What motivates people in the work

place?
Motivation has been defined as the goal directed behaviour- what it
is that pushes individuals towards certain forms of behaviour and not
others. (Gorman,2004).Weather in the business or private world,
motivation is of high importance, it is one of the main factors for
success. Here is an example of some highly motivated individuals in
the business world:
Henry Ford born in 1863-1947, was an American industrialist, the
founder of the Ford Motor Company, which nowadays is one of the
leading automobile companies in the world. Fords way to success
hasnt been that smooth. Before achieving what he had achieved, Mr
Ford had tasted the rough feelings of failure, and this not once but five
times. Despite the taste of failure, he was still motivated to achieve, if
not more motivated than before. (Ricci,2012)
Another highly motivated individual that I will mention is Soichiro
Honda (1906-1991). Mr Honda was a Japanese engineer and
industrialist, best known for his establishment of Honda. He oversaw
his companys expansion from a wooden shack manufacturing bicycle
motors to a multinational automobile and motorcycle manufacturer.
Before establishing his company, Mr Honda was firstly rejected on his
job interview at the Toyota Motors Corporation. Unemployed, Honda
continued to do what he always loved doing- building scooters. He first
started building scooters at home and after a while he decided to
create his own business. (Kumar, 2012)
These two small stories are just an example of what effect motivation
can have on the individuals. Therefore, in this essay we will be looking
at different factors that can affect the motivation level at the work
place. When looking at the managers perception of their employees,
most of them think of their subordinate as physical resource. They
treat them as labour, which can have a very big impact on the workers
motivation levels.(Kvakhadze, 2003)
It has been suggested that the physical presence of motivating
factors among the employees stimulates interest and enjoyment of
work. Managers that are not only concerned with the physical
performance of their employees, but also their mental, tend to be more
successful managers. When the workers are happier and can feel
protected and cared about they tend to be more motivated at their
work place. More motivated workers can lead to higher productivity
and better quality. (Forsyth,2006.)This can also have a positive impact
on the companies overall performance, which can make the workers
more self-confident as they would know that they were part of it.
It has been shown that self-esteem at the work place is directly
related to the level of desire to work. Therefore, it seems it is just a
circle process that goes around and around. There are many different
factors to this circle process, however I will try to explain the main
ones that influence employees motivation at the work place.

But before that, I would like you to think if you have ever asked
yourself What is the secret of success?- What makes people like
Honda and Ford not give up on their goals even thought they have
experienced some difficulties on the way? The answer is the right
motivation!
Have you ever lost motivation for unexplained reasons? One of the
common problems amongst students and workers is the loss of their
desire to work, no matter if they love what they do.
It doesnt matter if you have the dream job or you study at the best
university in the country and you have the perfect circumstances for
happiness, we all experience the motivation loss at some point.
However, how can we control this, what can we do to prevent this?
These questions are the similar questions that the Psychology genius
in 1954-Abraham Maslow tried to answer. In his book, a theory of
human motivation he classifies human needs like sorting in ascending
order. The hierarchy of needs includes five motivational needs that are
presented in the shape of a pyramid.(McLeod,2007) This pyramid
consists of 5 basic needs, which are:
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth,
sleep.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law,
stability, freedom from fear.
3. Love and belongingness needs - friendship, intimacy, affection and
love, - from work group, family, friends, romantic relationships.
4. Esteem needs - achievement, mastery, independence, status,
dominance, prestige, and self-respect from others.
5. Self-Actualization needs - realizing personal potential, selffulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences
Now, lets look at Maslow's theory from the point of view of
motivation at the workplace and which needs are most important to be
satisfied in order to achieve motivation at the workplace. Let's start
with ' Esteem needs. It is proven that one of the key factors, which
contribute to the employee motivation, is to be evaluated.When feeling
appreciated, people are much happier and more confident. As a rule it
makes them feel safe, which helps them to perform at the work place
in the best way.
Another extremely important factor is Job satisfaction. The term "job
satisfaction" is comprehended to mean everything from "making all
parts of an occupation simple for workers" to "making the occupation
compelling, noteworthy what is more difficult. (Green and
Butkus,1999.)
Psychologically healthy workers focus more on work than distractions.

