...TITLE: Human Motivation COURSE START DATE: 11/19/13 COURSE END DATE: 12/23/13 REQUIRED READING: Students are required to read all materials available at the Course Materials site for this course on Facilitator Availability I am available to you at most times throughout the week. I am very willing to make an appointment to be available to you as needed. If there are times that I will be away from my e-mail for an extended period to exceed 24 hours, I will post a message to that effect. The best way to reach me is by posting a question in your Individual folder, since the classroom is checked frequently. Phone calls are not a good way to contact me because I travel a great deal. In the extremely rare event that phone contact must occur, the best way is to schedule an appointment in advance. The University discourages the use of email during class times, preferring us to use the Individual folders. For emergencies, when you are not able to gain access to messages on the Online Learning System (OLS), please send a message to my personal email address. General Course Description This course seeks to synthesize the many theories of human motivation with the practical application of motivating employees. To this end, the course will examine historical theories as well as recent developments in the field of motivation and their relationship to management practices. The primary concepts of goals, quality of work, and rewards will be examined and applied to the workplace. It is important...
Words: 6265 - Pages: 26
...Workplace Motivation Kenneth K. Sallie PSY/320 – Human Motivation 7/22/14 Donald Walker According to dictionary.com the word motivation is defined as the act or an instance of motivating, or providing with a reason to act in a certain way. Seeing that everyone has individual personality, there are many different ways one can be motivated. Some are self-determined individuals with inner drive and passion to be the best at what they do just because they would like to be the greatest. A great example of motivation would be individual like Michael Jordan, who was cut from his high school basketball team, but went on to become arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. This would be an example of Intrinsic motivation. Another example would of a team leader in the workplace psychologically utilizing positive reinforcement to make the team believe in him or her as a leader, which would influence his or her team to believe they are the best, which in turn makes them the most productive sales team in the entire office. This would be an example of extrinsic motivation. The management style within the workplace environment can happen in many different forms. Through personal experience, I’ve witnessed many different management styles within the very same company. Wal-Mart is one of the richest corporations in the history of the United States of America, yet as an employee of the Wal-Mart corporation whom has worked for the company in two different Wal-Mart stores and...
Words: 1533 - Pages: 7
...Workplace Motivation Paper PSY/320 Human Motivation Workplace Motivation Paper Motivation is defined as an internal process which directs and maintains an individual’s behavior toward a certain goal (Bell, 2015). Organizations are continuously seeking new ways to motivate. Continuous employee train is crucial to organizations to adapt to the changing demands, and reaching their common goal. Each employee is unique thus they are motivated differently. Nuclear generating stations face the challenge of motivating their employees toward being receptive and open to change. It is important all organizations communicate clearly what is expected, recognize the needs of its employees, and develop mechanisms to address those needs (Madsen, 2006). Some organizations began again to look at Maslow’s views on individual needs, providing an encouraging learning environment, and assisting individuals in reaching their potential by learning and changing to improve their performance (Madsen, 2006). This paper will examine motivational strategies effects on productivity, organizational efforts, improved performance, resistance of employees to increasing productivity and the managements philosophy of motivation, and close with analyzing the implications of applying new motivational theories in nuclear power stations. Organizational Efforts and Improved Performance There are two main types of motivation intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation involves engaging in behavior because...
Words: 1669 - Pages: 7
...explain to you about the motivation in the workplace. In order to have success in the workplace todays workplace, you have to have an understanding of how to establish morale that will produce high results from employees and overall company results. Motivation is the key to for any business that wants to be successful. Motivation is determined by many things but motivation can’t be determined by the economic environment because that fluctuates. However, the ultimate goal is to create an environment that will engage the employees in the workplace and make them feel more important and considered a vital asset to the company. Motivation has been defined as the psychological forces that are determined by the direction of the person’s level of effort. Trust, engagement, values, job satisfaction, rewards, and acknowledgement are all factors of what drives a successful workplace in today’s market. Companies want to retain talent in the workplace because who’s to say that you will come across that talent again. The main focus is to meet goals and by meeting goals, you have to go beyond expectations to make something stand out like “sore thumb”. Some people think that managers are the ones who make sure that employees are happy and being treated fairly. However, they are, but the main department to oversee that would be the HR department and organizational leaders. They are the ones to tend to oversee that there is excellence and happiness in the workplace. The expectations for...
