Employee Motivation

A term that is popular amongst us now more than ever. We see it pop up as a recommended video on YouTube, a quote posted on Instagram or even something that organizations provide to their employees in various different creative ways. But what is motivation? Why do we need it? Where do we get it from?

Though there may be a purpose to perform any task in our day-to-day life, it’s through motivation we make ourselves initiate the performance of actioning the task (Kreitner, 1995). It can be from drinking a glass of water to calling a friend to say “Hi!” or even as simple as serving our selection of food on our plate. Some theorists have defined motivation as a drive built in one’s self to satisfy an unsatisfied task but in an organization, it can be defined as the drive built to achieve organizational goals (Lindner, 1998). 

Employees were considered as just another factor required for production or service of an organization in the history. With time people have come to the realization that it takes more than just paying an employee to prevent them from leaving. Through research and experience some have created theories that provides insights to the importance of building a culture of motivation within an organization to keep their employees happy (Lindner, 1998). As an employee’s commitment towards work can be a turning point for an organization’s survival and success it is important for the employer to understand how it should be executed. One individual’s motivational factor can easily differ from another employee. As such, this has been proved through research that though motivating employees is an important task it can also be overwhelming (Lindner, 1998). 

As per McCormick and Tifflin (1979), motivation can be segregated into two categories namely intrinsic and extrinsic. 

Table 1: Defining intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Legg, 2019). 

There may be instances where one can be both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated. In such instances an individual will enjoy performing a task while there will also be a reward available at the end (Sennett, 2021). Performing a job to receive a payment is extrinsic motivation but the same task can be intrinsic motivation if it is performed enthusiastically. 

Leadership and business coach Geropp (2019) believes that for an employee to contribute towards an organization more efficiently they need to be motivated intrinsically and extrinsically.

Source - Geropp (2019)

Four drives of motivations were introduced for us to understand the emotional and behavioral impact of employee motivation better (Nitin Nohria, 2008). They are broken down as follows: 

1. The drive to acquire This is a drive mainly involved in organizations reward system and it helps us understand that we are all driven to acquire tangible and intangible rewards for our prosperity. Some of these rewards may come as salary increments, promotions or even entertainment related rewards.

2. The drive to bond This drive is celebrated around an organizations culture. When an employee feels the need to be part of a team or feel wanted by building healthy relationships. A strategy to satisfy this drive is to create a corporate culture of collaboration and teamwork. 

3. The drive to comprehend This is an employee’s drive or desire to have a job that is interesting or challenging. By providing employees with challenging work, it can encourage them to learn new skills and gain more knowledge. Subsequently, it enhances employee engagement and reduces employee turnover that is caused by having a monotonous job. 

4. The drive to defend By creating a safe space for an employee to not have the need to defend themself or creating a fair transparent process with open communication to deal with complains and decision making, this drive can be fulfilled. 

Studies have proven that happy employees exhibit higher productivity in their workplace. When an employee feels like they belong in the organization or when they feel they too are an ambassador to the organization, employees tend to share the same values and purposes of a company. Unhappy employees not only affect the productivity of a company but emotional disconnection can lead to the possibility of employees not giving in any effort to be innovative or proactive (Martic, 2020). 

Figure 1, Happy employees and productivity (Martic, 2020)

To sum up, we need motivation in our lives to perform any task. It may be a task for a personal requirement or for an official condition, but knowingly or unknowingly motivation always backs our actions. The significance of employee motivation has evolved overtime. Though motivation has been separated into two categories by some theorists, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation works cooperatively. Especially in the corporate world, it is vital for an employee to understand the importance of intrinsic motivation while an employer comprehends the importance of extrinsic motivation. Out of the many theories created by theorists, managers and leaders can use the four drives of motivation as a guideline to fathom when, why and how employees should be motivated. 

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Reference List

Geropp, B., (2019). How to motivate employees in the workplace - Extrinsic motivation vs intrinsic motivation. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chpCYb52_wo&t=1s [Accessed 25 April 2022]. 

Kreitner, R., (1995). Management. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, Volume 6. 

Legg, T. J., (2019). Intrinsic Motivation: How to Pick Up Healthy Motivation Techniques. [Online] Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/intrinsic-motivation [Accessed 12 April 2022]. 

Lindner, J. R., (1998). Understanding Employee Motivation. Journal of Extension, 36(3). 

Nitin Nohria, B. G. L.-E. L., (2008). Employee Motivation A Powerful New Model. [Online] Available at: http://www.ippn.ie/images/stories/EndaMcNulty_EmpolyeeMotivationAPowerfulNewModel.pdf [Accessed 12 April 2022]. 

Sennett, P., (2021). Understanding intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Emerging Leaders: University of Rochester. 

Valène Jouany, K. M., (2020). Top 15 Employee Motivation Tips and Benefits. [Online] Available at: https://blog.smarp.com/top-15-employee-motivation-tips-and-benefits [Accessed 25 April 2022].