Employee Motivation

What motivates us to do the things we want to do? What drives us to achieve our goals, whether they are the smaller goals of getting through our day or larger life and professional goals? We are motivated to eat a meal when we are hungry, and motivated to sleep when we are tired. When we are young it is often those around us who motivate us to do things the approval or disapproval of parents, friends, and teachers help shape our early behavior. As we move into our adult life, often it continues to be approval of others that drives us to succeed. Other times, we are motivated to earn money to buy things like a car or a house or to travel. Motivation, then, is needed for everything from basic survival in our daily lives to a much higher level cognitive condition linked with our self-perception and the perception of others.

Motivation changes throughout our lives and sometimes even moment to moment. We can be motivated to work faster to finish a project by the end of the day, for example. Or, at times, our motivation changes based on feedback from our supervisor. Considering the long term, we may be motivated by the social aspects of belonging to a group or being fashionable. Later in life, we are motivated, perhaps, to offer our children and significant others a better life. Later, that motivation for self-promotion that was very present in our early professional lives is replaced by a motivation to give back in the form of teaching our children, grandchildren, and others, and a desire to share our knowledge and experience.

Motivation is very personal and individual, and because it is intimately related to worker productivity and results, has been the focus of much study over the years. One s motivation can influence attitudes toward work, including how one treats customers and coworkers, and the efficiency and effectiveness of work. Workers who share the values of an organization and who have a positive attitude toward work tend to feel more ownership toward that organization and therefore are more motivated to excel. Human Resources professionals are constantly trying to find ways to help make their employees happier at work. They make every effort to develop good benefits packages, offer social activities and attempt to keep their employees happy so they will stay working for the company longer. As competition in the global market grows and companies strive to stay ahead of the pack, individual productivity is at the core of a company s success; thus the organizations that can maximize worker productivity through high motivation are the most likely to succeed.