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1. Motivation - introduction <br />Motivation is the will to work. This comes from the enjoyment of the work itself and/or from the desire to achieve certain goals <br />e.g. earn more money or achieve promotion. <br /> <br />Managers spend considerable time working out how best to motivate their workers and there are a number of different opinions about how this can be best done. <br />A well-motivated workforce can provide the following advantages: <br />Better productivity (amount produced per employee). This can lead to lower unit costs of production and so enable a firm to sell its product at a lower price <br />Lower levels of absenteeism as the employees are content with their working lives <br />Lower levels of staff turnover (the number of employees leaving the business). This can lead to lower training and recruitment costs <br />Improved industrial relations with trade unions <br />Contented workers give the firm a good reputation as an employer so making it easier to recruit the best workers <br />Motivated employees are likely to improve product quality or the customer service associated with a product<br />http://tutor2u.net/business/gcse/downloads/people_motivation_introduction.pdf<br />Why is motivation important for businesses?<br />It is often said that the best businesses have the best motivated workers. Why might this be important? Because well-motivated employees are usually characterized by:<br />- Higher productivity (i.e. they produce more for a given level of resources than poorly-motivated workers)<br />- Better quality work with less wastage<br />- A greater sense of urgency (things happen quicker - when they need to)<br />- More employee feedback and suggestions made for improvements (motivated workers take more quot;
ownershipquot;
of their workquot;
)<br />- More feedback demanded from superiors and management<br />- Working at 80-95% of their ability<br />http://tutor2u.net/business/people/motivation_theory_introduction.asp<br />