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Motivation is a term used in different contexts to refer to:

— goals or outcomes that have become desirable for a particular individual, as in “he (or she) is motivated by money”,

— the mental process of choosing a goal and deciding whether and how to achieve it, as in “he (or she) is motivated to work harder”,

— the social process by which the behaviour of an individual is influenced by others, as in “the supervisor motivates his team”.

Rewards, which can be offered to employees, include:

— pay,

— job satisfaction, which may be provided through practical measures:

— training and promotion,

— participation in decision making (including involvement in “positive” areas like customer service, through quality circles, suggestion schemes, etc.),

— a congenial physical, social and cultural environment.

Management and motivation

Many of these things will not be directly within the control of the supervisor, being decided upon, at more senior levels and handed down as pay policies, job descriptions, etc.

However, the management needs to understand why people behave as they do. This will enable them to choose the most appropriate leadership style and provide a good working environment, which will encourage effective work performance and increase commitment and co-operation.

Only by providing feedback and encouragement, the middle management can, on the day to day level, help to motivate his staff.

The first stage in helping others to become motivated is to recognise if they are demotivated.

Let’s analyse, now, your perception of your own motivations and of the motivations of the staff of your bank.

Theories of work motivations

In order to ensure that the most effective use is made of manpower, it is obviously essential that management not only understand how people behave, but also why.

Motivation is an area to which both practising managers and examiners are giving increasing attention.

Therefore the study of motivation — the reasons why people behave as they do — is of fundamental importance in the management of human resources.

Motivation begins with the needs that exist within us all. Every one of us is internally motivated at some level or another. Motivation is the drive, which causes people to achieve goals that will satisfy their needs. See diagram:

As one need is satisfied another one emerges, and so on.

Motivation cannot be directly observed or measured, it can only be inferred from people’s behaviour.

Tagged as: Motivation