Motivated Employees Feel that They Play an Important Role Within the Organization

Employee motivation is an important part of managing employees. This is because motivation can be directly linked to job performance. There are several different motivation techniques that can be applied, many of which are universal and others which are dependent upon the situation, employee, department, or overall company.

Motivation techniques that were discussed in a previous article include incentive programs, contests, and employee appreciation. Expanding on that discussion, the techniques that will now be discussed include job design, job enrichment, goal setting, profit sharing, recognition, and appreciation.

Job Design

Job design can play a role in motivating employees. The theory is that employees who are motivated will perform better, thus increasing job performance. According to Margaret Bailey, PhD, job design focuses on five questions:

"1) What motivates people to work? 2) What job characteristics are significant? 3) What are the value-added actions/contributions in the movement of inputs into outputs in this job? 4) How are job design alternatives to be identified? 5) What job design changes are to be implemented?" (Bailey, 1999).

Answering these five questions will lead toward the design of jobs that satisfy employees, therefore motivating those employees. Ideally, a well designed job would include variety, a meaningful task, the best possible work cycle, the use of respected skills and/or knowledge, an obvious contribution to end product, and "control over work standards and feedback of results" (Bailey, 1999).

Job Enrichment

Job enrichment can be defined as "increasing an employee's responsibility and control over his or her work" (George et al, 2005). Job enrichment has been shown to increase employee motivation.

There are several ways jobs can be enriched: Provide training so that employees may learn new skills; allow employees to plan their own daily work schedule, so that they can choose when to work on specific tasks; allow employees to check their own work, making them fully responsible for the quality of the work they submit; and provide a flexible scheduling option so that employees may choose what time they start the work day and what time they end the work day, as long as they work the required number of hours (George et al, 2005, p. 206).

Goal Setting

Goal setting has been linked to high motivation and high performance. It has also been shown that specific goals lead to higher motivation and performance than vague goals, and difficult (but not impossible) goals lead to higher motivation and performance than vague goals (George et al, 2005, p. 222). There are several reasons for this. One theory is that specific goals that are difficult will require employees to apply more effort to reach them (George et al, 2005, p.224). Another theory is that employees gain greater satisfaction from completing specific and difficult goals. This greater satisfaction leads to greater motivation.

Profit Sharing

Profit sharing plans are a form of incentive that can be used to motivate all employees within the company. A profit sharing plan is a program "in which all or most employees receive a share of the firm's annual profits" (Dessler, 2005, p. 453). This type of incentive works to the benefit of employees by providing a concrete reward, and it works to the benefit of the company by tying the reward to overall company performance. It is a win-win situation for all.

Recognition

Non-monetary incentives can be as successful, and sometimes more successful, than monetary based plans. Recognition is one form of non-monetary incentive. People who are intrinsically motivated tend to respond well to this type of incentive. As an example, recognition can be in the form of asking employees for their opinions on procedure development. This makes the employee feel that their opinion is valued, which makes them feel as though they play an important role within the company. To practice this form of incentive, management should "solicit employee feedback on potential policies, areas in which policies are needed, and so on" (Heathfield, 2006).

Appreciation

Appreciation is another form of non-monetary incentive. Its effectiveness cannot be stressed enough. "Managers may be surprised to learn that a simple "thank you" said to an employee for a job well done can have significant impact" (Colorado Technical University Online, 2006). It is also important to note that often "the more thought-out and specific the praise, the more believable and meaningful it is to the employee" (Colorado Technical University Online, 2006).

Conclusion

Motivated employees experience a higher level of job satisfaction, which leads to improved job performance. Employees who are motivated will feel that they play an important role within the organization. "The sense of empowerment alone can be a motivator when employees feel their work directly contributes to the overall company vision" (Colorado Technical University Online, 2006).

References

Bailey, M. (1999). "Performance Technology and Training."

URL: http://coe.cedu.niu.edu/~bailey/web564/process/process.htm#Job%20Design

Colorado Technical University Online. (2006). "Phase 3 Course Material Text." URL: https://campus.ctuonline.edu/classroom/multimediacoursetext.aspx?

Dessler, G. (2005). "Human Resource Management." (10^th ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

George, J., & Jones, G. (2005). "Understanding & Managing Organizational Behavior." Custom ed. Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing.

Heathfield, S. M. (2006). "Set Them Free: Two Musts for Employee Motivation." URL: http://humanresources.about.com/od/motivationsucces3/a/motivationtips.htm