Employee Motivation and Workplace Performance

This assignment explores the concept of employee motivation and its impact on workplace performance. It discusses various theories such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Herzberg's two-factor theory, and power motivation. The assignment also touches upon the role of incentives, recognition, and rewards in motivating employees. Additionally, it examines the relationship between fun in the workplace and informal learning. The summary provides an overview of the key points discussed in the assignment.

Motivation at workplace

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Motivation in work place is defined as a resource which every organisation manages by
satisfying individual needs of every employee in order to achieve organisational goals. In this
report Walmart will be chosen for assessment. Walmart is a public American Multinational retail
company. It runs as a chain of departmental stores whose revenue is US$500.374 billion.
Organisation has its headquarter in Arkansas, United States. Organisation was listed on New
york stock exchange Company is owned by Walton family, so it is a Family oriented business
organisation. This report will focus on different motivation theories that are used at a work place
to motivate employees. Theory given by Maslow Hierarchy of needs and Herzberg's two factor
motivation hygiene theory will be explained in brief. Furthermore, Hygiene factors and
motivators will be explained in brief to make understand Herzberg's two factor motivation
hygiene theory of motivation. Need for achievement, Affiliation motivation and Power
Motivation will be explained in detail to get detail knowledge of McClelland – Need for
achievement, affiliation and power.
MAIN BODY
Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory
This is the most famous theory of motivation which is given by Abraham Maslow in the
year 1954. The base to this model is that there are five stages of needs of every human being.
Every person has some needs which gets increased according to the priorities in life. This theory
is adopted by companies to motivate its employees because Maslow's theory concentrates
majorly on needs of employees who work for the establishment (Kuvaas Buch and Dysvik,
2018). It places this needs at five levels and are categorised in decreasing order as per the
priorities of workers. He follows the fact that once a level of need is attained then that can no
longer motivates a person. Next level of wants should be used to motivate a person. Below are
all the levels of Hierarchy of needs.
There are the basic needs of every human being which includes food, water, shelter and
basic essentials of life. These needs are used for daily survival in life. Once these are attained
than employees are required to be motivated by next level needs. For example: An employee
does not have place to live and food to eat than company will motivate that work man to work
for his living rather than working for a secured job (Tatum, Formica and Brown, 2017). Safety
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needs are the Second level of needs are called safety needs. These are the desire of an employee
for being safe and secured. Every human being wants safety before anything else in their life.
Company provides safety to its employees by providing job security and employees insurance
(Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory,2017). Social needs are those in which Every person likes to
interact and create a social belongingness with other people. To motivate employees,
organisation forms strategies to work in groups and informal communication are also permitted
in the system which allows employees to interact with each other. These results in forming
personal relationship between workers and through communication they get to recognise each
other. It motivates an employee top a great extent. In Esteem needs Everyone loves to be valued
by one another. Maslow has defined it in two categories. First is lower esteem needs and another
one is higher version. Worker with lower variant needs attention, opinion to be respected. But,
human beings with higher esteem needs has the want of self-respect. Companies has always
ensured that employee’s self-respect does not get hurt and their needs for esteems should be
respected in order to motivate them (Sheaffer Levy and Navot, 2018). Self-actualisation needs is
last level of Maslow hierarchy which comes after every level of satisfaction people has achieved
in their life. It refers to a person's wish to grow and develop his knowledge and hard work to the
highest level. Human beings make sure that they grab all the opportunity comes in their way and
take all the challenging work in the company.
According to social needs, Walmart should motivate its employees in which Every
person likes to interact and create a social belongingness with other people. In order to give job
satisfaction to employees organisation forms strategies to work in groups and informal
communication are also permitted in the company which allows employees to interact with each
other. (Endrejat and Kauffeld, 2018).
