Motivation Management

Citation

Goulding, A. (2001), "Motivation Management", The Electronic Library, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 49-53. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2001.19.1.49.3

How to motivate staff has always been one of the main challenges faced by managers. Motivation in the face of increasing stress, changing demands and a more complex workplace environment is no easy task for today’s supervisor, especially with the move towards team‐based working in which each member of the team may be motivated by different “sticks” or “carrots”. Motivation Management offers a practical, sensible approach to managing motivation within organisations. The book is divided into three sections and section 1 begins with a questionnaire devised by one of the authors which aims to test the kinds of factors which are important to individuals in the workplace. This can be used by individuals to find their own direction of motivation or by personnel managers, training officers or even supervisors keen to find out what motivates their staff. According to the authors, people are motivated by 12 key factors:

1. (1)

   Money and tangible rewards – the desire to have a job with good benefits and perks.

2. (2)

   Physical conditions – the need for good working conditions and comfortable surroundings.

3. (3)

   Structure – need for rules and guidelines in the workplace, for direction and certainty.

4. (4)

   People contact – need for social contact at work.

5. (5)

   Relationships – need to form and sustain long‐term, stable relationships with colleagues.

6. (6)

   Recognition – need for appreciation from others.

7. (7)

   Achievement – need to set oneself challenging goals and achieve them.

8. (8)

   Power and influence – need to influence and control others.

9. (9)

   Variety and change – need for variety, change and stimulation – avoidance of routine.

10. (10)

    Creativity – need to be explorative, creative and open‐minded.

11. (11)

    Self‐development – need to develop and grow as an individual.

12. (12)

    Interest and usefulness – need to feel that one’s work is intrinsically interesting, useful and rewarding.

In the second part of the book, each factor is explored in depth with analysis of the implications of a high score on each for managing and motivating individuals in the workplace. The combination of factors is also considered. Section 3 considers motivation in action and explores a number of current management preoccupations – the management of change; coping with stress; teamworking; training and development; employee selection – then discusses how individuals with high scores on each factor will respond to different situations in the workplace.

This is a well‐structured, clear and logical book. I am not sure that it says anything new, drawing heavily on the work of Maslow, in particular, but also containing elements of McGregor’s and Herzberg’s work. However, the book is jargon‐free and, aimed at practising managers, presents the ideas and discussing the concepts and implications of the work clearly and simply. The final section, exploring the behaviour of individuals in certain specific work‐based situations, is interesting and useful. Overall, a very helpful, clear guide to motivating individuals in the workplace which emphasises the complexity of the task managers of a diverse workforce face.