Motivation is simply, addressing
the unmet needs of the employees and improving the enthusiasm of work to meet
the business and employee goals (Zhao & Pan, 2017). Human Resource
Professionals are responsible to practice various functions to get the firm’s
performance levels to grow rapidly (Jayawardena, N.S. & Jayawardena, D., 2020).
Pandey et al. (2008) mentions the benefits which are gained through motivating
employees are developing positive work-related attitudes and behaviors, increased
organizational commitment, hard-working, developed individual and
organizational performance. Though motivated employees benefit the organization
in various aspects, it is challenged by the factors such as work-life
imbalance, incompetent supervisors, and lower self-confidence issues such as
fear to be failed on the tasks, job stress, or achievement anxiety which
effects organizational performance (Velnampy, 2009).
Figure 1: Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Source: (McLeod,
2007; Maslow & Lewis, 1987)
According to Badubi (2017) there are
theories developed on motivation which are introduced by different authors using different
approaches, giving a relation or influence to the outcomes of employee
satisfaction. From the theories of motivation, McLeod (2007) mentions that Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs five-stage model shown in the above figure is one of the most influential
motivational theories. Furthermore, Maslow & Lewis (1987) describes that,
the needs are organized in a hierarchy of prepotency in which more bottom-level
needs must be met before progressing to upper-level needs.
The greatest value of Maslow’s
need theory lies in the practical implications it has for every management of
organizations (Greenberg & Baron, 2003). It is important to make employees
meet their unmet needs as per the hierarchical order of the theory, to get
their work at their maximum creative potentials. Recognizing employee’s
accomplishments, providing financial security, providing opportunities to
socialize and promoting a healthy work force are some of the strategies used by
HR professionals to keep a highly motivated workforce (Kaur, 2013).
According to Barzoki et al. (2008) motivation is one of the major task in behavioral sciences and it is based on the crucial position and important role of human resources in achieving organizational objectives. Zhao & Pan (2017) points out some region wise examples to prove that motivation is extensively driven by the cross-cultural variances.
- Workforce from
Middle East are fixated on religion.
- The Japanese
employees are more focused on prestige and social status.
- Employees from
western countries do mostly concerned the mental health and work-life
balance.
Hence,
the HR practitioners must address the actual requirements of the particular
employee before they implement any motivational strategy (Lee & Raschke,
2016). In the context of Sri Lanka, financial remuneration, fringe benefits,
promotions are the most important extrinsic influences for many of the
employees (Jayawardena, N.S. & Jayawardena, D., 2020).
Motivation in Banking
Sector
According to Bond & Green
2013, the competitive changes of the banks has improved the level and
competence of services the banks offer to customers in order to gain the
customer loyalty to have long term benefits. Hence, it requires a well-managed,
skilled, and motivated workforce to gain the competitive advantages.
Considering the motivational
aspects in the banking organization which I have my work experiences, the
higher management provides salary increments and bonus, Performance Rewards
such as presenting monthly vouchers for the one on extra mile, Promotions, Employee
Healthcare Packages, Staff Welfare Care, Retirement Benefits (futuristic), Training
Sessions & Workshops, Team Building activities and Brain Storming Sessions as
employee motivational aspects.
Vedio 1: How to Motivate your Employees
Source : Next Bun (2017)
As a conclusion, the motivators
which fulfill the employees’ various competing needs, are the elements used to
boost the performance (Paul & Vincent, 2018). For example, some employees
are motivated by rewards while others focus on achievement or security (Lee
& Raschke, 2016). Therefore, it is essential for an organization and its
managers to understand what really motivates its employees if they intend to
maximize organizational performance.
References
Badubi, R.M., 2017. Theories of
motivation and their application in organizations: A risk analysis.
International Journal of Innovation and Economic Development, 3(3), pp.44-51.
Greenberg,
J. and Baron, R.A., 2003. Behavior in organizations: Understanding and managing
the human side of work. Pearson College Division.
Jayawardena,
N.S. and Jayawardena, D., 2020. The impact of extrinsic and intrinsic rewarding
system on employee motivation in the context of Sri Lankan apparel sector.
International Journal of Business Excellence, 20(1), pp.51-69.
Kaur,
A., 2013. Maslow’s need hierarchy theory: Applications and criticisms. Global
Journal of Management and Business Studies, 3(10), pp.1061-1064.
Lee,
M.T. and Raschke, R.L., 2016. Understanding employee motivation and
organizational performance: Arguments for a set-theoretic approach. Journal
of Innovation & Knowledge, 1(3), pp.162-169.
Maslow,
A. and Lewis, K.J., 1987. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Salenger Incorporated,
14(17), pp.987-990.
McLeod,
S., 2007. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply psychology, 1(1-18).
Pandey, S.K., Wright, B.E. and
Moynihan, D.P., 2008. Public service motivation and interpersonal citizenship
behavior in public organizations: Testing a preliminary model. International
public management journal, 11(1), pp.89-108.
Paul,
A.K. and Vincent, T.N., 2018. Employee motivation and retention: issues and
challenges in startup companies. Int. J. Creat. Res. Thoughts, 6,
pp.2050-2056.
