Work Motivation
The focus of the project is the research area of work motivation. What motivates people in organizations to maximize their potential and to invest effort in their employer’s success? Current business environment, both turbulent and uncertain, affected by global economic crises, causes many employees to seek ways of getting the full potential from people they hire (Sheedy, 2009). Motivation is focal to human behavior, hence practitioners and theorists alike proceed to seek universally applicable motivational techniques and laws that could be used for various cultural groups across the globe (Di Cesare & Sadri, 2003). Work motivation is defined as set of specific energetic forces which come within and beyond a person’s being in order to initiate behaviour related to work and to determine its intensity, form, duration, and direction (Pinder, 1984 in Meyer, Becker & Vandenberghe, 2004, p. 992).
For years, the focus on work motivation research has been within the framework of traditional economic theories (Hicks, 1932; Shapiro & Stiglitz, 1984; Akerlof, 1982). The emphasis was on the importance of monetary rewards as well as supervision as primary motivators of work effort. In contrast, within the framework of psychology research great advancement has been made, in particular needs-based and motives-based theories, expectancy theories, social cognitive theory, job design theories, and goal setting theory, etc have been developed (Latham, 2007).
Numerous researches highlight the importance of work motivation to modern organizations. Yet, today claims continue to persist that the theory of work motivation is lagging behind critical changes at work, so that managers lack necessary guidance for effectively managing businesses and organizations (Locke & Latham, 2004). Thus, more research is needed into new developments built within the existing theories, based on a cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary approach, and guided by enhanced understanding of how people are motivated to work in modern workplace environment.
This topic of research is particularly relevant to the author’s career choice and potential to work as a manager in future. Extending the knowledge base and developing a new understanding of how to motivate employees in modern organizations will help any manager to motivate the workforce to supply maximum work effort hence bringing success to their organization. A good example of a new approach is the one developed by Gore et al (Gore et al, 2007; Anfuso, 1999) – a unique egalitarian culture devoid of hierarchy which is perceived as capable of boosting the morale and foster spirit of innovation and cooperation in individuals and teams alike.
