Work and motivation

Abstract

Motivation plays an important part in a society that operates within the Integralist State. This article looks at motivation and what motivate people. It then looks at money as a motivator and considers that money in itself does not act as a significant motivator but does represent a number of motivations. This article then looks at motivators in the work place and considers that a number of motivators that effect people personally act as better motivators than money. This article then concludes with a point regarding the need for the careful design of work places to motivate people.

Motivation

The word “motivation” and the word “emotion” both have a common root in the Latin word “movera”, meaning “to move” and shows that motivation and emotions have a close link [Passer, Gross]. What tends to motivate us tends to have a personal, emotional aspect for us. This means that making it personal becomes a key element in motivating people.

We can divide motivation into a number of different types.

1.   Push motivators. Such as hunger or the need to keep warm and dry. These motivators drive people to action to maintain homeostasis.

2.   Pull motivators. Such as incentives. These motivators result from external stimulus to achieve action such as rewards.

3.   Sensation seeking. These motivators work on seeking out novelty.

4.   Social motives. The desire to belong to a group and peer pressure form example of this type of motivator.

5.   Achievements. These types of motivators result from the desire to win or the fear of losing.

Within these different areas of motivation come a number of over lapping concepts such as status or goals. Status could result from our need to belong to group and our need to achieve as well as from pull motivators. Goals form a central concept for all forms of motivators as all motivators cause us to act to achieve a goal. 

Money as a motivator

Organisational psychologists have conducted various different studies of work and why people work and conclude that although money plays an important part in motivating people to work it does not form the sole contribution to work motivation.  Money was considered a strong motivator and in a price system culture, people assume that the desire to earn money forms the main motivator. However, some studies show the perception of a fair pay has higher value than the actual amount of money paid and money as a motivator does not hold such a high position as initially thought. Although money does motive, other benefits such as health care or extra holidays have a higher ranking among many workers than extra pay. Other factors for motivation were the influence of groups and the individual’s culture.  Culture aspects of motivation result in attitudes such as the protestant work ethic. However, this only appears as the case in wealthier nations; in poorer countries, pay forms a very important motivator. However, this may result from the low pay conditions that many people experience in poorer counties so that money has a high motivating factor as it can make the difference between having enough to eat or not.

Yet further investigation of money as a motivator shows that the actual money does not motivate people.

Employees work for a wages-they do not want to perform like circus animals if paid more

Money trivialises work, which for many professional employees should be its own reward

The amount may not bear relation to what the employee does

If the employer finds it motivating to award money, perhaps the salaries are too low

There are many other ways to motivate employees

Money may set employees against each other, leading to conflict in the work place

People do not just earn money and then sit on it. They use the money for something, such as buying a house or food or saving for a rainy day. Thus, money stands in for or represents a number of motivators and the power of money to motivate comes from the fact that people can exchange it for other items that do motivate them.

Motivation in the work place

Some of the strongest motivators in the work place environment include the opportunity for personal accomplishment, growth, social relationships as well as cultural factors. Programmes aimed at improving work motivation have taken a number of forms. Some have concentrated on enriching the work environment though providing opportunities for growth and to develop different skills. Some schemes have concentrated on rewards such as extra time off or increased pay for desired behaviour. Setting objectives and goals has worked as a strong motivation technique. Each of these techniques adds something personal to each individual.  However, some techniques work well with some people but not with other as different people have different motivating factors For examples, sale propel often have social motivators where as engineers find technical things motivating.

Child Motivation

Some say that if you pay someone to be motivated, you are telling that person that it is acceptable to do something only for money and not for their own personal or social benefit. Those who believe that money works say that because adults work for money and to make a living that it should be taught at an early age to work hard for pay. Most kids are interested in money and when a parent pays them money as a motivator it can encourage a child to learn about the value of a Pound and how to manage the money they earn.

Since every person is motivated by something different, special favours may not work for every child. Some people have motivation from within or intrinsically. These people do not often need rewards or encouragement to keep them motivated to complete or finish a task. They have the mind set to succeed. Others are extrinsically motivated, or need outside forces to keep them interested in completing a chore or tasks. These are the people that need a lot of encouragement, rewards or praise in order to stay motivated to complete a task. Kids are no different and money may or may not work for all children but if we choose the financial method on children of course we are only sowing the seeds of monetary reward which is not in beneficial to society in reality.

Using other rewards incentives to motivate children can work if the parent chooses to do it as a lesson. You can teach your children about worth and those around them for example if a child leaves a bath tub dirty the person who will use it next will have to clean it, which is not fair. So it would be better for the child to clean it as it’s only fair, and would you like to have to clean out the bath before you used it because the last person had left it dirty? Plus parents can also give some money to their children and teach them about the value of money and saving their money. Before you decide to use money to get your child to make good grades or to keep their room clean, think about an alternative reward system and stick to it each and every time. Maybe think about giving a weekly favourite meal or taking away some of their pocket money for lower than expected grades. In addition, special favours is a great motivator when that is taken away as a punishment for not doing what is expected of them

In addition, using special favours as a motivator helps kids build up self-esteem when they can look and see the progress that they have made. Special favours is a great learning lesson and parents that use that as a reward can combine it with lessons that children can use for a lifetime.

To those of us who feel that money should not be used as a motivator like us say that children should not be taught to work for materialistic things and that they should be taught to be motivated from within. We believe that parents should teach their children to feel successful without money and that money cannot teach them to be proud of their accomplishments. Parents like us who feel that money should not be used to motivate our children also think that children should learn to what their values are without money. They should learn that money does not define worth and that things like caring, giving and their work ethic are more important than what they can earn. We think that money should not be used as a major motivator and suggest the use other reward techniques. These techniques might include praise, encouragement and other forms of reward such as hanging a good paper on the wall, taking the child to dinner, or even taking the child to the movie.

While no one can say what will or will not work for your child, it is best that a parent understand what makes his or her child motivated. Money can work, but it can also motivate children to do things for the wrong reasons. Using special favours to motivate your child might best be used in addition with teaching your child about the rewards of being motivated by intrinsic reasons, such as pride.

Summary

Motivation takes on a number of forms; from push motivators to the need for achievement. Motivation has a close link to emotions. Money, however, does not form a string motivator in many counties but it can stand in for a number of other motivators such as holidays or buying a new house.

Conclusion

As an Integralist State will pursue a system of positive motivation and social reward system over that of a purely monetary reward system the corporation experts in various positions will need to give more though to positive motivation. As money stands in for a number of motivators we will need a mechanism to replace the motivational aspects of money. This will mean great emphasis on designing work and work places to motivate people and to fit people to work that they wish to do. Automation will help to some degree through removing less desirable occupations but we will still need to give consideration to how we design work. Research has show a number of techniques that have some degree of success. However, not all methods work for everyone all the time. Therefore, work place design may need a number of complimentary motivational techniques.