In any workplace, employee motivation plays a great role in the overall effectiveness of an organization and productivity of every team member. For those who work for an Alabama Department of Mental Health Agency, motivation also serves as the basis for understanding employees’ needs and desires. From the point of an Accounts Payable and Payroll Coordinator, this paper will discuss specific techniques of motivation, the role of motivation, and recommendations for leaders. Although the importance of employee motivation is recognized across the organizations, it is critical to identify relevant strategies and anticipate their impact, focusing on both non-financial and financial incentives.
In the Alabama Department of Mental Health Agency, all the employees are required to share work-related information and interact with each other to ensure the flow of processes. However, it seems that little attention is paid to motivating employees to accomplish the above goal. Armache (2012) suggests that a needs-based motivational model by McClelland that includes the needs for achievement, power, and affiliation can be used to distinguish between what exactly stimulates workers. For example, those who are ready to take risks can be given the opportunities to become leaders, while financial motivation cannot be identified as the target goal, but only as a measure of success (Armache, 2012). Regarding the mentioned organization, this model seems to be useful since it will allow managers to better understand what employees want and how their performance can be improved.
Another technique that can be applied in the mentioned agency is a thought-out system of financial rewards. Considering that a lot of people work for the organization, their achievements should be recognized to encourage them for further progress. For example, there should be job-status rewards to promote competition, membership and seniority awards to stimulate job performance and improve retention (Antoni et al., 2017). However, those who are new employees should also have benefits, including performance-related and team rewards. Although financial incentives are not accepted by scholars and employers as the key motivation tool, their diversity and importance should not be underestimated. Namely, they are especially relevant for organizational retention since employees need to provide for their families and satisfy other needs for goods and services. Motivation allows for clearly stating what is significant for one employee to stay and what the organization can do to offer it.
The use of pertinent motivational techniques and goal-setting leads to ethical decisions and positive behavioral changes. First, Armache (2012) states that in case employees feel that they are supported by the employer in terms of needs and wishes, they are more likely to be committed to their jobs. Second, goal-setting contributes to the clear understanding of what should be achieved by the end of a certain period. It improves employee efficiency and development since they begin enhancing their skills and knowledge to accomplish the stated objectives. In general, employee satisfaction grows with the development of mutual trust and transparency between an employer and employees.
In today’s world that contains many job opportunities, leaders should be aware that employees look for both financial and non-financial incentives. To make workers feel motivated, leaders are to take proactive steps evaluating the needs of employees and creating the environment that would best fit their expectations. It seems that coordination, communication, and talent development are the most important issues to make sure that workers are engaged in their jobs and do their best to meet the organizational goals.
References
Armache, J. (2012). Effect of compensation and other motivational techniques on organizational productivity. Franklin Business & Law Journal, 2012(1), 88-96.
Antoni, C. H., Baeten, X., Perkins, S. J., Shaw, J. D., & Vartiainen, M. (2017). Reward management: Linking employee motivation and organizational performance. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 16(2), 57–60.