Understanding Why People Work: Factors, Motivation, and Coping Strategies

This report delves into the complex reasons behind why people work, including the different types of motivation, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and the positive and negative factors that employees experience. It also provides strategies for coping with negative factors. Course code BMP3004, BSc (Hons) Business Management with Foundation.

BSc (Hons) Business Management with
Foundation
BMP3004
World of Work
Understanding why people work

Contents
Introduction 3
What does Motivation Mean? 3
The various factors which motivate employees to work
5
The positive factors employees experience as a result of their
job roles 6
The negative factors employees experience as a result of their
job roles 7
Strategies to cope with negative factors employees
experience as a result of their job roles 7
Conclusion 8
References 8

Introduction
There are different needs and requirements of people which define why they work and
how they work, thus understanding why people work can be a long and complex procedure.
Generally, people work in order to have a basic livelihood, they put efforts and work to give
themselves and their near and dear ones with the basic essential necessities that are needed to lead
a life as a human being. These necessities are food, clothing and shelter which are given
importance and priority by the people based on their needs. After the fulfillment of the basic needs
people get motivated to start working for good quality life. These are the factors that provide
motivation to the people to work for their goals and objectives of life. Some very famous
examples of why people work are to purchase a house for their family, to have branded clothes, to
buy a car, etc. The following report will provide a detailed information on the basic factor that
provide motivation to people towards work. It shall first explain concept of motivation with its
types and will analyses the factors that work as employee motivation. It shall also explain the
positive and negative experiences felt by the employees while working in the organization and
will provide strategies to cope with the negative experiences(Berry and McDaniel, 2020) .
What does Motivation Mean?
Motivation can be defined as a process or procedure that involves act that works for people
as stimulator and influences them so that they perform activities or get pushed into doing
something while putting their best efforts into it. In simple words, it drives the behaviour of
individual into achieving their goals. With respect to operation or running of a business or
organization, the owners get motivation to work and achieve their objectives so that they can get
their business successful and earn profits. With motivation, it is easy for the employees to improve
their efficiency and productivity level(Gomez, Newell and Vannini, 2020). To better understand,
there is prevalence of two types of motivation which are as follows: Intrinsic Motivation: This motivation can be defined as the behaviour or activity that
comes from within of an individual. It is usually driven from inside which means
there is no involvement of external factors. It involves people who get motivation to
work for their own good and get boosted by the internal rewards. Thus, Intrinsic
motivation gives motivation to people for working towards their personal needs like
getting satisfaction for the inner self, feeling of self gratitude, earning respect and
repute, etc.
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 Extrinsic Motivation: This is the motivation that involves motivation driven by
external factors while make people work and put efforts into doing activities. These
external factors can be monetary rewards, medical incentives, bonus for excellent
performance, etc (Hopper, 2020).
When we talk about these motivations, there are also certain psychological needs that need to
be addressed because they are required by a person in their life. These are met by the person
according to their importance in life. Abraham Maslow who is a well known researcher and
scientist has given a detailed study on these needs. He as a American psychologists presented
this theory of needs in the year 1943. later, it became famous by the name of Maslow's
Hierarchy of needs. In this theory, five different types of needs have been given in a pyramid
structure based on their relevance in an individual's life at different stages. This hierarchy of
needs is as follows:
 Psychological needs- It is famously known as the basic necessity needs which an
individual requires to live a healthy life like food, clothing and shelter. It is often
difficult for a human being to survive when these needs are not fulfilled. With respect
to an employee, they can fulfil the psychological needs by the way of getting salary,
remuneration or monetary rewards from their place of work.
 Safety needs- A human being requires the feeling of safety and security to remain
motivated towards working for the organizational goals. Safety of health and well
being must be ensures for the people at the organization. These needs thus can be met
by complying with the safety procedures of the organization and following the
security protocols to ensure proper working at the place(Jungert, 2018) .
 Love and belonging needs- This is the need that fulfils the desires of a human being.
It includes needs which relate to showing care and love, building companionship and
relations with family, friends and colleagues, etc. when it comes to employees they
can fulfil this need by getting care and respect from their heads and feeling
appreciated in the organization.
 Esteem needs- Satisfaction of self ego is involved in this need which includes earning
respect, repute and position among the members of society. Employees can fulfil this
need when they are involved in the goal setting of the organization or when they are
positively reinforced(Locke and Schattke, 2019).
 Self-Actualization needs- This need involves getting satisfaction by realizing self
worth and realizing the actual self by fulfilling all the responsibilities in life.
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Employees can fulfil this need when they are given support in their career planning
and rewarded for their exceptional performances.
The various factors which motivate employees to work
Salary: For an individual salary is considered as one of the most crucial factor reason being the
great monetary rewards motivates the people more towards their work. In order to work with
dedication in an structure remuneration is one of the primary source of motivation. The written
agreement is the one which regulates the aspect of the salary of an individual and the same has to
be executed even before the imitation of the tenure of the employment. The salary and
remuneration to the employee by the employer has to be provided in accordance of the work done
by him. Also the other factors which are the level of work, their experience, their designation in
the company, etc, makes an impact on the salary of an individual. Therefore, the timely increase
and raise in the pays of an employee can motivate him to continue his job in more efficient
manner(PANCASILA HARYONO and SULISTYO, 2020).
Promotion: The other major factor which motivates the employee to continue their job is of
the promotion. While providing the timely promotions to the employees based on their
performance of work can lead them to make up their mind towards the thought of retention with
