By: Benedict Smythe
Submitted: 2008-07-13 02:28:50 | Word Count: 541
A good understanding of motivated behavior is an invaluable tool towards improving productivity in the workplace.
How does this work? Put simply, motivated employees are workers that are more productive. If people are properly motivated, they are likely to be more good natured about their work and will less likely need constant supervision. The reason for this is because they want to achieve defined goals. These goals serve as their motivating factors.
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How to apply motivational strategy
First, understand the basic concept of motivation. This usually operates on the principle of rewarded behavior. Many of these “rewards” are sometimes seemingly so miniscule that they are often overlooked. Things like commensurate pay or “equal pay for equal work,” a healthy working environment, and good working relationships can, by themselves, already be good motivation.
If you think about it for a moment, this is a basic means towards ensuring loyalty. Not all workplaces have healthy working environments, and most people usually leave a working environment due to a host of small, unsatisfactory details that together make up what to them is an unbearable working condition.
If you think that these details and factors are so small that they do not warrant too much attention, think again. Seen in the proper light, they involve basic needs – the need for harmonious relationships, for satisfactory pay commensurate with the work that people put their efforts into, and being able to work in an environment that is clean, safe and non threatening.
Motivation for Driven Growth
When you have those basic factors taken care of, you can now look towards using proper motivation to promote growth and development.
Make it sufficiently clear that a particular type of behavior will be rewarded. Hence, loyalty to a company, extra effort and creative contributions will be rewarded by promotions, recognition, benefits, and salary increases. Furthermore, these kinds of rewards will be doled out in a fair, merit based and democratic manner.
Affirmative Motivation
You can, of course, motivate by means of threats, pressures or intimidation. And maybe threats might even work, too. But this is a very poor means towards encouraging teamwork and building cooperation, not to mention keeping people working for you. Should people decide that they simply cannot work with you, they will eventually leave.
Affirmative motivation, on the other hand, has exactly the opposite effect. Not only that, but such incentives and opportunities can actually encourage people to contribute to the company’s growth – even outside of their normal duties and responsibilities.
If people like their work, are loyal to and appreciate the company or organization that they are working for, they are more likely to want to contribute to its growth. The value of having such motivated employees is priceless.
The Human Aspect
Hence, recognizing the various levels of motivation in a person makes for a healthier working environment all around. This means that you realize that workers and employees are also human, driven by needs, wants, and opportunities.
Recognizing the human aspect in the workplace can open the doorway for the formulation of better office policies. Instead of coercing people to do their work, it would be better to seek to promote motivated behavior. You might find that growth follows quite naturally in its wake.
