Motivation is essential to increase the workability of employees/workers and the workability of the employee is essential for the organization’s success. So here we discuss some special motivational techniques for worker.
It has already been stated that motivation is so complex and individualized that there can be no single best answer to the question as to what a manager should do to motivate his subordinates. But experience suggests that they can use some specialized techniques to motivate their subordinates.
Some motivational techniques for worker
1. Management by Objective (MBO) and goal setting
MBO is a process of collaborative goal-setting between a manager and a subordinate with the understanding that the degree of goal attainment by the subordinate will be a major factor in evaluating and rewarding the subordinate’s performance.
When the manager sits with the subordinates, jointly established goals for them, and agrees that the future rewards will be based on goal attainment then he or she is expected to be more motivated to work toward the goals that merit them.
2. Participation in management
Subordinates are likely to be motivated the most when they are not only consulted but are also allowed to participate in decision-making. In fact, the right kind of participation yields both motivation and knowledge valuable for enterprise success. Participation appeals to the need for affiliation and acceptance. It is a means of recognition and thus enhances subordinate’s eagerness to work harder.
3. Monetary Incentives
Money can never be overlooked as a motivator. It can also mean power or status.
In order to use money as a motivator, a manager has to remember the following:
- An enterprise can make its wages and salaries competitive within its industry and its geographic area to attract and hold people.
- People usually evaluate their compensation in light of what their equals are receiving.
- Unless bonuses for mangers are based to a major extent on individual performance, an enterprise is not buying much motivation with them. In so far as possible, compensation has to be based on performance.
- Money can motivate only when the prospective payment is large relative to a person’s income.
4. Modified work week/flexible working hours
There is considerable interest among employees in altering the workweek to suit their convenience better. The primary motivational implications of the modified workweek are that modification in their routine helps them satisfy their higher-level needs and provides them with an opportunity to fulfill several of their needs simultaneously.
By allowing employees more independence in terms of when they come to work and when they leave, managers acknowledge and show “esteem” for the employees’ ability to exercise self-control. It is hoped that employees will respond to higher levels of motivation.
Modified workweeks give employees the opportunity to fulfill a variety of needs. Using flexible working hours, a person can contribute to the organization and still have time, for example, to study for the MBA programmed for executives or to carry on business as a part-time occupation.
5. Quality of working life (QWL)
This is an important motivational technique, used by managers in western societies. QWL is not only a very broad approach to job enrichment but also an interdisciplinary field of inquiry and action combining industrial relations, industrial engineering, industrial psychology and sociology, organization theory and development, leadership theory and motivation, etc.
Mangers have regarded QWL as a promising means of dealing with stagnation productivity. Workers and trade union leaders have also seen it as a way to improve working conditions and productivity and also as a means of justifying higher pay. It may also help to minimize labor disputes and to ensure industrial democracy.
6. Effective criticism
This can be a springboard for improving an employee’s behavior and performance. Adopting a positive approach makes criticism less difficult as well as more effective. The manager should examine his or her own motives before criticizing it.
The manager should plan the presentation of his criticism in the best possible form with a view to motivating rather than rebuking him or her Criticism should apply to the use of personal efforts for improvement now, not next week or next month. Specific time schedules for improvements are also to be set up.
7. Job enrichment
Making jobs challenging and meaningful is an accepted way of motivating employees greatly. In job enrichment, the attempt is to build into jobs a higher sense of challenge and achievement. Jobs may be enriched by variety. But they also may be enriched by
a) Giving workers more freedom at the workplace:
b) Giving subordinates a feeling of personal responsibility for their tasks;
c) Encouraging the participation of workers and the interaction between them;
d) Giving subordinates feedback on their job performance; and
e) Involving workers in the analysis and change of physical aspects of the work environment, such as cleanliness, layout temperature, lighting, etc.
Several studies tend to prove that workers will work harder if their jobs are enriched and expanded so as to give them greater control over their work and more freedom from their supervisor.
Job enrichment has certain limitations also. The cost factor, very often, comes to hinder job enrichment. Jobs requiring hi-tech specialization, special machinery, and technology may also suffer from being too meaningful to workers.
It merits mention that the limitations of job enrichment apply mainly to jobs requiring low skill levels. The jobs of managers, professionals, or technicians already contain varying degrees of challenge and accomplishment.
In order to make job enrichment effective, the following approaches can be used:
- The manager should have a better understanding of what sub-ordinates want;
- If productivity increases are the main goal of enrichment, the program must show how workers will benefit;
- It has to be recognized that people like to be consulted, to be involved, and to be given an opportunity to offer suggestions;
- People like to feel that their managers are truly concerned with their welfare. They like to know what they are doing and why. They like to be appreciated and recognized for their work.
Job enrichment is effectively done when the programs of the enterprise are anticipatively drawn, and appear beneficial to the employees.
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