Motivation

Employees are considered to be the most important asset to a company as they are a principle source of income. Creative ideas and productivity are essential to maximizing this income, for which motivation is a key factor. A motivated workforce results in a job being done excellently which can therefore yield higher profits for the company. This illustrates why motivation is considered to be highly important and most companies are trying to focus on how to get their employees motivated. In addition, motivation is also important because it has a strong positive effect on job performance which increases self efficacy and therefore leads to a job well done. Motivation can be achieved by monetary means or non monetary means. However, most managers assume that motivation can be achieved solely through the implementation of monetary rewards alone – which is definitely an incorrect assumption. Depending on money alone can be consequential and could probably result in many other needs of the company being overlooked and dissatisfied.
Motivation is defined as a set of energetic forces that originates from both inside and outside an employee and not only initiates work-related effort but also determines its direction, intensity and persistence. Motivation is of two types: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is defined as the motivation that comes from within and is not influenced by monetary rewards (Bainbridge, para 1). Examples of the aforementioned type of motivation include accomplishment, skill development and enjoyment. Extrinsic motivation is the motivation that arises as a result of the expected benefits for an employee from doing the right job. This involves monetary payments or benefits such as pay, bonuses and promotions. Motivation determines how employees perform at their jobs at any given moment in time and in what direction and with how much dedication their efforts are channeled. Different employees have different reasons to