MOTIVATION AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

Motivation of employees in an industry is affected by the environment in which they work (Smithers and Walker, 2000). Research conducted proved that workers’ environments do affect their level of motivation, for instance, long hours of work, non-recognition for work done and colleagues’ aggressive management style. In order to motivate employees to perform their best, there is a need to provide a work environment that provides achievement, recognition, meaningful work, advancement and growth (Musselwhite, 2007). Some of these variables that affected employees’ level of motivation in the workplace are discussed subsequently.

 

Working Conditions

-          The physical layout of the work environment such as neatness, organization, convenience, attractiveness and stimulus (noise, air, hazards and so on) should not threaten the well-being of employees (Nel et al., 2004). (Ester, 1986; cited in Royle and Towers, 2002) states that public humiliation; unsafe working conditions and total lack of respect and dignity are amongst reasons for employee unhappiness Most jobs have reflected abusive working relationships, poor working conditions, reduced wages, long working hours and less participation in the decision making of the organization, especially in areas that concern workers (Ukpere, 2007).

 

Working Hours

Working hours Managements have created an environment, which looks like a family, while on the other hand, it is an environment filled with intimidation and fear (Reischman, 2003). Employees are pushed to their physical limits with long hours of work, and are not given enough breaks. In addition, their wages barely meet the minimum requirement. A reason for this is that most employees have a low standard of education and some of them are immigrants and high school students (Reischman, 2003). The working hours speculated by the federal fair labour standard act is at least forty hours a week and employees who work overtime should be paid additionally for this.

 

Pay and benefits

A low minimum wage has long been a critical issue in any business plan (Schlosser, 1998). In view of this, importing workers from other countries to work for low wages in alternative option company’s are choosing (Reischman, 2003). According to Streeten (2001, cited in Ukpere, 2007), outsourcing is a cause of the decline in the demand for wages of semiskilled and unskilled labour. The employees are treated poorly especially in the area of pay, which results in the fact that an average worker that wants to make a living by supporting his or her family, cannot do so with the average pay or minimum wage that is given to him or her (Harikripahai, 2007). The mistreatment does not only include poor hourly wages, but the denial of the right to join a union (Schlosser, 2003).

The extreme standardization of work in any industry justifies low wages and benefits (Leidner, 1993, cited in Royle and Towers, 2002). Inexperienced people who are capable of doing the work easily accept low paid jobs because they do not have a choice. This also causes low motivation and high labour turnover, since workers’ needs cannot be met with low paid jobs (Leidner, 1993).

 

Recognition

An employee’s performance can be recognized through promotion. Employee recognition consists of personal attention, expressing interest, promotion, pay, approval and appreciation for a job well done (Robbins, 2003). Generally, in the workplace, recognition is considered as the most powerful tool for employee motivation (Robbins, 2003). Most of the industries value ‘people principles’ and ‘social responsibility’. People principles refer to the relationship between management, the workers and the treatment of workers (Harikripahai, 2007). According to an observer, any industry holds five basic ideas: Respect and Recognition, Values and Leadership, Pay, Learning and Developmental Growth, and Resources. He adds that four of these five are questionable because management regards workers as passive people who can be employed to work for a certain period of time and duped with a false sense of employment security and individuality, (Harikripahai, 2007).

 

Employee performance

It was stated earlier that jobs in the any industry are highly routinized and capital intensive, which results in employees living their job. Reduced work output, increased accidents, absenteeism, employee turnover and poor employee performances are examples of detrimental employee behaviour that have a significant effect on profitability (Spector, 2003, cited in Lo and Lamm, 2005). It is the amount of training that is provided enhances their performance rather than the quality or quantity of education achieved prior to employment (Sheridan et al., 1997). As mentioned previously, employee job performance is a result of motivation and ability. Motivation influences performance, but performance, if followed by rewards, can influence motivation. (Deeprose (1994) postulates that effective reward management can help the management to achieve their business objectives by attracting and retaining competent workers.

 

REFERRENCES:

·         Harikripahai Organization (2007). The Fast Food Industry, McDonald`s Market Research.

·         Leidner R (1993). Fast food, Fast Talk: Service Work and Routinisation of Everyday Life. University of California Press, Berkeley: CA

·         Musselwhite C (2007). Motivation at work: Motivation = Empowerment. Newsletter Inc. Today`s small Business News

·         Robbins SP (2003). Organisational Behavior. 10th ed. Canada: Prentice Hall, Pearson Education International, USA.

·         Reischman S (2003). Uncommon thought Journal

·         Smithers GL, Walker DHT (2000). The effect of the workplace on motivation and demotivation of construction professionals. Construction Management and Economics. Australia: Melbourne. 18(7): 833-847

·         Sheridan JE, Slocum JW Jr., Buda R (1997). Factors influencing the probability of employee promotions: A comparative Analysis of Human Capital, Organisation Screening and Gender/Race Discrimination Theories. New York: Human Science Press, Inc.. Hempstead. J. Bus. Psychol., 11(3)

·         Spector PE (2003). Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Research and Practice. 3rd ed. New York: Wiley

·         Schlosser E (2003). Fast food Nation. 2nd ed. Canada: Perennial/Harper Collins

·        Ukpere WI (2007). The functional relationship between globalization, Internationalisation, human resources and industrial democracy. Cape Town: Cape Peninsula University of Technology PhD Thesis.