Motivational Factors in Banking - Essay Sample

Executive Summary

Every organization has goals that it is supposed to achieve. The employees are the tools that every organization relies on to make improvements. As such, they must be motivated. The banking sector is no an exception as many banks across the globe seek to motivate their employees to ensure that the organizational goals are set. Motivated employees are able to work better than employees who are not motivated. Such employees show enthusiasm, zeal and valor in doing their jobs. Cognizant of this, banks need to build a motivated workforce that will ensure the set goals and objectives are met. Banks work to make profits. As such, when the employees are not motivated, it becomes difficult to make adequate profits to keep the bank ahead in the competitive financial sector. This study seeks to assess the motivation factors which make the employees give their best in the banking sector. The study also looks at some of the challenges that such employees face in their quest to become as productive as possible. Some of these challenges make the employees unable to give their best and this results in a non-performing institution. If these challenges can be solved and the employees feel motivated, then this can push the bank up. Across the world, there are reports of banks recording losses and some of them closing due to lower morale of employees. Such reports show the need to address the issue of the motivation of the employees within the banking sector to avoid more banks from recording losses. Cognizant of this, this main purpose of this study is to establish the employee's motivational strategies that banks use to motivate their employees. Besides, the study addresses motivational strategies such as rewards, improved monetary perks and bonuses, which can be used to change the working of employees. The study relied on a qualitative research design to cover this topic. Besides, the study obtained data from banks that were used for this analysis. The choice of the banks was driven by the availability of data for the bank as well as the performance ranking of the bank in its specific country. The researcher chose banks that ranked top in their respective countries. Data for the analysis was obtained from accredited websites, books, and annual reports. This data was used to unravel the conundrum between motivation factors and bank performance. The study established that a majority of the banks in the UK have a bonus scheme through which they motivate their employees.

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Introduction

Background of the Study

Employees are key determinants of the performance of an organization. A disoriented and demotivated employee will not be as productive as an employee who is motivated and catered for by the organization. The organization is composed of the employees, management, customers, and other stakeholders who help the organization to achieve its goals. The managers are the ones who are responsible for the success of the organization. The managers are tasked with the role of setting the objectives and goals of the organization. Besides, they are the ones who control the employees. As such, to make the employees perform their duties effectively, the managers need to come up with possible ways of motivating them and making them feel that they own the organization. Without the presence of the managers, it would be difficult to have the employees work. Khan et al. (2017) cited that the employees are to an organization what wheels are to a vehicle. Without the employees, an organization may exist but may not progress.

This shows the importance of the employees to an organization. The decisions made in an organization are made to be implemented by the employees. Thus, the employees are an essential asset which the organization must safeguard at all times. Managers need to develop motivational strategies for employees. However, organizations differ in the way that they run their affairs. As such, every organization needs to develop its unique motivational strategies that are fit for the employees of that organization. For example, the motivational strategies that a financial institution such as a bank would employ are different from those that a manufacturing company would institute. In classifying the employees, organizations look at the influence that specific employees have in that organization. For example, many organizations consider employees from the human section of the organization as the most valuable employees. These employees control the working of the other employees and they are considered more valuable than other employees. As such, any motivational strategy developed by an organization must have the wellbeing of these employees in mind.

Employees determine the kind of services offered by an organization. According to Pratheepkanth (2011), the employees are the organization. What this means is that it is not possible to have an organization without employees. Additionally, if the employees decide to bring the organization down, they can do so very easily. Although the management of a company had the power to drive the company to attain its objectives and goals, it is the employees who have the highest ability to boost or diminish the revenues which are generated by an organization. Cognizant of this, the management needs to understand the needs of the employees and address them accordingly.

Since the employees are the company, it is important to motivate them to enable them to perform their functions in the best manner possible. Motivated employees are able to work hard towards achieving the goals, mission and objective of the organization. Through motivation, an organization has the ability to maximize its output significantly. The process of motivating the employees involves shaping the behavior of the employees in a manner that they turn their efforts to ensure that the company achieves its best. Such a workforce is very important in the banking sector which is facing great competition. In an era that new banks are emerging and old banks changing their style of business, it is imperative for banks to focus on motivating their employees to stay relevant in the highly competitive industry. Studies on the motivation of employees have found out that motivating employees does not need to involve a lot of things.

It could involve such things as verbally congratulating the performing employees, increasing the pay for performing employees or even offering some bonuses to exemplary employees. Such actions may improve not only the motivation of the employees but also increase their loyalty. The management may also decide to assure the employees of the security of their jobs and this enables them to work hard since they know that their jobs are secure. Besides, it helps them to make long term plans which may be a big boost to the operations of the company.

Many banks across the world use better pay as the major motivating factor for the employees. A higher salary motivates the employees to work harder and dedicate all their energies to the organization. Research has shown that there exist more motivation opportunities for men than for women. In many organizations, women feel sidelined when it comes to motivating them. This is the reason that in many organizations, men receive higher salaries than women on average. Such discrimination makes women employees put lesser efforts in their work since they know that even if they put more effort than men, their promotional rate would still be lower.

According to Sarpong (2016), the performance of duties by employees is determined by both internal and external factors. As such, in designing the motivational strategies for employees, the managers must be aware of the underlying internal and external factors. Sarpong (2016) opined that a motivated workforce is vital in achieving the objectives of an organization. Different employees react differently to different motivational strategies. For example, while there are those that are affected by salary increment, there are others than prefer educational advancement opportunities provided by the company among others. This shows that any form of motivation is important in the fulfillment of the mission of an organization.

Motivation is essential in retaining employees in an organization. This provides an advantage to the organization as the employees who have served for a long period tend to have a better experience and are therefore resourceful to the company. A company th...