PROJECT WORK

ON

MOTIVATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would first like to express our heartiest thanks to Dr. Irfan A. Rizvi for his invaluable guidance and support.He,rather than just teaching the subject,gave more attention and importance to our practical learning from the subject and that only encouraged we people to apply study of ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR in our lives.

We cannot forget to thank Mr. Parameswaran,HR Manager of TCS and Mr. Ramesh Rajan from POLARIS, for their incalculable co-operation.

CAN YOU NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO?WHAT IS THAT DIFFERENCE????

Ohhhh…a new presentation again. How would I do it? Last time, I somehow managed but this time…………NO…I can’t do it

I think I should take help of this graph in presentation. It would surely make my presentation effective. After all I have to give my best this time.

IT’S MOTIVATION

MOTIVATION

The heart of motivation is to give people what they really want most from work. The more you are able to provide what they want, the more you should expect what you really want, namely: productivity, quality, and service. Motivation is a way by which a person is encouraged to give in his/her best to what he is supposed to do or paid to do. Motivation is not always directed by money or materials. It has a lot to do with how a person is made to feel to do better in his/her job.

What employees want from work?

Every person has different reasons for working. The reasons for working are as individual as the person. But, we all work because we obtain something that we need from work. The something obtained from work impacts morale, employee motivation, and the quality of life. To create positive employee motivation, treat employees as if they matter - because employees matter.

Employee Motivation - How to Motivate Employees, Create a Motivational Workplace?

Every person is motivated. The challenge at work is to create an environment in which people are motivated about work priorities. Too often, organizations fail to pay attention to the employee relations, communication, recognition, and involvement issues that are most important to people.

The first step in creating a motivating work environment is to stop taking actions that are guaranteed to de-motivate people. Identify and take the actions that will motivate people. It’s a balancing act. Employers walk a fine line between meeting the needs of the organization and its customers and meeting the needs of its internal staff. Do both well and thrive.

When you think of motivation, then, you first expect that every individual has motivation, the will to become invested and involved to the point of action, in some aspect of life. Second the employer must provide a work environment that fosters and enables motivation in people. You need to identify and tap into the intrinsic motivation each person has. Third, motivation is often induced with recognition and rewards that appeal to an individual. The key with recognition is to provide motivational resources that match what motivates your employees. An unmotivated staff will cost you dearly.

Manager's Role and importance of Successful Motivation

The manager plays the most important role in successful employee motivation. A manager's role in a workplace fosters high employee morale and positive employee motivation.

In today's turbulent, often chaotic, environment, commercial success depends on employees using their full talents. Yet in spite of the myriad of available theories and practices, managers often view motivation as something of a mystery. In part this is because individuals are motivated by different things and in different ways.

In addition, these are times when de-layering and the flattening of hierarchies can create insecurity and lower staff morale. Moreover, more staff than ever before are working part time or on limited-term contracts, and these employees are often especially hard to motivate.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

On interaction with Mr. Parameswaran, HR Manager of TCS, we have gathered the following information on how employees are motivated in TCS and what they do to make it effective.

“You can make their day or break their day. Your choice. No kidding. Other than the decisions individuals make on their own about liking their work, you are the most powerful factor in employee motivation and morale.” This is how Mr. Parameswaran started when we asked him the first question.

As a manager or supervisor, your impact on employee motivation is immeasurable. By your words, your body language, and the expression on your face, as a manager, supervisor, or leader, you telegraph your opinion of their value to the people you employ.

Feeling valued by their supervisor in the workplace is key to high employee motivation and morale. Feeling valued ranks right up there for most people with liking the work, competitive pay, opportunities for training and advancement, and feeling "in" on the latest news.

Building high employee motivation and morale is both challenging and yet supremely simple.

Building high employee motivation and morale requires that you pay attention every day to profoundly meaningful aspects of your impact on life at work.

It Isn’t Magic. It's Discipline.

Supervisors frequently ask, "How do I motivate employees?" It's one of the most common questions I am asked. Wrong question. Ask instead, "How do I create a work environment in which individual employees choose to be motivated about work goals and activities?"

That question I can answer. The right answer is that, generally, you know what you should do; you know what motivates you. You just do not consistently, in a disciplined manner, adhere to what you know about employee motivation.

Focus on the Development of People for Employee Motivation

Most people want to learn and grow their skills at work. No matter their reason: a promotion, different work, a new position or a leadership role, employees appreciate your help.

Talk about changes they want to make to their jobs to better serve their customers.

Encourage experimentation and taking reasonable risk to develop employee skills. Get to know them personally. Ask what motivates them. Ask what career objectives they have and are aiming to achieve. Make a performance development plan with each person and make sure you help them carry out the plan. The quarterly performance development meeting is your opportunity to formalize plans for people.