Words: 6435 - Pages: 26
...Workplace Motivation Ronald Ford PSY/320 April 2, 2014 Wesley Benton Workplace Motivation Working in a vehicle manufacturing plant, I deal with an extrinsic form of motivation. In other words, a performance or incentive based approach. Our goal is to meet monthly and yearly sales goals set by the companies’ sales team. We have a training model that calls for teamwork and accountability. There are financial incentives to meet goals along with the competitive hourly wages. There are also penalties for poor performance, quality, and negative behavior. These plans are put in place to regulate, manage, and sustain the companies’ performance goal and quality standards. The pathway program is a motivational model put in place by Nissan to offer associate employees; employed by Yates services, an opportunity to become a full time Nissan technician. This program utilizes the reinforce method to motivate employees to try achieve company requirements and goals. In order to transition from a Yates associate into a full time Nissan employee, one must have excellent attendance, very low defects or quality issues, be active in the companies’ improvement initiative, and display good character. After two years of performing these task, the employee may be eligible for an evaluation that if passed will allow him or her an opportunity to become full time, and receive a number of benefits. This program is the biggest motivational model the company utilizes. It is a positive reinforcer...
Words: 1188 - Pages: 5
...Workplace Motivation Paper Marco Polo PSY/320: Human Motivation Workplace Motivation Paper Scientists have defined motivations as the process of arousing, directing and maintaining behavior towards a goal. In fact, motivation is still the one thing that makes people productive in their place of employment, but motivation is very difficult to explain and practice. Management is waking up to the fact that their successes are directly related to their ability to work productivity in with employee emotions. This is because emotions directly influence the five major sources of competitive advantage in today’s marketplace, which are capital, customer service, organizational dynamics, productivity, and employee attraction and retention. All corporations have realized that maintaining elicit and sustain positive emotional states in their employees is important because it plays a major role in their organization’s success or failure. It provides an individual with an identity (Herzberg, 2006). Motivators are those things that allow for psychological growth and development for employees on the job (Place, 2006). In fact, they are closely related to the concept of self-actualization, involving a challenge, an opportunity to extend oneself to the fullest, to taste the pleasure of accomplishment, and to be recognized as having done something worthwhile. Again, while empowering your staff ensure that you follow the basic principals. For example, inform your staff of what their...
Words: 1144 - Pages: 5
...Increasing Motivation in the Workplace Rex Oatis Dr. Tony Muscia BUS520 Leader and Organizational February 14, 2016 OUTLINE I. Introduction a. Why is motivation important? II. How to motivate? b. Setting goals c. Showing growth and progress III. Communicate to Motivate d. Why is communication important e. How does it motivate? f. How does it help improve employee motivation? IV. Employee Surveys & Evaluations g. Conducting research and surveys h. Why is a survey designed? i. Employee evaluations j. Questions to ask yourself when evaluating. V. Conclusion Introduction The question when it comes to motivating people is what motivates and how to motivate people? The last but not least is how to keep people motivated? There are many jobs people work and they’re just working for the money and nothing else. The key to keeping good/great employees and to have a low turnover rate is keeping people motivated. Not only that but also engaged with the work, having a positive work environment and wanting employees to help build, grow, and increase productivity. That’s why setting goals, monitoring employee’s growth and progression is the main theory for motivating employees. Also, modeling an evaluation program for the employees to advanced and enhances their job/career with the company to decrease employee turnover rate. Leaders of modern-day...
Words: 1179 - Pages: 5
...Motivation in the Workplace Working as a cashier at a well know convenient store one must have extrinsic motivational traits. This job entails dealing with many different types of people on a daily basis. Where I work I encounter dealings with the homeless up to and including the wealthy. A person having intrinsic traits such as being passive and looking to the world to motivate them would not last too long as a cashier where I work. Some of the things that motivate me in keeping this job are the friendships I have made with my customers, the crazy things that I witness, and being able to help the homeless when they do not have enough money to purchase food or drinks. I have built a good rapport with my customers, greeting them in the morning and engaging in idle conversation helps keep me motivated and enables me to look forward to going to work each day. My customers are like family to me and if I can put a smile on their faces in the morning makes it all worth going to work. I know that my positive attitude and greeting each customer with a smile and a good morning means a lot because the customers always tell my boss how much they like me and what an excellent employee I am. We all like to be praised for what we do and receiving that praise is also a good motivator to help one show up to work each day and do their job to the best of their ability. One of the down falls of my job is the fact that my employer absolutely refuses to give their employees...
