Discussing and Evaluating Motivation's Impact on Workplace Performance

This essay delves into the critical role of motivation in the workplace, analyzing its impact on both individual and team performance. It begins by defining motivation and emphasizing its importance for organizational success, highlighting how motivated employees are more productive and engaged. The essay then explores various motivational theories, including Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Herzberg's two-factor theory, Vroom's expectancy theory, Adam's equity theory, and McClelland's need theory, providing insights into different factors that influence employee motivation. It also examines the role of middle managers in fostering motivation through strategies such as recognizing individual employee needs, aligning work and employee goals, and employee empowerment. The essay concludes by underscoring the importance of understanding employee motivation for effective management and organizational success in today's dynamic business environment.

“Discuss and evaluate how levels of motivation can impact upon an
individual's and a team's performance in the workplace, taking the
strategies available to assist in sustaining motivation within an
organisation into consideration.”
INTRODUCTION:
Motivation is derived from the word ‘motive,' which implies a person's desire, needs,
wants, or urges. Motivation is a psychological process that takes place in the brain. It
motivates and inspires others to take action in order to achieve the desired outcome.
As a result, as an individual or as part of team, employees are more willing to
perform to their full potential.
Motivation is critical in the workplace as motivation covers elements like producing,
directing, and maintaining behaviour toward the achievement of goals.
Workplace motivation is one of the most crucial parts of any firm. This study defines
motivation and evaluates the requirements and desires that motivate people. In
addition, this study also discusses the function of motivation and how vital it is for an
organisation to have motivated personnel.
It also examines five main perspectives that have contributed to our knowledge of
motivation: Maslow's need-hierarchy theory, Herzberg's two-factor theory, Vroom's
expectation theory, Adam's equity theory, and McClelland's theory.
It is imperative to also focus on several motivational elements that are accountable
for employee motivation. As a result, by examining what employee motivation is, we
can emphasise the significance of motivated employees in today's fast changing
workplaces.
Motivation has been defined as “a psychological process resulting from the
reciprocal interaction between the individual and the environment that affects a
person’s choices, effort, and persistence” (Latham & Ernst, 2006).

Importance of motivation:
Motivation is an essential component of management. Managers must be able to
inspire their employees. There is a direct link between motivation and achievement.
According to Jex and Britt (2008),’’satisfaction in the workplace is crucial for
organizational success.’’ Employee motivation has long been a fundamental concern
for leaders and managers.
Employees that are unmotivated are more likely to put in little or no effort at work,
avoid going to work as much as possible, leave the company if given the chance,
and create low-quality work. Employees who are motivated to work, on the other
hand, are more likely to be persistent, creative, and productive, producing high-
quality work.
‘’If employees feel that management communicates in an efficient manner, it
motivates them to perform better and develop team spirit is very important for the
smooth functioning of the organization ‘’ (Rajhans, 2012:81).
Individual motivation is crucial for the following reasons:
 It assists them in achieving their personal objectives.
 They are content with their work.
 Individuals benefit from working in a dynamic, unstudied team.
Motivation is beneficial to the business because:
 Motivated employees enable teams to be empowered.
 Because of greater employee involvement, success and profitability have
been achieved.
 When it comes to making changes, creativity and adaptability are key.
 In the workplace, it creates a stimulating and upbeat environment.

The role of middle manager:
Motivating employees: Employees are an essential aspect of any firm. As a result,
keeping them engaged is critical to ensuring that the organization's goals are
realised. Employees should not only be inspired, but they need also be managed
and led in such a way that the organization's goals are met.
Recognize What Motivates Each Employee:
Because people are different, assuming that everyone can be motivated by the same
incentive is a mistake. Some are driven by money and advantages, while others are
motivated by praise and work-life balance compromises.
Assessing each employee's work duties and underlying motives is the first step in
motivating employees in management. An employee analysis necessitates meeting
with each employee individually to examine their work-related objectives.
Combine Work and Employee Goals
Managers may motivate their staff as a manager by ensuring that their work goals
correspond with their work goals. This necessitates strategic planning and
communication since managers must clearly communicate to their personnel what
managers expect of them.
A critical responsibility of the middle manager is to develop methods that will
increase employee and corporate productivity. They also assess junior managers'
performance and motivate them to do better.
Employee engagement entails motivating employees to contribute to the
organisation, particularly with regard to discretionary activities. Employees who are
engaged are more likely to join the organisation, stay with the organisation longer,
work harder at their jobs, and refrain from destroying the business.

