The relevant motivation theory commerce essay

IntroductionRelevant Motivation TheoryTo begin with, the motivation is essentially to be defined for comprehending the theory. Bartol and Martin (1998) describe motivation as a power that strengthens behavior, gives route to behavior, and triggers the tendency to continue (Fard et al, 2011). This explanation identifies that in order to attain assured targets; individuals must be satisfactorily energetic and be clear about their destinations. In view of Bedeian, (1993) it is an internal drives to satisfy an unsatisfied need and the will to accomplish. Also motivation is a progression of moving and supporting goal-directed behavior (Chowdhury. M. S, 2007). It is an internal strength that drives individuals to pull off personal and organizational goals (Reena et al, 2009). It was Frederick Taylor who put forward one of the earliest management idea that workers are motivated mainly by pay. His Theory of Scientific Management suggests workers to be paid according to the number of items they produce in a set period of time – piece rates pay. However workers soon came to dislike Taylor’s approach as they were only given boring, repetitive tasks to carry out and were being treated little better than human machines. Taylor’s approach has close links with the concept of McGregor’s Theory X. He assumes workers are lazy and wish to avoid responsibility so they must be rewarded, coerced, intimidated and punished (so-called stick and carrot philosophy management). Meanwhile, McGregor also proposed positive assumptions on workers (Theory Y) so that managers’ job is to match the human wish for self-development into the organizations need for maximum productive efficiency. The latter motivation theories developed in the US, particularly those of David McClelland, Abraham Maslow, Frederick Herzberg, and Victor Vroom. According to McClelland, we perform because we have a need to achieve (the achievement motive). This thought has been further developed in Adams (reference) equity theory, which basically means that people are motivated first to achieve and then to maintain a sense of equity. Herzberg’s two factor theory of motivation and Maslow’s ‘ Hierarchy of Needs’ seems to be similar. Herzberg’s theory distinguishes between hygienic factors (largely corresponding to Maslow’s lower needs – physiological, security, social) and motivators (Maslow’s higher needs – esteem, self-actualization); the hygienic factors have only the potential to motivate negatively(demotivate – they are necessary but not sufficient conditions), while only the motivators have the potential to motivate positively. Later, Hackman and Oldham (1980) extended Herzberg’s work by developing a model suggesting the specific work characteristics and psychological processes that increase employee satisfaction and the motivation to excel. All these theories center on the issue of the organization’s effect on the individual employee’s ” cognitive growth.” Other theories and approaches have focused on specific psychological processes, as does Vroom’s theory. Vroom has formalized the role of ‘ expectancy’ in motivation; he opposes ‘ expectancy’ theories and ‘ drive’ theories. The former see people as being pulled by the expectancy of some kind of result from their acts, mostly consciously. The latter see people as pushed by inside forces – often unconscious ones.(motivation 理论部分)These theories were further developed to recognized individuals’ capacities for self-motivation. Organizational behavior (OB) modification (Luthans & Kreitner, 1975) stresses the automatic role of rewards and feedback on work motivation; however, these effects are mediated by psychological processes such as goals and self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986; Locke, 1977). Goal-setting theory (Locke & Latham, 2002) – focus on the effects of conscious goals as motivators of task performance. Attribution theory’s (Weiner, 1986) emphasis is on ways that the attributions one makes about one’s own or others’ performance affect one’s subsequent choices and actions. Social-cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986) is very broad in scope – its domain is much wider than that of work motivation – but Bandura’s core concept of self-efficacy has been found to have powerful motivational effects on task performance (Bandura, 1997). In a chapter entitled ‘ Man Waiting for Motivation’, Peters and Waterman (1982) contend that the key to delivering ‘ better relative performance, a higher level of contribution from the ‘ average’ is to establish a ‘ strong culture’ reinforced by ‘ transforming leadership’. It is this combination of culture and leadership that, according to Peters and Waterman, differentiates the ‘ best-run companies’ from the also-rans. Their claim is that a strong culture provides the final solution to the long-lamented problem of motivating employees at it demonstrates that what managers ‘ have been dismissing for so long as the intractable, irrational, intuitive, informal organization can be managed’(ibid., p. 11)(text book, 316)Rutherford (1990) reported that motivation formulates an organization more successful because provoked employees are constantly looking for improved practices to do a work, so it is essential for organizations to persuade motivation of their employees (Kalimullah et al, 2010).