Words: 948 - Pages: 4
...Annotated Bibliography Ann, G., Jerry W, G., & Heather S, M. (2009). Organizational change: Motivation, communication, and leadership effectiveness. 21(4), 75-94. This article is discussed about a leader’s ability to influence and motivate an individual employee in the workplace. The article is based on the theory of (Vroom, 1964), (Maslow, 1954), (Skinner, 1971) and widely used goal theory (Karoly, 1993) which explain that motivation is come from a given work environment and how their leader motivate them. It is require skilled manager who can communicate effectively, attend to employee queries, be creative and innovative, plan and delegate task and always follow up with problems solving. This article would be a helpful resource for my research paper because it demonstrates the real and recent research from (Hebda, Vojak, Griffin, & Price, 2007- Motivating technical visionaries in large American Companies) which indicated that the most important motivator was time provided by the management to solve the complex issues. It shows that the leaders need to plan and make fast decision making and create a work environment that bring forth employee motivation. It is reliable as the authors use a lot of reference sources to support the conclusions. This journal article is written by three very experience authors. Ann Gilley is an associate professor of management at Ferris State University where she teaches strategy and management. Her areas of research include change, the organizational...
Words: 2352 - Pages: 10
...today are the leaders who rise to make decisions and ensure the survival of the business. A manager's ability to motivate workers to achieve the highest result determines the success of a business. All managers should understand the motivation theory so that they can ensure the success of their workplace. There are many techniques that can be applied to determine survival of a business. Motivation is the study of what makes us do things. Every day we are faced with many decisions. What choice we make is the study of motivation. There are several theories of motivation; the theory of opportunity-cost is the most widely recognized. This paper will discuss (1) the major forces that drive us, (2) diverse influences, and (3) tangible and intangible outputs. Through the years there have been several theories as to what motivates employees to do their best at work. Every person has their own set of motivations and personal incentives to either work hard or not. Some people are motivated by recognition while others are motivated by cash incentives. Whatever the employee’s motivation maybe, the key is to promote that motivation that can cause a significant impact on the growth and development in a company or your own business. Motivation in the workplace is one of the major concerns that managers face when trying to encourage...
Words: 983 - Pages: 4
...Motivation at workplace. Introduction The job of a manager in the workplace is to guide and help employees to get things done. Managers cannot do anything if their employees are not motivated to do so. So they always have to look for new ways of increasing motivation among employees. Money is not always the best motivator, people also need to be recognized and appreciated. According to Pritchard and Ashwood (2008) motivation can be described as someone’s willing to perform well to accomplish their task. Motivation is always intrinsic-it is inside us. People are always motivated to do what is in their best interests and meets their desired ends. So” when employees identify their own welfare with that of the organisation, they will naturally work harder” (Bruce and Pepitone, 1999). Managers’ job is to create a workplace where employees feel good about them and can enjoy the work they do. This report shows the effect of motivation on organisational performance on the example of Tie Rack Company. Tie Rack is a British-based tie-retailer company founded by Roy Bishko in 1981. Main body 1. Tie Rack uses several ways of influencing employee motivation, which can be described as follows: Designing incentives for employees that results in higher performance levels and happier employees. For example, all sales representatives get 50% discount at Tie Rack. Additionally, shop staff gets discount cards for the nearest restaurants where they can go during lunch breaks. Recognition...