Employee empowerment is a component of efficient people operations, albeit one
that is overused. For example, too much "empowerment" might sometimes imply
insufficient guidance, resulting in role ambiguity. One of the characteristics that tends
to reduce employee happiness and limit worker performance is "role ambiguity."
Motivation Theories:
Motivation theories can be used to figure out the best strategy to attain a corporate
objective or strive toward a certain outcome. Successfully implementing motivation
theories may also assist managers in providing more effective assistance to their
staff, increasing their production, hence their total revenues.
According to Elton Mayo, ‘’employees are not only motivated by pay, but could also
be highly motivated if their social needs are fulfilment especially when they are at the
workplace’’ (Sheldrake, 2003).
I. Maslow's Needs Hierarchy
Maslow described needs as a hierarchy. The idea is that needs at the bottom of the
hierarchy must be met before moving on to the next level and attempting to meet
those demands.
Now, each individual's needs change all the time, but an employer can utilise the
hierarchy at any moment to try to determine what will inspire an employee.
The hierarchy's five tiers are as follows:
According to Maslow, everyone has the same basic requirements that drive our
behaviour. When he first introduced the five phases in the original version of "A
Theory of Human Motivation," he presented them as a strict hierarchy, which meant
that each level of the hierarchy had to be met before moving on to the next.

1. Physiological Needs: These are the essential biological needs that all humans
require for survival, such as air, water, food, and shelter.
2. Personal security, emotional and financial security, and health are all part of the
second category of safety needs. In times of uncertainty, safety demands will
have a significant impact on behaviour.
3. Needs for Love and Social Belonging: This level is defined by the need to love
and be loved, as well as to have a reciprocal sense of belonging.
4. Esteem Requirements: Maslow believed that after satisfying the physical,
social, and personal needs of the first three levels, individuals would be able to
focus their efforts on gaining stable esteem, both from others and from
themselves
5. Self-Actualization: This final stage refers to our desire to reach our full potential.
Maslow encapsulated this with a useful aphorism: "What a man can be, he must
be." The desire for self-actualization is motivated by a person's goals or motives.
II. Expectancy Theory of Motivation
According to Vroom's Expectancy Theory, an individual will perform in a specific
manner because they are driven to pick a specific behavioral feature over the other

traits that they possess owing to their expectation of the end outcome of the chosen
trait being favourable to them in some way. This theory outlines the process that an
individual goes through while choosing a motivational behaviour, which is closely
related to the attractiveness of the final consequence.
‘’Motivation as a process in organizing the choice among alternative forms of
voluntary activity, and it is controlled by individual. Vroom also stated that people
will be motivated to pursue their desired goals if: (1) They believe in the
value of goals, and (2) They believe that their actions will guarantee to achieve of
these goals’’. (Aworemi, Abdul-Azeez, Durowoju, 2011)

