Motivation

Motivation is one of the important elements of directing. Issuance of proper instructions or orders does not necessarily ensure that they will be properly carried out. It requires manager to inspire or induce the employees to act and get the expected results. This is called motivation.

It is a force that inspire a person at work to intensify his willingness to use the best of his capability for achievement of specified objectives. It may be in the form of incentives like financial (such as bonus, commission, etc.) or, non-financial (such as appreciation, growth, etc.), or it could be positive or negative. Basically, motivation is directed towards goals and prompt people to act.

Importance of Motivation

While performing a job, two things are required. The ability to work and the willingness to work. Without willingness to work, ability to work can not produce results. The importance of motivation lies in converting this ability to work into willingness to work. Performance depends on ability as well as willingness; and willingness depends on motivation. Thus, motivation is a key element in directing people to do the job. Some of the other benefits or importance of motivation are:

  1. With proper motivation there can be maximum utilisation of the factors of production like men, money, material, etc.
  2. If employees are motivated it will reduce employee turnover and absenteeism
  3. Motivation fosters a sense of belongingness among the employees towards the organisation and also improves their morale
  4. Motivation helps in reducing the number of complaints and grievances. The wastage and accident rate also come down
  5. With proper motivational techniques, management can attract competent and best skilled employees

How to Motivate

There is no hard and fast rule of motivating individuals in a specified way. Not all individuals are motivated in the same way. It varies from individual to individual.

Each employee has some needs of his own that he wants to fulfill. While directing, it is essential to ensure that any of the unfulfilled need of the individual is being taken care of. A need is a feeling of lack of something and every person tries to take care of that feeling by satisfying or fulfilling what he lacks.

For example, when you are hungry, you eat food to satisfy the lack of food. So here hunger is your need. The needs of the individual differ from person to person. However, there are certain common needs which are known to exist in most cases. For example, people have basic needs like the need for food, clothing and shelter. These are known as Physiological needs.

People generally work so as to be able to earn money to satisfy such needs. Once the basic needs are satisfied, people wish to satisfy higher category of needs. They want safety and security and desire to be protected against loss of employment, sickness, accident, etc. These are known as Safety and Security needs. Thereafter, people want to have a sense of belonging to the organisation and to be accepted by fellow workers. These are known as social needs.

Similarly, there are people who wish to be considered important and expect that their opinions should be recognised by others. These needs are known as ego needs. Further, a person may wish to achieve what he thinks is due to him, i.e., he wants to realise his ambition fully. These needs are known as self-actualisation needs. This is called hierarchy of needs concept of motivation developed by Maslow.