Motivation

Motivation

Motivation is the word derived from the word “motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish the goals. In the work goal context the psychological factors stimulating the people’s behavior can be:

                Desire for money

                Success

                Recognition

                Job-satisfaction

                Teamwork etc

One of the most important function of management to create willingness amongst the employees to perform in the vest of their abilities. Therefore the role of a leader is to arouse interest in performance of employees in their jobs. The process of motivation consists of three stages:

                A felt need or drive

                A stimulus in which needs have to be aroused

When needs are satisfied, the satisfaction or accomplishment of goals.

Therefore, we can say that motivation is a psychological phenomenon which means needs and wants of the individuals have to be tackled by framing an incentive plan.

Importance of Motivation

Motivation is a very important for an organization because of the following benefits it provides:

·         Puts human resources into action

Every concern requires physical, financial and human resources to accomplish the goals. It is through motivation that the human resources can be utilized by making full use of it. This can be done by building willingness in employees to wor3.k. This will help the enterprise in securing best possible utilization of resources.

·         Improves level of efficiency of employees

The level of a subordinate or an employee does not only depend upon his qualification and abilities. For getting best of his work performance, the gap between ability and willingness has to be filled which helps in improving the level of performance of subordinates. This will result into:

                Increase in productivity

Reducing cost of operations, and

                 Improving overall efficiency

·         Leads to achievement of organizational goals

The goals of an enterprise can be achieved only when the following factors take place.

                There is best possible utilization of resources

                There is a co-operative work environment

The employees are goal-directed and they act in a purposive manner.

Goals can be achieved if co-ordination and co-operative takes place simultaneously which can be effectively done through motivation.

·         Builds friendly relationship

Motivation is an important factor which brings employees satisfaction. This can be done by keeping into mind and framing an incentive plan for the benefit of the employees. This could initiate the following things:

                Monetary and non-monetary incentives

Promotion opportunities for employees

Disincentives for inefficient employees

In order to build a cordial, friendly atmosphere in a concern, the above steps should be taken by a manager. This would help in:

                Effective co-operation which brings stability,

                Industrial dispute and unrest in employees will reduce

                The employees will be adaptable to the changes and there will be no resistance to the change

This will help in providing a smooth and sound concern in which individual interests will coincide with the organizational interests

This will result in profit maximization through increased productivity

·         Lead to stability of work force

Stability of work force is very important form the point of view of reputation and goodwill of a concern. The employees can remain loyal to the enterprise only when they have a feeling of participation in the management. The skills and efficiency of employees will always be of advantage to employees as well as employees. This will lead to a good public image in the market, which will attract competent and qualified people into a concern.

From the above discussion, we can say that motivation is an internal feeling which can be understood only by manger since he is in close contact with the employees. Needs, wants and desires are inter-related and they are the driving forces to act. These needs can be understood by the manger and he can frame to motivation plans accordingly. We can say that motivation therefore is a continuous process since motivation process is based on needs which are unlimited. The process has to be continued throughout.

We can summarize by saying that motivation is important both to an individual and a business. Motivation is important to an individual as:

                Motivation will help his achieve his personal goals

                If an individual is motivated, he will have job satisfaction

                Motivation will help in self-development of individual

An individual would always gain by working with a dynamic team

Similarly, motivation is important to a business as

                The more motivated the employees are, the more empowered the team is.

The more is the team work and individual employee contribution, more profitable and successful is the business

                During period of changes, there will be more adaptability and creativity

                Motivation will lead to an optimistic and challenging attitude at work place

Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Model

The needs have been classified into the following in order:

1.       Physiological needs: these are the basic needs of an individual which includes food, clothing, shelter, air, water, etc. These needs relate to the survival and maintenance of human life.

2.       Safety needs: These needs are also important for human beings. Everybody wants job security, protection against danger, safety of property, etc.

3.       Social needs: These needs emerge from society. A ma is a social animal. These needs become important. For example: love, affection, belongingness, friendship, conversation, etc.

4.       Esteem needs: These needs relate to desire for self-respect, recognition and respect form others

5.       Self-actualization needs: These are the needs of the highest order and these needs are found in those people whose previous four needs are satisfied. This will include need for social service, meditation.