Understanding Why People Work - Motivation and Factors

This report discusses the various factors that motivate employees to work, positive and negative factors experienced by employees, and strategies to cope with negative factors. It also includes Maslow's hierarchy theory and extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

Business Management with Foundation
BMP3004
World of Work
Understanding why people work
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Contents
Introduction 1
What does Motivation Mean? 1
The various factors which motivate employees to work
p
The positive factors employees experience as a result of their job
roles p
The negative factors employees experience as a result of their job
roles p
Strategies to cope with negative factors employees experience as a
result of their job roles p
Conclusion p
References p

Introduction
In the organizational and academic life people work for their satisfaction and
pleasure. It is important for a human being to work according to given situation in order to
derive best solution from the work (Abramovitz, 2018). Working provides livelihood to
organizational employee and working provides experience to a candidate in academic life. It
is compulsory for a person to get motivated from time to time in order to achieve targets and
milestones. In this report various factors which motivate an employee in the organization.
This project report also includes a brief overview of negative and positive factors that directly
or indirectly impacts working of the employees.
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What does Motivation Mean?
Definition of motivation
Motivation is considered as important factor which impacts on the performance of
employees in a precise manner. In other words motivation is a positive force which is useful
for increasing mental strength of employees. Most of the organisations in recent time focus
on developing motivation in employees for the growth and expansion of business (Chang,
2019). The performance of a business and employees is also increased with the help of
motivation which is necessary for business development. There are various methods and
ways which are used by an employer to motivate employees in order to increase their roles
and responsibilities.
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Maslow’s Hierarchy theory
In the old times Maslow's hierarchy theory was developed by Abraham Maslow in
1943 which is known as one of the major theories of motivation and development. In
motivating different people in the organisation this theory play a major role as it is one of the
major and universally adopted theories of motivation (Flynn, 2018). The Maslow's hierarchy
theory focuses on basic needs and values of human beings in order to develop effective
strategy that is useful for the achievement of organisational goals and individual goals.
Physiological needs: The physiological needs refer to the basic needs of human
beings which are important for the survival of a human being. This element in Maslow's
hierarchy of needs includes basic needs like food, water, shelter and cloths that are essential
for the survival of human beings.
Safety needs: This is considered as second priority of needs which are essential for
business growth and expansion by fulfilling safety needs of individual. The safety needs in
this theory includes financial security, health safety and cover from accidents and incidents
(Lawler, 2018). It is compulsory for every organisation which is working at the marketplace
to develop safety needs which are important for business and individual growth.
Love and belongingness needs: Along with the safety and physiological needs it is
important for an organisation to develop love and affection needs. All human beings on this
planet are thirsty for love and affection and it is moral duty of employer to develop love and
affection needs. It is important for the company to choose appropriate methods of developing
love and affection in employees for increasing the morale. The harmony between different
employees is also increased by love and affection as a whole which is very much important
for the company.
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Maslow's Hierarchy of Need
 Physiological needs
 Safety needs
 Love and belonging needs
 Esteem needs
 Self-actualization needs

