Motivation of employees at work is a subject widely discussed by human resources practioners. A plethora of potential benefits and importance of motivation in an organisation have been laid out and theories have often been used to vividly explain motivation. As such it is the aim of this essay to explain why it is important to motivate employees in an organisation with reference to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs and McGregor’s theory X and Y of motivation.
Definition of terms
Motivation – is defined as a process that account for an individual’s intensity, that is how a person tries, that one’s efforts must be channeled to something and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal, that is how long a person can maintain their effort.
Extrinsic Motivation – is when employees are thus motivated by means of external rewards basically consisting of monetary incentives.
Intrinsic Motivation – means that employees do particular tasks because of the satisfaction that they get in performing the task itself, such as recognition advancement.
Hodgets, (1985:489) cited that when employees are motivated productivity increases because they discover that their efforts are being appreciated, acknowledged and rewarded. This relates to Maslow’s esteem needs once people begin to satisfy their need to belong. This kind of need produces such satisfaction as production increases. The ever increasing external forces of national and international competition and economic, social, technological and governmental conditions have forced management to develop and require new techniques to motivate and maintain current levels of organizations efficiency and effectiveness, thereby achieving the esteem need of recognition and achievement and attention.
Griffin, (1995:80) pointed out that motivation of employees decreases absenteeism. Motivated employees value their jobs and commit to exceeding management performance expectations. Not only do motivated employees show up for