（motivation theory）Analysis of Motivation Theory in Capitalist EconomiesThe feasibility of these mainstream motivation theory under capitalist economies has been highly discussed. A characteristic definition of capitalism is given by Professor Pirenne describing ” the tendency to the steady accumulation of wealth which we call capitalism.” In Capitalism, all factors of production are privately owned. Capitalism economy is also known as Free Market Economy as all (producers, employers, employees etc.) are free to enter into any occupation or agreement. Countries with this type of economic systems are: England, Japan, America etc. The main features of a capitalist economy analyzed on worker motivation level are as follows (under this kind of economy):(a) Factors of production are owned by the individuals.(b) Competition. in capitalism, freedom of enterprises leads to more and more competition, which ultimately results in efficiency of industrial units and production of goods at low costs.(c) Profit Motive:- The only aim to start the business is to earn and maximize the profit in capitalism.(d) Individuals are the owners and acquire property and pass it on to next heir after death.(e) Government has little role to play in the functioning of the economy. (/) Prices of goods and services are determined by the market forces of demand and supply.(f) Labour as a commodity:- In capitalism, labour acts as a commodity and can be bought and sold like any other commodity in the labour market. In some cases, exploitation of labour also takes place. 4. Analyzation of Worker motivation problem regarding the feature of capitalist economyFirstly, considering the feature of capitalist economies, managers are therefore seeking low costs and maximizing profit. It might make owners unwilling to pay their employee that much to fulfill their physiological needs. It means that the vast majority workers under capitalist economy are motivated by pay. Moreover, it leads the higher level needs to become an unattainable desire for workers and only managers have the opportunity to seek for ‘ self-actualization’. It is obviously contrary to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. More importantly, Vroom’s ‘ drive’ theory suggest that only inside forces (corresponding high level needs) can ‘ push’ people work initiatively. Lower level needs are just ‘ pulling’ people to work passively. Therefore workers in capitalistic economy are just pulled to work so that employees’ working efficiency will decrease. There is an evidence from William Rabinowitz and his colleagues, who found that the productivity in American industry is stagnating. Compared to Japan, where productivity rose 9. 9 percent annually, US productivity only have 2. 7 percent growth rate between 1967 to 1977. Moreover, lots of social critics and management theorists claim that the problem of worker motivation and morale has played a significant role in it. (worker motivation problem)Take the example of Ryanair, which is a Irish low-cost airline but it has a extremely high staff turnover, particularly among junior pilots and cabin crew according to Shay Cody, the deputy general secretary of the Irish trade union. Staffs in Ryanair are expected to pay for their own uniforms, crew meals and training courses. It requires staff to pay as much as £2, 700 upfront for training. Despite this, Ryanair cabin crews are not getting the wages they deserve for the hard work they put in. it is the industry rules for most full-service airlines. Their employees deserve better pay and appropriate reward for long flight time, little rest time. It seems that Ryanair’s owner is maximizing profit through decreasing employment cost. The undervalued salaries in Ryanair eventually resulted staffs has discontent on work, to be not dealing nicely with passengers and a high staff turnover rate. (free essay)Secondly, the nature of capitalist economies has decided that managers’ interest is not in making work more satisfying for employees but in getting more out of them. (text book 61) It revealed that in capitalist economies, managers are rarely caring about employees’ feeling but rather exploit their residual value to maximum. This nature is apparently goes against with Hackman and Oldham’s (1980) ‘ internal motivation conditions’ that work should be experienced as ‘ meaningful’ and result should be ‘ acknowledged’ to increase employee satisfaction. Managers have to behalf on employees’ interests. Accordingly, this might cause two problems in worker motivation. First of all, managers did not express enough care about their staffs so it leads to a motivation problem on lack of communication between employees and managers. A survey from William on motivation shows that workers are grumbled about lack of communication, consultation, and management responsiveness. William collected data on the attitudes of almost eleven thousand hourly employees in thirty-seven American companies