Provide Regular Feedback for Employee Motivation

When I poll supervisors, the motivation and morale builder they identify first is knowing how they are doing at work. Your staff members need the same information. They want to know when they have done a project well and when you are disappointed in their results. They need this information as soon as possible following the event.

They need to work with you to make sure they produce a positive outcome the next time. Set up a daily or weekly schedule and make sure feedback happens. You'll be surprised how effective this tool can be in building employee motivation and morale. You can make their day.

People Need Positive and Not So Positive Consequences

Hand-in-hand with regular feedback, employees need rewards and recognition for positive contributions. One of my clients has started a "thank you" process in which supervisors are recognizing employees with personally written thank you cards and a small gift for work that is above and beyond expectations.

Employees need a fair, consistently administered progressive disciplinary system for when they fail to perform effectively. The motivation and morale of your best-contributing employees is at stake. Nothing hurts positive motivation and morale more quickly than unaddressed problems, or problems addressed inconsistently.

What about supervisory discretion, you are probably thinking.

I'm all for supervisory discretion, but only when it is consistent. People need to know what they can expect from you. In employee relations, an apt statement is: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." (Attribution unknown) You can make their day.

Continue Learning and Trying Out New Ideas for Employee Motivation

Use whatever access you have to education and training. You may have an internal trainer or you can seek classes from an outside consultant, a training company, or a

college or university. If your company offers an educational assistance plan, use all of it.

If not, start talking with your Human Resources professionals about creating one. The ability to continuously learn is what will keep you moving in your career and through all the changes I expect we'll see in the next decade.

Minimally, you will want to learn the roles and responsibilities of supervisors and managers and how to:

provide feedback, provide praise and recognition, provide proper progressive discipline, give instructions, interview and hire superior employees, delegate tasks and projects, listen actively and deeply, write records, letters, file notations, and performance evaluations, make presentations, manage time, plan and execute projects, problem solve and follow up for continuous improvement, make decisions, manage meetings, and build empowered teams and individuals in a teamwork environment.

What does all this have to do with employee motivation, you may ask? Everything. The more comfortable and confident you are about these work competencies, the more time, energy, and ability you have to devote to spending time with staff and creating a motivating work environment. You can make their day.

Your Arrival at Work Sets the Employee Motivation Tone for the Day

Picture Mr. Stressed-Out and Grumpy. He arrives at work with a frown on his face. His body language telegraphs "over-worked" and unhappy. He moves slowly and treats the first person who approaches him abruptly. It takes only a few minutes for the entire workplace to get the word. Stay away from Mr. Stressed-Out and Grumpy if you know what's good for you this morning.

Your arrival and the first moments you spend with staff each day have an immeasurable impact on positive employee motivation and morale. Start the day right. Smile. Walk tall and confidently. Walk around your workplace and greet people. Share the goals and expectations for the day. Let the staff know that today is going to be a great day. It starts with you. You can make their day.

Use Simple, Powerful Words for Employee Motivation

Sometimes in my work, I get gifts. I recently interviewed an experienced supervisor for a position open at a client company. She indicated that she was popular with the people at her former company as evidenced by employees wanting to work on her shift.

Responding to my question, she said that part of her success was that she liked and appreciated people. She sent the right message. She also uses simple, powerful, motivational words to demonstrate she values people. She says "please" and "thank you" and "you're doing a good job." How often do you take the time to use these simple, powerful words, and others like them, in your interaction with staff? You can make their day.

For Employee Motivation, Make Sure People Know What You Expect

Setting clear expectations is often a supervisor's first failure. Supervisors think they have clearly stated work objectives, numbers needed, report deadlines and requirements, but the employee received a different message.

Or, the requirements change in the middle of the day, job, or project. While the new expectations are communicated - usually poorly - the reason for the change or the context for the change is rarely discussed. This causes staff members to think that the company leaders don't know what they are doing. This is hardly a confidence, morale-building feeling.

This is bad news for employee motivation and morale. Make sure you get feedback from the employee so you know he understands what you need. Share the goals and reasons for doing the task or project. In a manufacturing environment, don't emphasize just numbers if you want a quality product finished quickly. If you must make a change midway through a task or a project, tell the staff why the change is needed; tell them everything you know. You can make their day.

Make Time for People for Employee Motivation

Spend time daily with each person you supervise. Managers might aim for an hour a week with each of their direct reports. A key employee work motivation factor is spending positive interaction time with the supervisor. Schedule quarterly performance development meetings on a public calendar so people can see when they can expect some quality time and attention from you.

Share the Goals and the Context: Communicate for Employee Motivation

People expect you to know the goals and share the direction in which your work group is heading. The more you can tell them about why an event is happening, the better.

