Business Management: Motivating Workers

In order to design programs and systems to help motivate works, it is necessary to understand the many different reasons why people work in the first place. Often we assume that everyone simply works for money, but research has shown this is far from being the only reason, or even the main reason in many cases, that people work. In this lesson we will go over some of the many very important reasons that people choose to spend much of their lives working.

Frederick Taylor was a very influential early "management scientist" who conducted experiments at his steel mill that sought to increase productivity. His ideas were widely adopted and have had a profound influence on management theory ever since, not always for the better. In this lesson we will look at the theories of Frederick Taylor and how we may use them (or not) as motivational tools in our own workplace.

Another very influential early management scientist was Frederick Herzberg. His two factors of motivation have influenced business leaders ever since and are therefore important to study in order to better understand how we may increase the motivation of our own workers. In this lesson, we will cover Herzberg's theories and how we may implement them in the workplace.

Abraham Maslow was a Psychologist made famous for his Hierarchy of Needs that is now a staple in business schools throughout the world for its insightful contribution to understanding human motivation. In this lesson we will explore Maslow's hierarchy of needs and how a manager can use it to increase motivation throughout the organization.

When most people think of financial rewards they are thinking about wages and salaries. But there are many ways to structure remuneration for employees throughout an organization that helps to align their interests with those of management while increasing worker motivation at the same time. In this lesson we will begin to cover the main forms of financial rewards that can be used by the effective manager.

An important piece to the financial reward puzzle, wages may not be as simple as they seem. In this course you will learn the basics of business theory of wages and how managers can structure them to increase the motivation of their staff.

Time rate of pay may be the most well-known aspect of work. Otherwise known as being paid "by the hour", this system of compensation is not appropriate for all or even most kinds of work. Yet it has become the standard compensation model throughout the world for most types of jobs. In this lesson, you will learn when time rate of pay is most and least effective, always with the overarching goal of understanding how we can best use it as a tool to maximize worker motivation.

Piece rate is a form of remuneration that is usually most appropriate for jobs that produce a certain number of units that are easily measurable. This form of payment can motivate works to produce more units in a shorter time frame since they are getting paid by unit rather than by time worked. This is good for both the company and workers, so long as the work does not cause too much fatigue or monotony for the workers.

Salaries are a form of financial incentive that we are all familiar with. But their are many ways to structure salaries in order to increase worker motivation that are not well understood or used by a large number of business managers. In this lesson, you will learn how to structure pay packages in order to motivate workers in different jobs across different industries.

Of course, money is not the only reward for a job well done. Fringe benefits can provide even more motivation for some workers depending on their situation and preferences, whether they are single or have a family etc. In this lesson, you will learn the basics of fringe benefits and how they can be used to increase worker motivation in different circumstances.

A manager who knows how to increase job satisfaction among workers can have a huge impact on the bottom line of the organization. In this lesson, you will learn how to increase job satisfaction in order make workers happier on the job and therefore increasing productivity while also improving the culture of the organization.

Job rotation is a way to improve worker satisfaction by putting each worker in a role that maximizes their skills and suits their personality. It is yet another way a good manager can use their discretion to have a positive impact on the productivity and overall results of the business.

I job enlargement, a manager increases the scope of the job so that the worker is motivated to perform well now that they have been given more responsibility. This may also lead to an increase in pay, which further motivates the worker to be more productive while building loyalty to the organization at the same time. In this lesson, you will learn to appropriate use job enlargement to achieve these results.

Job enrichment is a way to augment a worker's position in order to make it more enjoyable for the worker, more productive for the organization, or provide more synergy with other aspects of the business. In this lesson, you will learn how to use job enrichment to increase worker motivation.

Autonomous work groups provide a way for workers to take ownership over their work while also creating synergies that come from teams working together collaboratively. This increases worker motivation and job satisfaction while also increasing productivity for the organization. In this lesson, you will learn how autonomous work groups can be used to boost the overall results of the business.

Worker motivation is becoming an increasingly important aspect of business management as human resource theory is better understood and implemented in the modern economy. Knowing how to increase worker motivation and job satisfaction leads to improved long term performance for any business while improving the lives of the company's workers at the same time. This can be the one thing that makes the difference between a failed business and a thriving sustainable company.