Understanding Employee Motivation

Introduction

Motivation plays a very critical role in individuals lives particularly concerning job satisfaction aspects. Job satisfaction along with motivation not only helps organizations in accomplishing high productivity but also enables good organizational culture with long-term benefits such as staff loyalty. Maslow states that a motivated staff act as a valuable asset for the firm who intentionally and unintentionally creates values for the firm and helps management in strengthening the revenue and business growth (Kaur, 2013). Since motivation is the key elements which make the right person do the right work, the organization’s human resources must ensure that the workforce is motivated otherwise which wastage of resources can lead to ineffective performance as well as job satisfaction (Varma, 2017).

Though many motivational theories keep organizations assisting in developing their job role models and employee job satisfaction, Maslow’s hierarchy of motivation is the simplest and widely used framework used by contemporary organizations to keep the employee motivated as well as satisfied. In this light, this paper aims at discussing how Maslow’s theory of employee motivation affects job satisfaction in organizations. This paper will first define with examples the two identified organizational behaviour theories and with the help of literature review find how these two theories complement each other.

Maslow developed a theory to analyse how human beings are motivated and how their needs are related to one another. He calls his theory of motivation as a need’s hierarchy. In the hierarchy, every need is arranged according to the level it satisfies human needs. When a need level is dominated or met by the individual, it can be assumed that the particular need will no longer satisfy or motivate the individual. Hence, organizations need to move to the next level to keep their employees motivated until self-actualization is met (Suyono & Mudjanark, 2017).

The first level in the need’s hierarchy is psychological needs that comprise basic needs required for living such as food, water and air. The next in the level is security needs to ensure that an individual’s life is secured from threats, injuries, emotional or mental loses. Social needs come next in the row which comprises need for belongingness or affection required to live in the society. Once the basic needs are accomplished, individuals seek friendship and associations before moving to the next level i.e. self-esteem needs. Self-esteem is also regarded as a need for rewards in organizations as it offers individuals with recognitions, achievement and autonomy besides providing them with status and attention. Self-actualization is the stage when the individual is deemed to have met all his/her desires and can do anything according to the self-ability. On reaching this stage, organizational members usually assist others in achieving their target and continues working smoothly to hold their position (Suyono & Mudjanark, 2017).

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and its Role in Employee Motivation

The rationale behind the motivation theory of Maslow lies on the fact that it can assist the organization’s management in determining how they can keep their employee motivated to become self-actualized. This is necessary due to the fact that self-actualized employees will likely work with their best potential. It is also important that employees’ needs are met stage by stage as if former needs are met, they might not consider working for below level needs. Hence, it can be said that Maslow’s need hierarchy can provide organizations with good work conditions, financial and social security among employees and guarantee that employees will reach self-actualization if they are kept focussed on achieving needs level (Akinyetun, 2016).

 The CEO of Starbucks, Schultz ensures that all his employees and partners reach self-actualization like stated in Maslow’s theory of motivation. He seeks constant feedback and information about his employees and partners to articulate his firm’s vision. Most of the times, Schultz makes personalized phone calls and emails asking for advice and product feedbacks. This, in turn, creates an inner voice among employees after they have achieved all the other needs level. With the help of Maslow’s theory of motivation, Starbucks ensure all its employees are satisfied and motivated to become a loyal partner to the firm (Sardelli, 2013). The only weakness that can be seen in Maslow’s motivation theory is that it considers every individual have the same drives or motivation level and cannot thus measure how individuals are motivated differently (Bishop, 2016). But then, by understanding basic needs, organizational management and employees will be able to conclude to basic needs level according to which further motivational strategies can be developed.

Job satisfaction is regarded as one of the most necessary concepts which allow management in understand employee’s motivation, performance and effectiveness. Job satisfaction can be described as a positive and pleasurable state recognised by employees through job experience and role. Other than work experience, job satisfaction also includes individuals’ orientations or attitude considering work completion. Some of the positive effects of job satisfaction include motivation to work effectively, positive workplace environment, low turnover rates and low absenteeism in the workplace. Alternatively, when employees show dissatisfaction, organizations have to face high turnover, low productivity and increased absenteeism besides undesirable outcomes like stealing and disloyalty. Such aspects make employees withdraw themselves form organizational objectives and from managerial perspectives, it becomes essential for the organizations to consider job satisfaction factors in their employees (M & D, 2017).

Job Satisfaction: Factors and Benefits

It can be noted that every individual has different criteria to evaluate job satisfaction. Abuhashesh, Rand, & Masadeh (2019) posits that some of the most influential factors which generate job satisfaction among employees include pay, benefit, flexibility, work-life balance and stress levels. Job level can also be linked to emotional and behavioural components in employees such as the feeling of excitement, happiness, anxiety and monotony. Overall, a considerable time spent by the employees in the organization makes evaluating job satisfaction a critical part for the firms because any dissatisfaction in them can have adverse effects on employees personal as well as professional life. It can also be said that job satisfaction and organizational performance are interrelated which is the reason most of the workplace focus on enhancing job satisfaction in employees.