the organization. Also this particular element make more stress with respect to the level of
position of worker in the organization in order to further specify their said roles and
responsibilities. Therefore this factor motivates the workers by increasing their respective powers
and authorities along with their earlier remuneration.
Work Environment: The environment or workplace in which the employee works also
plays a very major impact on the workings of the employee. In order to motivate the employees
towards their work is it very much required on the part of an employer to create a positive
workplace. The surroundings of the organization should be of such nature which involves the
aspects of welcoming and encouraging the workers so that they get motivated to work harder for
the desired goals. Some of the major elements which are included in the aspect of the positive
environment are the hygiene, safety and the relations among the employer and workers. In order
to promote and enhance the productivity of the employees a healthy work environment is a must
criteria as it helps them more focused and concentrated towards their work. Also because of these
measures the rate of retention of employees of the company also tends to increase. Moreover, it
also aids with the level of creativity of the workers which can be increased with through several
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ideas which can be inculcated in the work surrounding by the engagement of the workers and the
authorities(Riyanto, Endri and Herlisha, 2021).
The positive factors employees experience as a result of their
job roles
 Opportunities of growth, this particular factor focuses on the fact that on the part of
the employee there lies the ample amount of opportunities in order to build their
career. With the changes in life every individual requires the growth in accordance to
that and hence it becomes important on his part to look after the new opportunities.
Every individuals desires the to achieve their set targets and objectives in order to
move forward a step ahead on the stairs of success. The companies for ensuring the
growth of their employees provides various type of training programs and orientation
to their workers which further aids them in increasing their knowledge and efficiency.
Other than this the task also requires the measure such as the correct usage of
different ongoing techniques. Therefore, the opportunities with respect to the growth
acts as one of the crucial element which motivates the employees of the organization.
 Appreciation, is considered as one of the positive factor which provides the
individual an feeling of honored and valued. With this the employee feel appreciate
and hence more satisfied with their work. The companies who tends to appreciate
their employees on timely basis for their work, gets more successful as compared to
that of the other organizations. The people of management, therefore must
acknowledge their employees based on their work and must also provide the feedback
and review for the same with an aim of motivating them. With the measure of
appreciation, positive relations can be built among the workers which can also lead
the company for its success as the motivated employees get more encouraged towards
their work (Rizky and Ardian, 2019).
The negative factors employees experience as a result of their
job roles
 High work load, certain situations can lead to demotivate the employees such
as the case where the workers experience the load of work and could not
complete the tasks on given time. The management in order to earn more and
more profits, burdens the employees with extra work which many times lead
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them on the path of demotivation and negative experiences. Thus, the
employees must be allotted the work in accordance of their capacities for
avoiding such concerns.
 Feeling of unsafe environment, the employees are required to have the
feeling of secure and safe in the company as this aspect can make them feel
motivate towards their work. The negligence of such factors by the employer
can give rise to disputes within the organization which can also lead to harm
the brand image of the company (Van den Broeck, 2021).
Strategies to cope with negative factors employees
experience as a result of their job roles
 Achieving an organizational culture with expert management,in order to
make the organization prosper and grow, the members of it should be involved
in the process of management. This also helps in increasing their skills,
knowledge and experiences which aids the organization in more success and
also can motivate the employees towards their work.
 Providing safety measures, every organization while working should not
just focus on work but also on providing its employees and other concerned
members a safe and secure environment so that they can work without fear.
These measures can be in the form of safety equipment's, separate medical
room, cameras at the workplace, etc.
Conclusion
From the following report it can be summarized that the ascertainment of the reason
behind the working of any individual is a complex task reason being there are attached the
involvement of certain other positive as well as negative factors to it. With the help of levels
of motivation which are the intrinsic and extrinsic the reason behind the working of an
individual can be analyzed. Further, the maslow theory determined the need of an individual
based on which they gets motivated towards the work. It can assist the worker's functions by
making appropriate goals in the company.
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References
Berry, C. and McDaniel, S., 2020. Post-crisis precarity: Understanding attitudes to work and
industrial relations among young people in the UK. Economic and Industrial
Democracy, p.0143831X19894380.
Gomez, R., Newell, B.C. and Vannini, S., 2020. Empathic humanitarianism: Understanding
the motivations behind humanitarian work with migrants at the US–Mexico
border. Journal on Migration and Human Security, 8(1), pp.1-13.
Hopper, E., 2020. Maslow's hierarchy of needs explained. ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 24.
Jungert, T., et. al., 2018. How colleagues can support each other's needs and motivation: An
intervention on employee work motivation. Applied Psychology, 67(1), pp.3-29.
Locke, E.A. and Schattke, K., 2019. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: Time for expansion
and clarification. Motivation Science, 5(4), p.277.
PANCASILA, I., HARYONO, S. and SULISTYO, B.A., 2020. Effects of work motivation
and leadership toward work satisfaction and employee performance: Evidence from
Indonesia. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 7(6), pp.387-
397.
Riyanto, S., Endri, E. and Herlisha, N., 2021. Effect of work motivation and job satisfaction
on employee performance: Mediating role of employee engagement. Problems and
Perspectives in Management, 19(3), pp.162-174.
Rizky, M.C. and Ardian, N., 2019. Enhance employee performance for increase work
motivation on Universitas Pembangunan Panca Budi Medan. Journal Homepage:
http://ijmr. net. in, 7(08), pp.19-34.
Van den Broeck, A., et. al., 2021. Beyond intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: A meta-analysis
on self-determination theory’s multidimensional conceptualization of work
motivation. Organizational Psychology Review, 11(3), pp.240-273.
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