Workers that are unhappy with their job are more likely to be
diagnosed with depression and anxiety. (Blang, Kenyon and
Lekhi,2007) Job dissatisfaction leads to higher incidence of burnout.
Being unhappy at work can have a negative affect on the workers selfesteem.
Employees who are not engaged and not happy at work tend to use
more sick days (an annual cost of $28,000 in sick days per worker.
( Obre-Austin,2010) Also, disengaged workers report higher levels of
stress and are at greater risk of heart disease Employees who are
frustrated at work are more likely quit, retaliate, engage in
absenteeism or chronic lateness.
Quite often we are engaging with different activities in both work
place or in our everyday life. This is not because of the salary, not
because of any material goal or because we want something in return.
As Maslow states in his theory of needs - we have a need of
belongingness.
In one of his presentations about the human motivation, Mr Dan Ariely,
professor of psychology and behavioural economics, stated that seeing
the result of the hard work put in can stimulate us to become even
more productive.
In order to prove his claim, Mr Ariely implemented a survey at
Harvard University, where the participants were paid meagerly to build
Bionicles (robots) made out of Legos. In one form of the experiment,
the completed Bionicles were placed underneath a desk after the
members turned them in to the experimenter, who then asked them
whether they cared to build another Bionicle for lesser money (thirty
cents cheaper each time). In a second version of the study, the
experimenter destroyed the completed Bionicle in front of
theparticipant and also asked if he would like to build another robot for
a lesser amount of money (again, for thirty cents less than the
previous completed Lego robot).
The result was that the first gathering made 11 Bionicles, generally,
while the second gathering made just seven before they stopped.
(Arnold-Smeets,2013)
Even however there wasn't enormous significance in the question, and
despite the fact that the first group was aware that their work would be
crushed toward the end of the survey, seeing the effect of their work
was motivating enough to upgrade their performance significantly.
In conclusion, I believe there are many different factors that can
contribute to the level of employees motivation at the work place.
Motivation of every employee is an individual trait, and it is hard to find
just one motivational factor that can have a positive effect.
However, in my own opinion the most important motivational factor is
the workers job satisfaction. This is because satisfaction of the
individual at his work place can make him/her even more motivated,
which can improve the individuals overall performance by making
him/her less stressed, more secure and more creative- as they would
not be afraid to put their ideas out.

References:
1. Arnold-Smeets L. 2013. TED Talks: What Makes Us Feel Good About
Our Work? by Dan Ariely. (online) (viewed 08 Jan 2015) Available from:
http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2013/08/ted-talks-what-makesus-feel-good-about-our-work-by-dan-ariely
2. Blang R. Amy K. and Rohit L. 2007. Stress at work. (online) (viewed:
10 Jan 2015). Available from:
http://www.theworkfoundation.com/assets/docs/publications/69_stress_
at_work.pdf
3.Forsyth P. 2006. How to motivate people. 2nd ed. London and
Philadelphia: Kogan Page
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5. Green B. T. and R.T. Butkus. 1999. Motivation, beliefs and
organizational transformation. London: Quorum books
6.Kumar M.S. 2012. Success Story of Soichiro Honda : Founder of
Honda.(online) (viewed 05 Jan 2015). Available from:
http://www.successstories.co.in/success-story-of-soichiro-hondafounder-of-honda-motors/#
7.Kvahadze S. Significance of motivation in the workplace . (online)
(viewed:07 Jan 2015). Available from: http://hrclub.am/significance-ofmotivation-in-the-workplace
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Jan 2015). Available from:
http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
9. Obre-Austin L. 2010. Why Being Happy with Your Job is So Important.
In: Baruch College Starr Career Development Center Blog. (online)
(viewed: 5 Jan 2015). Available from:
http://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/scdc/2010/12/08/why-being-happy-atyour-job-is-so-important/
10.Ricci T. 2012. Henry Ford. (online) (viewed 10 Jan 2015). Available
from: https://www.asme.org/engineeringtopics/articles/automotive/henry-ford