2.4.1 - Motivation and motivational theories

Why motivation matters

Employees' willingness to put effort into their work affects what a business can achieve with the people it employs.

An attractive combination of pay, meaningful work, working conditions and career opportunities can encourage applicants to join. This gives a business a better chance of recruiting people with suitable skills. Once employed, people who feel fairly treated and find their work rewarding may be more likely to stay. Lower employee turnover means fewer vacancies and less repeated recruitment and training, and helps the business retain experience.

Motivation can also improve productivity, the output produced from a given input. Employees who take care, cooperate and suggest improvements may complete more useful work in the same time. In an illustrative small restaurant in Morocco, engaged staff might notice an ordering mistake before food is prepared, reducing waste and keeping service moving. In an illustrative international software business, challenging work and career development may help attract specialists who have several employers to choose from.

These are possible effects, not guarantees. A motivated worker still needs skills, suitable equipment and achievable workloads. Productivity is not simply working longer hours, and higher motivation should not be inferred from output alone: output may rise because a new machine was installed. People may also value different rewards at different stages of their lives.

Taylor and financial incentives

Taylor's approach emphasises financial rewards and finding efficient methods of doing work.

Taylor's scientific management studied tasks to identify an efficient way to perform them. Managers could select and train workers for specified methods, then link pay to output to encourage greater effort. Piece-rate pay pays a set amount for each unit produced. In this theory, the opportunity to earn more by producing more is a major source of motivation.

In an illustrative packaging workshop, a worker paid for each correctly completed pack has an incentive to increase output. Standard methods and training can help avoid wasted movements. The incentive works more clearly when output can be measured, the worker can influence it, and quality standards prevent rushed defective work from being rewarded.

The approach has limitations. Workers may rush, become tired or prioritise quantity over quality. Output can be constrained by machinery or supplies rather than effort, making an output-linked reward feel unfair. Creative, caring or team-based work can be difficult to measure in units. Taylor's emphasis on money helps explain some behaviour, but it does not establish that money is the only thing every employee values. Recognition, relationships and control over work can also matter.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Maslow proposed that people are motivated by needs arranged in a hierarchy, from basic survival to fulfilling their potential.