Summary of Organizational Behavior Journal-Motivational Theories: Critical Analysis

Summary of Organizational Behavior Journal-Motivational Theories: Critical Analysis

Motivation in management entails determining the best way to achieve business goals or working towards achieving desired outcomes. The journal, Motivational theories: critical analysis is a type of organizational behavior journal that aims at explaining early and modern theories of motivation (Haque et al., 2014). One of the outstanding aspects of this article is that it has tried to find commonalities of the theories of motivation. The study applied secondary sources of information in its methodology. The research design applied is descriptive and qualitative in nature.  

Some of the motivation theories discussed in the journal include Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, Herzberg motivation, and expectancy theory. In Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, the article articulates that it starts with the idea that people tend to want something and the things they need are dependent on things they already own. It has five levels and the lowest is physiological needs that entails food, water, or cold. In this regard, when an organization lacks these needs, their motivation goes to the second level which is security needs.  Everyone wants to feel secure in terms of job, family, and health. The third level of motivation is love and belongings, the fourth level is esteem need, and the fifth level is need of self-actualization. In Herzberg motivation theory, the article documents that this theory is based on satisfaction and dissatisfaction. In this case, people are made happy with what they do and what makes them unhappy is how they are treated. Some of the findings in this article include the importance of motivation and ways in which organizations can motivate their employees to achieve improved production. It states that motivated employees are committed to achieving business goals hence leading to improved productivity. The findings suggest that employees can be motivated through provision of proper working environment within the organization. The employees should also be provided with adequate resources to get the job done and employing the right people in the right place. It is a strategy of helping the organization come up with a reward system that is fair, transparent, and equal for all employees. The motivational theories discussed in the article are used to help different organizations know how to implement them in a practical manner to enable them come up with positive minded employees to drive the success of the organization. 

Applications to Real Organizations 

Organizations need to find ways of dealing with the impacts caused by COVID-19 pandemic. In an era where most top performing employees have suffered change in priorities and capabilities due to the existence of external stressors, there is a need to motivate them to perform better. Most employees no longer want to take risks by instigating new projects hence leading to slow growth in organizations. Employees struggle with well-being especially due to the change of working patterns i.e., balancing home activities with organizational duties at home may be stressing especially to employees with children. The significant changes brought by Covid-19 has led to decreased motivation among top-performing employees leading to decreased productivity in most organizations (Stepano Petti, 2020). To tackle this problem, organizations can utilize some of the findings drawn by the article in several ways.  

First, according to the motivational theories presented in the article, every employee need to be satisfied for them to achieve organizational goals. One way that can be used to enhance workplace motivation in employees is through provision of proper working environment within the organization. Covid-19 has had tremendous effects on the employees’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness and therefore managers need to design ways in which they can increase these three core human needs. One thing that can be done to restore autonomy is through helping employees to envision a brighter future by letting them know the current state of the organization and by telling them what they need to do to improve the organization’s performance. It is very important to communicate all the business goals and objectives to enable them develop a culture of team work. Motivated employees work as a team to help businesses achieve the desired outcomes. Employers are also expected to keep all their employees safe during the COVID-19 pandemic by ensuring that they allow workers to work at home where possible and also ensure that workers who feel unwell do not come to work. 

Secondly, employers need to restore the competence of employees by ensuring that innovation of work design is the primary goal of the organization (Azizi et al., 2021). Employees have been forced to adjust to new work design and new work load and therefore to provide better environment for them, employers need to understand how the structure and new demands may impact their performance during this time. Employers also need to motivate their employees by introducing a reward system where top-performers or improved employees are rewarded. It is a strategy of driving performance and satisfaction in the organization. Rewards play major impacts on employees’ lives by encouraging them to achieve the set targets amidst the pandemic. Employers therefore need to employ the right people at the right positions to create fairness in competency.   

To improve motivation through provision of proper working conditions during the pandemic, employers need to come up with structured social life for employees by allowing employees to discuss matters related to the pandemic. The organizations can do this by building a working environment that allow them to discuss non-work related matters that can help them sustain relationships and be there for each other. Another strategy is through allowing every employee to share personal situation concerning the pandemic. It can be done through starting a meeting by knowing how each feels about the pandemic and the effects it has on their lives. Organizations that practice inclusion have motivated employees because no one feels left out hence collaborate with each other to achieve organization’s goals. 

Lastly, motivation has potential benefits and costs to the organization. Motivated employees tend to perform better in terms of production and encourages more innovation (Kark et al., 2019). Covid-19 impacted the productivity of companies negatively and therefore employers need to motivate their employees by giving them safe working environment and providing them with enough resources to increase their productivity and innovation. Lack of motivation has significant costs such as increased employee turnover, increased levels of absenteeism and reduced performance. 

Conclusion  

Leaders face several obstacles in increasing employee motivation in the organization, however, it is very crucial for the growth of every organization. Managers can instill different strategies provided in different motivational theories such as ensuring that the employees are satisfied in their working environments. Covid-19 has led to change in work design i.e., some workers have been forced to work from home due to the increased risks of working in crowded environments. Employers need to know that these employers may be demotivated due to lack of conducive environments for work. Some employees are forced to handle their sick relatives amidst tackling organizational duties hence are forced to quit. Therefore, it is very important for employers to design motivational strategies such as ensuring that their employees’ job safety are well taken care of. Employers also need to let employees know that they understand their situations by not putting a lot of pressure on them. It should be understood that COVID-19 disorganized everyone and every employer needs to give their workers time to adjust to the new work designs.  The article is informative to readers because it helps them in knowing different motivational theories that can be applied by employers to increase the level of productivity of their employees. The recommendations provided informs the employers on ways in which they can handle their employees to decrease loss in profits amidst the pandemic. 

References

Azizi, M. R., Atlasi, R., Ziapour, A., Abbas, J., & Naemi, R. (2021). Innovative human resource management strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic narrative review approach. Heliyon, 7(6), e07233. 

Haque, M. F., Haque, M. A., & Islam, M. S. (2014, June). Just a moment... Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306255973_Motivational_Theories_-_A_Critical_Analysis.

Kark, R., Van Dijk, D., & Vashdi, D. R. (2018). Motivated or demotivated to be creative: The role of self‐regulatory focus in transformational and transactional leadership processes. Applied Psychology, 67(1), 186-224. 

Stefano Petti. (2020). Review for "What has covid‐19 taken from us and brought instead?". doi:10.1111/odi.13446/v1/review1