543 Leadership and Organizational Behavior
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The Impact of Motivation
Debra Yeager
Concordia University
Abstract
Motivation is something within us all. It could be taught, it could be a part of who we are, but one thing is for sure, it is something all around us that does affect many parts of life. The involvement of motivation is such that it is taught and influenced at young ages, leading into educational motivation and work motivation. The impact of motivation on organizational behavior is very important. Motivation could make or break anything in its path, but with the right skills and motivational prompts the behaviors of all, from education to organizations, improve, which will then improve the scene that the individuals are in. It is important to understand that even though some possess motivation all on their own, many need appreciation or incentives to fill their motivational tanks. Here we will find just what makes one motivated, and how it affects an organization and the behavior of individuals and organizations together. As Michelangelo has said, “Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish. (Phillips, 1993, p.222)
The Impact of Motivation
It is hard to say just what makes one motivated, it is even harder to say what makes other people motivated. Here the definition of motivation will be explained as well as how it is learned. Not only will there will be an explanation of motivation in the organization, but at the earlier stages of life that determine how one is motivated, and how one carries that motivation through school into work. This information is important to understanding just how motivation impacts organizational behavior because individuals are all differently motivated and can work together harmoniously in an organization. How do you motivate someone? We are about to find out the ways that individuals have motivated children, adolescents, adults and employees, and how they continue to positively influence the motivation of others. It is understood that morals and motivation go hand in hand, the correlation between the two and the impact it has on organizational behavior will be explained.
What is motivation to you? Some say it is what makes a person tick; others would say it is a drive behind what they do. According to The Agile Manager’s Guide to Motivating People “Motivation is doing more than you have to.” (Straub 1997, p.12). When we are young we are taught how to be motivated. This could be something as simple as getting a piece of candy when the toilet is used while potty training, earning enough stars on the chore chart to buy a book, or being giving money for A’s while in school. This just proves that everyone needs motivation. The Agile Manager’s Guide to Motivating People states that motivation applies to “Your relationship with yourself.” (Straub 1997, p.13)
If your relationship with yourself is what should be what gets you motivated, then the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is spot on. These levels of needs are self-fulfillment, self-esteem, social needs, safety needs and bodily needs. Bodily needs are the foundation for the pyramid. According to People, Communication and Organization once the needs of one part of the pyramid are met, then the individual can go to the next level. “This is the desire of an individual to achieve all that he is capable of achieving.” (Chilver, 1984, p.7)
“Purists insist that no one can motivate another person, which all motivation comes from within.” (Deeprose, 1994, p. 11) Is this true? My personal opinion agrees with Deeprose, that it is within me, a part of me, who I am. However, did I get that way on my own? I must have been taught this motivation, taught that I can do things for rewards. These rewards don’t necessarily need to be a material thing, but I was first taught with material things. A star sticker when I cleaned my room, a trip for ice cream when I earned enough stars, an allowance when I did all my chores without being asked. There were definitely incentives to my motivation in my younger years. Somehow through all of those wonderful incentives, I still found motivation within, and the pleasure to have motivation without something coming out on the other side of it, it was for myself.
The Self Theory is “based on a deceptively simple premise, derived from a general systems view that human beings have a fundamental need to maintain or enhance the phenomenal self.” The phenomenal self is the whole personality of the person, all the things that make up this individual, all the items used to describe this person.”(Snyder & Williams, 1982, pg.2) This theory suggests that a person will do whatever needed to maintain who he or she is, if they are a hard worker, they will maintain this. If he or she sees themselves as a low production employee, this person will do whatever he or she can to enhance productivity. This theory suggests that motivation is completely within, completely a part of someone, and that at any time the person can advance to another level.
As I went through school I had motivation, motivation to do well, to stay out of trouble, to get good grades. My reward was my own. I wasn’t rewarded with good grades, I earned them, and I wasn’t rewarded by anyone other than myself. My hard work and the outcome of that was reward enough and I used that and turned it right back into motivation to complete the next task at hand. Don’t get me wrong, I would have been nice to have had some rewards based on the outcomes, however I wasn’t lucky enough to get payments for good grades, or materialistic items, a “good job” from my family was what I got and that was enough. My parents believed that motivation came from within after being taught a few key pleasures of doing well; my parents stopped with the rewards, and claimed that “The rewards are not rewards at all; they are items you earned from being motivated to better yourself!” My sisters and I heard that for years, and continue to hear it now and share it with our children.