Ikea is one of the furniture giants which reveals how modern organizations seek new ways to maintain high job satisfaction level among employees. For example, the management encourages every employee to be a leader. Leadership is not the focal point here rather the firm instils in everyone minds that each of the Ikea’s employees is a leader and must exercise their work under self-leadership approach. The management rewards competence and performance to motivate, attract and retain high talents, with rewarding. Employees, in turn, tend to perform satisfactorily as their performance and competence are valued by their organization (IKEA, 2018). The case example reveals how appropriate measurement of job satisfaction level and boosting satisfaction in employees help companies in achieving sustainable development.

Arguably, Elnaga & Imran (2014) claims that to unleash potential benefits and ascertain that the employees are kept satisfied, many firms empower their employees like Ikea does. This can though prove disadvantageous when employees start claiming for increased participation in the decision-making process. While inputs and outputs get flooded from each side, accepting or denial becomes another issue which tends to delay management processes. In other words, though the creation of job satisfaction provides firms with several benefits such as effective communication and teamwork, good customer relationship management and increased employees participation and contribution, employees may become more self-centred to satisfy individual goals rather than exerting more efforts for organizational success (Elnaga & Imran, 2014). Therefore, the literature suggests maintaining a fine balance between job satisfaction and traditional management practice. The managers must rather be more sensitive to motivate employees in satisfying their goals concerning the job roles given.

The Relationship between Maslow’s Theory of Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction

Many theories of motivation and job satisfaction have evolved to address human nature and conditions of employee motivation within organizations. Almost every theory is partially true and demonstrates individual behaviour at a certain time and place. However, employee motivation often proves to be more complex than said and may vary differently under different condition, circumstances or situation. As a result, the organization needs to study and implement appropriate motivation theory so that employees are satisfied with their job and work beyond expectations (Sahito & Vaisanen, 2017). Among content theories of motivation, Maslow’s theory of motivation is regarded as pioneer theory which focuses upon job satisfaction along with motivation as it revolves around lower and higher level of human needs.

How a demotivated and unsatisfied staff leads an organization into turbulent times can be seen from Qantas Airline case study. In the year 2011, the company reported a crucial time for its employee management techniques and had to lose a large market. Lots of things were tried in the firm including conflict resolution, different staff selection, outsourcing, providing flexible work hours and training, however, the issues kept flooding and the airline faced several criticisms (Tipler, 2011). With years of planning and employee relationship development techniques, Qantas motivation model reflects every element of Maslow’s motivation theory. To ensure that employees are satisfied with basic needs, the firm works together with their people to maximise outputs and rewards. Safety needs are taken care of by making arrangements for safe home returning for every employee. Self-esteem and belongingness needs are satisfactorily met by employees through trust, recognition and good leadership (Qantas, n.d.).

One notable human behaviour that can be recognised in every organization is changing or moving nature of employees from one place or one job to the other. Such a phenomenon undoubtedly occurs due to some or more causes. Many employees confront low income, unfavourable work condition, excessive workloads or no job security, etc. These issues develop a sense of ill-feeling when the employees seek to leave their jobs and find other places where they can work satisfactorily. Even though they plan not to quit or find another job, the poor and demotivated work culture creates dissatisfaction in them and as a result ineffectiveness in work can be noticed constantly (Etuk & Alobo, 2014).

Varma (2017) posits that organizations core potential lies in a satisfied and motivated workforce who constantly contributes towards the organizational objectives and goals. This requires people management systems to take assistance from models and frameworks to keep their employee’s morale high. It can be said that Maslow’s need of motivation is one of the best ways to satisfy individual needs or purpose since this model is based on the premise that employees will not be motivated for higher needs if they are unsatisfied from lower levels. Recognising such crucial aspects will help organizations in satisfying employee from the bottom of the need’s hierarchy until they achieve and become self-actualized or self-contented (Dhanapal, Alwie, Subramaniam, & Vashu, 2013). Hence, it can be said that Maslow theory of motivation has a great impact on employee job satisfaction which is the reason most of the organizations utilises Maslow’s theory to achieve a satisfied and motivated workforce.

Case Examples of Companies with High Job Satisfaction Level among Employees

Conclusion

Most of the organizational behaviour researchers conclude that motivated employees bring effectiveness to organizational performance and productivity. This makes motivation one of the critical aspects of an organization setting to create an atmosphere which supports employee optimally. Organizations which fail to understand or practice motivation techniques often face low productivity due to demotivated and unsatisfied staff. Therefore, effective motivation theories like Maslow’s theory of motivation is used by most of the successful firms to keep the employees motivated. Job satisfaction is equally important as unsatisfied employees tend to perform ineffectively and result in poor outcomes. From the above essay, it can be said that Maslow’s motivation theory has a great impact on employee motivation since it considers satisfying lower to higher-level needs in employees. When employees will be motivated in the workplace, they will show satisfaction and tendency to perform in a superior way. Business profitability can also be linked to employee motivation which makes it necessary for the organization to keep its employees satisfied and encouraged to keep up their high spirits. This essay concludes that motivational strategies like Maslow’s motivation theory can become an important contributor to organizational success as it has every element which ensures job satisfaction in employees.

References

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