What's Your Motivation? How Management Can Motivate Employees

Mike Donoghue is a member of a multinational information technology corporation where he collaborates on the communications guidelines and customer relationship strategies affecting the interactions with internal and external clients. He has analyzed, defined, designed and overseen processes for various engagements including product usability and customer satisfaction, best practice enterprise standardization, relationship/branding structures, and distribution effectiveness and direction. He has also established corporate library solutions to provide frameworks for sales, marketing, training, and support divisions.

  Resource Management   Talent Management  

Within many organizations, there are a number of management structures that depend upon a “strong arm” and even a negative reinforcement approach to getting tasks done. In those situations where a manager employs a technique that is akin to a “swift kick in the rear”, it is a very short-term motivator--working only as the need arises, but not strong enough to keep individual initiative and effort active for an extended period. On the downside, it can have long-term and adverse implications through the lingering memories of its recipients.

These situations create strong feelings around each incident and can reduce the degree of risk taking and responsibility seeking that a direct report may consider. Additionally, when others observe this negative behavior, their own desire to not be made a victim can have a strong psychological effect that can impact their own productivity and individual effort. Even in workplaces where organizations work hard to reduce the mistreatment of employees and decrease disciplinary actions that could border on the abuse of power, there are still a number of methods utilized that apply negative forces to achieve results.

Satisfaction
A more positive incentive that also prompts a quick reaction is the concept of monetary rewards. Strongly practiced in trades that need to see fast results and changes in performance (…

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