Posted: May 9th, 2015

Managing Business Responsibly

Answer the following question as a brief essay plan. Your answer should be limited to a maximum of 1500 words and may take the form of bullet-point statements and/or a diagram(s). You should use academic referencing where appropriate.

Q) Consider the following online article which questions “What really motivates employees?

a) Identify the discourses in the text
b) Highlight possible alternatives
c) Briefly explain how considering a) and b) might lead you to different understandings of the text

What Really Motivates Employees?
Author, Ken Sundheim

When you hire and motivate the right people, the right work gets done in the right way; the machine functions smoothly. The company becomes defined by their continual productivity improvements, wide spread innovation and ability to adapt to the changing business environment.
For HR professionals, business is too competitive these days not to be recruiting business professionals who can prosper once in the organization. It a task easier discussed than executed upon.
The $1,000,000 question is: how do hiring managers, headhunters and HR representatives ensure that their hires stay focused, productive and engaged?
First and foremost, to properly recruit motivated individuals, HR professionals, hiring managers and headhunters must learn what drives people…the results may be different than most think. Here are 10 factors that motivate employees:
1. Studies have shown that for employees to be motivated, recruiting minimums must be present. These include pay, working conditions and job security. Without these, headhunting even the best employees will yield undesired performance results.
2. Employees who are attempted to be motivated by the fear of losing their job will have less energy and drive to complete daily tasks. This will have the opposite of the desired effect.
3. Rather than money, studies have shown that how creative an employee feels when working on a project is the strongest and most pervasive driver. Rewards that are strictly monetary will stifle the creativity of a project and an employee’s unique approach. Pure monetary gain takes the “interesting factor” out of a job.
4. The most sought after employees have a tendency to seek out challenges, to extend and exercise their capabilities, to explore and to learn.
5. Imposing too many laws, rules and formal processes will often impede the ability to motivate staff. The more set a process is, the less likely it is going to get done correctly.
6. Low compensation can not only hinder motivation and performance, but can actually create vengeful employees. When human beings feel they are being inadequately paid, they will tend to shift the majority of their focus on the unfairness of the situation.
7. Recent studies have shown that people are not predominately motivated by external incentives such as stock options or a higher 401k plan. Sense of self-worth while performing that job is a much more significant driver.
8. Employees who are engaged in routine work (i.e. factory workers), can be motivated by rewards and punishment – “the carrot and the stick method.” When attempting to apply this method in more educated, corporate positions, it can have devastating motivational effects.
9. Higher financial rewards lead to lower performance. Studies have shown that paying an employee too much can have adverse effects on their work performance. As a matter of fact, they tend to generate less output than fairly paid workers.
10. Hiring people who are overly money driven is often a poor idea. When an individual is overly concerned with pay, it will hinder their ability to provide return on investment. Rather, the joy of discovery and challenge of creation are values hiring managers should pay close attention to when interviewing.
Employers should actively headhunt job seekers who always escalate their goals through intrinsic motivation. When doing any form of executive recruiting, they should seek out those who not only engage and embrace career challenges, but who enjoy the journey along the way.
People who understand that money, power, status and possessions mean little without true passion for their job are the ones who will possess longevity and who will ensure a competitive advantage in the future.