Esteem needs: It is important for an organisation to fulfil esteem needs of all
employees in order to satisfy the working environment. The esteem needs are important for
the employees in order to develop a feeling of satisfaction in the employees. Most of the
times it is the moral responsibility of employees to develop a self esteem in themselves for
growth and expansion of business. Self esteem needs are also important for increasing
motivation in employees in a short span of time.
Self-actualization: Self-actualization is the important part of development in the
employees which includes increasing the potential in employees. It is necessary for the
organization to develop self-actualization needs for increasing the job satisfaction of
employees (Lawrence, 2019). The self-actualization also includes the growth and expansion
of mental strength of employees by developing specific values and ethics in the behavior of
employees.
Extrinsic and Intrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation: The extrinsic motivation is important part of development of
employees which comes from a outside source. Extrinsic motivation includes various types of
reward systems that are provided by employer to the employees. In the recent time extrinsic
motivation is widely practised in many organisations to gain development in specific period
of time. The extrinsic motivation increases performance of various employees with the
development of moral and mental strength of employees.
Intrinsic motivation: In the development of motivation in an human beings the
intrinsic motivation play a major role. This is also called natural type of motivation which is
important as it comes from inside the mind of a person (Papouli, 2019). Intrinsic motivation
is also consider as the most energetic type of motivation which is important for the growth
and development of a human being.
The various factors which motivate employees to work
In the era of stiff competition between different companies the motivation works as a
major force which is essential for completion of business targets. The companies choose best
and appropriate ways of motivating employees in order to gain competitive advantage in
corporate world. The various methods of motivating employees in companies are mentioned
below:
Salary: The salary is considered as important factor which is presented to an
employee in the form of monetary value. The money is important in today's competitive
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world for the survival of a human being. It is thus important for the organization to provide
money to employee in order to ensure survival of the employees.
Promotion: Companies should promote employees on regular basis by judging
their performance in a positive manner. Promotion provides a sense of authority and
responsibility in the employees which is very much essential.
Work Environment: The internal business environment play a crucial role in the
development of a business entity (Rouse, 2020). Company should focus on building a
positive work environment for the growth and expansion of the business.
The positive factors employees experience as a result of their job
roles
In the functioning of a business organization at the marketplace it is important to
bring optimum development of positive environment. The positive factors helps an
organization to grow at faster pace and is also effective in achievement of desired results.
Job security: The employer of a business firm should provide optimum job security
to employees which is very much essential for employee satisfaction. Employees generally
feel safe and secure with the application of job security in the company. Job security also
develops performance of a worker and helps in achievement of individual and organizational
goals.
Learning and career development: The management of a company should hire
trained and skilled human resource management which is helpful in increasing the
satisfaction of the employees. Regular learning and development increases the skills of
employees which are also essential for business growth.
The negative factors employees experience as a result of their job
roles
Negative factors at workplace are those which results in decreasing morale of
employees, negative impact on their performance. It is important for an organization to
identify negative factors which is experienced by the employees (Suchman, 2020). These
factors create negative impact on performance of employees and are mentioned below:
Workplace conflicts: Conflicts at workplace is considered as negative and false
approach which creates an obstacle in the functioning of a company. It is important to handle
conflicts that arise between employees on regular basis in order to gain organizational growth
and negativity.
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Poor management: In an organization the poor management is also a major factor
which creates a loophole in management of a business. In most of the organizations poor
management leads to create negativity in a company which directly or indirectly impacts on
the performance of the business. Most of the successful organizations at the marketplace try
to implement techniques which are essential for good management in order to achieve
company goals. The human resource and top level management that is present in the
organization develops effective strategy that is essential for overall growth of the
organization.
Strategies to cope with negative factors employees experience as a
result of their job roles
The organizations should formulate effective strategy and planning with the help of
strategic management in order to grow at rapid pace in the marketplace. It is also necessary
for a business entity to develop positive business environment in order to make sure the
development of business firm (Worthington, 2019). The various ways to cope up with
negative factors in an organization are mentioned below:
 The companies should regularly develop flexible working conditions in the
functioning of a business to improve performance of employees. It is also major
responsibility of a company to develop effective grievance handling in the
business entity to solve conflicts in the organization.
 It is the major responsibility of management of a company to hire professional
human resource management for maintaining appropriate employee
development. The companies should focus on formulating effective strategy for
the growth and development of business organization.
 The companies should increase employee satisfaction by introducing effective
ways of modification in the organization.
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CONCLUSION
From the above stated report it can be concluded that it is important in today's
competitive world to regularly motivate employees for organizational development. It is
crucial duty of every business entity to develop extrinsic motivation in employees for gaining
competitive edge in market. It is also a kind of major responsibility of the business firm to
create a positive motivating environment in the business for achievement of defined goals in
a specific period of time. The business organizations should also develop effective and
efficient ways of motivating employees for future development of employees as well as of
business firm.
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REFERENCES
Books and journal
Abramovitz, M., 2018. 10. Toward a Framework for Understanding Activism among Poor
and Working-Class Women in Twentieth-Century America. In Whose welfare? (pp.
214-248). Cornell University Press.
Chang, Y.Y. and Shih, H.Y., 2019. Work curiosity: A new lens for understanding employee
creativity. Human Resource Management Review, 29(4), p.100672.
Flynn, M.A., Castellanos, E. and Flores-Andrade, A., 2018. Safety across cultures:
Understanding the challenges. Professional safety, 63(01), pp.28-32.
Lawler III, E.E., 2018. Understanding work motivation and organizational effectiveness: A
career-long journey. In Management Laureates (pp. 79-110). Routledge.
Lawrence, D.F., Loi, N.M. and Gudex, B.W., 2019. Understanding the relationship between
work intensification and burnout in secondary teachers. Teachers and
teaching, 25(2), pp.189-199.
Papouli, E., 2019. Diversity dolls: A creative teaching method for encouraging social work
students to develop empathy and understanding for vulnerable populations. Social
Work Education, 38(2), pp.241-260.
Rouse, E.D., 2020. Where you end and I begin: Understanding intimate co-
creation. Academy of Management Review, 45(1), pp.181-204.
Suchman, L.A. and Trigg, R.H., 2020. Understanding practice: Video as a medium for
reflection and design. In Design at work (pp. 65-89). CRC Press.
Worthington, E.L., 2019. Understanding forgiveness of other people: definitions, theories,
and processes. In Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 11-21). Routledge.
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