by Fariha Tabassum

We live in an age where we have to do so many works personally as well as professionally. Sometimes you might feel bored to do so; you might feel it’s too much for you, even you can think that some work is almost impossible for you to do, and which might not be true as well. Why? Because it is a case that you are not motivated. If you are not motivated towards any particular work, you will not enjoy it. Motivation is something which will force you to do things with your highest self interest. But it doesn’t depend on the individuals or employees only, top management or employers also have some specific tasks to do to motivate the employees of the organization. So how you can motivate yourself and how the employers can motivate their employees and increase productivity? We are going to discuss about it now.
Most of the employees of an organization need motivation to feel good about their jobs and perform optimally. Some employees are motivated by money while other employees find rewards and recognition personally motivating. Motivation is the direction, persistence and effort expended by an individual to achieve a desirable outcome. Motivation levels within the organization have a direct impact on organizational productivity. Simply productivity is the rate of power to produce, but in management point of view it says something different. In management viewpoint, productivity is the ratio of what is produced and what is required to produce those things. Low productivity is a major problem, particularly in the developing countries like Bangladesh. Psychologists are fascinated by human motivation and the theories developed on motivation. By using some of the theories of motivation we will be able to understand the link between motivation and organization productivity.
Usually people tend to be more productive if they are motivated enough to get the job done. Researcher have been studying on motivation for decades and trying to find out what motivates persons behavior, how, when and why. Person’s motivation is reflected by four things. First, what kind of needs the person is trying to satisfy. Second- The types of activity the person does to satisfy the need. Third- How long the person keeps doing it and finally- How hard the person works as it.
Many theories about motivation have been established over the years such as- Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Hertzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, Mc Gregory’s Hygiene Theories of X and Y, Hawthorne Effect, Expectancy Theory, ERG theory, etc. These theories explain how motivation affects individual behavior and how by applying these theories in the workplace can increase the employee productivity which will eventually increase the organization productivity.
Human capital is an organization’s most valuable asset. This explains the importance of understanding the theories and application related to motivation to manage human resources of an organization. But still one question remains unanswered. How motivation influences organization productivity? Motivation enhances the level of job commitment of workers which leads to a higher productivity of the workers. So motivation is necessary for the workers in organization to enhance the organization productivity.
Another question may arise, if motivation increases the level of productivity, then how can we motivate our employees? First, Specific and challenging task can lead to higher levels of performance and productivity, which in turn is linked with an overall stronger commitment to the organization. By setting specific and challenging task employees can create a clear strategy for their own professional development, which leads to greater satisfaction and motivation. Next important strategy will be individual incentives. Every employee personal growth is affected by the incentives offered in the organization. By implementing a variety of awards such as team awards individual recognition based on extraordinary performance and rewards for all employees for their achieved goals will help in employee’s personal growth.
Incentives are just one of the methods used to motivate employees in the workplace, where another method can be job design. It is advised, implementing a job design in an organization in which employees rotate job position, gain more responsibility and engage in trainings and organizational learning activities. And finally, create a work environment where your employees feel safe and fair. Install motivators such as acknowledgment, responsibility, and learning opportunity to improve the employees’ performance.
There is an interesting real life motivational story. An American former professional basketball player’s first setback came when he didn’t make the school basketball team in the sophomore year; because he was only 5’9” in that time and his taller classmate had taken the last spot on the school basketball team. On that day he vowed to himself never to be in the same position again. He started practicing daily and Hitting a growth spurt and reaching 6’6”. The following year he made his way to the team and never looked back. Yes, I am talking about Michael Jordan who, wins two gold medals in the Olympics and entitled as the NBA’s most valuable player 5 times in his career. One of the famous quotes of Michael Jordan is -“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying” It was his determination and motivation that gave him the greatest success.
So you can start working on yourself. Stay focused. Remember you are the only one who knows yourself in the best way possible. You know what you truly need. Start working to achieve that, prepare yourself to face anything. There would always be room for growth and exploration if you stay focused and in case of organizations if the employers play the duty to motivate their employees. If you did the things you are capable of, you would have been amazed by your achievement. So remember what’s the most important thing in life- “believe in yourself”.

The writer is a MBA student at North South University and can be reached at:  [email protected]