Reasons for Staff Demotivation and Strategies for Improving Staff Motivation

This report analyzes the reasons for staff demotivation and provides strategies for improving staff motivation in the workplace. It discusses factors such as pressure from top management, lack of career growth opportunities, lack of diversity management, non-availability of reward programs, and lack of job security. The report recommends strategies such as flexibility in the workplace culture, career development opportunities, diversity and inclusion policies, rewards and recognition programs, and ensuring job security and stability.

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Organisational Behaviour

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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Reasons for Staff Demotivation.............................................................................................................3
Recommended Strategies for Improving Staff Motivation....................................................................4
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................6
References.............................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Due to fierce competition, corporations are focused on effectively managing their employees in order
to make sure that they work with high productivity towards achieving the corporate goals of the
company. Motivation plays a major role in influencing the performance of employees without which
employees did not perform at their highest capabilities, and they are more likely to face challenges
such as absenteeism, poor performance and mental health issues (Shahzadi et al., 2014). By
implementation of organisational behaviour strategies, companies can ensure that they address these
issues in a timely manner to sustain their growth in the market. In this report, the possible reasons for
which employees in ABC Company are demotivated will be analysed along with the evaluation of
five organisational behaviour strategies that can assist the company in addressing these challenges.

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Reasons for Staff Demotivation
Pressure from the top management
One of the key reasons for the demotivation of the employees is high stress at work, which
discourages them from improving their performance in order to achieve their targets. This stress is
caused due to high pressure imposed on the top level management on employees regarding the
improvement of their performance (Khalatbari, Ghorbanshiroudi and Firouzbakhsh, 2013). Due to
high expectation of the top level management, employees work under high pressure, and the
management also sets their targets without consulting with them which also puts the burden on them
to achieve them in a timely manner. Due to this stress, some employees face mental health issues, and
others are more likely to reduce the quality of their work in order to achieve their targets, which
hinders the profitability of the company.
Lack of career growth opportunities
In case employees did not find career growth opportunities in the workplace, then they are
discouraged from putting their hard work into achieving their targets. They are also more likely to
leave the company as soon as they receive any decent opportunity (Kamasheva et al., 2015). In case
employees feel stuck in their career, then they did not see the purpose of doing hard work to achieve
the targets set by the management, which increase absenteeism rate in the workplace.
Lack of management of diversity
Due to globalisation, the diversity in the workplace has grown substantially, which provides many
benefits to organisations by making sure that they fuel innovation in the workplace. However, lack of
management of diversity leads to increasing issues relating to employees and they are more likely to
become demotivated to achieve their targets (Lu et al., 2015). Lack of diversity management creates a
hostile working environment in which employees face challenges relating build trustful relationships
with their co-workers and managers and they also face discrimination. They did not receive equal pay,
rewards or promotion despite working equally hard, which demotivates them, and it also discourages
others from improving their performance (Lu et al., 2015).
Non-availability of reward program
The corporations that did not implement policies for establishing reward program in the workplace
find it difficult to motivate employees to improve their performance or work hard enough to achieve
their targets (Jehanzeb, Rasheed and Rasheed, 2012). Employees did not get the inspiration to work
hard if they did not receive equal rewards for those efforts. This can be explained by Adams’ Equity

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theory, which argues that equity should be maintained between employee inputs and outputs. If the
outputs of the employees’ hard work did not meet his/her inputs, then it discourages them employees
from improving his/her performance (Ryan, 2016).
Lack of security and Stability in the Job
As per the ‘Hierarchy of needs’ theory given by Abraham Maslow, the needs of employees are
divided into five categories which include physiological, safety, love, esteem and self-actualisation
needs (Osabiya, 2015). An employee cannot be satisfied with higher needs until the basic needs are
fulfilled. Job security is a key need of employees which must be fulfilled in order to make sure that
the employees are motivated to improve their performance. In case employees face threats regarding
security and stability in their job, then it negatively reflects on their performance and they are less
likely to put hard work into their work in order to make sure that they achieve their goals set by the
company for them.
Recommended Strategies for Improving Staff Motivation
Flexibility in the Workplace culture
In order to reduce the level of stress faced by the employees, the management has to ensure that they
implement flexible policies in the workplace which allow them to make sure that they did not have to
face pressure while achieving their targets. This can be achieved by increasing consultation with
employees while setting their targets to make sure that their expectations are met. In this regards,
relevant provisions are given in the Expectancy theory, which was given by Porter and Lawler in 1968
(De Simone, 2015). This theory provides that the motivation of employees depend on the fact whether
they live the result of meeting their targets or not. In case the expectations of the employees are not
fulfilled, and they did not receive adequate rewards for their performance, then it discourages them
from achieving their targets (Bal and De Lange, 2015). Thus, the targets which are set by the
management should be according to the abilities of the employees, and the outcomes of achieving
those targets should be as per their expectations in order to improve their performance in the
company.
Career development opportunities
The management should focus on ensuring that employees must receive adequate career development
opportunities in the workplace, which encourages them to put their hard work to improve their
performance. Without the availability of adequate number of career growth options, it becomes
difficult for employees to stay with the organisation and it also increases the issue of high employees’
attrition and absenteeism rate (Kultalahti and Liisa Viitala, 2014). Thus, the company should provide

