CHAPTER 8: MOTIVATION

What is Motivation
 Motivation is the individual drive that causes us to behave in a particular
way.
 Motivation consists of internal and external factors that stimulate desire
and energy in people to be continually interested and committed to a job,
role or subject, or to make an effort to attain a goal.
 Motivation may be the push that gets us started or the gasoline that keeps
us going.
Needs and wants
Needs are our personal requirements/ must haves, in order to live.
Some needs or primary, like the need for air and food. Other needs are
learned, like the specific foods that we enjoy or do not care for; these
needs are called secondary needs.
 wants are something that you wish to have, so as to add comforts in your
life. Needs represents the necessities while wants indicate the desires.
Needs and wants are extremely motivational. Most individuals are willing
to work hard to get what they want or need.
Motivating factors
Recognition
 Recognizing employees for accomplishments such as finishing a major
project, reaching sales goals or providing excellent customer service can
be an important motivating factor.
 It sets concrete goals for workers to strive for and offer rewards for
reaching them and this could be in the form of a good parking place for
the month, a certificate, a bonus, a gift card for a dinner or a promotion.
 This could also be done during meetings by just mentioning the
employees that have reached the organizational goals n rewarding them
Cont.….motivating factors
Opportunities for advancement
 Advancement forces performance in such a way that employees who
move upward or laterally have an obligation to their employers to prove
they are worthy of the promotion or demonstrate their skills with another
employer.
Financial security
 Many people work to provide housing, food, clothing and entertainment
for themselves and their families and that needs financial stability hence
working hard to get health care and retirement packages from the
company
Cont.….factors
Personal growth and satisfaction
 Most people work or do what they love which motivates them daily to do it to
the best of their ability hence self-satisfaction and increase knowledge which
will lead to personal growth
Individual impact and respect
 Workers like to know that what they do has a positive impact on the people
and world around them. This may be as simple as bringing a smile to a
customer by selling them a fashionable shirt or fixing a plumbing problem in
a customer's house. Happy customers help to make employees happy and
keep them motivated. The reward of customer appreciation can go a long way
to keeping employees interested in their work on a day-by-day basis.
Cont.….factors
Flexibility or unified work environment
 Offering employees flexibility in their work can help keep them on track
and motivated. Flex-time that accommodates family schedules, vacation
days, holidays and a work-from-home option are all powerful incentives.
Employees appreciate being able to have a life outside of your business.
Challenging work
 Any challenging work will keep the workers motivated because they want
to work on it so as they feel like they have achieved something in life
Cont.…
Encouragement from the management
 When the management goes out of its way to encourage employees and
appreciate them for the work they do, they are motivated through out the
processes .Encouragement by managers may lead to work hard by
employees since they feel appreciated
Being in the know about company matters
 People want to feel that they are part of something bigger than just their
job. It is the difference in coming to work in order to receive a pay check or
coming to work in order to help the organization be successful. Believing in
something larger than the job is a key ingredient for employee engagement.
Understanding of morale
Morale is an individual’s or group’s feelings or attitudes toward a job,
supervisor, or company.
An employee that is satisfied and motivated at a workplace usually tend to
have higher morale than their counterparts.
High morale may result when employees are feeling good about their
work, a high level of overall satisfaction is occurring, and employees are
secure in their jobs.
 During high morale, employee loyalty and dedication are strong. High
morale may be created by; a supportive management., a unified work
environment and corporate successes.
Cont.…
High morale may result in increased productivity. Because employees are
feeling good about their situation, they are less likely to miss work and are
more likely to make an appropriate contribution while they are there.
Low morale is when employees and possibly management are feeling
less positive about their work and organization.
Causes of low morale include; poor management, negative employees
sharing their dissatisfaction with others, a company’s uncertain future,
rumored layoffs, too much work or overtime, and smaller-than-expected
salary increases and lack of clarity in job expectations.
Cont.…
Effects of low morale
In such an environment, employees focus more on their career choices, a
sense of personal well-being and financial future and the cost of this
attitude to companies is staggering.
Low morale breeds a reduction in productivity and performance. When
your staff has low morale they are less eager to give you their best, which
leads to poor quality work or assignments that are not turned in on time.
For example If employees are uncertain of their employment future, they
may find it difficult to have a positive feeling toward their organization
and everyone associated with it.
Self-Concept and Motivation
self-concept is a collection of beliefs about oneself. Generally, self-
concept embodies the answer to "Who am I?".
Self-concept is the way in which a person sees himself or herself and
thinks that others see him or her. An individual with a strong self-concept
is able to view his or her own abilities in a positive way.
Self-concept and motivation are linked in the process of enabling
individuals to work productively with others.
