Organisational Behaviour For Dummies

Chapter 9

Motivating the Workforce

In This Chapter

Understanding the importance of motivation

Knowing the types of motivation

Appreciating the ideas behind motivation: the what and the how

Discovering how to motivate your employees

Motivation is a huge topic for organisational behaviourists because it explains a lot about why employees do what they do at work. Having motivated employees is important for the success of an organisation because unmotivated employees are unlikely to work as hard or be as productive as motivated employees. Motivating employees to focus their energy toward organisational goals is therefore a key task for a manager.

Motivating the workforce isn’t straightforward because everyone is motivated by different things for different reasons. For example, you may be motivated to work hard by the promise of money, job security, responsibility to your coworkers, future career opportunities, a challenging job or something totally different. Motivation theories help a manager appreciate what makes an individual tick and as a result successfully manage and influence ...