on general issue of motivation and morale between 1978 and 1981. For the upward communication and downward communication, roughly 50% workers gave unfavorable responses, while only 30% or fewer gave favorable responses. Besides, for the goal clarity, only 39% feel satisfied. This means these companies failed on meeting goal-setting theory (Locke & Latham, 2002) and result in ineffectiveness motivation. More importantly, the survey shows 69% workers think that they could be more productive if they are really cared. These data reveals that it is the ineffective worker motivation that causes the lower productivity. Lack of communication can easily cause various problems. Take the example of Ojuice, a company that make juice and juice drinks. Their manager, Janice, identified their employees’ competence has reduced as their opinions and ideas are never considered resulting to their negative perception towards the company and its management. It is the reason why Ojuice lack of motivation and from a wide view, this problem has led a continuous loss of many experienced employees in the past as they feel that their ideas are not accepted in this company (Seijts, 1998). The second problem is that exploitation of labour might exist and it is worth note that this undesirable phenomenon is widely spread over the most companies. It might even cause conflict between companies and worker like strike and demonstration. William’s survey on this part shows 58% unfavorable regarding to excessive work requirements. Ryanair also had a motivation problem reflected on this point. A cabin crew who works for Ryanair writes her experiences on a website where she says: ‘ Ryanair just takes the most they possibly can squeeze out of us. After a twelve hour day without a break, I do not have the energy to be nice to passengers or check that my nail polish is still on’. Working 12 hours without a break is inhuman, it is clear that Ryanair is exploiting its staff. As a result, Ryanair has a high staff turnover rate, the company is recruiting now contract labour from agencies as far away as the Baltic States and Poland. Moreover, Ryanair might lose more customers over time because of employees’ bad attitude. Further, the discontented workers might hurt companies reputation. Thirdly, capitalism encourages mechanization and automation. This will result in unemployment in labour surplus economies. Workers then have the fear of unemployment and managers might use this point to implement empowerment. All this means that a concern for motivation can be applied selectively and strategically. (textbook 66) Managers just motivate workers when they are useful or their loyalty is needed to be more successful. Therefore, a certain group workers which are useful for managers were treated well. Consequently, inequities in pay and treatment are raised. This is not in line with Adams’ equity theory (reference) that people are motivated by the maintenance of equity. In William’s survey on worker motivation, there is fully 65% worker expresses dissatisfaction in distribution of pay and equity of benefits within their companies. Employees overall indicated that work was allocated unevenly, so that some had to work much harder than others. What’s more, opportunities for advancement displayed only 30% satisfaction. In Ryanair case, The demerits of capitalist economies on worker motivation have been analyzed. However, it is not fair to say that capitalist economies are adverse to worker motivation. Besides, the situation analyzed above is not ubiquitous, there still exists good examples on worker motivation in capitalist economies such as Japan, where productivity rose 9. 9 percent annually between 1967 and 1977. Actually, there are also merits on worker motivation in capitalist economies. Firstly, it becomes a inducement to Work. Private ownership and law of succession induces the people to work more, under the capitalism so as to earn more income. Secondly, capitalist economy contributes to Efficient Production:- In Capitalism, every firm tries to compete with one another by producing better quality products and lower prices. Modern and advanced techniques of production are adopted to achieve this aim. It results in efficient productionThirdly, workers under capitalism are free in that, unlike slaves of serfs, they are not tied to a particular employer by force or convention. However, their freedom is a constrained freedom to sell their capacity to work. For Marx and those influenced by his thought the problem of motivation needs to be understood on a wider canvas. Getting people motivated will always be a problem under capitalism because, although we depend upon each other to produce wealth, private ownership of the means of production allows owners to exploit those who must sell their labour in order to live. Though profits are only made through labour, the interests of owners diverge since labour is a cost to be minimized if profits are to be maximized. (text books, 77)Conclusion(conclusion)After integrating above features of capitalist economy, it is apparently that there is an essential conflict of interests between ownership and their labour.