Understanding Motivation and Factors Affecting Employee Performance

This report explains the meaning of motivation, factors that motivate employees to work, positive and negative factors affecting employee job roles, and strategies to cope with negative factors. It also provides insights into employee performance and productivity. The report is relevant for students pursuing BSc (Hons) Business Management with Foundation and covers the BMP3004 module on World of Work.

BSc (Hons) Business Management with
Foundation
World of Work
Understanding why People Work
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Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................3
Meaning of Motivation? ...........................................................................................................3
The factors that motivates employees to work.........................................................................4
The positive factors employees experience as a result of their job roles.................................5
The negative factors employees experience as a result of their job roles................................6
Strategies to cope with negative factors employees experience as a result of their job roles 7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References ............................................................................................................................9

Introduction
Motivation refers to the practice of encouraging people to give their best
performance and helps to attain organizational goals. The report will cover an
explanation of motivation with the help of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and extrinsic
and intrinsic motivation. Moreover, it will demonstrate factors That motivates
employees to work and positive factors that employees experience as a result of
their job roles. At the end it will explain negative factors that employees experience
as a result of their role and strategies to cope with these.
Meaning of Motivation?
Motivation can be explained as enhancing or increasing the performance of
people with the help of various instinct or extrinsic tools and methods for motivation.
Motivation is a positive factors but its outcomes may vary with its application across
various fields and affects the performance of people (Breaugh, Ritz and Alfes,
2018). To help the managers to motivate the employees Maslow's formulated
Hierarchy of Needs was that explains the internal and external factors to enhance
motivation which is as follows:
Internal Factors of Maslow's Hierarchy that Motivates an Employee: Psychological Needs: These are the basic biological needs for humans for
their survival such as air, water, food, shelter, clothing and so on. In order to
function properly these needs are to be fulfilled and these are the most basic
needs that should be compulsorily met by an individual.
 Love and Belonging Needs: These needs are related to the sense of being
socially recognized, having a feeling of belonging and connection with others.
Love and belonging needs may include friendship, trust, affection,
acceptance and love.
External Factors of Maslow's Hierarchy that Motivates an Employee: Safety Needs: Once an individual's psychological needs are satisfied
security and safety needs are to be fulfilled (Precious, 2020). The company
should provide safety and security to the individual at least for their jobs in
their continuous dynamic life.
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 Esteem Needs: These needs in the hierarchy of the Maslow's include self
worth, accomplishment and respect. Maslow has classified esteem needs as
dignity, independence, achievement, reputation, reset etc. According to
Maslow's hierarchy of need focuses on the reputation and dignity of individual
that induces them to grow.
 Self-Actualization Needs: It is the highest among all the needs of Maslow's
hierarchy which refers to the realization of person's potential, self fulfillment,
seeking for personal growth and peak experiences. They focus on the growth
opportunities and learning opportunities for themselves to be at top
(Chrisnanto and Riyanto, 2020).
The factors that motivates employees to work
 Salary: The primary motive of performing a job in an organization is earning
salary or remuneration. If an employee is receiving attractive fixed salary time
to time, it reduce their levels of insecurity and helps in achieving sense of
accomplishment. The salary is the basics for achieving any of the needs and
without adequate salary an person would not be able to perform better. The
employees needs salary to fulfill their basic needs or psychological needs
(David and Ssaka, 2019).
 Promotion: Promotion refers to the increment in the worth of the employee in
terms of their authority and responsibility. The employees gets motivated
when they are promoted in their fields because, its is a reward for their better
performance, work and functions of employees on their work. The promotion
could help the employees to fulfill their esteem needs and self actualization
needs. The people work hard to get recognition and rewards which could be
gained by providing them opportunities for growth.
 Work Environment: Work environment refers to the work culture and the
environment of the workplace where the employees work. The better or
positive work environment fulfills the love and belonging needs of the
employees in the organization. If the work culture is positive the employees
will have better friends, colleagues, managers and other people to praise and
motivate them. The better work culture is good for organization to get their
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work done with efficiency and effectiveness and motivate employees to work
willingly.
The positive factors employees experience as a result of
their job roles
An employee experiences various emotions and deals with many situations
while working in an organization. Following are the positive factors which employees
experiences in their work environment. Employee Appreciation : an employee feels motivated if he is frequently
appreciated on his achievements. An individual feels encouraged if he is
praised by his employer in front of his colleagues. Proper feedback and
recognition for potential working of an employee boosts his morale and
motivate them to work better. Friendly Work Relationships: an employee feels highly positive and
content if his relationship with colleagues and superiors are friendly and
optimistic. It improves employee's productivity as well as efficiency (Mitalo,
2019). Financial Stability: an employee feels sense of security and satisfaction if
there organization is financially stable. It ensures more chances of appraisal
and perks and allowances which induce more productivity and motivation
levels. Job Security: An individual seek security and assurance regarding his job
tenure. Job security improves satisfaction of employees and solve their
