Means for Effective Motivation

Motivation is a very complex phenomenon. In order to motivate people towards organizational goals and effective actions, management has to create a congenial physical, social and psychological atmosphere. Human behavior is influenced by a host of complex factors. Understanding these factors and adjusting them to suit the organizational need is essential for effective motivation.

The management can employ the following means for effective employee motivation:

1. Fair Remuneration: Most of the basic and many of the secondary human needs can be satisfied by fairly remunerating the employees. Nature of job, cost, cost of living, pay scales of other organizations, the wage structures and scales should properly be evaluated and determined.
2. Job Satisfaction: Management should place employees properly according to their merits, aptitudes, interests and capacities. The well placed employees take pride, interest and initiative in their work and derive job satisfaction. Job satisfaction leads to realization of goals.
3. Job Security: Job security is a great motivating factor. Security is a great psychological need of a man and hence must be satisfied for turning up the morale.
4. Fair Promotions: Everybody aspires for growth and development in his life. Organizational promotions satisfy various physiological, social and psychological needs of the people. Management should therefore, create arrange for promotional training and education to enable employees to get promotions.
5. Congenial Working Environment: Working conditions for the employees must be made congenial. The adequate provision of light, air, safety, sanitation, cleanliness, noise prevention, smoke and fume clearance should be made for physical health and mental health and satisfaction. Congenial environment releases tension and tiredness and motivate them to work.
6. Honest and Competent Leadership: If the leaders and managers are honest, impartial, sympathetic and capable of understanding employee hopes and aspirations, emotions and sentiments, prospects and problems, motives and attitudes, they would be able to win the control, maintain discipline and motivate their employees. They must treat employees with love and affection, but at the same time they must be able to maintain such distance that the discipline and respect are not at the slake.
7. Efficient System of Grievance Redressal: Employee grievance is a major factors detracting employee from work and forming an apathetic attitudes towards manage. If management introduces a perfect system of discovering the employee grievances, their causes and remedies and remove them honesty and regularly, it will win the confidence of the employees that the management is really interested in their well being and there is great desire in management to keep them happy and contented.
8. Freedom of Association, Mobility, Expression etc.: The need of association is a great need of human being. It is therefore, the management should satisfy their need by providing freedom to individuals to form their cultural and social associations whether formal or informal.
9. Efficient Organization, Coordination and Control: Efficient organization may include adequate and efficient physical facilities and organization of manpower. Proper delegation of authority and fixation of responsibilities avoid confusion and conflicts to bring unity in action and purpose. Similarly, efficient coordination of activities lead to harmonious relations and approach and the adequate system of control checks all splintering and cross purpose activities. To the great extent the feeling of security, certainty, fairness, confidence, interest and initiative is a result of efficient organization, coordination and control.
10. Democratic Management Technique: If the employees are given participation in management decisions, they began to feel themselves as a part and parcel of organization. It satisfies their instinct of belonging to the organization, gives them psychological satisfaction and fosters the feeling of team and cooperation. A sense of responsibility and duty is generated.
11. Other Incentives: Several other physical and psychological incentives may be offered by the management to tone up employee morale and motivate them towards stated objectives. The efficient training progress, the affectionate attitude of superiors towards their subordinates and such innumerable measures can motivate people.