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skill and knowledge development training to employees that give them a platform to improve their
performance in order to receive better growth opportunities which will increase their retention rate
and also allow them to make sure that they perform with high productivity.
Diversity and Inclusion Policy
The management should also focus on ensuring that it implements ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ policy in
the workplace that is focused on eliminating discrimination between employees based on their
individual differences and allowing them to receive equal opportunities (Ricco and Guerci, 2014). In
this regards, the principles of Adams’ Equity theory can be applied, which provides that if a balance is
not maintained in the inputs and outputs of the employees, then they will be discouraged. Similarly, if
the employees did not receive equal pay for equal work, equal treatment and equal growth
opportunities, then they also become demotivated to achieve their targets in the company (Ryan,
2016). In the recruitment process, the company should hire diverse employees, and current employees
should not be discriminated by the company, which will encourage them to improve their
performance and reduce mental pressure.
Rewards and recognition program
ABC Company should establish a reward and recognition program in which it should assess the
current capabilities of its employees and give them rewards based on their performance. The criteria
for giving those rewards should be transparent, and all employees should be aware of the same
(Shields et al. 2015). The employees that perform better than others should be recognised for their
hard work by the top level management in order to make sure that they remain motivated to continue
their performance (Shields et al. 2015). The incentives should be directly linked with the performance
of employees to make sure that they are able to earn more incentives by working harder.
Ensuring job security and stability
Until the job security need of employees is fulfilled, they cannot be motivated by other needs such as
belongingness, esteem and self-actualisation; thus, the company should make sure that they have job
security and stability which is crucial for their motivation (Osabiya, 2015). In this regards, the
management should comply with the ‘Hierarchy of needs’ theory by making sure that the employees’
physiological needs are fulfilled and their job security should be maintained (Osabiya, 2015).

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Conclusion
Based on the above observations, it can be concluded that there are various factors that negatively
affect the motivation level of employees which are necessary to be addressed by companies in order
to make sure that they sustain the growth of the company. Factors such as pressure from the top level
management, lack of career growth opportunities, lack of diversity management policies, non-
availability of rewards and recognition program and lack of security and stability in the job. ABC
Company should also manage these issues in order to reduce demotivation among employees and
eliminate absenteeism, mental health issues and poor performance. In order to address these issues,
the company can promote flexibility in the workplace culture, provide career growth opportunities,
establish diversity and inclusion policy, offer reward and recognition program and ensuring job
security and stability. Compliance with these policies will assist ABC Company in ensuring that its
employees remain motivated, and they work with high productivity to achieve the goals of the
company.

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References
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engagement and perceived job performance across the lifespan: A multisample study. Journal of
Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 88(1), pp.126-154.
De Simone, S. (2015) Expectancy Value Theory: Motivating Health Care Workers. American
International Journal of Contemporary Research, 5(2), pp.19-23.
Jehanzeb, K., Rasheed, M.F. and Rasheed, A. (2012) Impact of rewards and motivation on job
satisfaction in banking sector of Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Business and Social
Science, 3(21).
Kamasheva, A.V., Valeev, E.R., Yagudin, R.K. and Maksimova, K.R. (2015) Usage of gamification
theory for increase motivation of employees. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(1 S3), p.77.
Khalatbari, J., Ghorbanshiroudi, S. and Firouzbakhsh, M. (2013) Correlation of job stress, job
satisfaction, job motivation and burnout and feeling stress. Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 84, pp.860-863.
Kultalahti, S. and Liisa Viitala, R. (2014) Sufficient challenges and a weekend ahead–Generation Y
describing motivation at work. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 27(4), pp.569-582.
Lu, C.M., Chen, S.J., Huang, P.C. and Chien, J.C. (2015) Effect of diversity on human resource
management and organizational performance. Journal of Business Research, 68(4), pp.857-861.
Osabiya, B.J. (2015) The effect of employees motivation on organizational performance. Journal of
Public Administration and Policy Research, 7(4), pp.62-75.
Ricco, R. and Guerci, M. (2014) Diversity challenge: An integrated process to bridge the
‘implementation gap’. Business Horizons, 57(2), pp.235-245.
Ryan, J.C. (2016) Old knowledge for new impacts: Equity theory and workforce
nationalization. Journal of Business Research, 69(5), pp.1587-1592.
Shahzadi, I., Javed, A., Pirzada, S.S., Nasreen, S. and Khanam, F. (2014) Impact of employee
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Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., Johns, R.,
O'Leary, P., Robinson, J. and Plimmer, G. (2015) Managing employee performance & reward:
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