In any organizational human resource is a key actor to the effective achievement of the end state. Human resource management forms an integral component of the management process. Therefore, it becomes a primary requirement for the managerial to understand the critical importance of the human resource in the organization for the two dichotomies is synonymous. Besides, any organization with a sound management system will always view its employees as the fountainhead of quality and productive gain of the organization. As a result, a competent organization will nature esprit de corps and satisfaction within its area of influence. For an organization to make its’ human resource content and committed in their work environments, there is need to advocate for an unyielding and effective motivation at the various levels and departments.
Motivation, therefore, becomes a natural psychological process. By definition, motivation is the management process of influencing the way people behave, based on the knowledge of what make people tick. This directs and sustains behavior and performance of people in any setup. Nevertheless, motivation is the process of making the employees work to achieve the desired outcome. On the other hand, job satisfaction is an enjoyable emotional feeling resulting from the result of the job well done and the achievement of the set goals. Luthans (1998) posted three aspects to satisfaction; job satisfaction is an emotional response to situations in the workplace. Also, it is ascertained by how satisfactorily outcomes meets or exceed expectations. Finally, according to Luthans, satisfaction depict a set of attitudes to which people have adequate response among them being, the work itself, pay, opportunities for promotion, supervision and not limited to co-workers.
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Motivation and satisfaction in the workplace are puzzling to explain and difficult to quantify as can be stipulated by some questions such as: why do employees behave the way they do in the workplace? What propels one worker to work hard while others lazy about? Why does a team perform diversely under different leaders? Why are there various levels of commitment or enjoyment to people doing the same task? To help answer these questions among many others, various scholars have developed psychological theories of motivation as discussed below
Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory
Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory states two different facets of motivation, the job context that includes and not limited to company policies, working conditions, salary, status, and security. Herzberg states that if the motivation policies are not fulfilled, there will act as dissatisfiers. With the elimination of dissatisfaction, there is need to fill the gap, in this case, being the job content. These intrinsic job qualities may include, achievement, the work itself, responsibility, recognition, advancement and personal growth. To Herzberg after the prevention of dissatisfaction, the realization of individual needs and aspirations should be allowed to workers so that they can produce as expected by the employer.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
According to Maslow, human needs arise in a predictable sequence stemming from basic psychological needs through safety and security needs, social and esteem needs and to the highest that of self-actualization. Maslow argues that advanced needs occur as lower ones are satisfied. For this reason, employees have material needs, and their fulfillment will only motivate and satisfy to a certain extent after which the personal needs and aspirations emerge to meet the remaining half of satisfaction and motivation.
McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y
Douglas Mcgregor (1960), developed this theory stating that there are two basic human behavior types, Theory X managers and Theory Y managers each packaged with different assumptions.
Theory X has assumptions that govern it; these includes; People have an intrinsic loathing of work and will try to evade it at all costs. There is a need for workers to be forced, controlled and threatened to work hard. People aren’t ambitious enough, and they dislike accountability, preferring to be directed towards the expected direction. Above all else, people want security
In conclusion of this theory, managers are authoritarian and controlling, as they tend to use threats and punishment to pressure people into working hard. Theory Y has several assumptions, which include: People naturally put as much effort into their work as they do into play or rest. Also, an assumption that people will be self-driven and self-control if they have a goal. People will be committed to achieving the goals of a company if they are satisfied in their workplace. People are good at creative problem-solving. There is no enough usage of workers talents and skills. McGregor indicates that Theory Y managers are self-governing, consultative and empowering, more so they motivate people to develop and take the initiative. (Edmans & Zhang, 2014).
The Hawthorne Effect Theory
The effects of psychological aspects of work and their impact on productivity were also on check under this theory. By dividing workers into the group and allowing them to establish relationships with their superiors, this resulted in increased motivation and output. The study revealed that employees attribute their motivation to the sense of belonging, value, recognition and self-esteem.
Equity Theory
People in their workplace, judge the equality of their work condition by associating the involvements that they contribute to the yields that they receive from their work. The inputs could be regarding skills and experiences, effort, loyalty, trust, personal sacrifices and not limited to flexibility while on the other hand outputs could be among many, financial reward and benefits, recognition, status, security, sense of achievement and personal development. It is always important to strike a balance between the inputs and outputs of the works to acquire desired satisfaction and perform efficiently. The greater the disparity, the greater the demotivation (Toode, 2015).
The Expectancy Theory
According to Vroom, every person expects something as appreciation for the excellent work they perform. The decisions regarding this behavior are based on three factors namely: the perceived performance outcome, the perceived return on investment that they think they have contributed and the perceived value of the recompense. According to Vroom motivation is a subjective reality that is based more on personal perceptions of worth and value (Toode, 2015).
As a manager the way I would measure these variables on your employees .
Having compared and contrasting the psychological theories, it seems that the theories are to some degree correlated, but a manager would be more skewed to adopting McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y. Reason being that, it provides a bigger platform where then the manager has a variety of style to choose from as will be dictated by the situation as well as incorporating the low participation. This theory will take care of the inevitable personal agendas that workers have by creating a chain of command. The superiors will have created a sense of participation while still avoiding groupthink.
Other Steps that can be adopted other than Economic Steps in a Managerial Post
By setting achievable goals, the employees will be motivated as they see their achievements actualize. In any case, employees will not meet the set objective they will tend to be demotivated and their satisfaction will not be felt for the output does not match with the input. Staff training is an essential way to motivate employees. Good training programs and matrices will help motivate workers. With that, it is vital to ensure equity among all employees when it comes to train so as to avoid alienation to some worker by enhancing information availability and communication to the subordinates at all levels, their involvement will be felt hence become motivated and satisfied to work in an environment where there I free flow of information and communication. Proper working conditions will always motivate worker. The conducive environment will allow workers to unleash their full potential, skills, and ability while poor conditions will set workers packing for greener pastures.
Finally, staff promotion based on merit will create a competitive environment where worker strives to grab the next promotion opportunity when it avails. Workers will feel satisfied and motivated when the work in an organization they are sure to actualize in.
References
Toode, K., Routasalo, P., Helminen, M., & Suominen, T. (2015). Hospital nurses’ working conditions in relation to motivation and patient safety: Kristi Toode and colleagues examine whether nurses’ levels of satisfaction with their workplace influence how they perform their job and care for patients. Nursing management , 21 (10), 31-41.
Wahyuni, D. U., Christiananta, B., & Eliyana, A. (2014). Influence of Organizational Commitment, Transactional Leadership, and Servant Leadership to the Work Motivation, Work Satisfaction and Work Performance of Teachers at Private Senior High Schools in Surabaya. Educational Research International , 3 (2), 82-96.
Miner, J. B. (2015). Organizational Behavior 1: Essential Theories of motivation and leadership. Routledge.
Edmans, A., Li, L., & Zhang, C. (2014). Employee satisfaction, labor market flexibility, and stock returns around the world (No. w20300). National Bureau of Economic Research.
