Motivation as an Important Aspect of Human Resource Management

Motivation As an Important Aspect of Human Resource Management Motivation is a vital aspect in functioning of every organization. It refers to the forces that arouse enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a certain course of action for accomplishing organizational goals. Nowadays, there are numerous motivation theories that human resource managers use in order to encourage high work performance. Generally, there are two types of rewards in motivation. The first is intrinsic rewards, which is the satisfaction a person receives in the process of performing a particular action. For example, a person selling educational materials may get an intrinsic award of helping children read well. The other type of rewards is extrinsic, which are the rewards that are generally given by another person, typically a manager and include promotion and pay increases. For instance, some person that does not get pleasure from doing his/her job may be motivated by an extrinsic reward of high payment. Good human resource managers usually strive to help people achieve both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards, far as it has been proven that most talented and innovative employees are usually motivated not only by rewards such as benefits and money but also with the satisfaction from the work they do. To create an environment that is rich in opportunity, challenge and reward managers need to implement one of the manager’s theories. The three types of motivation theories include: content theories, process and reinforcement theories. Content theories usually stress the understanding of human needs and how they can be satisfied in the workplace. Thus, if a human resource manager realizes worker’s needs, the organization’s rewards system can be designed to meet them and reinforce employees for directing energies and priorities toward attainment of organizational goals. One of the content theories is the hierarchy of needs theory developed by Abraham Maslow. This theory suggests that