Is this process of teaching some reward based motivation and then taking it away for self-motivating motivation affective? Well, in my case it is, it seems to have worked with my offspring and with many others, but for those that struggle there are always other ways of getting that individual back on track. For those adults that are just lacking in motivation for whatever reason there are some simple tips that are affective for short term results that get that employee motivated to do something fantastic. Charles Clark (1980)shares in Idea Management: How to Motivate Creativity and Innovation that “…incentive awards, badges, advancement opportunities, and recognition in the company newspaper all add up” and that “Something as simple as a month’s parking place next to the vice president’s- right up front, near the entrance- has proved effective in one company.” He also shares that “Incentives are effective motivators, but pride, self-respect, and doing something worthwhile are even more compelling.” (p24, 25). 151 Quick Ideas to Inspire Your Staff shared that “traditional motivation is external and uses a push to get people going. It assumes that people can be motivated by money or the things money buys” (Wilson, 2005, p.74)
It is no doubt that even with children, it is a rare case that negative motivators do well. “Negative motivators, no matter where we meet them, generate smoldering rage, contempt, and resentment of titanic proportions.” (Straub, 1997, pg. 15). A negative motivator could be a boss. This “bad boss” or “bully boss”, or even a bad teacher could be the contributor of little to no motivation. While it seems strange that one person could change an individual’s motivation, the number shares that it is true. The “University of Florida researchers found that employees with abusive bosses were more likely than others to slow down or make errors on purpose” according to Good Boss, Bad Boss (Sutton, 2010, pg.4) If this is in fact true, then it is not necessarily true that the employees of a bad boss are not motivated, they just have changed their motivation to a negative form. Whether it is positive or negative change, “People don’t change their behavior unless it makes a difference for them to do so.”(Tarkenton and Tuleja, 1986, p.5) There are plenty of ways that leaders can lead poorly. Here are some common mistakes of leaders that hurt motivation: a lack of training or inadequate training, no firm definition of the job or what they are required to do, out of date supplies or copies or even inaccurate paperwork, and when there is not a proper reflection on the amount of work being done. (Kanji, KristensenDahlgaard, 1995)
Within some individuals just having the ability or chance to do something is motivating enough; receiving adequate pay, good working conditions, decent fringe benefits, and acceptable working relationship with your boss. These are not motivators according The Agile Manager’s Guide to Motivating People who shares that these are maintenance factors, are items “that employees feel they have a right to get no matter where you work.” (Straub, 1997 p.21). So, knowing what employees feel they are entitled to, help get them motivated. According to the FISH! A remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve results (Lundin, Paul and Christensen, 2000, pg. 78) There are a few ways to make this happen naturally. First, choose your attitude, meaning, you can choose to be negative, or to have a good day at work. Second, Play, have fun at work, make it fun, be fun and this creates more energy. Third- make their day, just what is says, make the customers day, make them laugh, smile and enjoy life, it is contagious. Lastly, be present. When you’re at work, your 100% at work. Be a part of it and be engaged in it. What is the benefit of all of these items? It sure does make life at work a whole lot better. Having a great attitude, having fun at work and making peoples day is a satisfying feeling at the end of the day. (Lundin, Paul et al, 2000, pg. 88) Not only does it come back into the organization and its people, but it creates something contagious and continual, something fun to return to daily. These four items create a healthy environment that is rewarding in itself. A great way to be motivating and to have it returned the same. Fish! Is a great philosophy about running a business. Seattle’s fish market is one of the most fun places I have ever been and it is catching. You can go in upset, and leave a very happy person, whether you buy a fish or not, the way they are so motivated to have fun and do a great job, it is inspiring to anyone that wants to be a leader. It opens to doors for ideas and creativity to flow; it encourages a fantastic atmosphere that everyone wants to be a part of.
The Persuasive Edge suggests that employees need to be persuaded to be motivated. The use of emotion in persuasion is a desired use and “At its heart is the premise that our behavior is motivated by our attempts to satisfy our wants, desires, needs, or drives. To capture that edge you need to understand what motivates your audience.” (Martel, 1989, p.29)Telling an individual they did a great job is a fantastic way to keep them motivated, but it is hard to see every person face-to-face and tell them that, so How To Motivate People shares that leaders should have a “reinforcement memo” (Tarkenton and Tuleja,1986, p.95). The reinforcement memo could be “thanks for your hard work”, “you did a great job on that project”, “I appreciate your hard work” and so many other positive reinforcement comments that reinforce that employees motivation and work ethic. Letting your employees know how great they are is a simple approach, yet profoundly affects their motivation.
