Human resource practice proposes that job satisfaction and motivation are key influential factors in attracting and retaining the best talent, in terms of an organization’s employees. An organization’s workforce is a valuable asset. This is why using motivational techniques to acquire the best employees is important. According to Spector (1997), motivation is a product of internal and external forces that encourage desire in human beings to stay with a job because they are continually attracted to it, while seeking to achieve goals for the company and themselves. Additionally, motivation comprises three main components — activation, persistence, and intensity (Spector 1997). Activation pertains to resolution to initiate a certain behavior, such as beginning a new project. Persistence is the act of constant effort toward certain goals, even in the face of difficulties arising when attempting to achieve the goals. Intensity is the level of concentration when pursuing a goal.
Two theories exist that elaborate further on motivation—content theory and process theory. Content theory assumes that every individual has needs similar to other individuals; therefore, they have a desire and a need to be employed. Process theory focuses on the differences in people’s desires and concentrates on cognitive processes that result in these dissimilarities. An organization’s managers must develop and implement strategies to motivate
workers, for the organization to produce at its maximum capacity and meet organizational goals. These motivators include salaries, wages, and conditions of service. Using salary as a successful motivator, managers must consider four main components of salary negotiation. These include payment, pay rate, personal or special allowances, and fringe benefits such as pensions and holiday pay (Fulton & Maddock 1998). In addition, it is crucial to ensure existing pay in the organization is considered when formulating employee pay structures. Pay strategy continues to be the most significant motivator for industrial workers to improve productivity. When workers receive satisfactory pay, they tend to be happier and work harder, as they aspire for promotions for opportunities to earn even more money. Another good motivational strategy is adequate staff training. Training helps employees to learn and gain the necessary job-related information to be implemented in the job. This type of information allows employees to know how to deal with challenges which come hand in hand with new technology and new equipments (Saiyadain & Monappa 2000).
Job satisfaction raises employees’ interest in their work. Analyzing the effects of job satisfaction in an organization is valuable for the research. The perception of job satisfaction should be examined and the relation between motivational factors and satisfaction or dissatisfaction should be looked into. Job satisfaction develops from one’s experience at work. This experience causes positive and gratifying emotions. As it is an emotional experience, it can only be inferred and not seen. Employees determine their job satisfaction by how well a job meets or exceeds their expectations (Stawarski & Phillips 2008). If employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, it can lead to unhappiness and reduced commitment on the job, as well as an employee quitting the job. People in professional positions often experience high levels of job satisfaction. Age is another factor that contributes to job satisfaction. This is because older workers have more experience and usually produce more desired results. (Archer 1983).
When an organization’s management understands the issues that determine job satisfaction, the organization can put forth efforts to increase job satisfaction and therefore increase productivity. Many human resource practitioners may agree with this, as this is a topic of broad interest (Spector 1997). To ensure job satisfaction it is important for employees to be motivated so that the employee appreciates the job and is able to put for the best effort, which improves output. Many employees recognize that their feelings about their work is affected by many factors. This is why employees who have a sense of personal satisfaction on the job is more likely to associate their happy personal lives with work. To achieve job satisfaction in employees, they must be properly trained to ensure they understand their responsibilities and are well motivated. Specifically, Maslow’s theory comes to mind when thinking of motivation in the workplace (Maddock & Fulton, 1998). Motivation comes from various angles and there are many factors that motivation entails. Both material and non-material factors can lead to improved employee motivation.
In contrast, failure to motivate employees leads to employees not doing their very best. They will not go above the call of duty to attain the results. When employees come to work, they bring their whole personalities, attitudes, likes, dislikes, and personal characteristics. These traits influence job satisfaction (Saiyadain & Monappa, 2000). To enhance organizational performance, it is important to integrate company needs with individual
needs. This will ensure employees are satisfied and are willing to do their best work.
References
Fulton, L. & Maddock, C. (1998) Motivation, emotions, and leadership: the silent side of management Westport, Conn: Quorum. Saiyadain, S. & Monappa, A. (2000) Personnel management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. Spector, E. (1997) Application, assessment, causes and consequences. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage. Stawarski, A. & Phillips, P. (2008) Planning for and collecting all types of data. San Francisco. Jossey-Bass.
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