Words: 1324 - Pages: 6
...Assignment 2: Motivation and Performance Management Joe A. Servin III Organizational Behavior 2-16-14 Professor Yardley Motivation Theories Douglas McGregor tried to explained motivation by putting the physiological and safety needs as “lower order” needs and the social, esteem and self-actualization needs as “upper order” needs. According to McGregor, leaders of a company can make one of two assumptions about an individual depending on what factors motivate said individuals behavior. In this paper I will use a real life example from work and focus on the performance of an individual to help describe these theories. But first a little more insight as to what these theories actually mean. Theory X helps describe employees who are motivated by those lower order needs. McGregor’s Theory X basically says that people are not very bright and can be very gullible. That they lack any ambition and would rather be led by someone than to take on any responsibility of their own. Theory X also assumes that people want to work as little as possible and don’t really care about the needs of the company that they work for. Theory Y Describes employees or are motivated by those higher order needs. McGregor’s Theory Y basically says that motivation, assuming responsibility, matching behavior with company goals and the potential for development are all “pre-wired” into employees and that it is the responsibility of the company to help employees discover and develop these characteristics...
Words: 880 - Pages: 4
...Motivation in Work Place University of South Carolina Aiken In this assignment, we will discuss motivation as a concept, as a behavior and as a management tool. I have herein brought in all the important concepts that are associated with motivation, given its prime role in life. Also, I have taken a case study related to a bank, and examined how the HRD has identified, and evolved a plan to increase motivational assets. Motivation is a practice of extracting, controlling and sustaining certain behavior. There are many approaches to motivation - physiological, behavioral, cognitive, and social. Motivation is usually a group effect, but not limited to it; it affects the behavior of individuals on different levels, and as a result, the product in any workplace can directly be correlated to the motivational levels or on practical terms, the spirit of the work force. Motivation plays a vital role in setting and attaining goals, and the factor of motivation is intertwined with certain philosophical and psychological concepts - altruism, selfishness, morality, or avoiding mortality. Work place motivation can either intrinsic or extrinsic; intrinsic motivation refers to the drive or thirst due to the interest in the work, and this kind of motivation exists within the individual, not forced by any external pressure. Psychologists see intrinsic motivation as more effective than extrinsic because it helps...
Words: 2408 - Pages: 10
...Workplace Motivation Paper PSY/320 1/14/2012 There are many reasons why people go to work every day. The largest incentive to work is money making. Making money is the main reason for most Americans. When it comes to survival, food, shelter, clothes, and transportation is critical. But there are also other benefits to working that are non-monetary. When starting a new job, a person will go through new employee orientation; the corporation will advertise the non-monetary benefits they have to offer. These benefits help an individual decide if they want to work for the corporation. After being employed, an employee will measure these benefits when it comes to staying with a particular corporation. A corporation must have interesting and appealing benefits to retain employees who have been working for a corporation; otherwise employees may seek work elsewhere. Motivation is tied directly to innovation. Innovation is the process by which an organization attempts to unlock the creative potential of the employees (Klein, 1992). Hardworking and productive employees are a must to be a successful company. Low quality work and a poor reputation can keep a company from being successful. If a company wants employees to work hard and produce quality work in a timely manner there must be some incentive for them to keep putting out quality work. Corporations must evaluate what motivates their employee and offer incentives that will keep them motivated. Motivation within...
Words: 857 - Pages: 4
...organisational leaders worldwide. Several organisational behaviours can be attributed towards how successful a company will be. Motivation is a crucial aspect in many organisations and is also a key determinant in the triumph of a business. Motivation is defined as the process of initiating and directing behaviour, and willingness to exert high levels of effort to drive toward organisational goals, conditioned by the effort's ability to satisfy individual needs (Gabriel 1989: 224; Mathis & Jackson 2006: 79). Therefore, motivation is considered to be detrimental to the facets of management within the workforce, where the quality of work that people express is often a result of the motivation they possess. This essay will discuss the concept of motivation by focusing on content theories of motivation and its related theories through exploration of the variable nature of needs and expectations. Also, this essay will discuss the importance of having a motivated workforce and how the application of these theories is pivotal in achieving staff motivation. Lastly, this essay will include an evaluation of Southwest Airlines, with particular emphasis on the links between motivation and value creation for the company, as well as staff satisfaction. Motivation The motivational process in management can be treated as a need satisfying process. Content theories of motivation are primarily concerned with the dynamics of employee needs, in which the Maslow hierarchy of needs and McGregor’s X and...
Words: 2623 - Pages: 11
