Essay Sample on Motivation Theories Explain Aspects That Inspire Employees

Introduction

In his theory, Vroom argues that motivation and work-related behavior is predictable when employers can understand the strength of desire on the side of the employee for different outcomes and the possibility of achieving them. In an organizational setting, people can have different goals and needs. Therefore, their perception of things and how they connect with the organizational goals and achievement is different (Ramlall 2004, p.56). Valence, instrumentality, and expectancy are three main mental elements that instigate and form beliefs as well as attitudes of employees in the business. If an employee effort matches the expected outcome, then this expectation drives performance and work towards achieving the desired results. In an organization, workers will make a choice among alternative courses of action depending on the psychological events that match the desired behavior (Vroom 1964, p.15). Therefore, people's behavior matches their conscious choices among alternatives whereby the level of motivation impacts on performance outcome.

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Herzberg's Two - Factor Theory

In his theory, Herzberg was concerned with job redesign as an approach to motivating workers in the organization, Frederick Herzberg noted that a framework of employee motivation is based on intrinsic and extrinsic factors which makes it also known as the two-factor theory. Intrinsic factors are the motivators including aspects such as recognition, achievement, responsibility, growth, advancement and the work itself. The extrinsic or hygiene factors are the dissatisfying aspects or experiences unrelated to the job including salaries, coworker relations, company policies, and supervisory styles. The elimination of the hygiene factors does not motivate employees. Satisfaction and motivation of employees result from applying the motivating factors. In an enterprise, Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation will require the employer to change the nature of the employee's job through work enrichment. Redesigning the jobs is mandatory to allow for increased challenges as well as responsibility, opportunities for advancement, recognition and personal growth (Ramlall 2004, p.57). Employers must understand that the factors leading to job dissatisfaction are different from those leading to motivation. Elimination of job dissatisfaction factors will only lead to peace and not motivation. Instead of motivating the workforce, organizations that concentrated on eliminating these factors the employees. Workers should be given tasks that are more challenging and requiring extra responsibility to increase their motivation. For instance, an employee can perform the functions of a supervisor. To be sufficiently motivated, the employee must get an opportunity for achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, and stimulation (Herzberg 1968, p.58).

Application of Motivational Theories in the UK Work Context

The most suitable motivation theory to use in the UK context is the Herzberg's two-factor theory that emphasizes increasing the job satisfaction factors as an influence to motivating employees in an enterprise. Herzberg's theory promotes the enhancement of the motivator factors for employees including responsibility, achievement, work itself, recognition, advancement and personal growth (Ramrall 2004, p.57).

In the UK context, employees are motivated to work based on factors that are related to the job (intrinsic factors). As stated by Herzberg, eliminating the dissatisfying elements will not drive the workers. According to Furnham and Eracleous (2009, p.765), demographic variables and the personality traits influence the motivation of workers in the enterprise. Job status and conscientiousness predict job satisfaction that results from motivated employees. Employers are encouraged to consider individual employee differences of personality in the organization. Acknowledging these differences and redesigning the work organization systems is a better way of promoting a change of attitudes for the workers towards the work environment. In their study, Pas, Peters, Eisinga, Doorewaards, and Largro-Janssen (2011, p.487) noted that the lack of career motivation of female doctors in the UK is as a result of lacking supportive work-home and motherhood culture. The governmental and organizational policies should change and consider improving the work-life balance and maternal employment to support the work of highly educated women.

Based on the UK work context, the Herzberg two-factor theory should be used to enhance employee participation. Miles (1965, p.1) state that there is a positive relationship between employee participation and morale in the workplace. Workers achieve job satisfaction when given a chance to take part more in the organization by being allowed to execute tasks that are demanding, require them to take control and make decisions. In the UK, female doctors are left out in the participative decision-making in the workplace, and that is why there is high gender imbalance. They are not able to voice their concerns, and that makes their needs not addressed by the government or organizations. The failure of the employers to offer them with challenging and exciting work limits their interest in career development. Every employee needs to have a challenging plan that motivates them to take the initiative to grow in their careers and workplace at the same time. It seems that the UK work environment fails to provide opportunities for female doctors and this affects their ability to grow their profession. The Herzberg two-factor theory is useful to help employers in providing employees with opportunities for growth, recognition, a feeling of control over the job and achievement through a positive business impact.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the motivation theories explain aspects that inspire employees to work commitment and achievement of better performance in organizations. Theory X and theory Y explain negative and positive factors that influence employee motivation respectively. Theory Y is a better motivation approach than theory X as motivation comes from the employee. It is not necessary for the worker to be impacted by factors outside the job to get motivated. The Vroom's expectancy theory, on the other hand, focuses on the match among three aspects including effort, performance, and reward. Employee expectations from their production of duties to achieve excellent and rewarding outcomes are critical to attaining motivation. Herzberg's two-factor theory demonstrates the need for organizations to focus on intrinsic factors that motivate employees. Through job redesign, employers can motivate employees with responsibilities that are challenging, increase recognition and reward as well as the feeling of achievement. Based on the analysis, the most suitable motivation theory to use in the UK work context is the Herzberg two-factor theory. Employers should eliminate dissatisfying factors and also improve the motivating factors. Doing away with the dissatisfying aspects of the job would only result in normalcy. However, when employers redesign the jobs, employees are offered with opportunities that challenge them to apply more skills and deliver more to the institution.

References

Furnham, A., and Eracleous, A. (2009). Personality, motivation and job satisfaction: Hertzberg meets the Big Five. Personality, motivation and job satisfaction, Journal of Managerial Psychology, 24(8), pp. 765-779.

Herzberg, F. (1968). One more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review, p.58.

McGregor, D. (1966). The human side of the enterprise. In Leadership and motivation, essays of Douglas McGregor, Cambridge MA: MIT Press, pp.3-20.

Miles, R. (1965). Human relations or human resources? Managing people. Harvard Business Review.

Pas, B., Peters, P., Eisinga, R., Doorewaards, H., and Largro-Janssen, T. (2011). Explaining career motivation among female doctors in the Netherlands: the effects of children, views on motherhood and work-home cultures. Work, Employment and Society, 25(3), pp. 487-505. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017011407973.

Ramlall, S. (2004). A review of employee motiv...