Donald Dalena said “three simple keys are necessary to unlock the door to human progress within the workplace: care, continuous feedback, and the feeling of mutual need,” from an article in Industry Week. (Benge and Hickey, 1984, p.71) Doesn’t that sound familiar? Based on a video from class about Camphill Village, we learned that most people really want the feeling of a mutual need. Many of us all want the same, a sense of belonging, to know where we stand in our jobs or even in our personal life, and for people to care. Even in the 1980’s the terms were all the same, people wanted to be appreciated, people wanted to have the care of their co-workers and leaders, they wanted feedback on how they were doing and that wanted to feel important. It is interesting that none of this has changed, and more and more each day leaders are honoring these wants to form a stronger more constructive organization, and it is working and the behavior of the staff in the organization is what continues to help the organization thrive. After all, happy employees do look good to customers, if the organization is sound and the employees speak highly of the organization, only good things will happen. How do we make an organization’s behavior strong enough that motivation comes easily?
We start at the beginning. The beginning of the organization, the foundation that it was built on. We start with the founders and work our way to present day. Is this an easy process? Well it definitely not as hard as so many individuals think. It is purely changing the way you operate as a person and things will quickly change for everyone. This change has to come from a significant person in the organization, a person such as a leader. The leader must be prepared to be clear on what the team needs to be doing, be clear on the purpose of the organization, and to speak to the team with such clarity that they take it on as one, each motivated by one another and their own internal fire. (Myers & Mann, 2011, p.129) Great leaders know how to inspire those they lead; they have the education and motivation to touch almost every person in their team. But how do they do it? It’s not really complicated at all; they really just take the time to know what makes the individual tick, what touches them and fulfills their needs? Most likely any leader knows some needs that their employees have, they tend to use those as leverage, but there are far more needs present then just a paycheck and insurance.
There are so many more needs then those that many individuals feel entitled to. Leaders have developed some wonderful ways of getting the team together to meet those needs. First, it is the mentality of the leader; the leader must work with the team he or she is leading, not just look at the members like “extensions” but at members of a strong team. (Donnithorne, 1993, pg.78). Second is the tender trust. Trust has to be given to ensure it is received, it makes a team strong. The team can unite with trust, and this trust starts with the leader allowing the members to work and maintain their own responsibilities as well as help with other responsibilities when others cannot. These two items are imperative to a great team from a great leader, but wait, what next? There is so much more to this, holding the members of the team in “high regard” , allowing the team to share the success of the organization ( not necessarily financially) , being goal oriented by either setting goals for the team, or encouraging the team to set goals together, encouraging members input and showing appreciation when the input comes in, the leader gives directions as clear as possible and waits for any questions to come his way, and the leader keeps a good open line of communication with the team and uses it as well to encourage the positive communication between all members. (Donnithorne, 1993, pg.79-80).
Why is the impact of a leader so important? Good leaders tend to be positive re-enforcers, which are also motivators. The impact of motivation on organizational behavior is larger than just motivation from a person, but leaders to reinforce and help fill the positive fulfillment tank that the individuals have. No, not everyone needs a pat on the back, but some people do, and some people should get them even if they don’t need it. But, we don’t just need good leaders to help keep us motivated, we also need our peers to do it too.
OCB, also known as Organizational Citizenship Behavior “is a behavior by an employee intended to help coworkers or the organization.” This includes being punctual, helping others, making suggestions to improve things, and not wasting time at work. (Spector, 1997, p.57)When it comes to OCB you can be compliant, which is doing what is required of the job without having to be supervised, you come on time and you stay on task. Altruism is the helping kind of OCB. Both are good groups and are affective, one may do less than the other, but not all employees are going to want to help others, and not all employees will be on time, but OCB shows that peers can motivate others.
We have the leader doing well and the members of the team doing well to create a motivated team that respects and trust one another. What happens when we get a new employee that just doesn’t fit into the mix? What happens to the younger person that just landed a job with us that is really struggling to get in tune with our team? The organization must get the new member up to date with the team.