal responsibility. This is critical since it makes every employee have a clear understanding of how their contributions towards the achievement of the organizational goals are essential to the organization’s value and success (Hamlett, 2015). The employees should also be held accountable for any tasks they undertake, their choices as well as the agreed deadlines of their tasks. Secondly, the management has a role in monitoring and evaluating the employee job performance through different time appraisals. This is important in showing the staff where they are strong in and where they need to improve. Some evaluation and recognition methods like the employee of the month, promotions and gratuities are ways of enlightening performance since individuals would like to be noticed for their achievements and efforts (Durkin, 2010).
Employees’ Resistance to Increasing Productivity
The changing aspects of the international economy, the advances in technology as well as the more assorted personnel has led to continuing change in the nature of work. This has therefore brought about the need to concentrate on the management’s challenges in developing work that would motivate and inspire the employees. For quite some time, the management has relied on the extrinsic motivators that are old and out of time. However, for Apple, the management seems to have a clear understanding that the employee compensation does not only involve salary but also some programs that inspire creativity as well as teamwork within the company to attain the best performance results. However, employees might have some resistance to any recent changes made in the corporation since they might not be aware of the benefits of the changes and how they might affect them. Therefore, for changes to be accommodated, the goal-setting theory is an effective way of increasing productivity since the company would have to communicate with the staff on the goals of the organization and the expectations of every worker.
The Management’s Philosophy of Motivation
The foundation of every positive work environment, as well as the effective motivation methods, lies on the management philosophy. For instance, the way the managers and the workers interact do affect how they behave, which has eventual effects on productivity. In a company where the managers advocate for positivity, the employees tend to be more productive (Knights & Willmott, 2007). The management must lead as an example, and they have to encourage the staff where possible for the advantage of the general institution. The management is responsible for giving the employees incentives to increase their productivity.
The Effects of the Application of Motivational Theories
The application of the motivational theory in any company is important since it explains what motivates people to perform certain behaviors. It is also vital since it assists the company in understanding the level the employees committed to the achievement of the company’s goals, which act as a means of guiding them to develop and implement the different strategies of motivation to promote productivity. It is effective for the motivational theories to be applied from the start of the business to avoid confusion to the staff since they become familiar with operations being carried on in a particular way. For instance, application of the goal-setting theory in a company, which had unclear goals might lead to staff stress since they might feel like they might not be capable of satisfying the goal’s prospects (Dozier, 2011). On the other hand, the application of the motivation theory could have implications, which might lead to unfriendly work environment because of the failure of the leadership to promote positivity through communicating with the employees.
These two theories have adverse effects on the management and the employees. When the goal-setting theory is used by the leadership, they do communicate the organization’s objectives to the workers, which are the key determinants of productivity (Dozier, 2011). The absence of an effective working relationship between the leadership and the staff could bring a great challenge to the effective communication of the company’s goals, which might lead to confusion of employees on what is expected of them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that workplace motivation is vital to increased productivity and the business success. Motivated employees would work extra to ensure that the organizational goals are achieved. Various motivation strategies like proper communication and rewarding the staff is significant for increasing productivity. Also, the motivation theories need to be applied at the start of the company to avoid confusing the employees on what is expected of them.
References
Dozier, B. (2011, March). The Effect of Motivation on Productivity. Retrieved January 2016, from barbra Dozier: https://barbradozier.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/the-effect-of-motivation-on-productivity/
Durkin, D. M. (2010, September). How To Keep Employees Motivated. Forbes, pp. 1-3.
Hamlett, C. (2015). How to Improve Employee Organizational Performance. Retrieved January 2016, from Chron.com: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/improve-employee-organizational-performance-11830.html
Knights, D., & Willmott, H. (2007). Introducing Organizational Behaviour and Management. Boston: Cengage Learning EMEA.
Lauby, S. J. (2005). Motivating Employees. Virginia: American Society for Training and Development.
Scott, S. (2014). Motivation & Productivity in the Workplace. Retrieved January 2016, from Chron.com: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/motivation-productivity-workplace-10692.html
