"I am concerned that today’s
employees appear to be less motivated then their counterparts years ago. In your opinion,
am I correct and why?" D.L.,
Alabama "I am concerned that today’s
employees appear to be less motivated then their counterparts years ago. In your opinion,
am I correct and why?" D.L.,
Alabama
THE INDUSTRY ADVISOR
MOTIVATING
EMPLOYEES,
NO ELIXIRS HERE
By Gene Levine - www.genelevine.com
Even though you do not come right out and say it, it sounds like
you are experiencing some problems with your human resources. If so, my experiences with
people – at work – should help point you in the right direction.
Our present beliefs about other people result from our life-long experiences with them. Because we all have had varied experiences, we all have developed different pre-conceptions about why they do what they do (behavior), and what motivators we can provide so they will do what has to be done.
The psychology of motivation is as complex as you want to make it. With your indulgence, I will share some of my beliefs about motivation with you, and use current human resources research findings as the framework for our discussion.
Motivation is what we think another person's purpose is. Executives in our industry frequently think that they can make good guesses about other peoples’ purposes. Using their beliefs as criteria, they are quick to say that "The purpose of my workers is their obvious goal of money, benefits, security, or whatever else it is that they keep hounding me for all the time."
Based on their experiences, I can understand why some executives think that way. However, I do not agree with them. I believe that every person's goal goes far beyond the seemingly obvious ones identified by the normal manager. I believe the goal to be a much more fundamental, ultimate one.
I maintain the belief that the ultimate objective in life is to be ourselves. I believe the desire to be ourselves consumes us, and affects our behavior during all our waking hours. People, including you and I, are always attempting to reach the ultimate goal of realizing self-image. And, as company managers, supervisors, engineers and staffs are finding out, there is no way to stop employees from their quest to be themselves. The more we try to stop this urge, the bigger our people problems will become.
Any motivational technique such as my own "Engineered Motivation Technology’ usually conjures up an image of an "Elixir." When administered to employees this elixir will get them to do what you want them to do and have them doing it right the first time, without being asked or told. And, you'll never have to follow through to see that it was done because you'll know that it was. In other words, "Engineered Motivation Technology" is commonly thought of as an elixir that not only makes employees self-starting, but self-finishing as well. "Engineered Motivation Technology" is not an elixir. I do not believe in elixirs, nor do I believe that there is any motivational technique that substitutes for good management or common sense. How-ever, the ability to understand and apply recent behavioral research findings will enhance the chances of a manager to do the best job he is capable of doing.
If one looks hard enough at industry, elixirs can be found. I see many companies trying to use these elixirs to get employees motivated. Their elixirs usually consist of a concoction of one or all of the following ingredients: Unbalanced monetary incentive systems; Improperly trained or inadequate supervision; Over-systematized and over-controlling organizations, and technically oriented staffs to name just a few.
The management of these companies cannot identify any of those ingredients as causing his human resources problems, or agreeing that their management emphasis might be wrong. They look, but do not see.
"Look at my factory" the manager says proudly. "We have an incentive system, enough supervisors, systems and controls. Why do I have motivational problems?" Based on my experience, the solutions to this dilemma are obvious and are as follows;.
PROVEN IDEAS TO GET EMPLOYEES MORE MOTIVATED
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