Motivating the Workforce

A common problem faced by all employers is keeping their task force motivated in order to achieve all the organizational objectives in a specified time period. So the first question that comes to our mind is: What is Motivation? Motivation is a need which drives us to our goal through persistent efforts. It also means not giving up until the goal has been achieved.

The second question is: How to motivate people? It is quite a challenge for managers to understand and identify what people’s needs are as they may differ from individual to individual. Some people may be driven by money. This is especially true for those at the lower level in the hierarchy as they may be more focused on fulfilling their financial needs. In the case of people at the middle level, growth and development in the job may be a more important need. Similarly, at the top level, new challenges may be an important need which may drive them to stay motivated.

So, these factors can broadly be divided into two categories: intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors of motivators. Managers need to keep assessing individual needs at various levels and take care of these factors in order to keep the workforce motivated and high on morale. In the absence of individual assessments, using either extrinsic rewards or intrinsic rewards may not reap any results in reality and lead to a workforce that is low on motivation.

Author:
Bhupinder Arora, Assistant Professor, Unitedworld School of Business (UWSB)

Disclaimer: The opinions / views expressed in this article are solely of the author in his / her individual capacity. They do not purport to reflect the opinions and/or views of the College and/or University or its members.