Motivation and Organisational Behavior - A Case Study from the University of Northampton

 

Introduction

One of the many aspects of organisational behavior is working through the organisation to stay ahead of the competition. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, competition has been tough. It is up to the companies to find ways and strategies so that they do not lag behind. One of the ways through which organisations do this is by hiring the best of employees and using their skills and talents in the right places. Thus, it becomes crucial to them that they use the organisational behavior, meaning the behavior of their staff to the firm’s advantage. This paper explores some parts of this behavior in an organisation like employee attitude and job satisfaction. An impact of motivation is also seen and relevant theories are discussed.

What are Attitudes?

Attitude is the most important thing that an individual holds. Scholar (Giauque, 2015) describes attitude as behaviors, opinions, ideas and even feelings which surround an individual. These have the power to influence one’s performance. This is more important in the study of organisational behavior because, through a person’s behavior, the management can assess and analyze what changes need to be brought about and even if a person is right for the job. Researchers (Judge, et al., 2017) state that the goal of the management is to create a peaceful working atmosphere where people co-exist with efficiency. Especially in the global world, employees are increasingly becoming diverse. By this, it means individuals will have different preferences, cultures, likes, and dislikes. Thus the importance of attitude cannot be stressed enough. In the words of (Yousef, 2017) the success of any organisation from 2020 onwards depends on how well he uses the attitudes of their employees towards the set goals of the organisation.

What is Job Satisfaction?

It takes a lot for someone to be satisfied with their job. In times of crisis, there is a trend of “loving what you do”, which means that if every single individual works in their field of interest, the productivity will automatically rise. Researcher (Aziri, 2011) describes it as a condition where an employee loves their tasks and duties and is not tired of it. The state of mind is that of complete satisfaction and is also one of the reasons for employee retention and reduced absenteeism. The author (Dotson & Allenby, 2010) states that in the highest level of satisfaction, all the needs and demands of the employees are met. This is a complex situation since again here it will differ from one person to the other. It must be mentioned that needs and demands are closely linked to an individual’s behavior and choices. Hence, the level of job satisfaction will also differ!

Motivation Explained

Motivation is one of the most important theories of organisational behavior. This is because without motivation no employees would work. Motivation is again that is connected with attitude and job satisfaction because all individuals are different and motivation has a different meaning to each one of them. Researcher (Kampkotter, 2016) describes it as anything that urges an individual to do or perform an action or perform their duties at work. Motivation can be tangible and intangible in nature as put forward by (Fadlallh, 2015). It is important here to state the most common and influential theory of motivation by Maslow.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is one that is used by organisations worldwide. It is a complex theory that states that motivation can be categorized into a pyramid-like structure, the base of which forms the first basic need of all employees. Maslow states that all organisations must strive to fulfill these needs step by step. The researchers (Malthouse, et al., 2017) through a survey of TV programs states that the basic needs of an individual are the psychological needs which affect the attitudes and job satisfaction of an individual, just as Maslow had stated. These form the foundation of any good job satisfaction level. This need when fulfilled is followed by security needs, the need for appreciation needs related to one’s self-esteem and lastly the need for self-actualization. Self-actualization is the highest form of achievement for any organisation and the one that comes to the mind is Google, who treats their employees with the utmost benefits so that they become the best version of themselves. Researchers (Atienza-Sahuquillo & Barba-Sánchez, 2017) stresses the importance of this theory by saying that all managers must follow this to be the most indispensable employees. This also can help a firm with the staffing of putting the right people in the right place. Work can be a lot more efficient this way.

Impact of Attitude, Job Satisfaction and Motivation on Organisational Behavior

As mentioned earlier, all human beings possess some kind of feeling and behavior. Through everyday examples, it is seen that feelings have a deep impact on the work individuals do and govern their behavior. Human psychology states that if a person does not feel positive, all his workings will have a negative impact and even concentration and the ability to make decisions will be affected (Gautier, 2015). Whereas, if an employee feels positive all the time, he or she will be able to do their work more efficiently and more diligently.  A very interesting analysis is presented by (Goldstein, et al., 2017) who say that attitudes of an individual revolve around the beliefs that they hold. Beliefs can be of any kind religious, lifestyle or related to one’s own personal principles. It gives an extra kick if organisations respect the beliefs of their employees. It is needless to say that like attitudes beliefs will differ from person to person. A very important case in the UK is that many new organisations are hiring employees who are suffering from OCD or Down syndrome (Syed & Tariq, 2017). This boosts up the morale of employees and makes them feel a part of society. Although these are medical conditions, most firms feel uncomfortable with employees suffering from these conditions. A striking example of religious beliefs is firmed in Saudi Arabia offering prayer times to their employees. They can literally take a short break from work and perform their daily prayers for a maximum of 4 times during their working hours (Al-habshan, 2017). Thus, a religious individual would be drawn to working in these companies that take their beliefs and attitudes into consideration.

Many scholars have researched a finding that with the right kind of attitude, an employee can become loyal to the organisation and increase their retention in the same. The Sunday Times states that the best companies with employee loyalty in the UK are the Admiral Group Plc, The Synter Group, EE and 4Com plc among others (BALL, 2020). These companies have used employee attitudes the right way and are constantly improving the job satisfaction level. A study (Real Business, 2017) also said that more than 56% of the people of the UK are satisfied with their job and 61% feel valued in their company. This literally means that organisational behavior has been taken into consideration by most firms.  Researcher (Rynes, 2002) points out that one of the most important factors influencing attitude is the culture of the staffs. As employees are from various parts of the world, culture must be kept in high consideration at all times by the management. Inclusion is not a very British trait, but diversity and inclusion are the two most important topics that organisations work on today. Diageo, Unilever, and Glaxo Smith Kline have the highest inclusion rates of cultural employees from Asians to Africans and even females. Sky UK also employees’ members from the LGBT community and disabled individuals who work with equal efficiency than the non-disabled community (Howley, 2019).