Velnampy,
T., 2009. Job Satisfaction and Employee Motivation: An Empirical Study of Sri
Lankan Organizations. Research Gate.
Zhao,
B. and Pan, Y. (2017) Cross-Cultural Employee Motivation in International
Companies. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 5, 215-222.
I agree with all the above points as they are all valid. According to Smith & Cronje (1992), Maslow’s theory is explained relies on the fact that people want to increase what they want to achieve in life, and their needs are prioritized according to their importance. I work for a leading bank in the financial sector. Once a person’s basic psychological and safety requirements are addressed, the theory states that they will develop a desire to belong, get respect, and eventually realize their full potential. The last stage has the potential to have a negative impact on a bank’s bottom line. While top management ensures that a bank’s process for opening savings accounts is efficient and uses cutting-edge technology, a bank employee will almost certainly be involved at some stage.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Comment Nirmika. The high competition in banking and finance sector requires a well-managed, skilled, and motivated workforce to gain the competitive advantages. Therefore, Kaur (2013) states that a motivated employee is a valuable asset who creates value for an organization in strengthening the business and revenue growth and high productivity is a long term benefit of employee motivation.
DeleteHi gihan I agree with you. adding to you points, there are criticisms regarding above theory. Nadler & Lawler (1979), says the theory makes the following unrealistic assumptions about employees in general that all employees are alike, all situations are like and that and there is only one best way to meet needs. also when the employees reach final stage of self-actualization is vital to an organization, employees work at their maximum potential creativity. then formulating strategies to achieve this stage may benefit the organization (Kaur, 2010).
ReplyDeleteHi Dineth. Agree with your points. There are various scholars discussing the Criticisms of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory. Kaur (2013) mentions that, Maslow proposed that if people grew up in an environment in which their needs are not meet, they would be unlikely to function healthy, well-adjusted individuals. Research testing Maslow’s theory has supported the distinction between the deficiencies and growth needs but showed that not all people are able to satisfy their higher-order needs on the job.
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ReplyDeleteAgree with you Gihan. An employee is never completely satisfied on any need level, but an adequate amount of fulfilment of lower priority needs must be met if the employee is to seek to satisfy top-level needs (Bordia et al., 2004). Maslow stated a hypothetical example for an average employee who is 85 percent fulfilled in physiological needs, 70 percent in safety requirements, 50 percent in love needs, 40 percent in the self-esteem level, and 10 percent in self-actualization level (Bounckenet al., 2018).
ReplyDeleteHi Dileep. Thank you for the comment. The Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs model is theorized to be especially effective in describing the behavior of individuals who are high in growth need strength because employees who are different to the idea of increasing their growth will not realize any physiological reaction to their jobs (Kaur, 2013).
DeleteHi Gihan, Adding more to your points, Maslow's model offers a number of benefits into understanding human needs, Kunchala (2017) says since there is no empirical value to measure one's satisfaction of a level, employers would find it difficult to gauge the level of satisfaction of an employee.
ReplyDeleteHi Amila. Thank you for the comment. According to Kian et al, (2014) the Cognitive Job Satisfaction is tied to the expectations and standards of comparison in terms of which current situations are being assessed. Maslow Hierarchy of Need as fundamental for most of Motivation theories has used Job Satisfaction as foundation of theory development. The theory builds up from personal satisfactions on hierarchical ladders of human needs as motivation aspects.
DeleteHi Gihan.Adding more to your views. Employee motivation can be considered as the level of energy, hard work, continuity, and creativity that employees to their jobs. Whether the economy is rising or shirking, finding ways to motivate employees has always been a management concern (Aishwariya.S , 2021)
ReplyDeleteHi Upeksha. Thank you for the comment. Armstrong & Taylor (2020) mentioned that well motivated people engage in positive discretionary behaviors. There are three steps that managers can apply to develop employee motivation namely Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose (Pink, 2009).
DeleteAgreed Gihan, everyone has the ability and desire to move up the self-actualization hierarchy. Unfortunately, failure to address lower-level needs frequently holds back growth. Divorce and job loss are two examples of life events that might cause an individual to move up and down the ladder. As a result, not everyone will proceed through the hierarchy in a single direction but may switch back and forth between the many types of demands (McLeod, 2020).
ReplyDeleteHi Sanmuganathan. Thank you for the comment. Wahba & Bridwill (1979) explained that not all the people are having same needs which means different employees have different priorities and thus, it is invalid to get an assumption of that everyone has the same needs. There are doubts about the validity of a strictly ordered hierarchy. Maslow emphasized that the higher–order needs are more important.
DeleteHi Gihan, adding to your post, Maslow’s point of view is very helpful in understanding the needs of the staff and determining how to meet their needs. His theory suggests that managers to recognize that deprived needs may have a negative impact on attitudes and behaviors, as well as providing opportunities to meet demand. May have a positive incentive effect (McGrath and Bates, 2017).
