MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE

Motivation and Performance

Part 1

"MOTIVATION AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE WITHIN AN ORGANISATION"

INTRODUCTION

The success of any business depends largely on the motivation of the employees. Human resources are essential to the prosperity, productivity and performance of any company. Motivation is the key to creating an environment where optimal performance is possible. So how do you ensure that individual motivation is at its peak within your workplace? Employee motivation is essential to the success of any company big or small. In the modern workplace human resources are valued above all others. Motivated employees are productive, happy and committed. The spin off of this includes reduced employee turnover, results driven employees, company loyalty and work place harmony.

Research Rationale

By conducting the search in this manor, the resultant articles were specific articles of employee motivation in various organizations. The resultant articles looked at a range of topics on both employee motivation and employee performance and how these constructs can be connected. One particular study looked specifically at “the followers” of an organization and what key factors a leader needs to know about the various types of followers.  

Aims And Contexts Of The Research Reported In The Articles

The articles in this review expand upon the work of Maslow, Taylor, and Herzberg. In Beyond the Fringe, Simms discusses how various organizations utilize tailored versions of “non-cash rewards” as employee incentives. Simms suggests that Herzberg's view of salary as not being a motivator holds. The ability to hold up an incentive that doesn't get absorbed by the employee's monthly bills has a larger effect on employee motivation. He also suggests is may be more acceptable to boast about a special award or party rather than an employee's salary raise. Simms then goes on to expand the discussion of non- cash rewards such as flex time, employee of the month, and tailored goal incentives. Simms argues it is important for employers to communicate these benefits to employees because many employees don't understand their total compensation package. By communicating the total package, the employer reinforces their commitment to the employees and helps to motivate the employee. This motivation leads to greater employee satisfaction and performance (Simms, 2007). 

The article of the Harrah's Entertainment sales teams lays out the use of team incentives to increase sales across the various branches of the Harrah's Entertainment family of products. However, the core to the incentive packages, that Jakobson discusses, is the use of Merchandise Awards. Jakobson states that Merchandise Awards are even more effective than Top Seller Trips. Harrah's also uses simple employee motivation tactics such as recognition at weekly and monthly sales meetings of the top sales teams (Jakobson, 2007). These non-cash rewards fall into the similar category as Herzberg and Simms. Whiteling looks at the cases of Reuters and supermarket giant Salisbury's to show how important it is to create a culture where employees become directly involved in suggestions for change. By creating a culture where employee input is valued and utilized, the changes faced by the organization are better understood and receive the support of the employees. This also has the side effect of creating employee motivation to support and accomplish the organizations goals and change efforts (Whiteling, ...