Is 'Motivation' the latest in a string of management buzz words? Definitely not!
Employees in different sectors complain about the lack of constructive motivation at their workplace. That is very worrying, considering the relationship they have with the final product or service offered by their organisation.
In an ordinary English language dictionary, motivation is explained as "give incentive" or as "...having the encouragement to do something". That is merely part of it.
Motivation can be either positive or negative: much depends on the person's character, temperament, background, current social status and personal traits. Is the person shy, extrovert and conscientious?
Imagine yourself repeating identical procedures, manning a machine for 40 hours a week. That might sound demoralising, but when attainable targets are set by senior management, the employee will have a goal-directed behaviour; even more so if there are monetary rewards involved, like bonuses.
Two motivational factors are monetary and reaching goals. Some people might argue that money is not everything in life. Managers have developed several approaches to fulfil workforce motivation. Employee empowerment is about giving your work teams a say in the decision-making process - no man is an island and team dynamics help no end in increasing motivation. This is of utmost importance.
Initiatives like suggestion boxes in offices and factories, a monthly award for best suggestion, and having employees representing their colleagues on boards all help to have motivated staff and a healthy work environment.
Taking a look at the services industry, of which I am part, one can easily identify a wide array of elements facilitating positive motivation. They include exposure to major international markets, working with a prestigious client base, flexible working conditions (flexi-time, work from home), social events committees (end of project open-bar parties, for instance), support in further studies and training programmes, and personal career progression plans (like setting personal goals and ways to accomplish them within the company's overall objectives).
Other factors could include self-managed teams and recognition, which means not only fair and just promotions - even a simple "well done!" helps.
Award schemes, bombastic titles (surveys show that employees are stimulated by the title they have on their business cards), open door and walk-around policies by top management, investment in employee satisfaction surveys, and the fact that management know their staff by name are other factors which fuel motivation.
This leads to a number of questions. Does working for the market leader mean automatic positive motivation? Is the size of the local market demotivating to high-aspiring professionals? Do fresh graduates have expectations which are too high? Is the discrepancy in salaries between the unskilled labour pool and professionals reasonable?
Ensuring high motivation levels in a workforce should feature prominently on the priority list of all senior management, irrespective of the entity's attributes. It is a continual exercise.
An organisation's success story is directly attributable to the efforts of its personnel. Human resource capital is the fulcrum of every going concern. Each person should keep in mind that every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.
Mr Zammit is a business analyst.