Motivational techniques for team management and implementation

Motivating Employees

Managers dislike unmotivated employees and for a good reason. Having such employees can bring down the success of a business in an instant. As a result, it is very imperative for a manager to utilize financial motivation or non-financial motivation to its employees to keep his or her business alive. This paper will provide three ways in which a manager can motivate its workers. The first method is alternative work arrangement. The second method deals with positive reinforcement. The third and final method involves satisfier and hygiene factors.

Alternative Work Arrangements

One motivational technique that employees and employers seem to benefit from is alternative work arrangements, which include compressed workweeks, flexible work hours (flextime), job-sharing, and telecommuting (Lombardi and Schermerhorn, 2007). Compressed workweeks reduce how many days a week an employee works by allowing him or her to work more hours per day. Both parties benefit from this arrangement because the employer receives the full 40-hours of work from the employee, and the employee receives an extended weekend. Flexible work hours, also called flextime, benefits working parents and other employees who must work particular schedules in order to meet other deadlines for family, school, second jobs, etc. Job-sharing is an alternative work arrangement in which at least two, but sometimes more, employees work on an assignment or project together but at different times of the workday. For instance, a high school student who may only work for four hours after school may job-share with a single mother who can only work during school hours when her children are not at home. Providing telecommuting positions is a great way to motivate employees because these employees can work from home (in their pajamas if they like) and converse with their employer through telephone, e-mails, text and instant messaging, and other media (Lombardi and Schermerhorn, 2007).

Positive Reinforcement

Another useful motivational tool in the workplace, and elsewhere in one's life, is positive reinforcement because positive reinforcement increases the regularity of the desired behavior by offering a reward for completing a needed task (Lombardi and Schermerhorn, 2007). This method of motivation ensures an employee that his or her employer appreciates the time and effort the employee has invested in the organization. Some examples of positive reinforcement include giving the employee a pat on the back, telling an employee "good job," and recommending a raise at the employee's next evaluation.

A manager must abide by the laws of positive reinforcement if he or she intends for the method to have an effect on his or her employees. The law of contingent reinforcement explains that employers should give rewards only after the employee completes all of the desired task, rather than rewarding each part. For example, an instructor should not reward a student for completing the first draft of a paper, the second draft, and so on, with the student receiving a reward for each step of the assignment. The law of immediate reinforcement advises managers that the sooner an employee receives a reward after doing what his or her employer wanted, the better the chances are that the employee will repeat the desired action (Lombardi and Schermerhorn, 2007). For instance, a manger who hears a compliment about an employee from a customer immediately praises him or her instead of waiting until the end of the shift to congratulate the employee, thus the employee is more apt to continue the behavior that persuaded the customer to give the compliment.

Reward schedules are another important part of positive reinforcement, and the timing of said reward schedules can make or break a motivational plan. With a continuous motivational schedule, employees receive rewards whenever the employer observes the desired behavior performed by the employee. The main drawback to this method is that a manager must stop what they are doing to reward the employee. Using an intermittent reinforcement schedule, employees receive rewards for jobs well done at specified intervals, such as the Employee of the Month reward system used by many organizations. Shaping is when managers use positive reinforcement to create new, or enhance previous, desired behaviors (Lombardi and Schermerhorn, 2007). To shape an employee, managers follow a positive reinforcement formula that arranges continuous and intermittent reinforcement schedules to achieve the needed result. Most often, employees receive continuous reinforcement until the behavior occurs with regularity, then the manager gives the employee intermittent reinforcement to sustain the wanted behavior (Lombardi and Schermerhorn, 2007).

Since positive reinforcement is a motivational method proven useful in many cases, these extra tips for promoting effective positive reinforcement are valuable to keep in mind. As stated previously, money is not required motivation, even as positive reinforcement. Managers should ensure they are clear about their expectations of the employees and the work requirements, and make certain the employees know what receiving a reward for their work requires. An employee should not think he or she could complete a job or assignment half way and still get a reward, as it would not be fair to other employees. A manager should pay attention to the uniqueness of his or her employees and give rewards accordingly. A female employee would not normally expect to receive a tool set as a bonus from her boss, just as a male employee would feel strange if his manager gave him a Cucumber Melon gift basket from Bath and Body Works. In addition, using a wide range of rewards keeps employees from becoming bored with the gifts and treats they receive for their hard work and makes them want to work harder to receive more (Lombardi and Schermerhorn, 2007).

Satisfier and Hygiene Factors

Motivational factors related to the job itself are satisfier factors, whereas factors related to the work environment are hygiene factors (Lombardi and Schermerhorn, 2007). According to Frederick Herzberg's article (reprinted through the Harvard Business Review) (1987),

the growth or motivator factors that are intrinsic to the job are: achievement, recognition for achievement, the work itself, responsibility, and growth or advancement. The distraction-avoidance or hygiene (KITA) factors that are extrinsic to the job include: company policy and administration, supervision, interpersonal relationships, working conditions, salary, status, and security (pg. 8).