Michael Bourne - Motivating People

Dorling Kindersley Limited

The Penguin Group

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First Published in paperback in 2008 by Dorling Kindersley Limited. ISBN: 9781405336871
Copyright 2008 Dorling Kindersley
Text Copyright 2008 Mike Bourne & Pippa Bourne

This Digital Edition published 2010. ISBN: 9781405359511
Digital conversion by DK Digital Content, London and DK Digital Media, Delhi.
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Enthusiastic and motivated people are essential for an organization to be successful. A business with motivated staff has an advantage over its competitors. It is easier and quicker for a competitor to copy an idea for a product or service than it is for them to build a well-motivated workforce.

People now have greater expectations of their employers. They no longer expect to stay with one employer for more than a few years and may even have several different career paths during their working lives. If a skilled worker is unhappy with their employer, they will be able to change jobs without much difficulty. It is often the best people who are able to leave most quickly, making the art of motivation more important than ever.

Motivating People is divided into four sections. The first deals with the essence of motivation: what it is and how you can create the right environment for a motivated team. The second examines the processes you need to underpin and sustain your motivating environment, looking at setting objectives, measuring performance, and at how you reward people. The third teaches you the skills you need to develop in order to motivate your team. The final section looks at motivating in difficult situations such as dealing with change and motivating people who work from home.

The context of motivation is important, as it is an essential element in the mix that delivers high performance. As a manager you will need to understand the principles of motivation to create the right environment in your organization.

Supporting Performance

Motivation is a major driver of individual, team, and organizational success. But having motivated people isnt sufficient to guarantee high performance. There are other factors that must be considered, including having the ability and opportunity to do well.

Maximizing performance

Directing efforts

Motivation is the will to do something. It comes from inside us, and herein lies the challenge for management: how do you motivate your people to achieve the organizations goals? Motivation is more than enthusiasm it is about directing peoples efforts. If you are a manager, your performance will depend on the efforts of your employees. Set clear goals for them and keep thinking about how you can support and motivate them. This is essential for the organizations and your own success.

Achieving success

A motivated person or group also requires the opportunity and ability to boost their performance. Opportunity covers two aspects ensuring that your people have the tools and resources needed to do the job, and allowing them the space to do the job well without restrictions. A persons ability is a crucial factor that is often overlooked. It is created by combining an individuals innate skill or talent with experience.

Is my team able to perform?

• Do my team members know what their goals are?

• What aspects of the work and environment demotivate them?

• Which tools are constraining the output?

• Do my team members have the basic ability and training to do their jobs?

• How can I improve the abilities of my team?

Motivate everyone

In every team, some members demand more attention than others. Make sure you motivate all team members, even the quiet ones.

Principles of Motivation

There are three accepted theories of motivation: Maslows hierarchy of needs, Herzbergs motivation and hygiene factors, and expectancy theory. How you use these, coupled with your own beliefs, will influence how you manage and motivate people.

Maslows motivation theory

American psychologist Abraham Maslow, one of the founding fathers of motivation theory, suggested that people have a hierarchy of needs. The basic needs should be satisfied first, and once these are met, you must appeal to the higher level of needs if you are to continue to motivate someone. Maslows work suggests that people have different needs at different times. Some of these needs will be satisfied at work, and others through life outside work. But if you want to motivate your staff you need to get to know them, their interests, and their aspirations so you can adapt the organizations as well as your own approach to their changing situation.

Expectancy theory

Expectancy theory was developed by Professor Victor Vroom in the 1960s. It proposes that people are motivated by being involved in setting their own goals, by receiving feedback along the way, and by recognition for what they achieve. Feedback is important, since it is very motivating to know how well you are progressing towards the target.

Herzbergs theory

The psychologist Frederick Herzberg divided sources of motivation into motivators and hygiene factors. Hygiene factors dont motivate, but if they are not dealt with, they can turn people off. Having a dirty office is irritating, but having the cleanest office in the world isnt motivational. Herzberg believed salary is often a hygiene factor. If people are paid fairly, they are satisfied, but paying above the norm doesnt motivate people.

Herzbergs motivators and hygiene factors

Maslows hierarchy of needs theory

Maslows hierarchy of needs starts with the physiological needs of life: being able to breathe, being fed, and staying warm. The next level is concerned with security: being safe and secure. The third level relates to social needs: love and membership of wider social groups. The fourth level is esteem: the need for respect and a feeling of worth. The final level is self-actualization, where the desire is to be happy through achieving ambitions and fulfilling your potential. Maslow believed that once a lower level need was satisfied, its motivational impact declined and was replaced by higher level needs.