Motivation and Job Satisfaction

Trans-Atlantic College, London, 2005

AUTHOR:
Dr Prince Efere


OVERVIEW:

Motivation could be described as a driving force that makes people willingly want to put in their best in what they do. The concept of motivation is that there is no need to force or threaten people to work harder, as any such force or threat is likely to be ineffective in the long run. Rather, it is better that people should be motivated as it is believed that the driving force which results from motivation will compel people to put in their best out of willingness and not out of force or threat.

Motivation is believed to lead to an increase in employees’ work performance. That in turn leads to an increase in overall organisational productivity levels. Furthermore, motivation is said to improve employee job satisfaction. Nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that motivation is not a ‘magic show’ that can perform miracles. Thus, we should not expect a secondary school leaver to be able to do the work of a qualified engineer simply because he is highly motivated. Rather for motivation to be effective not only should staff be motivated but management should make sure that the staff has the ability to do the job in the first place. It is when they have the ability and skills that motivation would work. Thus, if a staff member who fails to improve in work performance even though he is clearly  motivated it could be a sign of lack of ability, which in turn could be a sign of training need. Motivation in this case would only improve if this particular member of staff is trained to acquire the vital skills and ability - such training could be both on-the-job and off-the-job.

FULL TEXT: FREE DOWNLOAD