Motivational Methods Paper Essay

Every manager in an organization must develop the necessary skill of motivation, and apply it to their staff in order to work more efficiently. This ability is a key role for each department and it is of utmost importance that it be applied in a manner that is both beneficial to the organization and staff as well. Each staff member has a role to play in accomplishing goals and it is the duty of the managers to facilitate and motivate their staff. This paper will address three motivational methods to motivate staff for upcoming changes for the organization. Motivation can be defined as: â€Å"Forces within individuals that account for the level, direction, and persistence of effort they expend at work.† (Lombardi, Schermerhorn, 2007). Individuals who possess a strong work ethic and integrity will put 110 percent into their job, those who do not will do just enough to slide by and stay under the radar. Managers must motivate and inspire staff to continue to give that 110 percent while receiving acknowledgment and respect. In other words; â€Å"Motivation is getting people to do what you want them to do because THEY WANT to do it. The challenge is to give them a reason to want to do it because doing it will satisfy a need they have. You have to tune in to their needs, motives and reasons, not yours.† (Saleem, 2007). Upon learning that upper management is going to implement changes within the organization a manager is tasked with identifying what makes their staff motivated, what makes them perform at peak levels? What does the staff need? â€Å"Needs are unfulfilled physiological or psychological desires of an individual†. (Lombardi, Schermerhorn, 2007). Each individual will have different needs; however it is possible to identify what the team needs by simply asking them. One may think that by developing a list of needs and instructing each member to put them in order of priority it is possible to get an accurate picture of where  to start with the team and how to introduce the up-coming changes in a manner that will motivate the team to accept these in a positive and professional manner. Howev er, â€Å"A study, published in 1999 by Kenneth Kovach of George Mason University, compared associates’ ranking of what they wanted from their jobs with what their bosses thought was important to the associates. The results of the study were somewhat surprising. At the top of the associates’ list was interesting work, followed by appreciation of work, a feeling of being â€Å"in on things†, job security, and good wages. Employers thought good wages, job security, promotion/growth, good working conditions, and interesting work were most important to their staff.† (Bessel, 2012). The key here is to listen to the responses from the staff when asked what is important to them, and then we can identify their motivation. One motivation theory is the Two-Factor Theory, developed by Frederick Herzberg, (Lombardi, Schermerhorn, 2007), which identified that what really made the 4,000 respondents he questioned, enjoy their jobs were factors which related to the job itself, he labeled this satisfier factors. These are items such as feeling pride and a sense of achievement, recognition, and room for advancement. As it turned out, things relating to the setting of the job were what they enjoyed least about the job, he labeled this hygie ne factors. These are items such as work environment and conditions, interpersonal relations, policies, quality of supervision, and salary. These negative factors can be remedied with improving policies to enable staff to feel more satisfied in their environment, such as adding soothing environmental sounds, music, or providing chair message for example can help create a less chaotic work environment and positive hygiene factors. However, in using this method it is also important to be conscious that the two-factor theory is a complementary theory, improving the hygiene is also along with improving the satisfier factors as well. Common sense means that one follows with the other, recognition must also come along with environmental motivation. A second motivation theory is Acquired Needs Theory, from David McClelland, which is based on the needs of individuals. He identified three needs; first, the need for achievement as a desire to go above and beyond the norm of what is expected. Then second is the need for power, which could include control over others, or to be able to provide influence and responsibility over them. The third is the need for affiliation which  is a desire to have friendly and warm friendships with others. (Lombardi, Schermerhorn, 2007). These are all needs that people acquire over time of life experiences and a savvy manager will create a work place that is responsive to these needs. The manager must allow these staff members to takes risks and challenges and encourage their ability to work with little supervision. Delegating higher responsibilities to these individuals creates security for the team and enables the manager to respond to other concerns that normally they may not be able to give the proper attention to. The third method of motivation is motivating through job design. Utilizing the two previous methods of motivation based on the needs of staff, a manager can then create jobs by assigning the required tasks to those individuals who are appropriate to accomplish job performance and job satisfaction for themselves as well as the organization. To make the future changes the organization is anticipating it is essential that the managers utilize their skills to â€Å"tailor job design† (Lombardi, Schermerhorn, 2007), to fit the strengths of staff with their own specific qualities and needs, this includes four specific areas, one, job simplification: identifying work processes and tasks for staff to work in clearly defined and specialized tasks. Managers can utilize lesser skilled staff to perform duties of lesser complexity, allowing others with higher skill levels to focus on areas of greater need. Job rotation allows the manager to create flexibility and understanding of other areas, creating a better relationship and moral between departments. Job enlargement integrates or combines tasks previously done by separate workers, this is an option that a manager should do with caution because it could have an opposite reaction to the motivation they are trying to create. The final alternative in job design is job enrichment which is essentially delegating some of the responsibilities of the manager to another individual creating a broader scope to their current position and allowing the manager to take on other responsibilities they may have had a hard time giving the appropriate time to. By focusing on these three types of motivational methods I intend to accomplish introducing the staff and motivating them into the future of the organization while taking into consideration their needs and skill levels to better serve them and the organization. Through personal experience, being motivated to provide superior service and customer satisfaction in the health care  industry, individuals who are appreciated, recognized, and offered more responsibility will work hard to meet deadlines and provide excellent patient care. This is a win-win situation for any health care organization and management team. References: Bessel, I. (2012). Understanding Motivation: An Effective Tool for Managers. Retrieved from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hr017 Kovach, Kenneth. (1999). Employee motivation: Addressing a crucial factor in your organization’s performance. Human Resource Development. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Lombardi, D.M., & Schermerhorn, J.R. (2007). Health care management: Tools and techniques for managing in a health care environment. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Saleem, H. (2007). Motivating your staff. Retrieved from http://www.dirjournal.com/guides/motivating-your-staff/