Motivation

Employee satisfaction is very important to the success of any organization. As a leader it is important to keep employees motivated on the job. There are many differences that influence individual’s behavior such as attitudes, emotions, personalities and values. “Attitudes are evaluative statements either favorable or unfavorable concerning objects, people or events” (pg 2). Individual’s attitudes can positively or negatively affect any team. There are three main components of attitude which are cognitive component, affective component, and behavioral component. The attitude of an individual can tell a lot about that particular person. Positive attitudes can explain a lot about the company as well as the individual. Employees that are usually happy at work tend to have a better attitude than those who are not satisfied with their current position. There are many things that can contribute to the positive or negative attitude of an employee. If employees feel satisfied with their manager, coworkers and job assignments they tend to have a better attitude than those who are not pleased with their current position. Employees also may express a variety of different emotions. Emotions have the tendency to be very powerful. “Emotions are intense feelings that are directed at someone or something. Moods are feelings that tend to be les intense than emotions and that often lack a contextual stimulus.” (pg. 3) In many cases a persons emotions can be depended upon a lot of things. Positive or negative emotions can be directly related to something that particular individual may have encountered. An employee could have had an argument at home before coming to work and therefore they may come to work with a negative expression of emotions. There are also many different personalities in any organization. No two individuals will have the same exact personality. There is something different about every individual’s personality that sets them apart from another. “A personality is the sum of ways an individual reacts to and interacts with others” (pg.2). There are five basic dimensions that underline a human’s personality. The factors are “Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and openness to experience. These personality differences are also called the big five. Research has found relationships between the personality dimensions and job performance. Values are also important to individuals in an organization. “Values represent basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end of state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end of existence” (pg 11). It is important employee’s values be respected. If person’s values can be understood they can usually be linked with their attitudes. What people value usually influences many of their actions. To successfully motivate individuals you must understand the differences in values. Although there are many differences among individuals we can take all of those differences and positively influence and motivate the entire organization. To increase employees motivation and performance there are different opportunities that employees can have access to. In order to properly motivate employees you have to do more than just offer good pay. “At the end of the day, you need staff who are self-motivated. You can't force staff to be motivated just like you can't force them to be happy. What you can do is foster a positive environment where staff understand what the company is trying to achieve and where they buy into the bigger goals of the company and choose to be part of it.” (Mueller 2006) Employees will be offered the opportunity to do cross training. Cross training will allow employees to shift from one job to another. Cross training will allow employees the opportunity to gain experience in other departments. Cross training can increase employee morale and knowledge. Employees will also be allowed to do more in their current positions. We will also allow flex time schedules to employees. Employees will be able to choose their start and end times during an eight hour day. Employees taking advantage of flex time will be allowed to accumulate a free day off at the end of each month. Along with flex time employees will be allowed to job share. Job sharing will allow employees to split a 40 hour work week. Telecommuting will also be a part of employee options. This will allow employees to stay home at least two days out of the week to do their work. This will allow employees to do their work with few interruptions. Reference Page robbins, s. p., & judge, t. a. (2007). Organizational Behavoir. Retrieved from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/eReader.aspx Mueller, C. (2006, January 11). Motivating Employees: Steps For Successful Staff Motivation. Retrieved May 2, 2010, from http://ezinearticles.com/'Motivating-Employees:-Steps-For-Successful-Staff-Motivation&id=126392