BMP3004 - Exploring Employee Motivation, Job Roles & Strategies

This report provides a detailed analysis of employee motivation within a business context, examining various influencing factors and their impact on job roles. It begins by defining motivation and discussing prominent theories like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, differentiating between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The report identifies key motivators such as salary, promotion opportunities, and work environment, while also addressing the positive and negative aspects of defined job roles. Strategies to mitigate negative impacts, including regular role updates and fostering employee creativity, are explored. The report emphasizes the importance of aligning job roles with organizational goals and prioritizing employee growth and well-being for sustained motivation and productivity. Desklib offers a range of similar solved assignments and resources for students.

BSc (Hons) Business Management with
Foundation
BMP3004
World of Work
Understanding why people work
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Contents
Introduction 3
What does Motivation Mean? 3
The various factors which motivate 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 6
Conclusion 7
References 8

Introduction
In today's increasingly competitive business environment, existence of a
talented and motivated workforce is very important for any organization to
successfully execute it's business operations and stay profitable and healthy for an
extended periods of time. Motivation in management terms refers to the process by
which the manpower involved in the business is energized, inspired and led in a
focused manner to achieve organizational goals in an efficient and robust manner. It
is a deeply personalized process which has various models, tools and techniques.
Motivation is a complex process and is closely tied to the firm's hierarchy and
the current designation and profiles of the employees (Greene, Mero and Werner,
2018). This report will discuss the meaning of motivation along with the numerous
factors which influence the employee to work with zeal everyday. The close relation
of employee motivation with their prescribed job roles will also be highlighted with
associated positive and negative factors along with strategies made to alleviate the
same.
What does Motivation Mean?
Motivation is a process solely revolving around and involving the human
resource in a company and as such it is a little different both in theory and
application for different people and organizational situations. In generic terms,
Motivation simply means instilling a psychological drive in the employees of a firm to
work daily with renewed vigor and focus.
Motivation has various models and techniques under which it is extensively
studied but one of the most widely accepted and popular theory is Abraham
Maslow's hierarchy of needs in which he has classified motivation in terms of the
needs of an individual ranging from extremely basic to increasingly complex that they
need to fulfill in order to remain focused and motivated in the workplace (Ingsih, Fitri
and Prayitno, 2021). The theory lists 5 type of needs in an increasing order of
complexity which are listed below. Physiological Needs-Involves the most basic of needs ranging from food,
clothing and shelter which are the first priority of every individuals and
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necessary for survival in the world. Employees body functions optimally in
personal and professional space when these needs are fulfilled. Security and Safety Needs-After basic needs are covered, an employee
looks towards avenues of personal safety and financial security such as
health insurance and shifting residence to a safe neighborhood and saving as
well as investing money. Employees prioritize order and control at their
workplace at this stage of their career. Social Needs-This level of Maslow's hierarchy theory deals with feelings and
emotions driving motivation as individuals look for companionship and love to
escape from loneliness and depression. Employees look to find motivation
from being parts of a groups both inside and outside the organization. Esteem Needs-At this stage, the ability to gain recognition from co-workers
and superiors for their efforts is paramount for an employee and their self
esteem plays a major part in their motivation process. Need for respect and
the ability to stand out and feel superior from the crowd drives the employees
to work in this stage.
 Self Actualization Needs-At the very apex of this theory, individuals are no
longer interested in opinion of others and are wholly dedicated to indulge in
maximum self growth and to realize their inner potential fully.
Intrinsic Motivation refers to the type of motivation which occurs due to internal
factors and feelings in an individual such as playing a sport because it leads to fat
loss and muscle growth (Jordan and et.al., 2019). Extrinsic motivation on the other
hand happens in the external environment because of factors outside an individual's
personal control such as playing a sport to win a trophy and secure admission in a
college.
The various factors which motivate employees to work
Salary: Salary isn't just an amount of money that employers play their employees for
their services but in the eyes of the employee, it is the value that the employer
places on them and compensates them for their skills and expertise which is why
employee retention is a strong result of a good pay structure. The better the salary,
the better workers feels about themselves and their work within the company. Money
is not a long form of motivator but it is a very powerful form of motivation on a short
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term as it ensures people's basic survival and facilitation of attaining a better lifestyle
(Lee, and et.al., 2018).
Promotion: Promoting employees to higher levels in an organizational hierarchy for
better job roles and career prospects in an important tool the top management in a
company use to drive motivation among the workforce. Promotions motivate
employees in a variety of ways as a better position in a firm promises better perks
and salary. It increases the stability and security of the employee which leads to