The author (Kotsi & Valek, 2018) contributes that personality traits also impact attitude and hence the also the job satisfaction criteria. Simply put, an employee with an enthusiastic and pleasant personality is much liked by his colleagues than someone who is rude or has a negative behavior. This also creates a more open and flexible work environment. Such an environment is important for a creative atmosphere and even in the research and innovation field. This ensures that the employees can reach out to their team managers or project managers easily without any hesitation. It also makes the way for motivation to be operational and accepted by the staff.

Researchers (Yang, et al., 2017) state that similar to the personality of an individual, the satisfaction in personal life also matters. This means that a happy and peaceful personal life makes an individual more productive and efficient in their work life. However, psychologist points out that life can never be peaceful, as there are ups and downs and low moments often. But a capacity to handle such situations is what successful employees possess. This is one of the factors why intelligence agencies throughout the globe like the MI6, FBI, CIA, and others are bound to take a regular psychological evaluation for a stable mental state. Not everyone is James Bond who performs well even when his psychological test failed (Big Think, 2013). A much simpler example would be a death in the family which has a heavy impact on the work lives of the individual. Researchers (Yang, et al., 2018) say that this is important because the manager must take care of the personal well-being of their staff. This is one of the reasons why firms provide medical insurance, pensions and other benefits which is important for the physical and mental well-being of the staff.

Another researcher points out that if an individual is satisfied with their job, he or she will spend more time at their job. In doing so, the employees can work more responsibly at their work. However, this concept is argued by another researcher who points out that there is a difference in spending more time at work by choice and spending more time at work when they have no choice. This earlier is the one with the maximum amount of productivity and job satisfaction level. A big example of this is detectives and agents who work on solving crimes and often get obsessed with it, working day and night. This can be argued in terms of mental health, but it proves that job satisfaction is at the highest with the particular individual. According to employees like that also gain a lot of personal growth which raises them up in their career. However, the main motivation to do so is the love of their job!

Researchers (Hoboubi, et al., 2017) are of the opinion that communication plays an important role when attitudes and job satisfaction are concerned. Proper and clear communication among the employees and the managers are of crucial importance as they prevent miscommunication and pass on of wrong information. Information is the most precious resource of an organisation and hence must be maintained with accuracy. Proper communication prevents conflicts as they might arise when information is passed incorrectly. This overtime increases an interest to work longer for a company and hence employee retention. Apple Inc. and Google are the two most important company with a spotless communication system within their firm. The author (Mafini, 2013) states that communication can also refer to the feedback system for addressing grievances. This is a system that is devised to increase communication and solve any queries that an employee might have.

Motivation in an organisation creates enthusiastic employees who are eager to do their job. It also directs towards the creative side of an individual and can increase productivity by 46%. Authors (Latif, et al., 2015) say that through motivation, an individual will put his best effort into a task. This also controls employee changeover over a period of time. Drawing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, it can be said that word recognition is an important part of the motivation. This is highlighted in the need for appreciation. This is an important factor, as it can make one work more for getting some recognition and appreciation from their reporting leaders. Scholars (Gagné, et al., 2018) say that the right kind of motivation paves the way for job security in a firm and can increase the job satisfaction level. Needless to say the attitude of an employee changes.

Authors (Kanfer & Chen, 2016) points out that since motivation is different for different people, it is the manger’s task to find out what is best suited for an employee. This is where communication plays an important role. This is because some employee hygiene and medical benefits may work as motivation, while other high paying jobs might be the striking factor. There has been quite some research on what motivates a person and several of these works provides useful insights on how to understand them. Performance appraisals, bonuses, and rewards have the most motivational practices taken by firms. Although not innovative, they form the base of every motivational technique.

Scholar Herzberg put forward his theory where he talks about two major factors; one that motivates an employee and the other that de-motivates him. In the earlier part, all the needs and demands are fulfilled and job satisfaction is at a balanced level (Vidyarthi, et al., 2014). Bringing in Google into the discussion, the most innovative example of motivation is nap pods and an unlimited supply of food at the cafeteria. For those working in large cosmetic giants, free samples are the most motivational feature. Starbucks increases their motivation of employees by providing employee benefits and free coffee and meal every week. Thus, it depends also on the type of organisation with respect to the strategies that they adopt. 

Conclusion

Thus, we can see that motivation has become one of the most important theories and practical strategies that are employed by firms around the world. With stress on attitude and job satisfaction, it is but crucial that organisations and researchers explore these more as they are related to human behavior. However much research still needs to be done on motivation. This is because motivation is in a state of constant change in the face of the market dynamics and hence so will all other elements of organisational behavior.

Until the time, the machine replaces man, these elements of organisational culture will always be debated and discussed upon. The only change will come in innovation and implementing these techniques to get the most out of them. In other words, these elements help an individual and also the organisation reaches its goal. The most recent innovation is the environmental policies and the focus on sustainable needs which has become a core of the HRM policies (Yusoff, 2019).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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