Motivation is at the heart of your success. Because management is all about getting things done through others, the ability to get others to perform is critical. A crucial driver of organizational performance, motivation refers to the processes that determine how much effort will be expended to perform the job in order to meet organizational goals. A lack of motivation costs the company money – in terms of lost productivity and missed opportunities.
With downsizing and restructuring becoming commonplace in organizations, employee morale has become negatively impacted. This has made the motivation of the workforce even more important.
The old command-and-control methods of motivating are not suitable for today’s environment of empowerment and teams. Providing one-size-fits-all rewards does not work with diverse workforce.
No single theory captures the complexity of motivation in its entirety. You need to understand multiple theories, and then integrate them to get a more comprehensive understanding of how to better motivate your employees.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow developed a theory in 1943 to analyze what drives human behavior. The Hierarchy of Needs Theory explained human behavior in terms of needs.
His theory’s underlying premise is that people must have their needs met in order to function effectively. These needs are ordered in a hierarchy.
Maslow suggested that human behavior is first motivated by basic physiological needs. That is, you need food, water and air. Providing your employees with a sufficient remuneration, bonuses and breaks during their workday enables them to meet some of these basic physiological needs. Health-care programs, medical insurance and paid sick leaves also assist your employees in meeting these needs.
Once these needs are fulfilled, people are motivated by safety needs. You can provide fulfillment of these needs for your employees by ensuring strict adherence to occupational safety rules and offering them some degree of job security.