Taylor Theory Of Motivation Commerce Essay

Motivation is the word derived from the word motive which means needs desires wants or drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish the goals. In the work goal context the psychological factors stimulating the people’s behavior can be

One of the most important functions of management is to create willingness among the employees to perform in the best of their abilities. Therefore the role of a leader is to arouse interest in performance of employees in their jobs. The process of motivation consists of the stages:

A felt need or drive

A stimulus in which needs have to be aroused

When needs are satisfied, the satisfaction or accomplishment of goals.

Therefore, we can say that motivation is a psychological phenomenon which means needs and want of the individual tackled by framing an incentive plan.

Taylor Theory of Motivation:

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 – 1917) put forward the idea that workers are motivated mainly by pay. His Theory of Scientific Management argued the following:

Workers do not naturally enjoy work and so need close supervision and control.Therefore managers should break down production into a series of small tasks

Workers should then be given appropriate training and tools so they can work as efficiently as possible on one set task.

Workers are then paid according to the number of items they produce in a set period of time- piece-rate pay.

As a result workers are encouraged to work hard and maximize their productivity.

Taylor’s methods were widely adopted as businesses saw the benefits of increased productivity levels and lower unit costs. The most notably advocate was Henry Ford who used them to design the first ever production line, making Ford cars. This was the start of the era of mass production.

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Taylor’s approach has close links with the concept of an autocratic management style (managers take all the decisions and simply give orders to those below them) and Macgregor’s Theory X approach to workers (workers are viewed as lazy and wish to avoid responsibility).

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. Firms could also afford to lay off workers as productivity levels increased. This led to an increase in strikes and other forms of industrial action by dis-satisfied workers.

Elton Mayo (1880 – 1949) believed that workers are not just concerned with money but could be better motivated by having their social needs met whilst at work (something that Taylor ignored). He introduced the Human Relation School of thought, which focused on managers taking more of an interest in the workers, treating them as people who have worthwhile opinions and realizing that workers enjoy interacting together.

Mayo conducted a series of experiments at the Hawthorne factory of the Western Electric Company in Chicago

He isolated two groups of women workers and studied the effect on their productivity levels of changing factors such as lighting and working conditions.

He expected to see productivity levels decline as lighting or other conditions became progressively worse

What he actually discovered surprised him: whatever the change in lighting or working conditions, the productivity levels of the workers improved or remained the same.

From this Mayo concluded that workers are best motivated by:

Better communication between managers and workers (Hawthorne workers were consulted over the experiments and also had the opportunity to give feedback)

Greater manager involvement in employees working lives (Hawthorne workers responded to the increased level of attention they were receiving)

Working in groups or teams (Hawthorne workers did not previously regularly work in teams)

In practice therefore businesses should re-organize production to encourage greater use of team working and introduce personnel departments to encourage greater manager involvement in looking after employees’ interests. His theory most closely fits in with a paternalistic style of management.

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Figure 2.Explain the Taylor motivation theory.

The Expectancy theory:

The Expectancy theory states that employee’s motivation is an outcome of how much an individual wants a reward. You can check the employee how is doing efforts for his work and how he understand his work and how much he is giving good results individually or in team work. Is he having a leadership quality? He is having a good communication skills .Is he updated with all kinds of information regarding company and also with the market. If he is having a good post in the company how he utilizes his powers in work .He must be a very honest person and also not using his power in wrong ways. He should have great temperament to build good relationship with colleagues. If some person is doing mistakes and lack of knowledge he is available for him or her to guide.

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Figure 3.Explain the Expectancy theory.

How can business leaders keep employees motivated?

Small businesses can take a number of steps in a bid to keep their employees motivated, it has been claimed.

Kevin Friary, clinical director at Right Management Workplace Wellness, said that when work is largely physical and repetitive, money is a good motivator.

So for businesses operating in this arena, the development of clear financial mechanisms to reward effort will produce more motivation.

“For others the picture is more complicated; in fact, evidence suggests that when you are looking at brainpower, the more money you throw at people the less productivity you achieve,” Mr Friery noted.

“Motivated staff tends to be people who are given opportunities to excel in an area in which they have specialist abilities.”

Employees should spend at least a small amount of time at work doing things that stretch them, he suggested.

This gives them the opportunity to contribute and see the difference they are making.

“Giving people flexibility to arrange their work in a way in which they feel they have some control is an important motivating factor,” Mr. Friary added.

He said managers who see a key part of their role as identifying people doing something right are “far more motivating” than those who are simply quick to point out the errors. 

“Perhaps most important is clarity and honesty, linked to performance management,” Mr. Friary added.

He said that by setting clear performance indicators, along with a good measurement process, both employee and employer can engage in a dialogue about the working relationship and develop an adult, motivated engagement.

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Figure .4.explain how can leaders motivate there employees.

INTEL CASE STUDY:

According to Intel Corporation the desire of employees is everything for them. By having these kind of idea in their mind Intel is giving financial benefits to their employees which differ from other companies like for motivating the employee for their work Intel has many financial benefits which are like Intel has giving free laptops to their employees so the employees can store all of their personal and confidential data on their computer.

They are as follows:

Health benefit:

Intel is not giving the health benefit only for their employees but they are also giving benefits to the whole family of that employee. By doing this Intel is giving benefit to the whole family.

Leave:

If a employee want to take break he just have to go and tell the company for a leave and the company will give leave to the employee without asking any further question.

Retirement:

If an employee is being retired from the company he can still be in contact with the company.

If an employee can’t afford his cost of living then company will pay his cost of living without taking any kind of work from him.

Case study of Sheraton Hotel’s:

Sheraton is a big international chain of hotels and resort. Sheraton hotels are one of the best brands in the hospitality industry. Sheraton is providing best services to their guest. The person who pays for staying in the hotel called guest but Sheraton also consider employees as an internal guests. That’s why Sheraton hotels give lots of motivation benefits to the employees with the basic salaries .Sheraton give bonus, medical facilities, school fee of the employee kids, Air ticket, and 50 % discount in Sheraton made things like if you buy cake from Sheraton hotel they will give you 50% discount as a employee and if you are living in KL and working in Sheraton KL and you are going to Karachi Pakistan and you want to stay in Karachi Sheraton hotel then if you are on management post then room meal is totally free and if you are working in 3rd level then room is free and you just have to pay for meals. After the retirement of the employee Sheraton hotel also give a chance to employee’s son or daughter to work in Sheraton.

Discussion:

Companies are successful because of their employees. For example. Sheraton is a big chain of Hotels and resorts it is giving lots of financial rewards for motivation and appreciate their employees by giving bonus, appreciation letter, birthday cake,2 or 3 night stay in any Sheraton hotel, Hajj allowance etc. As we know that Pakistan is facing few problems like Terrorist Attacks, Political stabilities etc but in this atmosphere Sheraton Karachi Hotel is going well and also getting more then 800 crores. Employees of this hotel are working so hard and what they are doing hotel is motivating them by giving financial rewards and benefits. If you see the Intel Company it is also giving lots of benefits to their employees. As employees can give their best so it’s necessary to give financial rewards and benefits after doing hard work which they deserve.

Conclusion:

The company after investing millions of dollars, all they require is return over investment which is a lot more depended on productivity of employees, the best human resource will only move to the employer who always keeps them happy, so that they can perform their best on job. After analyzing the success of companies like Microsoft, Sheraton, Google etc. and understanding the benefits provided to employees within organization, without any doubts it can be stated that certainly, happy employees are the one who’s taking them to heights.