Prince Gashongore Dukundane

Mechanical Systems Engineering

MOT and Venture Business Class

MOTIVATION

The Motivation of employees in a given organization affects their productivity and the role of a
management team is to provide economical, material and social support to the employees so that
they can accomplish the organization performance goals efficiently and effectively. Historically,
the productivity of workers and what motivate them have been a complex subject for managers
and researchers because different employees are motived by different personal and unique things.
Upon assessing different approaches taken by managers in organizations at different time in the
history of management (i.e. traditional approach, human relations approach, human resources
approach and contemporary approaches) [Class Reading material]. The main key points revolve
around personal needs of employees, how the management team address them by creating a
systematic strategy to motivate its employees in order to accomplish the productivity goals of the
organization, and finally how the strategy is reinforced equally to all employees.
Employees needs, motivation and productivity
Throughout the history of management, it was demonstrated and proved that the motivation of
employees increase when their needs are identified and provided, the outcome is the increase in
their productivity [Class Reading material].
There is different employees needs and strategies to provide them. Following are the most
common needs of employees:

Basics needs like food and other physiological needs

Power, money and promotion in the organization
Need for affiliation and to be part of a group of people with a great mission and vision in
a certain industry
Need for achievement and impact in their career
Adequate working environment
Recognition and rewards
Capacity building ( learning and training) and acquiring expertise
Creativity and ability to have your ideas heard and considered in the workplace
Etc.

The magnitude of all these needs is different to different employees, thus the role of management
team is to assess all employees on an individual basis and identity their needs and interests, then
develop an effective systematic strategies which align with the productivity goals, mission and
vision of the organization.

Strategy to motivate employees and improve their productivity

The management team can develop a strategy to empower their employees and motivate them to
be productive using the equity theory and expectancy theory.
Equity theory is a process theory that focus on individuals perceptions of how fairly they are
treated relative to others [Class Reading material]. Inequity and favoritisms affect the
performance of employees therefore managers must trait fairly all employees based on their
qualifications, competences and productivity with respect to the organization goals, mission and
vison.
Expectancy theory is a process theory that proposes that motivation depends on individuals
expectations about their ability to perform tasks and receive desired rewards [Class Reading
material]. Managers are supposed to assess together with employees what they are capable to
accomplish within a given time and what they expect from the effort. Communicating clearly to
employees what they get from their effort and how they will be rewarded will motivate them to
work hard thus improving their productivity.
Motivation strategy reinforcement and job design
In order to achieve the goals of the motivation strategy, a change in behavior is required in the
organization [Class Reading material]. The reinforcement tools are divided into positive
reinforcement where good performance is rewarded, avoidance learning where employees
perform well to avoid negative consequences the management can apply to them, on other hand
punishment is the application of unpleasant outcomes on an employee after underperformance.
Finally an extinction can be imposed to an employee by withdrawing a positive reward from him
because of undesired behavior in the organization [Class Reading material].
Employees are motivated to perform a certain job in the organization and his/her productivity is
evaluated on how he/she accomplished his/her job. Thus a job is a unit of work that a single
employee is responsible for performing [Class Reading material]. The job design and tasks
assigned to employees should designed by taking into consideration their ability, knowledge and
expertise. The motivation strategy developed by manager should be applied in the structure of
work to improve productivity and satisfaction [Class Reading material].
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can see that motivated employees are productive employees. The way are
motivated is simple by assessing their needs, develop a motivation a systematic strategies to
address their needs proportionally to their performance, competence and qualifications, thus the
strategy must align the individual capability, social and economic interests with organization
productivity goals. A reinforcement plan and an effective job design must be developed to make
employees and employers accountable. This will make the organization achieve its productivity
goals, mission and vision.