Employee Motivation

Employee Motivation

The organizations in today's highly competitive market face a lot of problems related to retention and employee productivity. A large number of organizations including those having the large size, technological advances are also having these challenges even though they are considered to be the best in the industry. One of the major factors that has been identified as the root cause of this problem is the lack of employee motivation. This has resulted in the organization investing a lot into various motivational strategies. Researches have clearly established a link between employee productivity and motivation. This fact has been acknowledged by various multinational organizations. A motivated workforce helps to render competitive advantage to the firm in a cut throat era of globalization. It is a tool to retain a talented workforce (Linder 1998). 
The research proposal mainly analyzes various ways in which the organization motivates their workforce. This discussion would give a brief account of the chosen research approach for the study. This would include various activities that would be based on the identification of research problem, aims and objectives of the study, literature review, research methodology, data analysis and findings. Besides it would also bring out the time line for the whole study so that there would be a systematic distribution of time and the research should be completed in a timely manner. The research approach defined here would help to provide an idea of the activities and processes undertaken with respect to the timeline for the different activities determined (Linder 1998). 
Background 
Many of the businesses operating in today's world fail to realize the impact of motivation on their operations. This reason is responsible for loss of employee productivity and low retention rates in the enterprises. It is essential that the business managers should understand and learn regarding the factors the influence positive motivation in the organization. The size of the organization is irrelevant considering the motivation perspective as every member requires motivation in some or the other form. Different businesses take various approaches as far as the motivation is concerned. The responsibilities of integration of the motivational methods lie with the managers. Ultimately, the management has to integrate the motivation strategy with the organization's goals and objectives (Hofstede 1980). 
The integration of motivation strategy with the corporate aims and objective is very important as it helps in these methods taken up seriously by the management and supervisors that have responsibility of instilling them. The involvement of top management is very necessary for the successful implementation of these programs. The managers have the duty to realize the value and impact of motivation through identification of the main factors that are linked with the motivation among the employees in the organization. These factors bear a relation to the individual behavior needs and attitudes of the employees (Hofstede 1980). . 
Motivation is considered to be the force that makes the individual inclined to carry out a work. This arises when the individual needs are satisfied, and they are inspired to complete a task. The motivational needs present in the individuals differ from the person to person as the individual needs show a lot of difference. The level of motivation determines the amount off effort that an individual put it in their work and increase the standard of their output. There are a number of factors that influence motivation in the employees of the organization. The most common factors that organization considers to be a determent of the motivation is the money. This is not entirely wrong perception because indeed it is one of the ways through which the employees can be motivated. However, it is not the only way to motivate the workforce because not every individual at all the times can be motivated by money only. Motivation through money can be beneficial in the short term but not in the long run. There are others intrinsic factors that help in motivating the employees. Human motivation is more of a personal characteristic. Therefore, one option cannot fit all. Motivation has a powerful impact on the output of the business, and it is related to both quantity and quality. The employees are the greatest assets of any organization and the efficiency and effectiveness is far more related to overall productivity than the efficiency of the organization’s technology and equipment. 
Research Question 
The research problem brings out the main concern of the research, and it renders a base to define the overall study methodology. In this research, the research would be based on the evaluation of various motivational methods undertaken by the organization and their relative success to bring forward methods to motivate the workforce. The research problem defined here in this perspective would explain the rationale of the study. It will serve as a base for defining the research aim and objectives (Punch 2006). 
The research question examines the various ways in which the employees can be motivated. The main research area of the study is how to motivate the employees of an organization. In this respect, the research question is to investigate into various methods that can help the organization motivating their workforce. 
Aims and Objectives 
The main aim of the research is to bring out the methods that can help the organization to motivate the workforce in order to achieve higher productivity levels. This would also help in signifying the importance of motivation in influencing the employee's performance in an organization. The aims and objectives of the study that have been developed on the basis of the research problem are listed below: 
• To evaluate various methods adopted by organization to motivate their workforce. 
• To assess what are the factors that influence motivation in the organization. 
• To bring out the reasons why different motivational methods fail while implementation. 
• To suggest various ways in which the organization can successful motivate their employees to desired levels. 
The various aims and objectives of the research defined above would help in carrying out the research in a proper manner. This would serve as a guideline for proceeding with the research study (Locke 2000). 
Initial and Brief Literature Review 
Literature Review is the analysis of various available information sources on the research topic. It involves searching various sources like books, journal articles, previous dissertations, newspaper columns, online and offline magazine articles, etc. to gather relevant information related to the study topic (Neely 2004). It is basically a review of the secondary sources. In this research, various sources have been included to gather pertinent information like books, journals, articles, previous researches, news reports and magazines. In this review, the different article concerning employee motivation have been taken and analyzed. This analysis would make solid theoretical background for the research and later would be integrated with the research finding to derive recommendations (Punch 2006). 
Herzberg (1987) in the article “One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees” has outlined various methods through which the employees can be motivated in the organization. The author has highlighted the various myths associated with the employee motivation program in the organization. The difference between the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators has been clearly explained. The article has rendered insights regarding various ways in which the employees can be motivated. The relationship between the job enrichment and motivation has been explained that helps in understanding various postulates related to motivation and also the motivators that are primarily employed by organization (Herzberg 1987). 
Laura Lette (1999) argues for the role played by wage equity in employee motivation in the context of nonprofit and for-profit organizations. The research utilizes various data of labor markets from US Census on for-profit and nonprofit sectors. The research establishes a strong relationship between wage equity and various sectors of employment. The article sheds light on perception of wage equity, work morale and group cohesiveness. It also discusses the role of two motivators, i.e. extrinsic and intrinsic motivators. The work provides a description of the employee perception of motivation (Lette 1999). 
John R. Linder (1998) in his research “understanding employee motivation” explains the various concepts related to motivation that helps the research in building a strong framework. The article is based on a research that was conducted with the employees of the Piketon Research and Extension Center and Enterprise Center at Ohio State University. Here the employees gave their ranking of motivational factors. This study has mainly considered ten motivating factors in the context of various motivational theories. The finding of the research primarily suggests interesting work and good pay as two main motivating factory. In addition it has also highlighted the role of properly structured reward systems, internal and external stipends, job enlargement, non-monetary compensation job enrichment, monetary, and promotions in motivation (Linder 1998). 
The research by Rynes, Gerhart and Minette (2004) focuses on the importance given to pay in the employee motivation. This article mainly brings up the most popular debate regarding the role of money in motivating an employee. In the course of the research, the authors also bring up the case of the difference found between the talks of the individuals and their actual behavior. They give evidence regarding the importance given by the employees to pay and also what they admit in the surveys (Rynes, Gerhart and Minette 2004). 
Wiley (1998), in his research highlights the motivators of employees covering a time period of 40 years. It establishes a theoretical background about the role by motivators in the employee performance. The research ponders over the theoretical concepts related to motivation like need, motive, incentive, goal and attitude. It looks over the researches done in the past 40 years regarding motivation to highlight the main factors influencing it (Wiley 1998). 
Ramlall (2004) has looked over various motivational theories and its implications for the employee retention in the organization. Often there have been doubts raised over the practical implications for the motivational theories. The article attempts to bring out the actual implication of these theories in addition to link motivation with employee retention (Ramlall 2004). 
Research Methods and Methodology 
Research methodology renders a strong framework on the basis of which the aims and objectives are realized. A theoretical and practical base is rendered to the research. It involves utilization of primary and secondary data collection to make the study reliable. This study would use both primary and secondary data sources (Forsyth 2006). The secondary data sources are those sources where data is not collected first handed like in case of literature review. The literature review would be utilizing the secondary data sources. Primary data is the data collected first hand like a survey, questionnaire, interview, etc. 
The methods employed for the research would be surveyed and interview. To conduct the interview 50 people would be selected from various organizations working at different levels. Questionnaires would be mailed to the 200 employees working in the different organization. A pilot study would also be done to check the validity and reliability of the research. This is the most suitable method for data collection as data would be readily available. The feasibility of this study can be proved through the pilot test. This method has been chosen as it is most easiest and the cost is not too high. Various textbooks related to research have been consulted to finalize this method. 
Limitations 
There are a number of limitations related to the chosen research methods which should be considered while carrying out the study. These methods are listed below: 
The resources are limited and it is important that the study should not exceed budget. 
The previous literature considered may also have researcher's biasness. 
The interview can be influenced by the perspective of interviewers. 
The employee considered for the survey may not be in a good mood while filing the answers. 
It would be difficult to convince people for interviews and questionnaires (Fisher and Xue Ya Yuan 1998). 
The questionnaire needs to be mailed to 300 persons so that the required number of respondents can be fulfilled. It is equally important that the respondents must be clearly aware with the research objective. 
Time line scale 
The total time length for the research is 8 months. 

Research Activities 
Time Required 
Introduction and background (Definition of objectives & research problem) 
1 Months 
Literature review: 
Searching 
Collecting and analyzing 

1 Months 
1 Months 
Research Methodology (Questionnaire Methodology and Interview Method) 
2 Months 
Data analysis and Findings 
1Months 
Conclusion and Recommendations 
1 Months 
Meeting with supervisor 1 weeks 
Proof Reading 
1 week 
Editing 
1 week 
Binding 
1 week 

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