Victoria M
24.01.2024
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What is meant by motivation?
Motivation is a stimulus for an individual to act and move forwards. It defines as a desire,
effort, and passion to achieve something or as an eagerness to complete a task or a job with
enthusiasm.
2. What are the benefits to a business in having a highly motivated workforce?
Higher morale and job satisfaction
Better Industrial relations
Lower absenteeism
Lower staff turnover
Improves corporate image
Higher profitability
3. What are the signs of a demotivated workforce?
High absenteeism rate
High labour turnover rate
High wastage level
Increasing number of customer complaints
Low quality output
Poor punctuality
More disciplinary problems
4. Distinguish between the theories of Taylor, Maslow, Herzberg and Pink.
Taylor’s Scientific Management theory assumes that employees are motivated by money,
therefore productivity can be improved by setting pay-related output and performance goals.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory suggests that people need to fulfil their lower-level
needs before they can move on to higher level needs. Maslow's hierarchy of needs identified
five levels of needs: physiological needs, security needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-
actualization.
Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory identifies two categories of factors that influence the level of
motivation in the workplace: hygiene factors, which are mainly physical aspects, and
motivators, mainly psychological aspects. Hygiene factors are aspects of work that do not
motivate but must be observed to prevent dissatisfaction. Motivators are factors that can lead
to psychological growth of workers and hence increase job satisfaction and productivity.
Pink’s Drive theory argues that external factors do not work because people cannot be
forcibly motivated. His theory is based on three innate factors that motivate people at work,
school, and in their personal lives: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.
5. State five methods of financial and non-financial ways to motivate individuals.
Financial rewards:
Salary
Wages
Commission
Profit-related pay
Performance-related pay
Non-financial rewards:
Job enrichment
Job enlargement
Empowerment
Purpose
Teamwork
6. Distinguish between job enlargement, job enrichment and job rotation.
Job enlargement involves adding more variety to their work, making it more interesting.
It does not necessarily mean that the work becomes more challenging.
Job enrichment involves workers taking on more challenging and demanding tasks that
allow them to fulfil their potential. This should contribute to making workers feel
successful.
Job empowerment involves delegating to workers the authority to make decisions related
to their area of work, which helps to improve their overall morale.
7. Explain how different methods of non-financial rewards work in different
circumstances.
Financial:
Salaries are used where output or productivity is not easily measured and where linking
pay to speed may lead to lower quality standards.
In many countries, the government sets a national minimum wage, so all employers
must pay their employees no less of the specified rate. Salaried workers are often paid
overtime for hours worked beyond those agreed in the contract.
Usually, those who work on a piece-rate or commission basis are paid a base salary. To
some extent, this helps meet their physiological needs, so even if the person fails to sell
anything, they will still be paid the base amount.
Profit related pay is used to increase employee loyalty and team spirit because profit
can only be achieved by the combined efforts of the team and not by the contribution of
an individual. Consequently, profit sharing should increase labor efficiency and limit
the possibility of labor conflicts.
PRP creates incentives for people to work hard and perform better, especially if goals
are clearly defined. PRP is also seen as a fair system because hard work is rewarded. In
addition, PRP helps develop a performance culture where people strive to achieve goals
in exchange for PRP benefits such as promotion opportunities or financial rewards.
Non-financial
Job enrichment is about giving workers more complex jobs with more responsibilities.
In this way, people are given more autonomy and authority in their work and are better
able to fulfil their responsibilities.
Job rotation involves workers systematically performing different tasks of the same
level of complexity. The purpose of job rotation is to provide greater variety to avoid
problems of over-specialization.
Job enlargement is designed to reduce the monotony and repetitiveness of tasks, which
can cause boredom and demotivation. Job enlargement can make work more interesting
because it involves workers having a wider range of tasks.
Empowerment is about developing the capacity of workers or teams to perform at their
best. It involves empowering workers to take responsibility for their work and
implement their own ideas to solve business problems.
Purpose is about the role or job itself rather than acts of altruism.
8. Distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic methods of motivation.
Extrinsic - movement occurs when people do something because they need to, perhaps
because it is part of their job, so they feel obliged to do so.
Intrinsic - motivation happens when people do something because they want to.