Retaining best employees is somewhat crucial for organization’s

development. How managers can use an integrated model of motivation to

enhance productivity and human resource maintenance?

The purpose of preparing this essay is to discuss retaining best employee is somewhat

crucial for organization’s development. This essay also focuses on the way managers can

use an intrigated model of motivation to enhance productivity and human resource

maintenance.

In the present scenario, Human resource is one of the most vital assets for a company.

The world has now realised that the human capital of a company has to be treated with

care, or else the company will be the loser in the end. There is nothing more valuable in a

company than a valued employee who has been providing them with their priceless

service. A newly recruited employee is nothing compared to an experienced, valued

employee who has been working for the company for a long time. This is true for many

reasons:

 First of all, research has shown that it is 35% more expensive for a company to

recruit a new employee than to retain an old one.

 Experienced employees knows a lot about the ins and outs of a company and that

knowledge can never be replaced with a new recruit, no matter what the new

employee’s qualifications are.

 If an experienced employee resigns from an organization, to replace that

employee with a new one costs a lot of loss of time. Because, not only that the
 company then has to hire new employees, it has to train them to make them edible

for the organization. This also results in loss of efficiency.

(rohitminton@http://www.contentwriter.in/articles/hr/employee-retention-tools.htm)

Therefore, a company should always look more to retain employees than to hire new

employees to ensure efficiency and development. For that the company has to take care

of their existing employees. The company has to realise that existing employees are true

assets to the company, like any others valuable parts of the organization. The company’s

human resource management system has to always consider creating the best working

condition for the existing employees. The existing employees should always be given the

necessary and effective motivation, so that they can feel that it is worth working for the

organization.

This report looks for ways to create that kind of motivation – how existing employees can

be motivated to stay loyal to the company. This approach will ensure the company’s

productivity, efficiency and reputation to a positive direction.

Managers have to always motivate their employees to get the best performance. There

have been a number of motivation theories – theories that were intended in developing a

model that helps motivate people. Managers can take reference of those models, but

ultimately it is their intuition and practical, personal experience that will help them on

their way to motivate the ones who are working under them. Employees are experienced

and educated they anticipate more extrinsic and intrinsic reward in their workplace. There

are many theories for motivating employees; all theories can be classified in two broad

categories. They are the content motivation theory and the process motivation theory.
Among the number of theories and models based on motivation, these are some of them:

1. Maslow’s Hierarchy theory

2. Alderfer’s ERG theory

3. McCellend’s acquired need theory

4. Herzberg’s two-factor theory

5. Equity theory

6. Vroom's Expectancy Theory

….

These theories, although are theories based on critical analytical research done by great

thinkers, each of them has their disadvantage, limitation, variance in application and

debate in appropriateness.

The Maslow’s Hierarchy theory for one is too simple to work with in different complex

situation and to some extent a little vague. It says that one person will be motivated to do

a certain level of job if that person is given the appropriate reward and compensation

(salary, status, power etc) of that position, but it does not say what actually the rewards

and compensation are. Different person has different perception about what that person

needs for him/her to be working in a position. For example, if a job offers a salary of

$4000 per month and free gas for car, one employee might be very much satisfied with

those setoff benefits, where as another employee might feel that’s its not enough to keep

someone in that job; that employee might feel that this job needs a larger set of benefit

(bigger salary or medical expenditure back up etc) However, with this theory one can

make intuitive judgement about what employees in general might want. That way, this
theory might help managers to motivate and retain old employees by giving them enough

benefits that they want. However, managers need even more complex models or theories

to help themselves motivate and retain employees.

Another disadvantage of this theory is that it says that if people meet one level of needs,

he has the incentive to go for the next level. This is not true for all cases; not all people

go through the same pyramid of needs. The hierarchy might change from person to

person. One can be interested in esteem reeds right after safety needs (if that person is

very individualistic and someone who doesn’t care about the people around him much.

So from one person to another person, the theory might result in different need hierarchy.

Managers need to understand each emplyees’ need hierarchy to understand exactly what

employees need and that is not an easy job.

Alderfer’s ERG theory can be a little more helpful in understanding motivation. It

explains to some extend, why an employee can lose productivity and performance in the

workplace. It helps managers understand that if they cannot give the employees their

desired benefits to be in a job, they might feel that doing the job to get those benefits is

not worth it and concentrate on minor things in life which results in lack of attentiveness

in the workplace, which in terms might cause downturn of productivity.

However, this theory still doesn’t fixate exactly what each employee want, so in

understand each employees wants and demands in a job this theory doesn’t help much.
McCellend’s acquired need theory is a bit more helpful in understanding the motivation

of the employees. With this theory managers can identify which employee is driven by

which need and deal with them with their needs. An employee who is driven by the need

for achievement will be good enough to do a job that involved critical problem solving,

like understanding consumer needs, designing an operation etc. The employee who is

driven by the need for affiliation will do best in team works where interpersonal

communication and interpersonal chemistry is important. The employees with the need

for power on the other hand should be given jobs that involve directing and leading a

group of people. This theory helps managers understand which job will give an employee

the intrinsic satisfaction that the employee seeks.

This theory gives managers directions into employees’ mental structure. However,

managers need even deeper mental picture of the employees to motivate them properly.

Herzberg’s two-factor theory gives another process through which employee gets

motivation. This theory helps managers understand what the absolute necessary things

that employees need to get motivated are. This theory helps the managers understand the

satisfiers and dissatisfiers in the work place. Dissatisfiers are bound to be achieved and

satisfiers are to be achieved as much as possible.

However, like Maslow’s and Alderfer’s theory this theory does not take into consideration

the different employees varied perception about satisfiers and dissatisfies.

Adams' Equity theory states that employees strive for equity between themselves and

other workers. Equity is achieved when the ratio of employee outcomes over inputs is

equal to other employee outcomes over inputs. (Adams, 1965) It is important when

striving to improve an employee’s job satisfaction, motivation level, etc., and what can be

done to promote higher levels of each. Adam's Equity Theory is a very practical theory

that can and should be used in companies on a daily basis. The disadvantage of this

theory, it ignores people's natural resilience, their competitiveness, selflessness and

selfishness, their ethical dilemmas in decision-making and their passions.

Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In L. Berkowitz (ed.), Advances in

experimental social psychology. New York: Academic Press.

However, much like the five levels of needs determined by Maslow and the two factors

of motivation as classified by Herzberg (intrinsic and extrinsic), the Adams’ equity

theory of motivation states that positive outcomes and high levels of motivation can be

expected only when employees differentiate their management to be fair.

Vroom's Expectancy theory is based on the belief that employee effort will lead to

performance and performance will lead to rewards (Vroom, 1964). Rewards may be

either positive or negative. The more positive the reward the more likely the employee

will be highly motivated. Conversely, the more negative the reward the less likely the

employee will be motivated.

Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and motivation. New York: Wiley.

Finally, from the above discussion it can be forecasted that motivated employees are

needed in our rapidly changing workplaces. Motivated employees help organizations

continue to exist. Motivated employees are more productive. To be effective, managers

need to understand what motivates employees within the context of the roles they

perform. Of all the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is arguably the

most complex. Also, as employees get older, interesting work becomes more of a

motivator.