Motivation in the Workplace

Motivation in the Workplace

According to Stephen P. Robins and Timothy A. Judge (2009), motivation may be defined as "the processes that account for an individual's intensity, direction and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal". Hence, motivation is an important factor in every individual's life because no matter the source, motivation leads to positive lifestyle and it will increase employee's efficiency and effectiveness within the workplace. Moreover, it should be clearly understood that the task of every manger in the workplace should be mainly to motivate their internal customers who are the staff, as managers need to get things done through them in order to deliver high quality to external customers. However, although it seems like a very easy term which may be applied by just increasing employee's benefits, it has been clearly noted that not every employee is motivated by the same factors. Hence, in spite of enormous research, the concept of motivation is yet not well comprehended and is sadly practiced as managers fail or simple do not bother to understand the "human nature itself". An understanding of the human nature should be a prerequisite that should be followed by every manager. Researchers have shown that well motivated employees are more likely to be productive and creative. Hence, it contributes to the reduction of turnover in the workplace which may be defined as "the voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organization" (Stephen P. Robins and Timothy A. Judge, 2009, pg 29). This paper examines what motivates employees in the workplace and studies how companies can best satisfy their employee's needs. In addition, it will also discuss the critical role that the motivation concept plays in the workplace and it will also provide some recommendations to increase incentives at the work place in order to create a motivated environment and will discuss the two types of incentives that may be used by managers.

Significance of motivation in the workplace

As previously discussed, motivation, plays an immense role within an organization. Motivation is important in order to be able to attain the organization's goals and to accomplish long and short term objectives (Sabah Karimi, 2010). Therefore, it is of highly significance that managers ensure that employee's values regarding the organization are appropriately aligned with the organization's mission and vision statements. This will help to create motivation as employees will be identified with the company's values. Hence, highly motivated employees will lead to higher productivity within departments or the company overall, improve work quality as employees would feel as someone care about them. I am personally driven by self –development and self-fulfilment which turns into better results in my work.

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