Business Philosophy - Motivational Theories Part 1

Motivating employees is very important in modern business. Motivated employees will be more productive, more aware of a company’s needs, do more with less supervision, have a positive attitude towards the work they are doing, contribute more to the workplace and generally be a more conscientious member of the team

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Motivating employees also allows supervisors or managers to get more work from people with less effort from the organisation. The majority of people realise the advantages of a motivated workforce, and that motivation is good for an organisation, the question is though – How do you motivate people effectively? There is no right or wrong answer to this question as with most questions in philosophy, yet there are theories of what motivates employees. In this blog I am going to explain the different motivational theories and the main points behind them.

There are two different philosophies on motivation called the rational and behavioural philosophies.

• Rational motivation assumes that people are aware of ‘rights and wrongs’ and know what behaviour will be recognised and receive rewards. It also says that rational people will work to seek rewards and that it is natural to do so. Rational motivation follows the process of: first the behaviour happens then the reward will follow.

•      Behavioural philosophy believes that people will follow the crowd or group that they are immersed in. It claims that people’s behaviour is flexible and that by giving out rewards you can create ‘good’ behaviour. In this philosophy the sequence is: first give the reward and then the behaviour will follow. Behavioural motivational holds that behaviour in the workplace is social rather than rational and that people will follow the examples set by other colleges and members of staff.

3 Main Theories of motivation-

There are 3 competing theories that claim to have found the best way to motivate employees. 

Frederick Winslow Taylor stated that money is the best motivator therefore an increase in money will increase productivity.

 George Elton Mayo believed that caring for employees and giving them better jobs and working conditions was the provided the answer to the question of motivation in the workplace.

Both Frederick Herzberg and Abraham Maslow believed that needs and motivational aspects differed according to people’s circumstances. They held a similar argument regarding the relativity of motivational philosophy. For now it is easier to couple the two theorists, though later we will study where the two theories differ. 

In my next post I will introduce and expand on Frederick Winslow Taylor’s views on motivation and employees.
Follow the link below to Part 2.
http://christopherharrisengineer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/business-philosophy-motivational_23.html