What Role Does Motivation Play in Managing an Organisation?

Successful business strategies often start by answering basic questions like what makes a business succeed, what ensures an efficient and productive workforce, how can work be optimised or what ensures employees complete their assigned tasks?

These questions can result in fresh perspectives to help an organisation tackle their weaknesses. From internal conflicts and poor sales, to low rates of productivity and inadequate customer engagement, there are many ways in which a lack of motivation within an organisation can manifest itself. Understanding the characteristics of motivation is crucial to business success.

Today, the lack of motivation is a global crisis. Only 15% of all employees worldwide find motivation at work, with only 10% of all employees in Europe finding motivation in the workplace according to a global workplace engagement study. (Source: Teamstage.io)

Motivation is one of the major factors for driving success. If you want to pursue a corporate career or start your own business, it is important to learn about the factors affecting motivation, types of motivation, best motivation techniques, benefits of motivated employees and to gain top motivation tips.

How can you define motivation?

Motivation can be defined as the driving force behind your actions. It is often associated with ‘why’ you want to do something. It is intertwined with your goals, feelings, dreams and hopes. Motivation at work can drive the employees of an organisation to meet their individual goals as well as the company’s overall goals.

The concept can be further classified into three important sub-concepts: motivators, the motive and the actual act of motivation.

A motive initiates an action or certain behaviour for the fulfilment of a specific goal, and this directly corresponds to the desire of an individual. Motivators are the tools used for motivating employees, such as promotions and pay bonuses.

The act of motivation is the actual process of completing a task which usually depends on the motives and motivators.

Characteristics of Motivation: What motivates you to do a great job at work?

Motivation is the unifying force behind the actions of a person. Motivation decides the goal and provides the power to chase the goal and the energy to work on the steps necessary to obtain the goal.

What are the characteristics of motivation? How do you identify the factors that produce motivation, and how do you classify the types of motivation? Here are some of the most common characteristics of motivation:

• Psychological concept: Motivation comes from within an individual. It's driven by feelings and needs that influence their behaviour. Think of it as a psychological push to act.
• Need-satisfying activity: For example, hunger is a basic need that motivates most people to cook, earn, buy or borrow to be able to eat. In this context, a person cooking a meal is motivated by the need to eliminate their hunger.
• Goal-directed behaviour: Motivation is all about working towards something. It propels us to take action in order to achieve a specific goal or desired outcome.
• Holistic approach: Motivation considers the whole person, not just separate parts. Our various needs and desires are interconnected and influence our behaviour.
• Multifaceted: Motivation can be driven by both financial and non-financial factors. Financial motivators include things like salary, bonuses or perks. Non-financial motivators could be praise, recognition, feeling valued or having more responsibility.
• Ongoing process: Motivation isn't a one-time thing. Our needs and goals can change, so what motivates us today, might not motivate us tomorrow.

Types of employee motivation at the workplace

People are motivated by various factors. You can motivate employees with the promise of progression, appreciation, financial benefits and so on. Some of the most common methods of motivating employees are based on external factors like rewards, recognition and career growth.

All motivators fall within two categories: financial motivation and non-financial motivation.

So, what is financial motivation?

This type of motivation is anything that pushes an employee to give their all for the promise of financial reward.

What is non-financial motivation?

This type of motivation can be anything that motivates an employee through factors like personal goals, recognition, desire to be famous, self-esteem, a luxurious life, career growth, stability or even a desire for acceptance in society.

Motivation at work can be further classified as either intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation: Intrinsic motivation is driven by your internal emotions like joy, happiness, determination or pride. These factors are present within you and not outside you. A person driven by intrinsic motivation completes tasks or projects because of the positive impact it has on their life.

This may also be a personal goal or dream that fuels their desire to achieve. An example of intrinsic motivation can be those who are motivated to serve humanity with no external gain coming to them, such as volunteers.

Extrinsic motivation: Extrinsic motivation is based on factors outside of the person. Some examples of extrinsic motivation are deadlines, annual bonuses, prizes, appraisals or even negative aspects based on external factors like law and order, punishment and societal rejection.

An extrinsically motivated individual would work to either obtain or avoid an external goal. For example, what motivates an employee to perform during the appraisal cycle is the bonus they can obtain.

Intrinsic motivation would usually fall under the non-financial gain aspect while extrinsic motivation would usually fall under the financial gain aspect.

Factors impacting employee motivation at work

If you are looking for answers on how to motivate employees, understanding what affects motivation is crucial.

Motivation at the workplace is not an unattainable dream, as a manager you shouldn’t waste time thinking of a plan to motivate your employees.

All you need is a thorough understanding of these factors affecting motivation at workplaces.

Top factors affecting employee motivation:

1. Employee treatment: When employees feel respected and valued, they are more likely to be motivated.
2. Promise of career growth: When the workplace offers a positive scope for career growth, employees are likely to be motivated to work.
3. Good leadership: High quality leaders help employees meet performance expectations and develop a clear vision for their lives. This factor also increases motivation at work and helps teams stick together for a long time.
4. Industry-standard salary and compensation benefits: Another one of the main motivators at work is when an employee receives a salary on par with the industry rate. This makes them feel valued and respected. This is one of the primary motivation techniques used by most employee-centric corporations.

