The same motivational style cannot be used for all employees
There is perhaps no managerial task more important than motivating and retaining employees.
The key to success in this area is to recognize that each employee is an individual. Thus, what motivates one employee may not motivate another. The mistake managers often make is to get locked into a specific motivational style -- a motivational comfort zone -- they use with every employee. If we are to be effective managers, we must be flexible, tailoring our motivational techniques to the individual employee and the particular task environment we are working in.
The most famous motivation theory was developed by Abraham Maslow. He developed a hierarchy of needs that ranged from basic needs (food, water and shelter) to a higher order need for achievement. Maslow believed higher order needs would only motivate people after the salary and benefits. The upper-level needs are satisfied by involvement, participation and challenging task assignments.
While Maslow's approach is useful, managers commonly make two mistakes when applying this framework. First, managers make assumptions about workers based on job classification and/or the employee's education level. It is easy to assume a blue-collar worker is operating at the basic-need level and the white-collar workers are operating at the higher order level of needs.
I once had an employee that had two masters degrees. Because of her education, I assumed she would want greater challenge in her work assignments and would respond to the recognition we gave her for performing well on those tasks. My assumptions crashed around me when she told me she appreciated the challenging jobs and the recognition, but she could not buy any groceries with our praise. Contrary to my assumptions, she was still operating at the basic-need level.
The second error we make in application