Motivational strategies and theories in workplace

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Motivation

"Motivation is the inner power or energy that pushes one toward performing a certain action. Motivation has much to do with desire and ambition, and if they are absent, motivation is absent too" (Sasson, 2009).

Concept of Motivation

Motivation of employees is a very essential aspect of management. It is essential for managers to understand the needs of employees to ensure better performance within the organization. Motivation is generally explored on the basis of three main aspects; a) Goals, b) Decisions, and c) Influence (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). Goals refer to the main motives for an individual's behavior. This can be understood better based on the content theories. Decisions refer to why people tend to work harder and what really motivates them. This is understood better based on the process theories that have been developed by various authors over the years.

Lastly, the influence factor refers to the various external and social factors that affect and motivate employees to work better and perform and contribute to the company (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). There are a number of different theories that have been developed to address the factors that influence the motivation of employees these will be discussed under the various enrichment theories.

Management and Employee Motivation:

Management plays a very important role in the process of motivating employees. The following information below provides a clear view of the role of the management, along with the base of the theories.

- Ice Breaking Sessions: When a new person is recruited, his/her experiences in the workplace during the first few days in the organization are very important. As per Maslow's Affiliation Needs (Slocum and Hellriegel, 2006, p396), there is an urge for the employees to find warm and friendly interpersonal relationships. The manager can arrange a meeting, normally known as the 'Ice Breaking Session' (Horne, 1987, p525), and introduce the new comers to the work force and have an informal discussion about the team and the past achievements. This instills an element of comfort in their work environment.

- Relationships: The Motivating Factor, 'Relationships', as put forth by Ritchie and Martin (1999, p11-12) emphasizes on the need to establish and sustain long-term relationships with the colleagues. The Manager can create a healthy social sphere by arranging team outings or weekend trips frequently. This will create a sense of belongingness among all the team members ...