better employee retention and it also gives the employee more authority and power
along with helping them realize their job ambitions which is one of the foremost goals
of any person working in a company.
Work Environment: Employees spend most of their time in the company being
involved in the work environment by operating on the work floor and due to the
volatile nature of the internal business environment in modern times, it is critical for a
company to pay close attention while regulating their workplace environment and
foster a positive culture which appreciates employees and make them feel wanted
(Na-Nan and Sanamthong, 2019). A positive work environment helps employees in
setting personal and professional goals and defines workflow and details the
processes related to their work.
The positive factors employees experience as a result of
their job roles
Job roles are constituted of all the important roles that an employee has to
fulfill and all the task's they have to undertake as a part of their job in the company
hierarchy and as such they are closely tied to the overall experience that every
employee familiarizes themselves with in a firm which has various effects both
positive and negative (Olivo, 2018). Positive employee related factors as a result of
their job roles are given below. Job Roles help employees identify themselves within the big picture of the
company vision and it also creates a communication channel in the hierarchy. They inform the employees regarding every role and responsibility asked of
them which helps remove confusion and streamlines the employee
experience.
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 Job roles are tightly connected to the perks, benefits and pay scale that exists
in every company and as such they really help service as a tool for employee
motivation via horizontal and lateral promotions.
The negative factors employees experience as a result of
their job roles
Job Roles along with their host of benefits also have their fair share of
drawbacks which sours the employee experience frequently in both big and small
time firms which are listed below. Job Roles can quickly become mundane and outdated in today's rapidly
changing and dynamic business environment. Regular meetings and
introspection's happen because of frequent changing of company goals and
missions causing confusion. Job roles often contain roles and responsibilities which are fixed and rigid and
this does not leave enough scope for employees to showcase their innovative
and creative side which is a waste of talent in the long run (Tang, Warkentin
and Wu, 2019).
 The daily review and evaluation of an employee's work cannot be undertaken
efficiently by looking their job roles as they do not provide any measurement
of extra work or energy displayed by the employee and their efficiency in
completing the listed tasks.
Strategies to cope with negative factors employees
experience as a result of their job roles
There are various strategic outlooks and approaches that a firm can use and
incorporate in it's work culture and job roles that can either eliminate or drastically
reduce the aforementioned negative effects which are given below. Job Roles should be regularly updated and be in sync with organizational
vision, missions and set objectives and employees must be communicated
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the same in a stress free and non scrutinizing manner (Wang, Liu and
Shalley, 2018). There should be clauses and loops in the job roles which foster growth and
development in the employees by providing them with avenues to display their
innovation and creativity.
 Employee performance reviews should not depend solely on the basis of their
provided job roles as workplace creativity, values of leadership and the
efficiency to complete daily tasks and projects should be given more priority.
Conclusion
This above concluded report went into detail regarding the meaning and
importance of motivation in the grand scheme of a business organization and models
of motivation were discussed with a special focus on Maslow's Hierarchy theory of
needs which dissects motivations into a group of needs ranging from food and
shelter all the way to self actualization. Different types of motivation were described
along with various factors which motivate an employee to work such as salary, work
environment and promotion. The key relation between job roles and the overall
employee experience in a firm was also stated along with it's positive, negative
factors and the strategies needed to rectify the same. It was concluded that
motivation is a complex phenomenon with a variety of factors and businesses need
to pay close attention to their work culture and job roles to properly instill the same.
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References
Books and Journals
Greene, J., Mero, N. and Werner, S., 2018. The negative effects of job
embeddedness on performance. Journal of Managerial Psychology.
Ingsih, K., Fitri, Y.D.A. and Prayitno, A., 2021. ROLE OF MOTIVATION, WORK
DISCIPLINE AND LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE. Jurnal
Ilmiah MEA (Manajemen, Ekonomi, & Akuntansi), 5(2), pp.818-830.
Jordan, and et.al., 2019. Toward a work motivation conceptualization of grit in
organizations. Group & Organization Management, 44(2), pp.320-360.
Lee, and et.al., 2018. The experience of being envied at work: How being envied
shapes employee feelings and motivation. Personnel Psychology, 71(2),
pp.181-200.
Na-Nan, K. and Sanamthong, E., 2019. Self-efficacy and employee job performance:
Mediating effects of perceived workplace support, motivation to transfer and
transfer of training. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management.
Olivo, M.D., 2018. The Relationship Between Perceived Relatedness and Workplace
Motivation (Doctoral dissertation, Azusa Pacific University).
Tang, Z., Warkentin, M. and Wu, L., 2019. Understanding employees’ energy saving
behavior from the perspective of stimulus-organism-responses. Resources,
Conservation and Recycling, 140, pp.216-223.
Wang, S., Liu, Y. and Shalley, C.E., 2018. Idiosyncratic deals and employee
creativity: The mediating role of creative self‐efficacy. Human Resource
Management, 57(6), pp.1443-1453.
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