Herzberg's two factor motivation hygiene theory:
As per Herzberg two factors affects mostly in knowing how to motivate a person. This is
the theory of motivation which is given by Frederick Herzberg in the year 1959. Herzberg says
that alternate of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction. Hygiene factors are those factors which are
required to be present at a workplace and are essential to exist for the purpose of motivation at
company. Absence of such factors at work place leads to dissatisfaction. In other words, these
elements are the major reason behind motivation of employees. In short this component at
organisation helps in avoiding dissatisfaction. Example of these factors are salary, Inter personal
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relationship and working environment of company (Herzberg two factor theory, 2017). Such
needs should be fulfilled by company like Pay of an employee is the reason for work so it should
be appropriately given as per the work done. Motivators are the Presences of such elements
motivates a person. Absence of such component does not cause any dissatisfaction. These factors
motivate an employee to work for better performance. Example of these factors are self-
recognition, achievements and responsibility. Manager of company should ensure to give
satisfaction of the hygiene factors to its employees. This will help them in avoiding
dissatisfaction. Company should take reasonable care of rewarding work man for their
performance which will help them in working harder and better. This theory focus on fulfilling
the needs and wants of workers that plays an important role in encouraging them to perform the
various activities effectively and efficiently. This theory is adopted by organisation in order to
taking out the best quality of work from employees. But, individual need for Job security, salary
and recognition are also considered (Rayner and Morgan, 2018).
Whereas, McClelland – Need for achievement, affiliation and power is given by
McClelland, who says that needs of a human being are required to be learned by their
surroundings and events that are experienced by them. He says that human beings start behaving
differently if they have some another needs than those of others (Gerhart, 2017). This theory
focuses on satisfying those needs which are at present rather than developing new wants. All the
three needs are defined below. Need for achievement for Every human being is to seek to
achieve success and achievements in their life. Intrinsic factors affects the need for action.
Organisation have all the kinds of employees, some take higher risk in order to meet their
need for achievements (Elliot, Dweck and Yeager, 2017). Whereas, many workers tends to take
no risk or low risk, they have low needs for attaining something higher in company.
Establishments motivates employees by way of giving timely fee back and appraisals to
employees who take higher risk. This helps in employee motivation to a great extent. Affiliation
motivation is that kind of employees have strong need for social belongingness. Such kind of
people gets motivated when they make friends and interpersonal relationship within the
organisation. High need for affiliation person does not like to take high risk. Companies motivate
its employees by giving them freedom for creating their own social relationship in the company,
which results in employee’s motivation. This kind of human beings find security in each other
and value feeling of everyone. Power Motivation is Under this category people who believes in
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changing others and always try to live good impression on others and gets motivated by doing
the same. High need for power motivation tends to control others and get ultimate satisfaction.
Employees who are high at this trend has the desire to give directions to others. They get
motivated majorly when employees they earn personal achievements rather than rewarding
themselves.
In addition to this, Alderfer – ERG theory: Existence needs, relatedness needs and
growth needs is given by Alderfer, who differentiate needs in three steps: which are Growth,
existence and relatedness. Existence needs include all those basic amenities which is required by
an individual to survive (Tews, Michel, and Noe, 2017). In short it focuses on physical and
physiological safety needs of a human being. Under this two needs of Maslow are categorised
under one section because it pursues same characteristics and has same impact on behaviour of
an individual. In Relatedness needs individuals need significant relationships (be with family,
peers or superiors), love and belongingness, they strive toward reaching public fame and
recognition. This class of needs contain Maslow’s social needs and external component of
esteem needs. It gives a sense of belongingness to individuals and helps them in getting
motivated. Growth needs are for self-development, personal growth and advancement forms
together this kind of need. This class of needs contain Maslow’s self-actualization needs and
intrinsic component of esteem needs. But lower needs of a person becomes dissatisfied because
they are easily met (Christensen, Paarlberg and Perry, 2017).
Manager of organisation should understand that all the needs of employee should be
satisfied at the same time. This theory is adopted by maximum companies to motivate its
employees. Employer of establishment ensures that if the organisation will focus on single need
of employee at a time, it will not effectively motivate work man. (Tariq and Ding, 2018). Like
for example, employees will not be given opportunities for growth and advancement at work
place, they will return to the socialising needs. To meet the same, if an environment will not
permit, they will go back to their want of money to accomplish their socialising status. Manager
of company must take necessary steps to fulfil all the needs which gives satisfaction to
employees of their establishments.