Prepare staff in advance if visitors or customers will come to your workplace. Hold regular meetings to share information, gain ideas for improvement, and train new policies. Hold focus groups to gather input before implementing policies that affect employees. Promote problem solving and process improvement teams.

Above all else, to effectively lead a work group, department, or unit, you must take responsibility for your actions, the actions of the people you lead, and the accomplishment of the goals that are yours.

If you are unhappy with the caliber of the people you are hiring, whose responsibility is that? If you are unhappy about the training people in your work group are

receiving, whose responsibility is that? If you are tired of sales and accounting changing your goals, schedule, and direction, whose responsibility is that?

If you step up to the wire, people will respect you and follow you. You are creating a work environment in which people will choose motivation. It does start with you. You can make their whole experience with your company.

POLARIS

We spoke to Mr. Ramesh Rajan from Polaris who shared with us the below valuable pointers on how Polaris motivates its employees and what we can do to do the same.

Guidelines for a Motivating Work Environment

Make only the minimum number of rules and policies needed to protect your organization legally and create order in the work place.

Publish the rules and policies and educate all employees. With the involvement of many employees, identify organizational values and

write value statements and a professional code of conduct. Develop guidelines for supervisors and educate them about the fair and

consistent application of the few rules and policies. Address individual dysfunctional behaviors on a “need-to” basis with

counseling, progressive discipline, and performance improvement plans. Clearly communicate work place expectations and guidelines for professional

behavior.

Hints for Employee Motivation

Solicit employee feedback on potential policies, areas in which policies are needed, and so on. (Do not, as one company did recently, announce a new attendance policy by posting it on a bulletin board.)

If you decide to adhere to and hold employees accountable for an existing policy, don’t ambush your company members. If you have not enforced the policy in the past, meet with employees and explain the policy, the intent of the policy, why the policy is necessary, and why it was not enforced in the past. Then, tell everyone that following the meeting, everyone is accountable for adherence to the policy.

You’ll be surprised how much support for legitimate policies and rules you receive from the people in your organization. People like a well-organized work place in which expectations are clear. People thrive in a work place in which all employees live by the same rules.

If you create an environment that is viewed as fair and consistent, you give people little to push against. You open up a space in which people are focused on contribution and productive activities rather than gossip, unrest, and unhappiness.

Guidelines for a Work Environment That Emphasizes Employee Motivation

Express the expectation that people make decisions that will improve their work.

Reward and recognize the people who make decisions about and improvements in their work as heroes.

Make certain employees know and understand your organization's mission, vision, values, goals, and guidelines so they can funnel their involvement in appropriate directions. Education, communication, measurement feedback and coaching keep employee involvement from becoming a free-for-all.

Never punish a thoughtful decision. You can coach and counsel and provide training and information following the decision. Don’t undermine the employee’s confidence that you are truly supportive of her involvement.

If you are a supervisor and people come to you continually to ask permission and receive instructions about their work, ask yourself this question.

What am I doing that makes people believe they must come to me for each decision or permission? You are probably communicating a mixed message which confuses people about your real intentions.

When an employee comes to you, ask him what he thinks he should do in the situation. Assuming his response is reasonable; tell him his approach sounds fine and that he doesn’t need to consult with you about this type of decision in the future.

If you can assist the employee to find a better answer, act as a consultant without taking the monkey onto your own shoulders. You will reinforce his belief in his own decision making ability. You also reinforce his belief that you are telling the truth about trusting his competency.

If you see an employee embark on a course of action you know will fail or cause a problem for a customer, intervene as a coach. Ask good questions that help the individual find a better approach. Never allow a person to fail to "teach a lesson."

If you already know what you will do in a particular situation, don’t solicit ideas and feedback. You insult your employees, create an atmosphere of distrust, and guarantee unrest, unhappiness, and low motivation in your workplace. If you are genuinely open to ideas and feedback, your employees will know. It is not so much what you say as what you do that communicates your wishes and intentions to them.

If you are not open to feedback, step back and ask yourself, "Why?" Almost any decision is improved with feedback and input. Even more importantly, the people who have to live with or implement the decision will own the decision. This ownership creates motivation and channels energy in the directions that will help your organization succeed.

Examine your beliefs about people. The majority of people do not get up in the morning and come to work with the intention of causing problems. How many people do you know who want to go home at the end of a work day feeling as if they failed all day? Not many, if any.

These work environments are perceived as fair and structured just enough for perceived emotional safety. At the same time, your more courageous employees feel unfettered and encouraged in their efforts to make a difference. Set them free.

Remove the barriers that discourage work place motivation. Consequent actions and motivation displayed by ordinary people will amaze and gratify you.

Action Checklist for Motivation in Polaris

Polaris uses this checklist for managers with responsibilities for managing, motivating, and developing staff at a time when organizational structures and processes are undergoing continual change.

