Role of Money as a Motivator
Introduction
Motivation is defined as a process which account for a person's intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal. (S Robins, 2004) As an extrinsic rewards and one of the well known motivational techniques, money is proved to be a well-accepted motivator for a long history. It is normally reflected in pay rise, bonus or share option. It is an effective motivator but not in all cases. Drawing from some of the famous motivation theories, this article discusses from the individual employee's perspective on different occasions and effectiveness of money as a motivator. The study will focus on hierarchy of needs theory, expectation theory and equity theory to explore the interaction between a person and the environment with money motivator in place. The study is to shed a light on how to use money as a motivator better by analyzing employee's level of needs, defining a healthy performance-reward system and paying attention to equity so as to draw a motivation plan accordingly in the real business environment in order to achieve greater performance from the employees.
1. Money motives employees with different level of needs differently.
In the Hierarchy of Needs Theory, Maslow defined that there are five levels of needs in human being grouped into two orders. Lower-order needs include desire to fulfill physiological, safety and social needs. Higher-order needs include desire to fulfill esteem and self-actualization needs. (Maslow, 1954)
Money usually plays an important role in meeting low-order needs for most people. So when identifying the employees as people desiring to meet their low-end needs, the managers can make good utilization of monetary motivations by offering handsome pay package to keep prod their better performance with higher intensity, continuous persistence and aligned goals with the organizational objective. A latest report shows that the resign rate for workers in Dongguan area, Guang Dong topped 108% in the year
Motivation is defined as a process which account for a person's intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal. (S Robins, 2004) As an extrinsic rewards and one of the well known motivational techniques, money is proved to be a well-accepted motivator for a long history. It is normally reflected in pay rise, bonus or share option. It is an effective motivator but not in all cases. Drawing from some of the famous motivation theories, this article discusses from the individual employee's perspective on different occasions and effectiveness of money as a motivator. The study will focus on hierarchy of needs theory, expectation theory and equity theory to explore the interaction between a person and the environment with money motivator in place. The study is to shed a light on how to use money as a motivator better by analyzing employee's level of needs, defining a healthy performance-reward system and paying attention to equity so as to draw a motivation plan accordingly in the real business environment in order to achieve greater performance from the employees.
1. Money motives employees with different level of needs differently.
In the Hierarchy of Needs Theory, Maslow defined that there are five levels of needs in human being grouped into two orders. Lower-order needs include desire to fulfill physiological, safety and social needs. Higher-order needs include desire to fulfill esteem and self-actualization needs. (Maslow, 1954)
Money usually plays an important role in meeting low-order needs for most people. So when identifying the employees as people desiring to meet their low-end needs, the managers can make good utilization of monetary motivations by offering handsome pay package to keep prod their better performance with higher intensity, continuous persistence and aligned goals with the organizational objective. A latest report shows that the resign rate for workers in Dongguan area, Guang Dong topped 108% in the year