UNIT III

 Motivation Skills

Q-1 What do you mean by Motivation?

A-1. Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. ... In everyday usage, the term "motivation" is frequently used to describe why a person does something. It is the driving force behind human actions.

It also means incitement or inducement to act or move. In relevant to organization context, it means the process of making subordinates to act in a desired manner to achieve a certain goal. “Motivation distinguishes the sufficient reason of Becoming, of Knowledge, of being and of Action.

Q-2. What are the sources of motivation?

A-2. External incentives. If you want people to do something, emphasizing rewards (e.g., money) is powerful. But the external rewards encourage a focus on short-term results at the expense of long-term ones.

Avoiding losses. We like to win, but we hate to lose. We feel the pain of loss more deeply than we feel the pleasure of gain. For example, consumers are more responsive to a price increase than to decrease. Loss aversion produces inertia or status quo bias, meaning a strong desire to stick with your current status.

Hitting “rock bottom.” The concept of “hitting bottom” suggests that people must “hit rock bottom” before they may change. In the alcohol research field, “hitting bottom” is considered as an important motivating factor in seeking treatment. However, this tipping point may be different for each individual (e.g., losing job, spouse, and home, and experiencing serious physical problems.

Q-3. What do mean by initiative? Write about willingness to work?

Initiative is part of your self-management skills (which you can boost with our free Young Professional training). Managing yourself is all about taking responsibility for what you do. Initiative is all about making good things happen, not just waiting for good things to happen to you.

Since employers love initiative, it's really important to be able to talk about when you've demonstrated it yourself. Since half the struggle is recognising initiative in yourself and others.

Initiative is not really something you have or don’t have – it’s something that you demonstrate. You may use your initiative skills all the time, or you may have shown it at some times and not others.

Q-4. Describe techniques of Motivation.

A-4. Motivation techniques are internal or external influences that contribute to productivity, satisfaction at work and meaningful contribution to projects. When employees need to feel excited to work harder or believe in their value to the company, managers can use motivational tools to help encourage and inspire their teams.

Techniques of motivation

1. Financial incentives:  First techniques of motivation are financial incentives as money is indicator of success. Therefore, it fulfills psychological safety and status need as people satisfy their needs by money. Wages, salary motivates employees to perform better.

2. Job enlargement: Under this technique, task assigned to do job are increased by adding simile task.   So the scope of job enlargement is high for the motivation of subordinates. It is also known as horizontally leading of job.

3. Job enrichment: Under this technique jobs are made challenging and meaningful by increasing responsibility and growth opportunities. In such technique of motivation, planning and control responsibility are added to the job usually with less supervision and more self evaluation. It is also called vertical leading.

4. Job rotation:  it refers to shifting an employee from one job to another. Such job rotation doesn’t mean hanging of their job but only the employees are rotated. By this it helps to develop the competency in several jobs which helps in development of employees.

5. Participation : Participation refers to involvement of employee in planning and decision-making .it helps the employees feel that they are an asset of the organization which helps in developing ideas to solve the problems.

6. Delegation of authority:Delegation of authority is concerned with the granting of authority to the subordinates which helps in developing a feeling of dedication to work in an organization because it provides the employees high morale to perform any task.

7. Quality of work life:It is the relationship between employees’ and the total working environment of organization. It integrates employee needs and well-being with improves productivity, higher job satisfaction and great employee involvement. It ensures higher level of satisfaction.

8. Management by Objectives: It is used as a motivation and technique for self-control of performance. By this technique supervisor and subordinates set individual and organizational goals. Each individual’s responsibilities are clearly defined which would help identify the skill sets one has to make the best use of the same to meet organizational mission and vision. This also helps the organization function effectively.

9. Behavior modification:The last technique of motivation is behavior modification. It develops positive motivation to the workers to do the work in desired behavior in order to modify behavior.

Q-5. How praise compliment help in motivation?

Most employees will be motivated to perform better if their managers praise and commend them more often. In fact, 67% of workers believe that this is a top motivator compared to financial and non-cash incentives. ... Management experts state that praise is a great and free way to boost engagement and performance.

Q-6. Which are the ways of motivating others?

