THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE

Motivation can be a key-contributing factor in employee performance. It is of great importance to an organization to recognize ways in which it can use employee motivation to positively affect employee performance. The methods used by organizations to motivate its employees are essential in determining how they affect employee performance. There are both positive and negative motivational tools that may be explored. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between motivation and employee performance. “Motivation is generally defined as the psychological forces that determine the direction of a person’s level of effort, as well as a person’s persistence in the face of obstacles.” When a person has an increased level of effort and persistence in the workplace they tend to be highly motivated and this more often leads to a higher level of performance. However, the reason for an employee’s motivation may not necessarily be attributed to the organization. It is possible for an employee who is highly motivated to have low performance and the opposite for a lower motivated employee to have high performance. Although possible, most research studies show a higher correlation between higher motivation and higher employee performance. There are both positive motivators and negative motivators that can be utilized by the organization. Positive motivators as employed by organizations may include employee benefits such as increased compensation, bonuses, stock options, profit sharing and other such rewards. Employees may be motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Intrinsic rewards may be the ability to work autonomously, acknowledgement, and an interest in the type of work they are doing. Extrinsic rewards may be employee recognition, monetary benefits, and other such material rewards. Negative motivators may include a bad performance review, verbal and written warnings, suspension, and termination warnings. An employer may use

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