Motivation is a key aspect nowadays in the workplace as all employees need motivation to achieve their best efforts within their specified areas. ‘Motivation can be described as the direction and persistence of action.’(Mullins 2010) Motivation is studied in order to determine if people behave in the way they do as it is unique to each individual and have different factors that motivate them. The concept of motivation would be that everyone needs to aim towards a certain goal to fulfil either needs or expectations.
Content theories explore the effects that motivation has upon a person within the workplace. These look at certain goals that the individual has set for themselves in order to satisfy their needs and wants. Frederick Herzberg researched into a theory he called ‘motivation-hygiene’, this theory was first published in 1959, in a book called ‘The Motivation to Work’. Herzberg’s research included interviews with employees about what pleased and displeased them about where they worked. He found that things causing satisfaction (motivators) were different from the things that seemed to cause dissatisfaction. He named the ‘unsatisfiers’ hygiene factors because they were mainly considering the maintenance factors that are needed to keep employees from being de motivated, but that by themselves they would not improve motivation of the workers. Hygiene factors included; company policy, supervision, relationship with the boss, work conditions, salary, and relationship with peers. Herzberg said these may make people unsatisfied if they are not present in a working environment. The motivation factors are; Achievement, Recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement, and growth. If these are present in an employee’s external environment then Herzberg believed employees were a lot more motivated at work. I found this theory relevant to my experience from working at Wembley stadium as there are many incentives that are offered to stop de-motivation within the workplace, such as supervision responsibilities and incentives such as free tickets to stadium events. I felt there was a sense of trust and recognition between me and my boss which I believe is very important.
I have always wanted to go to university ever since I started secondary school; I loved the idea of furthering my education away from home and have fun while doing so. This was a huge motivator for me as I knew that I had to work hard and get there on my own. Now that I am at university I know it was worth all the hard work as I do not regret anything. I choose business management as I am still unsure of what I want to do in the future but it is a very broad subject and offers possibilities in the future. What will motivate me for the next two years will be knowing that I am spending a lot of money to be here and study, and do not want to waste this opportunity. Also if I get a good degree I may have the possibility to stay on and further my education further, but otherwise I believe a degree will help me find a successful job when I’m older.
I have been de-motivated working at Wembley before when the shop was offering two free tickets to all staff members to whoever sold the most tickets for the tour of the stadium. This was open to all staff members and as I was part time I could not sell anywhere near the amount of tickets as those who are full-time and therefore felt that however hard I tried there was no way I could win the tickets and I felt very de-motivated. I spoke to my manager about this as there were many part-timers who felt the same as I did, so they decided to offer two tickets the full-timers and then two separate tickets to the part-timers so it was fair and gave everyone a chance to win. I was worried that nothing would be done but the management saw that it was unfair and found a fair solution that suited everyone, I was very happy that I voiced my concerns as from then on there were always separate incentives for the part-timers to give everyone a chance.
To conclude content theories of motivation can offer techniques in order to keep individuals at the workplace motivated and therefore increase quality of work. To satisfy an individual’s needs, goals must be set between management and staff. Everyone is different and it is essential that different motivational techniques are used to cover the variety of people and needs within a workplace. Communication is needed between staff and management in order to keep everyone satisfied, therefore this will keep staff motivated and they can perform to the best of their abilities which will benefit themselves and the organisation.
References
Mullins, L. (2010) Management and organisational behaviour.9th ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
Redman, T and Wilkinson, A.(2001) Contemporary human resource management. Essex: Pearson Education Limited
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