Re-Establishing Motivation
Use the theory of Maslow or Herzberg to explain the decrease in employee motivation following the takeover. What steps might management take to re-establish high employee motivation?
Motivation is a needs-led process. The basic motivational process is when one has an unsatisfied need. That then progresses onto tension, which leads to search behaviour and then onto either need satisfaction or further search. In practice this basic motivational procedure would be a lot more complex, as there would be multiple needs at the same time. There would also be conflicted need and then search behaviour can itself create a need or needs. Motivation can be divided into 2 categories; content theories, and process theories. Content theories, this is where the focus is on the factors which provoke and commence motivated behaviour. This essentially, is when they try to identify the needs which each individual has. The process theories look at behaviour itself, the direction of it, the intensity and what might cause the effort to cease.
There are different types of motivational theories. The two which I have looked at are, Maslows, ‘Hierarchy of Needs’, which identifies five different levels of human needs. From the top down, they are; self actualisation, esteem needs, social needs, security needs and physiological needs. Everyone is assumed to start at the bottom of the hierarchy and an individual can only progress up the hierarchy when they feel they have achieved full satisfaction on the level which he/she is currently on. To motivate an individual, according to this theory, you would need to gain the knowledge of which of the five levels the person is on and then you would have to offer them a reward which would seem appropriate for them to progress up the hierarchy. The higher needs would be the top three, social and esteem needs, and then self-actualisation. The lower needs would be the bottom 2, physiological and security needs. The lower order needs or the ‘basic’ needs,
Motivation is a needs-led process. The basic motivational process is when one has an unsatisfied need. That then progresses onto tension, which leads to search behaviour and then onto either need satisfaction or further search. In practice this basic motivational procedure would be a lot more complex, as there would be multiple needs at the same time. There would also be conflicted need and then search behaviour can itself create a need or needs. Motivation can be divided into 2 categories; content theories, and process theories. Content theories, this is where the focus is on the factors which provoke and commence motivated behaviour. This essentially, is when they try to identify the needs which each individual has. The process theories look at behaviour itself, the direction of it, the intensity and what might cause the effort to cease.
There are different types of motivational theories. The two which I have looked at are, Maslows, ‘Hierarchy of Needs’, which identifies five different levels of human needs. From the top down, they are; self actualisation, esteem needs, social needs, security needs and physiological needs. Everyone is assumed to start at the bottom of the hierarchy and an individual can only progress up the hierarchy when they feel they have achieved full satisfaction on the level which he/she is currently on. To motivate an individual, according to this theory, you would need to gain the knowledge of which of the five levels the person is on and then you would have to offer them a reward which would seem appropriate for them to progress up the hierarchy. The higher needs would be the top three, social and esteem needs, and then self-actualisation. The lower needs would be the bottom 2, physiological and security needs. The lower order needs or the ‘basic’ needs,