Mod 7 discussion

Tamecia Shephard

Hey class,

Managers have to constantly worry about employee motivation issues because their job security lies with employees. It is often said that employees determine whether a company will succeed or fail. If employees feel uninterested or bored with their work, a firm is likely to observe a consequent decrease in morale and hence productivity. Managers that ignore employee motivation issues are likely to place their jobs in jeopardy especially because companies rely on them to ensure that employees constantly maintain high-level performance.

Tough economic times may lead to employees diverting their attention to the fear of being laid off instead of focusing on meeting the company’s production goals. Managers are encouraged to keep employees informed of every decision during this time so as to maintain trust (Gillepsie&Mann, 2004). Aside from question their future, employees that are unsatisfied with their jobs possibly due to lack of emotional engagement with their superiors are likely to perform poorly. Such employees might go as far as abusing sick leaves in order to skip work.

Additionally, if employees are unmotivated or lose trust in their organizations it will be displayed through an increase in turn over. Employees are likely to stay in organizations that are encouraging their advancement in their careers or in which they value relationships with their bosses and colleagues. Managers are expected to understand the individual behavior of their employees in order to know how to motivate or reward them (Zhu, May, and Avolio, 2004). Knowledge of their preferences or needs will help in eventually increasing their morale and preventing turn over. Despite the need to constantly motivate employees, managers should not rely on using financial rewards to keep employees inspired. An organizational culture built on creating employee’ loyalty through financial rewards might cause ethical breaches for those that are corrupt.

Tajay Watson

According to the course text, motivation can be defined as the process by which an employee’s efforts are energized, directed and sustained in order to achieve a particular goal or objective.  The definition entails three key elements, namely, energy, direction and persistence. These measure the degree of drive, the degree of consistency with organizational goals and the degree of resolute exhibited by the employee (Robbins, Coulter, De Cenzo, 2015). 

One of the reasons managers worry about motivation is the relationship it has with productivity and performance. According to research done by Frederick Herzberg, the aspects of work life that demotivate employees are distinctly different from aspects that are motivational which can make motivation extremely difficult due to the level of individual nuance there is with people. There are a myriad of desires that employees want which may be varied forms of financial compensation, benefits, recognition, work-life balance or opportunities for upward mobility in the organization. These motivational aspects must be evaluated before developing a motivational strategy for employees as these combination of drivers will better help a manager develop a program to motivate and retain employees (Williams, 2014).

Another reason managers worry about motivation is that low motivation results in an increase in staff turnover. This costs business a great in terms of recruiting and retaining employees in order to fill vacant spaces. The great challenge is for managers is to develop a motivational plan to keep employees energized, directed and persistent to reduce key indicators of lack of motivation such employee absences. This all has a ripple effect on the business as a whole, as increased recruitment costs, increased tardiness, increased fire fighting on the part of management, lower productivity are introduced to the workforce this causes an inevitable drop in sales and profitability. Therefore managers hold employee motivation as a critical issue as it has the potential to derail the business if not properly handled by management (Sale, 2010). There has to be a relevant combination of rewards, recognition, trust, leadership and benefits that align with employee interests that will push them to perform their work with great effort and consistency to serve the demands of the organization.