Walmart follows these factor of giving rewards and recognisation to its employees in order to
motivate them so that they can work more effectively and efficiently. Workers make sure that
they grab all the opportunity comes in their way and take all the challenging work in a company.
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Walmart should take good care of rewarding work man for their performance which will help
them in working harder and better. All the above factors helps an organisation in motivating their
employees. Every individual has some needs and wants which should be kept in mind by
managers. It helps in achievement of objectives of establishment.
Differences between Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Herzberg's two factor motivation
theory
Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory base is that there are five stages of needs of every
human being. Whereas, Herzberg's two factor motivation hygiene theory it is defined on the
basis of two factors. Maslow theory relies on needs and satisfaction of human beings. But,
Herzberg says to give reward and performance to employees. Maslow says that there is a
hierarchy of needs and he defines it in five stages. Whereas, Herzberg has not defined needs in
any sequence. As per it motivation is divided in to two parts. i.e. Hygiene factors and motivators.
Maslow's theory is descriptive and Herzberg theory is more prescriptive. Both the theories are
applied in different aspect. First one is applied mostly in developing countries whereas, Another
Herzberg theory is applied in developed countries for the purpose of motivation.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that motivation is an important tool or
concept that helps in improving performance of employees working in an organization. It has
been determined from the above study that there are various theories which can be used to
motivate people in an establishment such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, Herzberg's two
factor motivation hygiene theory etc. These theories focus on fulfilling the needs and wants of
workers that plays an important role in encouraging them to perform the various activities
effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, an organisation such as Walmart can use elements like
rewards, incentives, recognition that are useful in motivating individuals. Power Motivation
helps those who believes in changing others and always try to live good impression on others
gets motivated by the same.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Kuvaas, B., Buch, R. and Dysvik, A., 2018, July. Individual variable pay for performance,
incentive effects, and employee motivation. In annual meeting of the Academy of
Management, Chicago, USA.
Tatum, A.K., Formica, L.J. and Brown, S.D., 2017. Testing a social cognitive model of
workplace sexual identity management. Journal of Career Assessment, 25(1), pp.107-120.
Tews, M.J., Michel, J.W. and Noe, R.A., 2017. Does fun promote learning? The relationship
between fun in the workplace and informal learning. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 98,
pp.46-55.
Rayner, J. and Morgan, D., 2018. An empirical study of ‘green’workplace behaviours: ability,
motivation and opportunity. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 56(1), pp.56-78.
Gerhart, B., 2017. Incentives and pay for performance in the workplace. In Advances in
Motivation Science (Vol. 4, pp. 91-140). Elsevier.
Christensen, R.K., Paarlberg, L. and Perry, J.L., 2017. Public Service Motivation Research:
Lessons for Practice. Public Administration Review, 77(4), pp.529-542.
Nafukho, F.M. and et.al., 2017. Predicting workplace transfer of learning: A study of adult
learners enrolled in a continuing professional education training program. European
Journal of training and Development, 41(4), pp.327-353.
Endrejat, P.C. and Kauffeld, S., 2018. Motivation towards †œgreen†behaviour at the
workplace: facilitating employee pro-environmental behaviour through participatory
interventions. Chapters, pp.267-286.
Elliot, A.J., Dweck, C.S. and Yeager, D.S. eds., 2017. Handbook of competence and motivation:
Theory and application. Guilford Publications.
Sheaffer, Z., Levy, S. and Navot, E., 2018. Fears, discrimination and perceived workplace
promotion. Baltic Journal of Management, 13(1), pp.2-19.
Tariq, H. and Ding, D., 2018. Why am I still doing this job? The examination of family
motivation on employees’ work behaviors under abusive supervision. Personnel
Review, 47(2), pp.378-402.
Online:
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Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. 2017. [Online]. Accessed through:
<https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html>.
Herzberg two factor theory. 2017. [Online]. Accessed through:
<https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2018/04/hertzbergs-two-factor-theory/>.
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