ReplyDeleteHi Lakshan. Thank you for the comment. Greenberg & Baron (2003) mentions that Maslow’s theory gets famous because of the practical implication it has for any organizational context. Therefore, Human Resource Managers should address the actual requirements of the particular employee before implementing any motivational strategy (Lee & Raschke, 2016).
DeleteHi, Gihan, According to Maslow's psychology theory, once a person's basic psychological and safety requirements are addressed, the idea states, he or she will develop a need to belong, then gain respect, and finally realize their full potential (McLeod, 2018). For example, while top management is in charge of ensuring that a bank's process for opening current accounts is efficient and uses cutting-edge technology, a bank employee will almost certainly become engaged at some point during the process.
ReplyDeleteHi Indika. Thank you for the comment. Maslow (1954) started that only an unsatisfied need is able to motivate the behavior and the dominant need is the prime motivator of behavior. When the employees move up the hierarchy of needs, psychological development takes place, but this is not essentially a straightforward progression. The bottom level needs exist, even if temporarily dormant as motivators, and individuals constantly return to previously satisfied needs (Armstrong & Taylor, 2020).
DeleteAgree with you Gihan. According to Maslow's theory, an employee's initial focus should be on the lower order needs of physiology and security. In general, a person starting a job will be concerned about physiological demands such as enough pay and consistent income, as well as security needs such as benefits and a safe workplace (McLeod,2020). We all desire decent pay to support our families and to work in a stable atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteHi Isuru. Thank you for the comment. According to Mathes (1981), Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs model suggests that early in life, the employee should establish a basis for physiological survival and safety, and once those are accomplished the employee should seek belongingness, followed by achievements and finally the self- actualization.
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ReplyDeletePsychologist Abraham Maslow`s original five-stage model has been expanded twice to include cognitive needs, aesthetic needs (Maslow, 1970a)and transcendence needs (Maslow, 1970b)under growth needs. These needs are also important to consider in developing motivational strategies.
ReplyDeleteMcLeod, S., 2007. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply psychology, 1(1-18).McLeod, S., 2007. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply psychology, 1(1-18).
Hi Ravi. Thank you for the comment. Agree with the extended points. Kenrick (2010) proposed a renovated hierarchy for the theory after many years have passed since Maslow’s classic 1943 psychological review paper proposing the hierarchical approach on motivation. Kenrick (2010) revised the version with seven tires which includes, Immediate Physiological needs from the base, self- protection, Affiliation, Status/ Esteem, Mate Acquisition, Mate Retention and Parenting.
DeleteI totally agree with your point, With four out of five people
ReplyDeleteworking a large part of their lives in organizations, it is increasingly important to understand what happens in the places that dominate our society and lives (Lawler,1973)
Hi Surangi. Thank you for the comment. According to Singh & Tiwari (2011) it is important for organizations to frame strategies in order to tolerate the challenging competition, and the one which are able to survive will be able to sustain longer than others. The managers should direct the employees in such a way that the employees can be aligned to the organization strategies and also understand the employee expectations (Varma, 2018).
DeleteAgreed with your points Gihan , further Armstrong explained Motivation theory considers the process of motivation. It further illustrate what organization could do to encourage employees to apply their efforts and abilities in ways that will achieve organization’s goals as well as satisfying employees own needs. This is related to job satisfaction as well. It’s directly on employee performance (Armstrong,2006).
ReplyDeleteHi Manoj. Thank you for the comment. According to Pandey et al. (2008), effectively motivated employees have positive work-related attitudes and behaviors, increase organizational commitment, hard-working, have a developed individual and organizational performance. Therefore, Human Resource Professionals are responsible to use different strategical approaches to get the firm’s performance levels to grow rapidly (Jayawardena, N.S. & Jayawardena, D., 2020).
Delete100% Agreed adding to that roper goal setting is a critical element to an organization regardless of its size. From organizations that contain less than 15 employees to those with over 100,000 employees, every employee should be aware of their personal goals as well as those of the organizations. This factor becomes even more critical within small to mid-sized organizations, as there is often little room for error. By engaging employees, instituting SMART goal setting techniques, and recognizing individual employees for their efforts and achievements organizations will achieve higher levels of financial success.Darnell, N., Henrique, I., & Sadorsky, P. (2010)
ReplyDeleteHi Ijaz. Thank you for the comment. According to Varma (2018), the employees who are effectively motivated and satisfied about the job will have a committed behavior towards the organizational objectives. Simultaneously, the organization also will have to show a same commitment towards the goals of the employee too.
DeleteHi Gihan, Well explained. Further would like to add Maslow's hierarchy can be further categorized in to two sections as growth needs and deficiency needs which was explained by ( Noltemeyer, Bush, Patton and Bergen, 2012). According to (Swart, 2010) the elements that can be used in order to satisfy and motivate the employees can be define as deficiency needs. Not only that but also it can be analyze as basic needs, psychological needs and self fulfilment needs according to (Hodge, Lonsdale and Ng, 2008) as well.
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DeleteHi Deshani. Thank you for the comment. According to Ramlall (2004), need theories attempt to identify internal factors that strengthen the employee behavior, theories including Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory and McClelland’s Need theory are in the category of needs theories.
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