Effective Motivational Techniques in the Workplace

Effective Motivational Techniques in the Workplace Work. Some love it, some hate it, others see it as an escape from reality, and still others view it as passing time, but everyone works to provide for our families and ourselves. Whether rich or poor, work is something that everyone will experience sometime during his or her lifespan. Motivation plays a key role in one’s opinion on work. In this struggling economy, organizations are asking how to motivate employees, as many have had to restructure and develop ways to maximize its resources. Using different motivational techniques together in the workplace can improve overall moral, improve employee job satisfaction, and quite possibly increase performance. Motivation (in a work setting) is the process by which behavior is mobilized and sustained in the interest of achieving goals (DuBrin, 2007, p. 114). “Motivation is the complex force starting and keeping a person at work in an organization. Motivation is something that moves the person to action, and continues him in the course of action already initiated” (Dubin, 1958). When an individual is motivated, he feels energized or inspired to act, whereas an unmotivated person feels no impetus to do so (Ryan and Deci, 2000, p. 54). It is then clear that individuals have different amounts of motivation. Motivation is a complex process that includes biological drive, extrinsic (external) rewards and intrinsic (personal) rewards. All humans are born with certain physiological and biological needs such as water, food, shelter, family and security. This innate biological drive motivates man to work until these needs are met. Man was created by God to work in order to satisfy his biological needs. “By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground” (Genesis 3:19, NASB). Extrinsic motivational factors are external incentives, rewards, and/or punishments that come from outside the individual and the job itself. Some extrinsic motivators