Motivation in Management Overview & Process | How to Motivate in Management – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

Video Transcript

The Definition of Motivation

Often, people confuse the idea of ‘happy’ employees with ‘motivated’ employees. These may be related, but motivation actually describes the level of desire employees feel to perform, regardless of the level of happiness. Employees who are adequately motivated to perform will be more productive, more engaged and feel more invested in their work. When employees feel these things, it helps them, and thereby their managers, be more successful.

It is a manager’s job to motivate employees to do their jobs well. So how do managers do this? The answer is motivation in management, the process through which managers encourage employees to be productive and effective.

Think of what you might experience in a retail setting when a motivated cashier is processing your transaction. This type of cashier will:

• Be friendly, creating a pleasant transaction that makes you more likely to return
• Process your transaction quickly, meaning that the store can service more customers
• Suggest an additional item you would like to purchase, increasing sales for the store

In short, this employee is productive and delivers a high-quality output.

How to Motivate Employees

There are many ways to motivate employees. Managers who want to encourage productivity should work to ensure that employees:

• Feel that the work they do has meaning or importance
• Believe that good work is rewarded
• Believe that they are treated fairly

All of these tasks fall under one or more motivational theories.

Expectancy Theory

Expectancy theory outlines the connection employees expect between effort and reward. If an employee does very well and puts forth additional effort, they will likely expect to be rewarded accordingly. In a retail setting, for example, a cashier might offer to work a double shift when a manager is short staffed, but would expect praise and perhaps additional compensation for doing so.

Employees who do not feel rewarded become unmotivated. Think about how you might feel if you continually worked as hard as possible but never received additional recognition or compensation. Would you continue to work as hard as possible, or would you think ‘why bother?’

Equity Theory

Equity theory indicates that employees are best motivated when they feel that they are being treated equally. If two employees perform the same job, and believe that they do so equally well, they would expect equal pay and equal recognition.

Lack of equity, whether real or imagined, can damage employee motivation. Again, imagine you are working as hard as you can and find that someone else who works at the same level doing the same job makes more money. Would you want to continue to work as hard?

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow, a well-respected psychologist, described several levels of needs that people seek to fill. Usually described as a pyramid, these levels are:

1. Physiological, or the basic need for a place to live and food to eat

2. Safety, or a desire for security

3. Belonging, or a want to feel like a part of something

4. Esteem, or the need for praise or respect

5. Self-Actualization, or the fulfillment of one’s potential

Employment typically fulfills the lower level needs, regardless of motivation. If a person has a job, they ideally have money to buy food and shelter and feel secure. Motivated employees will find their needs met at higher levels. Employees who feel like they are part of a team and are praised for a job well done will fulfill the need for belonging and esteem and will likely be more motivated.

Lesson Summary

Managers seek to instill a desire to work hard and do well in their employees, and this is known as motivation in management. Activities that motivate employees to perform well might seem self-explanatory – treat everyone equally, reward good effort and make sure employees’ needs are satisfied – but employee motivation is largely studied and discussed throughout the business world.

Learning Outcomes

Following this lesson, you should have the ability to:

• Describe motivation in management, expectancy theory and equity theory
• Identify ways to motivate employees
• Explain the relationship between motivation in the workplace and Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs