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Good Practice
The Art of Employee MotivationIf the lack of employee morale and enthusiasm does not directly damage the rights and interests of labor in an enterprise; there are still indirect negative effects. If employees have no enthusiasm for work, they will not bring maximum productivity and benefits to the enterprise. There is only one solution – employee motivation.
Incentive measures include both physical and psychological motivation. In modern enterprise labor management, motivation is still a necessary element. Maintaining appropriate balance between motivation and constraints is a good way to prevent conflicts between enterprise and employees and promote the positive development of a harmonious relationship between them. However, neither physical nor psychological motivation should be viewed as simple issues. Following the evolution of social and economic development, people’s needs have changed and continue to change. The pursuit of material desires is no longer a sole motivation, as workers more and more are pursuing a variety of personal life ambitions. Employee motivation must likewise be kept up to date, designed to meet employees fundamental needs for individuality, variety, value and depth of personal development. Providing the right kind of psychological motivation for employees is a major form of incentive. Enterprises may consider adopting the following methods with respect to their actual circumstances:
Motivation through the Right to Decision-Making
One day, a company director wanted to invite his customers to dinner. He called a sales representative to make the arrangements allowing the employee to him to make decisions by himself on various details. The employee was delighted. “We should be careful to satisfy the boss.” he told his colleagues. This illustrates how giving decision-making opportunity to employees can create more motivation to fulfill tasks. Employees have personal ambitions that they seek to achieve through success in their careers. Employees are generally eager to freely display their talent, bring their own knowledge into play and make their own decisions within their scope of their responsibilities, while excessive intervention from above can suppress potential output. Too many constraints or compulsory directives can sap employee enthusiasm by taking their personal investment out of the equation. Employees continually imposed to follow instructions from above, regardless of the level of importance, will lose passion and motivation for work over the passage of time. If an enterprise gives employees appropriate space to work independently and develop within their scope of responsibility, it can greatly stimulate employee enthusiasm.
Motivation through Achievement
Desire is a human instinct. People have desires in daily life, as well as in work. Every employee in an enterprise hopes to have in working life. The stronger the desire for achievement, the higher the enthusiasm for work. Satisfaction of desire for achievement is a premise for an employee to contribute to the enterprise. The achievements of an employee are associated with his post and duties, and depend on gumption as well. Although desire of achievement is psychological, it can be represented in specific work. It is something that can be known. For example, in order to design a good product, a designer needs to work hard to overcome technical difficulties and find out how users of the product will be affected by the design. An enterprise should frequently and proactively understand and satisfy employees’ desire for achievement to encourage passion for work.
Motivation through Job Attractiveness
Building an attractive working atmosphere is essential for an enterprise to retain talent and motivate employees, and can include diverse facets such as the right pay systems, career path opportunities and enlightened company culture. Regarding these aspects, enterprises should strive to continuously improve, learn from experience, and innovate, giving employees a sense of freshness and fostering in them a feeling of loyalty, so as to enable them to work hard. For this kind of motivation, the role of an enterprise owner and management and their relationship with employees are regarded as a magic weapon in modern enterprises. The status of the business owner in employees’ minds depends on the image he or she depicts, and how he or she serves as an example. As long a positive image of leadership is maintained, employees will be attracted to the working environment. An Enterprise owner and management with leadership charisma are respected by employees. In a good enterprise, employees often will feel that their boss is friendly and business supervisors are capable. Attracted by the image of leadership, the employees are willing to stay in the enterprise.
Motivation through Self Development
Many employees work in pursuit of developing their own value rather than only for a higher salary, which is reflected in their selection of posts and duties. In fact, regardless of an employee’s age or type of work, an employee will generally strive to realize his or her own value. Even small successes can bring gratification. Enterprises should recognize employee needs for self development, and offer the opportunities and conditions to personal realization.
Motivation through Focus on Strengths
Every employee has advantages and personal strengths in work and daily life. As long as careful observation is performed, merits will be found even in problematic employees. These highlights can actually be turned into incentive factors, which may form an atmosphere of mutual learning and bring benefits to the enterprise. For example, an employee working in the production line liked to gossip during work hours and pursue friendships with many different co-workers on the job. This behavior was initially viewed as a fault and the company considered dismissing the employee. Later the company recognized that this “shortcoming” of the employee can be correctly guided in the right direction, and be an advantage rather than a liability. In the case of this example, the employee was moved to the sales department where he developed relationships with many new clients and brought more business to the company. Following then, the company started to publicly highlight employees’ strengths and achievements every week, providing them a good opportunity to learn from each other, creating a positive environment, and improving employee morale. This demonstrates that employees' good qualities should be fostered and developed in positive ways. Enterprises should try to be more skillful in finding out the new qualities in employees, and seize these opportunities for praise and promotion. It will stimulate employee passion for work and create a vigorous and healthy enterprise.
