Satisfied Employees Are More Productive

Motivation is a process "which stimulates people to the desired course of action, to accomplish goals". Direction, effort and persistence are the main components of motivation. A well-motivated individual is the one with clearly defined goals (Armstrong, 2013). In the modern world, the key to success of an organization is to motivate its employees to do their best. The most important function of the managers is to motivate the right person to join and remain with the company. Motivation is the force initiating, guiding and maintaining the goal-oriented behaviour. Forces of motivation can be biological, social, emotional or cognitive in nature (Cherry, 2013). Process of Motivation: The process of motivation begins with the identification of an unsatisfied need. First, set a goal. Then select an action plan that will help individuals to achieve the goal. They achieve these goals to satisfy their needs. Repeat this course of action whenever a similar need urges (Armstrong, 2013). Fig 1.1 shows the process of motivation from the book ‘How to Manage People’.

Fig. 1.1 Process of Motivation (Armstrong, 2013) Many different theories of motivation have been developed, but each of them is limited in scope. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Expectancy Theory and Goal-setting Theory are amongst the most relevant ones in the current working world. In the essay, they are compared on the basis of their content and working, principles and assumptions and the criticism they face.

Overview: "Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs", "Expectancy Theory" and "Goal-setting Theory" are all very popular and regarded theories of work motivation. They all followed different approaches to motivate individuals. Maslow, in his theory, ranked basic human needs according to their importance in influencing behavior. Workers can be motivated to work by fulfilling the basic human needs. This motivation theory works on the principle that a person first satisfies the most basic needs before moving on to the...