Business studies

MOTIVATING WORKERS

Motivation at work results from a combination of factors such as money, job security, how
interesting the work is and promotion prospects. These factors encourage employees to be
interested and committed to their job so that they work harder and more efficiently.

If you ask people why they work, most will answer to earn money' so they can buy what they need
to live. But there are many other reasons that motivate people to work. Some of the most important
factors to influence motivation at work are shown in Figure 6.1.

Benefits of a well-motivated workforce

A well-motivated workforce will help a business to achieve its objectives. Well motivated employees
will want to work efficiently and produce quality goods and services for customers. Motivated
employees will increase labour productivity and this will help a business to reduce average costs and
increase competitiveness. Employees who are motivated will enjoy going to work, and are less likely
to take days off ensuring a low rate of absenteeism - or to leave the business. A lower labour
turnover will reduce recruitment costs. A well-motivated workforce is easier to manage and will
want to work with management to help improve the business.

People work for several reasons:

 Have a better standard of living: by earning incomes they can satisfy their needs and
wants
 Be secure: having a job means they can always maintain or grow that standard of
living
 Gain experience and status: work allows people to get better at the job they do and
earn a reputable status in society
 Have job satisfaction: people also work for the satisfaction of having a job

Motivation Theories
 F. W. Taylor: Taylor based his ideas on the assumption that workers were motivated by
personal gains, mainly money and that increasing pay would increase productivity (amount
 of output produced). Therefore he proposed the piece-rate system, whereby workers get
paid for the number of output they produce. So in order, to gain more money, workers
would produce more. He also suggested a scientific management in
production organisation, to break down labour (essentially division of labour) to maximise
output
However, this theory is not entirely true. There are various other motivators in the modern
workplace, some even more important than money. The piece rate system is not very
practical in situations where output cannot be measured (service industries) and also will
lead to (high) output that doesn’t guarantee high quality.
REPORT THIS AD

 Maslow’s Hierarchy: Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows that employees

are motivated by each level of the hierarchy going from bottom to top. Managers can
identify which level their workers are on and then take the necessary action to advance
them onto the next level.

One limitation of this theory is that it doesn’t apply to every worker. For some employees,
for example, social needs aren’t important but they would be motivated by recognition and
appreciation for their work from seniors.

 Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory: Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory, wherein he states

that people have two sets of needs:
Basic animal needs called ‘hygiene factors’:
 status
 security
 work conditions
 company policies and administration
 relationship with superiors
 relationship with subordinates
 salary
Needs that allow the human being to grow psychologically, called the ‘motivators’:

 achievement
  recognition
 personal growth/development
 promotion
 work itself
According to Herzberg, the hygiene factors need to be satisfied, if not they will act as de-
motivators to the workers. However hygiene factors don’t act as motivators as their effect
quickly wear off. Motivators will truly motivate workers to work more effectively.

REPORT THIS AD

Motivating Factors
Financial Motivators
 Wages: often paid weekly. They can be calculated in two ways:
 Time-Rate: pay based on the number of hours worked. Although output may
increase, it doesn’t mean that workers will work sincerely use the time to
produce more- they may simply waste time on very few output since their pay is
based only on how long they work. The productive and unproductive worker will
get paid the same amount, irrespective of their output.
 Piece-Rate: pay based on the no. of output produced. Same as time-rate, this
doesn’t ensure that quality output is produced. Thus, efficient workers may feel
demotivated as they’re getting the same pay as inefficient workers, despite their
efficiency.
 Salary: paid monthly or annually.
 Commission: paid to salesperson, based on a percentage of sales they’ve made. The higher
the sales, the more the pay. Although this will encourage salespersons to sell more products
and increase profits, it can be very stressful for them because no sales made means no pay
at all.
 Bonus: additional amount paid to workers for good work
 Performance-related pay: paid based on performance. An appraisal (assessing the
effectiveness of an employee by senior management through interviews, observations,
comments from colleagues etc.) is used to measure this performance and a pay is given
based on this.
 Profit-sharing: a scheme whereby a proportion of the company’s profits is distributed to
workers. Workers will be motivated to work better so that a higher profit is made.
 Share ownership: shares in the firm are given to employees so that they can become part
owners of the company. This will increase employees’ loyalty to the company, as they feel a
sense of belonging.

Non-Financial Motivators
 Fringe benefits are non-financial rewards given to employees
 Company vehicle/car
 Free healthcare
 Children’s education fees paid for
 Free accommodation
 Free holidays/trips
 Discounts on the firm’s products
REPORT THIS AD
 Job Satisfaction: the enjoyment derived from the feeling that you’ve done a good job.
Employees have different ideas about what motivates them- it could be pay, promotional
opportunities, team involvement, relationship with superiors, level of responsibility, chances
for training, the working hours, status of the job etc. Responsibility, recognition and
satisfaction are in particular very important.
 Job Rotation: involves workers swapping around jobs and doing each specific task for only a
limited time and then changing round again. This increases the variety in the work itself and
will also make it easier for managers to move around workers to do other jobs if somebody
is ill or absent. The tasks themselves are not made more interesting, but the switching of
tasks may avoid boredom among workers. This is very common in factories with a huge
production line where workers will move from retrieving products from the machine to
labelling the products to packing the products to putting the products into huge cartons.
 Job Enlargement: where extra tasks of similar level of work are added to a worker’s job
description. These extra tasks will not add greater responsibility or work for the employee,
but make work more interesting.
 Job Enrichment: involves adding tasks that require more skill and responsibility to a job.
This gives employees a sense of trust from senior management and motivate them to carry
out the extra tasks effectively. Some additional training may also be given to the employee
to do so.
 Team-working: a group of workers is given responsibility for a particular process, product or
development. They can decide as a team how to organize and carry out the tasks. The
workers take part in decision making and take responsibility for the process. It gives them
more control over their work and thus a sense of commitment, increasing job satisfaction.
Working as a group will also add to morale, fulfil social needs and lead to job satisfaction.
 Opportunities for training: providing training will make workers feel that their work is being
valued. Training also provides them opportunities for personal growth and development,
thereby attaining job satisfaction
 Opportunities of promotion: providing opportunities for promotion will get workers to work
more efficiently and fill them with a sense of self-actualisation and job satisfaction