Term 2 – Essay
Understanding and Managing People
Christina Purcell
Edlaine Xavier
16039214
1940 words
Motivation is connected to the feeling of achievement and professional recognition that a person manifests by achieving tasks with a great meaning for that person’s career (Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2015). In most companies the employees are motivated when the business actually shows them recognition for what they’ve done or been doing. This recognition varies from greeting, promotions and praises (Fincham and Rhodes, 2005). However not all employees are satisfied with this type of recognition. Human beings are completely different from each other and consequently they accept/reject the things that are given to them in different ways (Administradores.com, 2017). What these employees want in the present/future has a major impact on what way they prefer to be recognised.
Motivation is an internal desire that makes people want to achieve things in life or in other words it can be clarified as the force within the individual that influences or directs behaviour (Fincham and Rhodes, 2005). Motivation implicates the action taken by people to achieve/fulfil unmet needs. It is the desire to apply effort in order to achieve a goal or reward to minimise the anxiety caused by the need. As mentioned before human beings have different ways to react to a motivation attempt, this means that not all workers like to be appreciated the same way as the other workers (Locke and Latham, 2013). For many years’ researchers and psychologists have been trying to understand what actually motivates employees and there are many theories trying to explain it. This essay aims to explain the process of setting goals motivation theory and its implications, benefits and limitations for organisational practice (Mindtools.com, 2017).
In the list of motivation theories there’s the Locke’s goal setting theory, developed by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham this theory identifies the five elements that need to be in place for us to achieve our goals (Locke and Latham, 2013). In one of his 1968 launched articles called “Toward a Theory of Tasks Motivation and Incentives” Locke demonstrated that suitable feedback and realistic goals is what actually motivates employees. Locke mentioned that working hard in order to achieve a goal is correspondingly a major source of motivation which consequently improves performance. Locke’s study revealed that the more difficult/challenging and specific a goal is; the harder people tend to put effort to accomplish it (Fincham and Rhodes, 2005). In one of his studies on the results of goal setting, he managed to find that 90% of the time that precise and challenging (but not excessively challenging) goals/targets let to superior performance than easy or “do your best” goals/targets (Siegert and Levack, n.d.). Gary Latham studied the consequences of goals setting in the workplace, the outcomes from his studies supported Locke’s conclusions. For instan...
