6.4 - Improving motivation and engagement

• Motivated Employees


  Get more done than non-motivated employees
• The value of motivation should not be underestimated
• Motivated workforce


  • More productive
  • More aligned with company objectives
  • Prepared to go above and beyond for the company
• Motivated workers


  • More loyal
  • Decrease labour turnover
  • Decrease absences
  • Reduces costs
• Customer satisfaction


  Usually increases when a workforce feel engaged with what they are doing
• A company that motivates and engages its employees is a more attractive prospect for future employees
• Companies with a good reputation will attract the best employees and gain a competitive advantage
• Motivational theories


  • Taylor and Scientific Management
• Taylor's view on worker motivation


  • Workers were motivated by money
  • Workers would do the minimum amount of work if left to their own devices
• Taylor's approach


  1. Figure out the most efficient way to do a job

  2. Ensure every single worker did it that way

  3. Ensure each task was being done by the right worker
• Scientific management


  Approach of Taylor's
• Taylor's approach


  • Favoured division of labour
  • Breaking work down into a lot of small repetitive tasks
  • Managers taking responsibility for the workforce
• Taylor's view on pay


  • Pay workers according to the quantity they produced
  • The most productive workers got a better rate
  • Financial incentives would motivate workers and raise productivity
• Increased productivity


  Fewer workers were needed, workers worried about losing their jobs
• Increased productivity


  Could lead to a reduction in quality
• Supervisors were needed to monitor efficiency and for quality control purposes
• Taylor's approach wouldn't work for modern businesses-it would be seen as exploitation
• Taylor's approach ignores the demotivating effect of doing very repetitive boring work
• Aspects of Taylor's theory have survived-piece rate pay is based on his ideas, and the supervisor role still exists
• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

  People need the Basics
• Stages of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs


  • Self actualisation (meeting potential)
  • Self esteem (achievement)
  • Social Needs (friendship, teamwork)
  • Safety (safe work environment with job security)
  • Basic Physical Needs (food, water, shelter, clothes)
• Maslow said that people start by meeting the needs at the bottom of the pyramid. Once they've sorted out those needs, they can move on to the needs on the next level up.
• Businesses meet these needs by


  Giving the opportunity to develop new skills and take responsibility
• Maslow's theory is appealing as each of the five different needs have some importance to workers. However, it isn't always obvious which level an individual is at. Different workers may put their needs in a different order, e.g. some may value friendship and teamwork over achievement and meeting potential.
• Herzberg's Hygiene and Motivating factors


  Factors which influenced the motivation of workers
• Frederick Herzberg interviewed accountants and engineers to find out what motivated and satisfied them at work


  1950s and '60s
• Hygiene factors


  • Good company policy
  • Supervision
  • Working conditions
  • Pay
  • Relations with fellow employees
• Hygiene factors


  Don't motivate as such, but if they aren't good, workers get dissatisfied
• Motivating factors


  • Interesting work
  • Personal achievement
  • Recognition of achievement
  • Scope for more responsibility and personal development
• Motivating factors


  These factors do positively motivate workers
• Herzberg's theory recognises that motivation comes from the individuals' needs and has influenced motivational techniques today it provides clear solutions for businesses. However, it is often criticised for being based on a small sample of people and it doesn't consider that people have different hygiene and motivation needs.
• Job Design


  The way a job is Planned and Organised
• Job design


  1. Sets out the details of what is to be done

  2. Sets out how it is to be done

  3. Influenced by internal and external factors that affect how the job can be carried out effectively
• Day-to-day tasks


  • Main influence on the job design
  • Range and nature of the tasks
  • Way and order tasks need to be completed
  • Speed the tasks need to be done
  • Quality required
  • Number of people required to complete the task
• External factors


  • New technology
  • Changes to law and legislation
  • Customer demand
  • Availability of certain skills
• Hackman and Oldham


  Job Design is Focused on the Person not the Job
• Taylor's scientific management approach

  Focused on how the job was done
• Maslow's and Herzberg's theories


  Said that more than money was needed to motivate workers
• Hackman and Oldham's model


  Broken down into five key elements of job design which lead to worker motivation, more worker involvement, higher performance, lower staff turnover and lower absenteeism
• Hackman and Oldham's five key elements of job design


  • Skill variety
  • Task identity
  • Task significance
  • Autonomy
  • Feedback