1. Read the Gurus

Familiarize yourself with Hertzberg’s hygiene theory, McGregor's X and Y theories and Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Although these theories date back some years, they are still valid today. Consult a digest to gain a basic understanding of their main principles; it will be invaluable for building a climate of honesty, openness, and trust.

2. What Motivates You?

Determine which factors are important to you in your working life and how they interact.

What has motivated you and de-motivated you in the past?

Understand the differences between real, longer-term motivators and short-term spurs.

3. Find Out What Your People Want From Work

People may want more status, higher pay, better working conditions, and flexible benefits. But find out what really motivates your employees by asking them in performance appraisals, attitude surveys, and informal conversations what they want most from their jobs.

Do people want, for example:

More interesting work? More efficient bosses? More opportunity to see the end result of their work? Greater participation? Greater recognition? Greater challenge? More opportunities for development?

4. Walk the Job

Every day, find someone doing something well and tell the person so. Make sure the interest you show is genuine without going overboard or appearing to watch over

people's shoulders. If you have ideas as to how employees' work could be improved, don't shout them out, but help them to find their way instead. Earn respect by setting an example; it is not necessary to be able do everything better than your staff. Make it clear what levels of support employees can expect.

5. Remove De-motivators

Identify factors that de-motivate staff - they may be physical (buildings, equipment) or psychological (boredom, unfairness, barriers to promotion, lack of recognition). Some of them can be dealt with quickly and easily; others require more planning and time to work through. The fact that you are concerned to find out what is wrong and do something about it is in itself a motivator.

6. Demonstrate Support

Whether your working culture is one that clamps down on mistakes and penalizes error or a more tolerant one that espouses mistakes as learning opportunities, your staff need to understand the kind and levels of support they can expect. Motivation practice and relationship building often falter because staff does not feel they are receiving adequate support.

7. Be Wary of Cash Incentives

Many people say they are working for money and claim in conversation that their fringe benefits are an incentive. But money actually comes low down in the list of motivators, and it doesn't motivate for long after a raise. Fringe benefits can be effective in attracting new employees, but benefits rarely motivate existing employees to use their potential more effectively.

8. Decide on an Action

Having listened to staff, take steps to alter your organization's policies and attitudes, consulting fully with staff and unions. Consider policies that affect flexible work, reward, promotion, training and development, and participation.

9. Manage Change

Adopting policies is one thing, implementing them is another. If poor motivation is entrenched, you may need to look at the organization's whole style of management. One of the most natural of human instincts is to resist change even when it is designed to be beneficial. The way change is introduced has its own power to motivate or de-motivate, and can often be the key to success or failure. If you:

tell - instruct or deliver a monologue - you are ignoring your staff's hopes, fears, and expectations;

tell and sell - try to persuade people - even your most compelling reasons will not hold sway over the long term if you don't allow discussion;

Consult - it will be obvious if you have made up your mind beforehand; look for real participation - sharing the problem solving and decision making

with those who are to implement change - you can begin to expect commitment and ownership along with the adaptation and compromise that will occur naturally.

10. Understand Learning Preferences

Change involves learning.

In Manual of Learning Styles, Peter Honey and Alan Mumford distinguish four basic styles of learning:

Activists : like to get involved in new experiences, problems, or opportunities. They're not too happy sitting back, observing, and being impartial;

Theorists : are comfortable with concepts and theory. They don't like being thrown in at the deep end without apparent purpose or reason;

Reflectors : like to take their time and think things through. They don't like being pressured into rushing from one thing to another;

Pragmatists : need a link between the subject matter and the job in hand. They learn best when they can test things out.

As each of us learns with different styles, preferences, and approaches, your people will respond best to stimuli and suggestions that take account of the way they do things best.

11. Provide Feedback

Feedback is one of the most valuable elements in the motivation cycle. Don't keep staff guessing how their development, progress, and accomplishments are shaping up. Offer comments with accuracy and care, keeping in mind next steps or future targets.

Dos and Don'ts For Motivating Your Staff in a Time of Change

Do:

Recognize that you don't have all the answers. Take time to find out what makes others tick and show genuine caring. Lead, encourage, and guide staff - don't force them. Tell your staff what you think.

Don't:

Don't make assumptions about what drives others. Don't assume others are like you. Don't force people into things that are supposedly good for them. Don't neglect the need for inspiration.

Don't delegate work -- delegate responsibility.

Conclusion

Motivation is crucial in the process of management. Without little or no motivation you, as a manger of an organization will not be able to get as much from your employees as you may need. Motivation is the driving force in people. It makes people feel committed to others, and feel responsible for the actions of an organization. Motivating to excellence deals with how to ensure a positively motivated team of employees.