Title: How Effective Is Money in Motivating Individuals to Perform Better at Work?
INTRODUCTION TO WORK AND ORGANISATIONS
TITLE: HOW EFFECTIVE IS MONEY IN MOTIVATING INDIVIDUALS TO PERFORM BETTER AT WORK?
WORD COUNT:
1871
“Motivation is the number one problem facing business today” (Watson, 1994) and money has been instrumental for modern businesses to use as a motivator at the workplace. The intention of this essay is to attempt to answer the question of how effective is money at motivating individuals to perform better at work. The possibility of money being the best motivator for employees will also be discussed. It will investigate previous motivations theories which attempted to answer the same question and will analyse eight theories ranging from “content to process”. Furthermore, it will critically evaluate how motivation theories help us understand the relationship between money, motivation and performance and whether motivation is purely influenced by money. Finally, it will look at how these motivation theories express their view of how money affects employee performance at the workplace presenting a balanced decision on how best individuals can be motivated (extrinsically or intrinsically) to perform better at work.
Whilst researching this subject, it became apparent that most motivation theories accept the fact that money as a reward can motivate individuals at some point to perform better at work. “Taylor believed pay to performance can affect motivation and money was the only significant motivational factor in the workplace” (Bratton et al. 2010 p.49). To illustrate, the film Wall Street (1987) highlights that greed for money is good and is right. However, it is important to note that money as a reward can cause conflict and jealousy, which in the end can hurt satisfaction and productivity and likely to upset people rather to motivate. To illustrate, in a telesales environment, a low salary and commissions based sales can lead to mercenary behaviour through the need of
TITLE: HOW EFFECTIVE IS MONEY IN MOTIVATING INDIVIDUALS TO PERFORM BETTER AT WORK?
WORD COUNT:
1871
“Motivation is the number one problem facing business today” (Watson, 1994) and money has been instrumental for modern businesses to use as a motivator at the workplace. The intention of this essay is to attempt to answer the question of how effective is money at motivating individuals to perform better at work. The possibility of money being the best motivator for employees will also be discussed. It will investigate previous motivations theories which attempted to answer the same question and will analyse eight theories ranging from “content to process”. Furthermore, it will critically evaluate how motivation theories help us understand the relationship between money, motivation and performance and whether motivation is purely influenced by money. Finally, it will look at how these motivation theories express their view of how money affects employee performance at the workplace presenting a balanced decision on how best individuals can be motivated (extrinsically or intrinsically) to perform better at work.
Whilst researching this subject, it became apparent that most motivation theories accept the fact that money as a reward can motivate individuals at some point to perform better at work. “Taylor believed pay to performance can affect motivation and money was the only significant motivational factor in the workplace” (Bratton et al. 2010 p.49). To illustrate, the film Wall Street (1987) highlights that greed for money is good and is right. However, it is important to note that money as a reward can cause conflict and jealousy, which in the end can hurt satisfaction and productivity and likely to upset people rather to motivate. To illustrate, in a telesales environment, a low salary and commissions based sales can lead to mercenary behaviour through the need of
References: Bratton, J. et al. (2010) Work & Organizational Behaviour. 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave macmillan, p.49-52. Castillo, J. X., & Cano, J. (2004) Factors explaining job satisfaction among faculty, Journal of Agricultural Education, 45 (3), 74-75. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) Film. Directed by JAMES FOLEY, USA: New Line Cinema Henderson, R Herzberg F. (2001) One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees? Harvard Business Review, 81(3), p Kirton, D. (2001), 'Love and money: payment, motivation and the fostering task ', Child & Family Social Work, 6, 3, pp. 199-208, Academic Search Premier,[ Accessed] 1 April 2012 Latham, G.P Latham G.P. & Kinne, S.B. (1974). Improving job performance through training in goal setting. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 187-191. Lawler E. E & Porter L. W (1967) “Antecedent attitudes of effective managerial performance”, Organizational behaviour and Human Performance. Vol 2, pp 122-142 Lawler, E Mail (2011) $200m lottery jackpot won by 20 Coscto workers in New York | Mail Online. [online] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1393672/200m-lottery-jackpot-won-20-Coscto-workers-New-York.html [Accessed: 3 Apr 2012]. McGregor, D. (1960). The human side of enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill. ONeill, C. B. (2009). Adult motivation at a retail business. Pepperdine University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, n/a. http://search.proquest.com/docview/305177949?accountid=10472. Pink, D. (2009) Drive: The surprising truth of what really motivate us. New York: Riverhead Books. Pwc.com (2012) Careers. [online] Available at: http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/careers/early-pwc-international-challenge-programme.jhtml [Accessed: 10 Apr 2012]. Rosenbaum and Bernard L. (1982). How to Motivate Today 's Workers. New York: McGraw-Hill. Vroom, V.H. (1964) Work and motivation, New York: John Wiley & Sons Wall Street (1987) Film Warr, P.B. (1987), Work, Unemployment and Mental Health, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Wiley, C. (1997) What motivates employees according to over 40 years of motivation surveys? International Journal of Manpower, 18 (3) pp. 263-280.