A-6. Four different types of motivation drive people through the tough times, make them high performing, and maintain focus on commitments. These are defined as being either from an external or internal source as well as being an action or non-action. The four resulting forms of motivation are extrinsic (external source, action), identified (external source, non-action), intrinsic (internal source, action), and introjected (internal source, non-action). The understanding of these different forms of motivation are important both for the individual and for organizations seeking to promote higher performance or goal achievement.

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation is an external influence that impels people to act in certain ways. External influences may include rewards, promotions, prizes, etc. The problem with extrinsic motivation is that it is prone to expectation. If the reward for doing something is consistently applied, people tend to see it as part of the effort not as a reward. There also is the problem of extrinsic motivation lacking meaningfulness. The effect of motivating someone with rewards does not work always or even consistently over time. If it did, offering bonuses for doing specific jobs would always garner individuals for those jobs and make them perform the jobs properly. Yet, human resources struggle to fill jobs with the most productive, creative people.

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation refers to an internal motivation. This form of motivation is subjective by is believed to occur as a result of actions aligning with values or with pleasure for doing a task. This form of motivation is subjective but can be accessed in a variety of ways such as providing rewards that reflect value such as “employee of the month” or giving out a coffee mug printed with “best salesmen.” The key to understanding this internalized motivation is the relation to a person’s values or desires. People tend to place higher value on the boss saying things like “Good job,” then being given a bonus at the end of the year. However, intrinsic motivation is subjective and can be difficult to balance and utilize depending on the workforce and what appeases the staff.

Introjected Motivation

Introjected motivation is an internalized motivation like intrinsic motivation, but it is a negative form of motivation which results from non-action such as the job being done poorly or not at all and the person feeling guilty. This form of motivation is similar to negative reinforcement but the stimulus for the person’s motivation is internal rather than external. This form of motivation is more common than people might believe and takes many forms such as bosses making comments about the poor job some one performed. These statements are often intended to induce feelings of guilt within people to motivate them to perform better. This form of motivation has many negative aspects as it can anger or confuse people when the person feels constant negative interactions or by not being able to satisfy the themselves or the person causing them to feel negatively.

Identified Motivation

Identified motivation refers to a form of motivation which occurs as understanding or feeling the need to perform or accomplish some task but not yet acting on this need. This is powerful form of motivation as it is intrinsic to the person and prepares the person for acting. Often people believe the influencer of behavior such as a reward or punishment is enough to motivate action but more often motivation is a building process. For example, if lung cancer’s risk could motivate a person to quit smoking, many people would easily quit smoking. The need and desire to quit smoking often takes time to actualize; however, this presents the problem of the person dying in the of lung cancer before becoming motivated enough to quit smoking. This form of motivation is powerful because its actualization often creates lasting accomplishment or performance enhancement but it is often impractical to wait for someone to become motivated.

Q-7. What does Mobilizing Optimal Performance mean?

A-7. Workforce mobilization is an essential tool in an organization’s ability to quickly and effectively adapt to changing business needs. A successful mobilization strategy identifies, develops and leverages employee capabilities — empowering them to seamlessly take on new roles and responsibilities to support the organization’s changing needs.

Delegate a colleague to prioritize talent mobility

Talent mobility is such an important part of an organization’s ability to adapt to changing market conditions that it should be a top priority. To maximize the effectiveness of your talent mobilization strategy, it’s best to appoint a colleague whose top responsibility is facilitating talent mobility. This will enhance the strategy’s visibility and accountability throughout the organization.

2. Enhance talent management skills

To maximize your workforce mobilization potential, it’s essential to reflect on your talent management strategies and make changes where necessary. Ensure that management has ample opportunity to practice their coaching skills and career conversations. Provide colleagues with cross training opportunities. Encourage one-on-one training during slow periods. These tactics will provide management with the leadership skills needed to empower employees to meet their personal and professional goals, while promoting the organization’s ability to meet changing business demands.

3. Maximize performance reviews

Performance reviews provide an ideal opportunity for employers and staff to further talent mobilization strategies. Management should reflect on the employee’s performance over the last year while comparing transferable skills to growth opportunities and career development. Not only does this promote better analysis of employees’ capabilities to assist in workforce mobilization, it motivates them to further their professional development.