Victor Vroom used three variables to assess an employee's motivation. These are
the variables:
1. Expectancy
An employee's expectation is the belief that putting in more effort would result in
better performance and, as a result, more output. However, an employee's
expectation of completing a work is dependent on a few factors.
 Skills- The ability to complete a task efficiently.
 Resources- Having the necessary resources to complete the task.
 Help- Obtaining the necessary instruction and support from colleagues and
task supervisors to ensure the task's quality and efficiency.
2. Instrumentality
Instrumentality is described as an employee's belief that completing a task or
achieving a desired end would result in the desired benefits. This reward
might range from job happiness to a raise in pay, a promotion, or any other
materialistic benefit.
The job-related incentives are a common example of instrumentality.
Incentives are additional advantages on top of a wage that an employee
receives after accomplishing job-related duties.
3. Valence
The value or importance that an individual places on the outcome of an
activity is defined as valence.
As a result, the valence for such an individual will be negative since they will
either be negative, meaning they will strive to avoid the event, or indifferent to
the outcome.
III. McClelland ‘achievement motivation’ 1961
According to McClelland's need theory, there are three types of needs. Each sort of
need is associated with a specific type of individual who is driven to satisfy that need.
According to David McClelland (1962), ‘’successful business firms and therefore a
successful economy are dependent on the achievement activities of two production
factors, namely entrepreneurs and/or managers (entrepreneurial talent) and
employees (human resources)’’.

Use the following three needs to determine which reward is ideal for each
employee:
 The need for affiliation:
According to the affiliate idea, humans want to join to a group and be accepted by
others. This notion can assist managers in determining if an employee would work
effectively on a team and improve from the experience.
 Achievement is needed.
Some employees are driven by a desire to be successful and influential. These
people are likely to be competitive and to have a strong work ethic. They often have
a strong desire for acknowledgement after completing a task and may want feedback
on their performance.
 Power is needed.
Some people want to influence others, have an impact on their coworkers, and have
a positive impact on the workplace. These employees typically love leading groups
of people, delegating responsibilities, and arranging events. They may try to
persuade their coworkers to attain both short-term and long-term objectives.
IV. Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
According to Herzberg, two things contribute to employee motivation: motivators and
hygienic factors.
Motivators: These elements encourage employees to work harder if they are
available, such as prospects for advancement in their careers.
Hygiene variables: The presence of hygiene factors does not drive people to work
more, but their absence does. The working environment and compensation are two
examples.
According to Herzberg's Two Factor Theory, in order to encourage employees,
companies should:
Remove job hygiene stressors: Get rid of factors that are causing low job
satisfaction, such as bad working environment.
Increase job happiness through job enrichment (making the job more interesting by
assigning more difficult tasks) and job empowerment (making the post more
satisfying by giving it a greater variety of functions).
Employee empowerment is achieved through assigning increased responsibilities to
each employee.

V. Adam’s Equity Theory
According to Adam's Equity Theory of Motivation, strong levels of employee
motivation in the workplace can only be attained if each employee believes their
treatment to be fair in comparison to others.
Equity is defined as ‘’justice, inequity-injustice. Inequity exists for an individual when
he or she perceives an imbalance in the ratio between outcomes (reward for work)
and inputs (efforts at work) as other workers outputs and incomes’’ (Miner, 1980)
An employee will evaluate their circumstances in numerous ways:
 By taking into account their existing organization's experience.
 By investigating their prior organization's experience.
 By contrasting themselves with others within their existing organisation.
 By contrasting themselves with those outside of their current company.

Conclusion:
In today's business world, a manager's responsibilities are multifaceted. Managers
must not only be well-versed in finance, economics, information systems or particular
subject areas; they must also be well-versed in organisational behaviour and
psychology.
Leaders/managers need to inspire employees, they must understand how their
people think and what motivates them to do so. The human resources department is
responsible for making sure managers are aware of this psychology, but all
managers in the organisation have a responsibility to comprehend and implement it.
Given the current global situation due to the covid pandemic, motivation of
employees and mental health well-being has become a priority. A greater emphasis
on remote working, flexible working, attend during core hours only have become
factors which managers have to deal with in the right way. This in a way means more
individuality layers to employees than was traditionally sought and to be dealt with
possibly with less face-to-face contact.
When viewed from the outside, the connection between employee motivation and
performance appears to be pretty evident because whenever we consider a work to
be essential and significant to us, we act with zeal and excitement to see it through.
The challenge is to deal
However, the relationship between these two things is far more complicated. With
this in mind, managers must discover innovative strategies to keep their personnel
as motivated as possible on a constant basis. Motivation is critical for any firm
seeking to improve employee performance and organisational productivity.

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