Effective Management Skills

Motivating employees by a knowledgeable manager is easy when intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is appropriately used. People are different. Motivating the various kinds of people within your company can be a challenge, but after each person is evaluated the correct motivational tool can be used to increase productivity and overall job satisfaction. A happy employee will work hardier, be more loyal, and be willing to accomplish set tasks. An unhappy employee will not be efficient, will complain about their job, and cause the business to lose money. Basically, to create a great working atmosphere with happy employees the manager must get to know the employee, and then analyze whether intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation would work best.

Extrinsic motivation is the act of motivating an employee with incentives, such as pay raises or bonuses, (Axia College, 2009). Extrinsic motivation relies upon rewards given for a completed job. This type of motivation is effective for people that simply work to pay the bills. If this type of employee has to be kept on the payroll, then incentives are the only way to maximize their work output. These incentives do not even have to be monetary. Gift certificates, extra days off, free lunch, extended lunch breaks, and various other bonuses can be given when using extrinsic motivation.

The three proven ways to effectively motivate employees with the use of extrinsic motivation are; rewards, recognition, and growth (Zahorsky, 2009). Rewards where covered in the previous paragraph, just keep in mind that the best incentive is what is most beneficial to the specific employee that is being motivated. Recognition is the second step of extrinsic motivation, and probably the most important because in can cause the employee to feel appreciated, which will make them take more pride in their work. The secret to recognition is to make sure that it is appropriate for the circumstance, and that it is given immediately upon completion of the given task. The third, and final step, is to make the possibility of growth available. If an employee has the possibility of moving into a better position with more pay and benefits, then it will cause the employee to work harder in order to achieve this goal.

Intrinsic motivation is the act of using motivation that causes the employee to accomplish a task simply because the want to accomplish it, and they want to complete the task in the best, fastest way that they can (Beswick, nd). This type of motivation is best used for employees that take pride in their work, and they want to be recognized for the work that they do. Employees that require intrinsic motivation are the best employees because they are self motivated, hard workers, and take pride in their jobs and in themselves.

Intrinsic motivation is also a three step process, and the stages are; purpose, belief, and passion (Zahorsky, 2009). Purpose is used to show the employee what good the company does for others, which will give the employee a reason to take pride in their work. Using belief as a motivator is accomplished by allowing the employee to use, and to learn, about the company's product. In this way the employee will feel comfortable with the product and will be more motivated to endorse it. The final stage of intrinsic motivation is passion. This should be done during the hiring stage, but it can be accomplished through rotating personnel to different job positions. Passion simply means that people should be interested in the chosen job, and they should want to learn every aspect of that given job.

Motivating employees effectively can be done by using intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, depending on what type of person the employee is. Using the three step method, in either type of motivating, when matched correctly to the personality of the employee, will increase productivity, increase pride, and will increase the level of the overall work environment. A great manager, using these two tools correctly, can motivate any employee successfully.

Axia College Psychology: An Introduction Axia College of Phoenix University
David Beswick Management Implications beswick.com
Darrell Zahorsky Small Business Information sbinformation.com