Motivation: Meaning, Nature, Types and Importance

An essential component that pushes people to perform at their highest level and aids in achieving organisational objectives is motivation. Employee productivity will rise with high positive motivation, while it will fall with strong negative motivation. Motivation is a crucial component of staff management.

Likert states, “It is the fundamentals of management that demonstrate each human being provides him with a feeling of value in the face-to-face groupings that are most significant to him.

• A manager need to make an effort to treat people with respect and acknowledge their value as individuals.
• Scholars have defined motivation in many ways.
• The following definitions are discussed:
• Steiner and Berelson:
• “A motivation is an internal condition that drives, propels, or funnels behaviour objectives.”
• Lillis: “Any feeling or desire acting upon one’s will and encouraging or propelling it into action”

According to the Encyclopedia of Management, motivation is the degree to which an organism is prepared to pursue a certain objective. It also entails figuring out the nature and location of the factors at play, including that preparedness.

“The complex of factors initiating and keeping a person at work in an organisation” is Dubin’s definition of motivation.

Vance: “Any feeling or desire that thus conditions one’s will that the person is appropriately directed into action is implied to be motivation.”

Vitiles: “A condition of tension or disequilibrium is created by an unmet need, which motivates a person to take goal-directed actions aimed at reestablishing balance by meeting the need.”

Memoria: “A readiness to put out effort in order to accomplish an objective or get a benefit. It is a force that reawakens latent energy and initiates public action. It is the role that ignites an organization’s employees’ fervent desire to take action.

Motivation’s Nature

Motivation is an internal psychological phenomenon that develops in each person. A person perceives a deficiency of particular necessities, which he believes he must try harder to meet. A person is motivated to do better than he usually does by the desire to gratify his ego.

• The following conclusions may be drawn from the definitions previously provided:
• A person who is motivated feels energised to work harder.
• A person is motivated to do a certain task by his or her feelings or wants.
• An individual’s unfulfilled demands might throw off his balance.
• A person moves by moulding his energy to satisfy his unfulfilled desires.
• An individual has latent energy that may be awakened via activity.

Motivational Types

A manager must inspire his staff members to perform better if he hopes to get more work from them. He will either induce terror in them or use force to obtain the needed job, or he may give incentives for greater effort, such as awards, better reports, recognition, etc.

The sorts of motivation that are listed below include:

Encouragement for Success

Reward serves as the foundation for incentive or positive motivation. Incentives are provided to the employees upon reaching the predetermined targets. Rewards might take the form of increased income, a promotion, job recognition, etc. When incentives are presented to the staff, they voluntarily attempt to increase their performance.

As per Peter Drucker, the true and good motivators are accountable for the worker’s placement, high performance standards, possession of sufficient knowledge for self-regulation, and involvement as a responsible member of the plant community. Employee cooperation results in positive motivation, and they experience happiness.

Adverse Incentives

Force or dread is the foundation of negative or phobic motivation. Employees behave a specific manner because they are afraid. If they don’t behave appropriately, they can face layoffs or a promotion as punishment. Fear serves as a driving force. Instead of cooperating voluntarily, the workers do so in order to escape penalties.

Even when workers perform to the point where punishment is avoided, this kind of incentive engenders resentment and annoyance. Usually, this kind of drive leads to industrial unrest. Negative motivation has disadvantages, yet it is nevertheless a popular strategy for getting desired outcomes. Hardly every manager can claim to have never used negative motivation at any point.

Motivation’s Significance

The goal of management is to optimise the use of all production sources. This is only possible if staff members collaborate on this assignment. It is important to make an effort to inspire staff members to give their all. If the staff is not motivated to put in additional work, the management’s efforts will be in vain. Motivated workers grow to be a valuable asset to the company. The significance of motivation is as follows.

Elevated Efficiency

Motivated workers will do all of their effort to meet company objectives. The full potential of one’s physical and mental faculties is realised. Productivity will rise as a consequence of improved performance. Increasing productivity may also lower the cost of manufacturing. More rewards have to be provided to the staff in order to encourage better performance. Employee motivation will serve as a catalyst for raising performance levels.

Low absenteeism and turnover among employees

Employees that are dissatisfied with their jobs will quit as soon as they get a better offer. Employee discontent also contributes to a rise in absenteeism. The expense of onboarding new workers’ employment training is high for the company. When workers are content with their positions and are provided with both monetary and non-monetary incentives, they are unlikely to quit. They will strive to raise their production, therefore there won’t be a high absence rate either.

Improved Image of the Organization

Businesses that provide their staff with superior financial and non-financial benefits are seen favourably by them. These kinds of issues are effective in drawing in more knowledgeable and skilled individuals. Employees choose to work for companies with stronger manpower development programmes because of this. Personnel functions will also be made simpler by motivational initiatives.

Improved Labor Relations

Employee work satisfaction is a result of an effective incentive strategy. Together with additional benefits, the job will provide them improved service circumstances. Both employers and workers will feel confident in each other. There won’t be any cause for disagreement, and friendly ties between the two parties will foster a healthy environment. Thus, improved industrial relations will result from employee motivation.

Adaptability to Change

The way that businesses operate will need to adapt to the shifting social and industrial landscape. Periodically, it will be necessary to implement new and improved work procedures. Employees often oppose change out of concern that it will negatively impact their job. When workers are provided with several possibilities for growth, they are able to adjust to novel circumstances with ease.

They will collaborate with management and consider the advantages of the new adjustments. Employees will reject any suggestions made by management if they are happy with their jobs and are not given greater opportunities. Employee acceptance of new changes will be ensured via motivation.