complexes of worrying about future. This ensures optimism among
employees and make them feel motivated to work harder. Remuneration: The primary motive of performing a job in an organization is
earning remuneration. If an employee is receiving attractive fixed salary time
to time, it reduce their levels of insecurity and helps in achieving sense of
accomplishment.
 Growth And Learning: Apart from fixed remuneration, an employee seeks
various objectives from working in an organization. An individual asks for
growth and wants to gain knowledge to enhance their learning in the course
of their employment.
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The negative factors employees experience as a result of
their job roles
The negative factors which affect the work experience of an employee are
stated as follows: Poor Management: an individual is likely to suffer conflicts and chaos if his
work environment is not properly managed and poorly organised (Namwase,
2019). Low Remuneration: an employee feel less content and dissatisfaction if he
is not being remunerated according to his potential and efforts. This is one of
the major factor which may cause negativity among employees and implies
lack of motivation. No Recognition of Efforts: an employee face lack of positivity and
affirmation if he feels that his efforts are not making any contribution to
enhance productivity. This happens when an employer do not appreciate
achievements and progress of an employee frequently. This creates feeling
of disappointment among the staff members. Lack of Autonomy: an individual may feel dissatisfaction and negativity if he
is not allowed to exercise enough freedom for the purpose of his personal
development (Simamora, Aakvaro and Abrian, 2021). Lack of Opportunities for Development: an employee seeks growth
opportunities for his improvement and enhancement of skills and confidence
level. Lack of opportunities cause them to feel less confident and drive away
from the organisational goals.
 Lack of Communication: proper communication is important between
superiors and employees as well as among colleagues. This ensures that an
individual's opinions and grievances are heard. Lack of communication
results in disorder and dissatisfaction among employees.
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Strategies to cope with negative factors employees
experience as a result of their job roles
An employee experience various emotions and deals with many situations
while working in an organization. Following are the suggestions to increase positivity
and optimum conditions in the work environment. Encouraging Employee Engagement: An employee feels motivated if he is
frequently appreciated on his achievements and they are kept engaged at
their workplace. An individual feels encouraged if he is praised by his
employer in front of his colleagues. Proper feedback and recognition for
potential working of an employee boosts his morale and motivate them to
work better. Enhancement of better Work Culture: An employee feels highly positive
and content if his relationship with colleagues and superiors are friendly and
optimistic. They help to improve employee's productivity as well as their
efficiency for enhancing businesses performance. Improvement in Company's Financial Stability: An employee feels sense
of security and satisfaction if there organization is financially stable. It
ensures more chances of appraisal and perks and allowances which induce
more productivity and motivation levels. Providing Job Security: An individual seek security and assurance
regarding his job tenure. Job security improves satisfaction of employees
and solve their complexes of worrying about future. This ensures optimism
among employees and make them feel motivated to work harder. Focusing on on-time Salary: The primary motive for employees for
performing a job in an organization is earning remuneration. If an employee
is receiving attractive fixed salary time to time, it reduce their levels of
insecurity and helps in achieving sense of accomplishment.
 Scope for Growth and Development: Apart from fixed remuneration, an
employee seeks various objectives from working in an organization. An
individual seeks growth and wants to gain knowledge and enhance their
learning in the course of their employment (Wofoyo, 2018).
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Conclusion
From the above report, it has been concluded that motivation refers to the
action of promoting enthusiasm and activities in the direction of improvement of their
productivity. There are various factors that determines motivation levels of
employees including work environment and working patterns. It has been analyzed
that various experiences of job role influence attitude of employees. Both positive
factors of job experiences are evaluated along with the suggestions to eradicate
negativity within a work environment.
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References
Books and Journals
Breaugh, J., Ritz, A. and Alfes, K., 2018. Work motivation and public service motivation:
disentangling varieties of motivation and job satisfaction. Public Management
Review, 20(10), pp.1423-1443.
Precious, M. R., 2020. Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction as Measures of Assessing
Performance of Junior Managers in an Educational Institution (Doctoral dissertation,
University of Johannesburg (South Africa)).
Chrisnanto, C. and Riyanto, S., 2020. The Effect of Work Discipline, Organizational
Commitment and Work Motivation on Employee Performance of the Directorate
General of Construction Development Minister For Public Works and Housing
Republic of Indonesia. International Review of Management and Marketing, 10(5),
p.159.
David, S. and Ssaka, D., 2019. Employee motivation, organizational commitment and job
performance among employees of the Ministry of water and environment (Doctoral
dissertation, Makerere university).
Mitalo, R.A., 2019. Employee Compensation, Motivation, Perceived Equity, Supervisor
Support and Performance of Academic Staff in Kenyan Chartered Public
Universities (Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi).
Namwase, W.T., 2019. Employee motivation, job performance and turnover intentions
among School of Psychology lecturers of Makerere University (Doctoral dissertation,
Makerere university).
Simamora, H. A. and et.al., 2019. Analysis of the influence of job satisfaction and work
motivation on employee performance at PT PLN (PERSERO). International Journal of
Science and Business, 3(2), pp.74-86.
Akvaro, H. and Abrian, Y., 2021. Influence of Motivation and Confidence on Employee
Performance at Mercure Hotel Kota Padang. Jurnal Pendidikan Tambusai, 5(3).
Wofoyo, J., 2018. Employee Motivation, Job Performance and Productivity in Mulago
National Hospital Kampala District (Doctoral dissertation, Makerere University).
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