What motivates people to work?

The promise of value or the promise of gain, reward or pleasure can be great motivators that cause people to work diligently.

While some highly motivated people are self-starters and rely on intrinsic motivators for moving forward, most of the workforce are extrinsically motivated, therefore, they must be made aware of the rewards attached to their work.

When these types of employees are given a clear picture of how their work impacts the businesses’ gains and profits and how they can obtain financial and non-financial rewards for their performance, there is a high chance of them feeling motivated to perform at the workplace.

Motivational factors for employees:

1. Being able to relate to a successful role model and their motivational story
2. Rewards and performance reviews
3. The promise of progress and promotion upon good performance
4. The joy of learning
5. The happiness they obtain from solving problems, meeting new people or being needed in the business
6. Achievement of their personal career goals
7. Empathetic management who supports them.

Did you know that unmotivated employees in the US were found causing a loss of $450 billion to their companies due to low performance? Motivational factors when used well can help you prevent losses for your business. (Source: Teamstage.io)

Why is motivation important within an organisation?

Motivation is imperative for an organisation’s growth. Here are a few benefits of motivation in an organisation:

• Increases productivity and proactivity: Motivators, like promotions, create a drive for employees to work to the best of their capabilities. As such, motivation in an organisation will lead to an increase in the productivity of an employee, who will contribute more than a disheartened employee.
  
  
• Ensures organisational efficiency: Motivators can also help in changing the work culture of an organisation. With bigger and better rewards to look forward to, employees will be more dedicated to their work and more motivated to reach their targets. This can increase overall work efficiency and the attitude of an entire organisation.
  
  
• Promotes loyalty among employees: Motivating your employees to do their best and rewarding their hard work can also be beneficial in igniting a sense of loyalty towards the company. A well-motivated workforce is loyal and has higher levels of morale, being more committed to the organisation and its goals. Ensuring your staff are motivated can also reduce employee turnover and therefore the company costs of hiring new employees.
  
  
• Facilitates direction: Direction is an important aspect of any business. It involves the creation and implementation of specific plans and strategies, contributing to the organisation’s main goals. A motivated workforce will be enthusiastic about helping to develop and innovate the company. They will also be more likely to suggest strategies or directions that can help the company expand further.

Strategies to effectively motivate your team 

A study on employee motivation at work found that nearly 87% of all employees in the survey expected their employer to help them find a balance between their personal life and work. ( Source: Teamstage.io)

As an employer or team leader, you are expected to be able to handle your subordinates and provide them with productive direction.

With this in mind, how you motivate employees must begin with this question: how well do you know your employees?

Employee motivation can be anything ranging from intrinsic to extrinsic factors, however, to accurately pinpoint the place where your employee needs motivation is something you can achieve through good analysis and understanding of your employee’s behavioural patterns.

As a team leader, motivating your team members is a balance of fulfilling duty to the organisation you are working for and providing a sense of safety for those under you. To truly get to know your team members, you may need to provide a sense of security for them to feel comfortable discussing their personal lives.

Once this happens, you will get to know your employees on a personal level and work out the best motivation techniques and methods to motivate them at work.

For example, you cannot motivate a home bug with rugby tickets! Get to know your team members to obtain effective and personalised motivation techniques for each of them.

Benefits of motivating employees at work

The main benefit of motivating employees lies in the results you can obtain. High motivation at work can lead to a rise in performance, resulting in a win-win situation for your business and employees.

The impact of motivation on employee performance is unmistakable. A study reported that employees work 20% better when motivated. (source: Teamstage.io)

Here are some of the top benefits of motivated employees at work:

1. A highly motivated employee is 59% less likely to burn out during work
2. Highly motivated teams can increase business profitability by a whopping 21%
3. Did you know that proper motivation at work can increase employee retention? 
4. Absenteeism is reduced in highly motivated teams by 41%
5. Feeling motivated at the workplace ensures that employees are 17% less likely to resign from their roles
6. Companies that invest in motivating employees see a 50% rise in customer loyalty, a 38% rise in productivity and a 27% increase in overall profits.

How to measure employee motivation

Some of the best ways to measure employee motivation at the workplace are:

1. Regular one-on-one meetings: These interactions help break the ice and facilitate the free flow of feedback from your team members. Employee motivation measurement is easy when you have regular one-on-one meetings as this makes your team members comfortable with you and enables you to also help them be motivated at work on a much deeper level.
2. Invest in employee engagement software: It may be worth investing in a dedicated software platform where your employees can be monitored. The data from this is used to analyse productivity and motivation. You can also use Google Forms and other basic modes of feedback where employees can rate their motivation to work.

Always remember, investing in motivating employees is never wasted.

A successful corporate leader is one who understands the importance of motivation in obtaining desired business results. At the end of the day, a business is about people and relationships as much as it is about profit, performance and abundance. These are core leadership subjects that you can learn to help yourself become a competent manager or business head.

The leadership development programme offered by the London School of Business  and Finance is the ideal programme to help you explore motivation in detail and develop your individual leadership style.

Find out more about this CPD-accredited leadership development course and begin your journey to a successful management career today.