4. Empower employees

Encourage employees to be proactive and take control of their career development. Offer guidance on professional development and provide resources for colleagues to better understand the responsibilities of various open positions. By empowering your employees, you are reaffirming their value to your company and encouraging a more dedicated workforce.

When you achieve a mobilized workforce, the benefits are endless. Not only have you provided your staff with the tools they need to meet their career aspirations, you have enhanced your internal recruitment pool. By effectively mobilizing your workforce, you gain the ability to deploy talent based on business needs without the restriction of your talent allowance.

Q-8. Discussion Goal Setting for employees.

A-8. Goal setting involves developing an action plan designed to motivate and guide a person or group toward a goal. Generally, planning and setting performance goals top many a companies priority lists. As a manager, it's vital that you set specific goals for your team. Or personal goals that employees need to achieve.

Setting goals can be as challenging as meeting them. Here are three things to keep in mind when establishing effective employee goals:

Involve employees from start-to-finish

The purpose of goals is to help employees improve – naturally, it makes sense to include them in the entire process. Securing employee buy-in allows you to help develop their short- and long-term goals, and increases the likelihood that they will be achieved. Managers should jointly develop goals that are SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, results oriented and time bound). Doing so inspires commitment and allows individuals a sense of ownership in achieving their goals. Encouraging employees to set stretch goals also helps push performance and serves as a motivator for ongoing development.

Link individual goals to business objectives

Of companies who have effective performance management systems, 91% say that employees' goals are linked to business priorities. The explanation is simple: employees will be more effective if they can see how their individual goals fit into the big picture. In recent years, there has been an uptick in the number of companies linking organizational business goals to functional business objectives, and converting those into team-performance goals. This encourages accountability and better performance as individuals grasp the direct impact of their performance.

Adapt goals in real-time

Goals should never be seen as stagnant, but dynamic and evolving. One common mistake is setting goals at the beginning of the year and forgetting about them until review season. As realities fluctuate throughout the year, failing to revisit goals can be demotivating. That’s not to say goals should become moving targets, but rather that they should be adapted as the environment changes. At one multinational company McKinsey works with, for example, targets are updated if the assumptions used to set them change unexpectedly. This has helped establish a performance-management system that helps motivate performance.

Goals don’t have to be the bane of your employees’ existence. When done properly, setting goals can improve commitment materially and help clarify an employee’s role – the single biggest driver of organizational health.

Q-9. Elucidate on Individual Cultivation of Skills.

A-9 Individual Cultivation of Skills

Personal development involves mental, physical, social, emotional, and spiritual growth that allows a person to live a productive and satisfying life within the customs and regulations of their society. This is achieved through the development of life skills.

These life skills, skills necessary for successfully living a productive and satisfying life, generally fall into one of several categories: feeling about self, intimacy, family, friends, community, job, leisure, and spirituality.  They include being able to recognize and describe one's feelings, giving and receiving feedback, recognizing assumptions, setting realistic and attainable goals, and employing problem-solving strategies.

Increased personal growth and development is the goal of a wide range of men and women.  It includes those who suffer from problems in their relationship with others, or who suffer emotionally with feeling of low self-esteem, anxiety, or depression.  It also includes individuals who are marginally successful or even very successful in life, but who want to improve their efficiency, their ability to be and feel intimate  and relate to others, , and/or their general level of satisfaction with, and enjoyment of, living.

Q-10. Write a note on  Learning And Analysis.

A-10. The fundamental aim of motivation is to stimulate and to facilitate learning activity. Learning is an active process that needs to be motivated and guided toward desirable ends. Learning is self-initiated, but it must be aided by motives so that the learner will persist in the learning activity.

Learning is self-initiated, but it must be aided by motives so that the learner will persist in the learning activity. A definite motive is valuable in all work, as motives make for readiness. The greater the readiness, the greater will be the attention given to the work on hand and the sooner will the desired result be achieved.

It is important to attempt to get the learner into a state of readiness for it increases the alertness, vigor, and wholeheartedness of learning. In trying to achieve some end, the more acute the readiness, the more satisfying the reaction. The activities which are futile become annoying.