Chapter 6.

Motivating Workers
• It is very important for a business to have a well-motivated workforce
• The main reasons why people work:
• Money: to pay for the basic needs for life and some wants
• Security: to know that you are safe (financially)
• Affiliation (Social needs): to feel part of a group, meet people, make friends
• Self-importance (esteem): to feel that you are important and that the job you do is
important
• Job Satisfaction: to feel pleasure that you have done a good job
• Motivation – the feeling that makes employees want to work hard and effectively in a business
• Well-motivated workers high productivity increased output higher profits
• Unhappy workers do not work effectively low output no/ lower profits
Key Motivational Theories
• F.W. TAYLOR
• “All individuals are motivated by personal gain”
• This means that if the workers are paid more, they will work more effectively
• By breaking down worker’s jobs into simple tasks, you could calculate how much output
they could do in a day
• Taylor’s idea was that if the workers produced more, they would receive a bonus
• But the problem with this approach is that Taylor believed everyone is ONLY motivated
by money, which doesn’t, always stand true.
Criticisms
• Employees can be motivated by other factors not just money
• There is no guarantee that all employees will work harder if they are paid more
• There are many jobs where output cannot be measured easily (difficult to determine if employee
actually works hard)

• ABRAHAM MASLOW
• Also known as “Hierarchy of Needs” – a pyramid showing the different types of needs and
how some are more important than others
 •
• Physiological Needs – food, rest, shelter (fulfilled by receiving wages)
• Safe/security Needs – protection against danger & poverty. Having fair treatment
(fulfilled by having job security)
• Social Needs – friendship, belonging in a group (fulfilled by having colleagues at work)
• Esteem Needs – having status and recognition (fulfilled by being recognised for good
work)
• Self-actualisation – achieving your full potential, feeling that you have done a good job
(fulfilled by being promoted & being given more responsibility)
• Maslow’s theory also suggests that each level in the hierarchy (starting from Physiological
needs) needs to be achieved before moving on to the next
• FEDRICK HERZBERG
• Also known as “the 2-factor theory”
• Humans have two sets of needs:
• Basic needs (called ‘Hygiene’)
• To be able to grow physiologically (called ‘Motivator’ needs)

‘Motivator’ Factors ‘Hygiene’ Factors

Achievement Status

Recognition Security

Personal Growth Work Conditions

Advancement/Promotion Relationship with boss & subordinates

Work itself Salary

• The presence of hygiene factors doesn’t motivate employees, but their absence demotivates
them.
Motivating Factors
Financial Motivators
• Wages: often paid weekly. They can be calculated in two ways:
• Time-Rate: pay based on the number of hours worked. Although output may increase, it
doesn’t mean that workers will work sincerely use the time to produce more- they may
simply waste time on very few output since their pay is based only on how long they work.
The productive and unproductive worker will get paid the same amount, irrespective of their
output.
• Piece-Rate: pay based on the no. of output produced. Same as time-rate, this doesn’t
ensure that quality output is produced. Thus, efficient workers may feel demotivated as
they’re getting the same pay as inefficient workers, despite their efficiency.
• Salary: paid monthly or annually.
• Commission: paid to salesperson, based on a percentage of sales they’ve made. The higher
the sales, the more the pay. Although this will encourage salespersons to sell more products
and increase profits, it can be very stressful for them because no sales made means no pay at
all.
• Bonus: additional amount paid to workers for good work
• Performance-related pay: paid based on performance. An appraisal (assessing the
effectiveness of an employee by senior management through interviews, observations,
comments from colleagues etc.) is used to measure this performance and a pay is given based
on this.
• Profit-sharing: a scheme whereby a proportion of the company’s profits is distributed to
workers. Workers will be motivated to work better so that a higher profit is made.
• Share ownership: shares in the firm are given to employees so that they can become part
owners of the company. This will increase employees’ loyalty to the company, as they feel a
sense of belonging.
Non-Financial Motivators
• Fringe benefits are non-financial rewards given to employees
• Company vehicle/car
• Free healthcare
• Children’s education fees paid for
• Free accommodation
• Free holidays/trips
 • Discounts on the firm’s products

• Job Satisfaction: the enjoyment derived from the feeling that you’ve done a good job.
Employees have different ideas about what motivates them- it could be pay, promotional
opportunities, team involvement, relationship with superiors, level of responsibility, chances for
training, the working hours, status of the job etc. Responsibility, recognition and satisfaction are
in particular very important.
So, how can companies ensure that they’re workers are satisfied with the job, other than the
motivators mentioned above?
• Job Rotation: involves workers swapping around jobs and doing each specific task for only a
limited time and then changing round again. This increases the variety in the work itself and will
also make it easier for managers to move around workers to do other jobs if somebody is ill or
absent. The tasks themselves are not made more interesting, but the switching of tasks may
avoid boredom among workers. This is very common in factories with a huge production line
where workers will move from retrieving products from the machine to labelling the products to
packing the products to putting the products into huge cartons.
• Job Enlargement: where extra tasks of similar level of work are added to a worker’s job
description. These extra tasks will not add greater responsibility or work for the employee, but
make work more interesting. E.g.: a worker hired to stock shelves will now, as a result of job
enlargement, arrange stock on shelves, label stock, fetch stock etc.
• Job Enrichment: involves adding tasks that require more skill and responsibility to a job.
This gives employees a sense of trust from senior management and motivate them to carry out
the extra tasks effectively. Some additional training may also be given to the employee to do so.
E.g.: a receptionist employed to welcome customers will now, as a result of job enrichment, deal
with telephone enquiries, word-process letters etc.
• Team-working: a group of workers is given responsibility for a particular process, product or
development. They can decide as a team how to organize and carry out the tasks. The
workers take part in decision making and take responsibility for the process. It gives them more
control over their work and thus a sense of commitment, increasing job satisfaction. Working as
a group will also add to morale, fulfill social needs and lead to job satisfaction.
• Opportunities for training: providing training will make workers feel that their work is being
valued. Training also provides them opportunities for personal growth and development,
thereby attaining job satisfaction
• Opportunities of promotion: providing opportunities for promotion will get workers to work
more efficiently and fill them with a sense of self-actualisation and job satisfaction.