Motivation: Success Built Through Enthusiasm

Motivation: Success Built Through Enthusiasm

Attracting and securing the best candidates are central goals for human resource managers in today's workplace. With proper employee selection, retention, development, motivation, and reinforcement, an organization can actually build its own success through its personnel. The key to this success is aligning internal and external talent toward the objectives, values, and vision of an organization. Upon the assembly of any team, Human Resource departments must creatively find way of keeping associates or subordinates motivated and energized. This activity breeds an environment of both productivity and innovation. There are many different ways that a manager can facilitate the best efforts from employees. Primarily, these methods can be separated into two types of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic. Motivation is often overlooked, but is one of the most vital components of any organization's success. An extremely critical element pertinent to overall organizational success, employee motivation can prove to be detrimental without being present in a manager's toolkit.

Training and career development can be looked upon as a foundation for organizational success. Employee training can be defined as the process of teaching new employees the basic skills they need to perform their jobs (Dessler, 2008). It is important whenever training to fully communicate goals or objectives so that they may be clearly and easily understood by everyone as being meaningful. One method that has proven successful is writing down any goals or objectives in specific measurable terms, and establishing time expectations. It is imperative to ensure that goals are both challenging achievable. A survey conducted by the Ontario (Canada) Skills Development Office found that 63% of the respondents planned to "introduce new technology into the workplace that would require additional staff training" (Reh, 1997). By continually introducing new and more difficult tasks to negate possible boredom, employees tend to have a fresh outlook and inventive energy. Employees can substantially improve when given proper direction, training, and the tools needed to develop and grow within an organization. Growth and progress of employees can be monitored by creating fair, accurate metrics utilized for improvement and reinforcement. Upon satisfactory results, accomplishments should be supported with positive feedback and appropriate rewards.

Building a cohesive team-oriented environment can be a motivating factor for employees to perform. This involves developing a collaborative, compelling, and shared team vision based on both a strategic analysis of the environment and a set of core values (Lapid-Bogda, 2007). In this approach, employees strive to excel for the general good of the team or group. Their true motivation is the relationship cultivated with their peers. By creating a team mission and a set of strategies and goals that are aligned with both the team's philosophy and the vision of the organization, the commitment to take action is transformed into reality (Lapid-Bogda, 2007). Rewards such as quarterly luncheons or employee cookouts are successful vehicles for motivation as well. Some companies even offer gift cards, concert tickets, and various other incentives for productivity achievement or goal accomplishment. One third of surveyed employers responded that "improving employee job performance" and keeping the best employees" were desired outcomes when questioned (Reh, 1997).

Frequently, managers set objectives well beyond the reach of their staff. This is improperly done as the manager takes a mindset of "if the goal is too high, underachievers will fall short but get closer" to reaching the unrealistic goal than they otherwise would. An outlook of this nature demoralizes employees, providing them with no sense of accomplishment and ultimately draining them of any enthusiasm or sense of self-worth. The end result is a workforce that feels as if they are being subjected to tyrannical management practices.

Intrinsic motivation is enthusiasm to perform a task inspired by the task itself (Morris & Maisto, 2005). One way in which a manager can do this is to simply put the "right people" in the "right places." If someone is energized about a certain task, it may prove advantageous for a manager to place that person in the area of interest. Assigning special projects that may align with the personal interests of employees is also a good way to bring out the best possible efforts. Some theorists maintain that "People are best motivated when they are working toward personally meaningful goals whose attainment requires activity at a continuously optimal (intermediate) level of difficulty" (Intrinsic Motivation, 1987). Managers can also increase employee's motivation by continually attempting to provide the best materials, most innovative equipment, and robust training to increase the employee's sense of worth. Self-awareness enables people to stand apart and examine the way in which they are perceived (Covey, 1990). Managers should empower their employees, helping them to achieve exceptional results and providing positive reinforcement. If an employee genuinely believes that they are the best at what they do, they will strive to maintain their position as the best. This is called a self-paradigm. A self-paradigm is the most fundamental paradigm of effectiveness, shaping not only attitudes and behaviors, but the way others are perceived as well (Covey, 1990). A select few employees fall into the category of being intrinsically motivated, but successful training and development programs certainly foster this way of thinking.

Extrinsic motivation is the aspiration to perform stimulated by external rewards or punishment avoidance (Morris & Maisto, 2005). There are many instances of this in the workplace. The majority of the time, monetary gain is the principal incentive. Some workplaces use a production-based wage which stipulates that increased productivity will result in higher corresponding hourly wage. Additionally, some managers use paid time off (PTO) as a means to persuade extra effort from their employees. With this method, time off is given for reaching a certain production level or performance goal. Other managers utilize performance bonuses to motivate employees. For example, sales companies may give quarterly or annual bonuses based on a percentage of growth during that span. Managers can also utilize a pay scale that is complemented by a commission, which is based on a specific percent of overall sales.

Performance appraisals are another form of extrinsic motivation. Appraisals are not only useful to evaluate employees, but also can be utilized to reveal any areas of particular