Methods of improving self-concept

Every individual has the ability to improve his or her own self-concept.
While others can affect how individuals see themselves, change must
begin within the individual.
The first step in improving oneself is to perform a self-assessment. A self-
assessment is an individual evaluation in which individual strengths and
weaknesses are identified.
A self- assessment helps individuals to determine where they are headed if
they make no changes in themselves or in their behaviour.
A self-assessment must be performed honestly and is meant to evaluate the
individual
Cont.…
To begin performing a self-assessment, ask yourself the following
questions and record your answers on a sheet of paper or on your computer.
 What are my strengths?
 What are my weaknesses?
 How do I see myself?
 What are my likes and dislikes?
 Do I establish goals and work toward achieving them?
It is not enough to perform a self-assessment. After assessment, the individual must
evaluate the recorded information. When evaluating, it is helpful to draw conclusions and to
develop a plan for the future. Review the responses that you recorded as you performed
your own self-assessment.
As you draw conclusions about your strengths and weaknesses, recognize that the future will
be much more productive if you consider your strengths and weaknesses in establishing
goals. Even if you were not entirely pleased with the outcome of your self-appraisal, you now
have valuable new information about yourself
Ten tips for improving self-concept
1. See yourself as a success: Every individual has a special contribution to
make to society. Those individuals who see themselves as successful will
as a result demonstrate more self-confidence as they interact with others.
2. Spend time with positive people: Positive people tend to share
encouragement with those they spend time with. By surrounding yourself
with positive people, you will be more likely to hear positive comments
and to think in a more positive manner
3. Eat right: It is easy to become so involved in carrying out our
responsibilities that we neglect our own health and when you eat right u
can function well
4. Break a task down into smaller steps: Sometimes it is difficult to dive into
a project because it seems overwhelming. A good way to get started is to
break the task down into several smaller tasks which will make it easy
Cont.…
5. Get enough sleep: Most adults need an average of eight hours of sleep per night. Try to
determine the appropriate amount of sleep for you so has to improve your self-concept
6. Reward successes: When you accomplish something that you are proud of, reward
yourself! Most of us know when we have done a good job, but all too often we may
forget to give ourselves a well-deserved pat on the back
7. Practice positive self-talk: Everyone talks to themselves occasionally. Tell yourself that
you can handle the challenges that are placed before you. Be your own encourager! You
can accomplish great things when you tell yourself
8. Do something for someone else: Doing something for someone else is often the best
thing that we can do for ourselves. By helping someone else, we focus our attention on
someone else’s needs.
9. Exercise: When you exercise, the positive results include having more energy, fewer
aches and pains, and valuable reflection time.
10. Learn something new: It is never too late to learn something new. A new trend among
adults is to embrace the idea of lifelong learning.
Power of self motivation
In customer service one must have the ability to motivate themselves.
The following are steps individuals take in order to motivate themselves.
1. Develop your sense of humor and let others see it. A good laugh can help
both you and those around you to feel refreshed.
2. Have fun. Motivated people accomplish their goals, feel good about who
they are, and enjoy life.
3. If you are having a low-energy day act like you are full of energy. Before
long you will forget that you were tired and will feel as good.
4. Read or listen to motivational books on tape. Look for opportunities to
listen, whether while driving or working out. The motivational message
will stay with you after the tape is over.
Cont.…
5. Set goals and strive to achieve them. By staying focused on your goals
you will more likely accomplish them and to have the satisfaction of
achievement.
6. Post quotations that you find motivating at your workstation. If you
surround yourself with positive messages, even the most challenging
customer will have a hard time breaking your spirit.
7. Self-concept is generally thought of as our individual perceptions
of our behavior, abilities, and unique characteristics. By developing a
strong self-concept, you will feel good about yourself, inside and out
Team-work
Teamwork means working together to improve the efficiency of the whole
company . For many employees, the idea of teamwork is appealing
because employees can experience a unified approach to projects or work
that does not exist when all responsibility rests with one individual.
Some of the reasons why employees prefer teamwork are as follows:
 Indicated lower stress
 Increased work quality
 Improved attitude
 Increased profitability
 Increased productivity
Methods of saying thank you and motivating others
Motivating actions that we share with others like expressing our appreciation to them can have
rewards that are beyond measure.
Employees need to see that their efforts are appreciated and recognized which can be the
motivating force that encourages them to keep up the good work.
Ways to say thank you include;
1. Extend the lunch hour by 15 minutes.
2. Send a personal note of thanks.
3. Give the employee corporate tickets to a special event.
4. Acknowledge employees’ contributions in a department or company
5. newsletter.
6. Designate a casual day in the employee’s honor.
 The motivating force behind the thank you is that employees and departments know that their
efforts are noticed.