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The Power of Employee Motivation: Case Studies and Success Stories

Employee motivation is a critical factor in the success of any organization. Motivated employees are more productive, engaged, and innovative, which can ultimately lead to increased profitability and growth. In this article, we’ll explore the power of employee motivation through real-life case studies and success stories, and examine the strategies and approaches that have been effective in motivating employees in different organizations.

Case Studies and Success Stories

Case Study 1: Google

Google is known for its exemplary employee motivation strategies, and one of the most renowned is its “20% time” policy. This policy allows employees to spend 20% of their work time on projects of their choosing. This has led to the development of some of Google’s most successful products, including Gmail and Google Maps. By giving employees autonomy and the freedom to pursue their passions, Google has created a culture of innovation and motivation that has propelled the company to success.

Case Study 2: Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines is another company that has excelled in motivating its employees. The company’s founder, Herb Kelleher, recognized the importance of creating a positive work environment and treating employees with respect. This has led to a strong company culture and high employee satisfaction, which in turn has contributed to Southwest’s success as a leading low-cost airline.

Case Study 3: Zappos

Zappos, an online shoe and clothing retailer, is known for its unique approach to employee motivation. The company offers new employees $2,000 to quit after completing their initial training. This may seem counterintuitive, but it has been effective in ensuring that only employees who are truly committed to the company’s values and culture remain. This has created a workforce that is highly motivated and aligned with the company’s mission and vision.

Strategies for Employee Motivation

From the case studies above, we can derive several strategies for motivating employees:

Empowerment and autonomy: Giving employees the freedom to make decisions and pursue their interests can lead to greater motivation and innovation.
Positive work culture: Creating a positive and supportive work environment can contribute to higher employee satisfaction and motivation.
Alignment with company values: Ensuring that employees are aligned with the company’s mission and vision can foster a sense of purpose and motivation.

Success Stories

One success story that demonstrates the power of employee motivation is the story of Mark, a sales manager at a software company. Mark’s team was struggling to meet their sales targets, and morale was low. Mark decided to implement a recognition and rewards program to motivate his team. He started publicly acknowledging and rewarding top performers, and the results were remarkable. Sales increased, and his team’s motivation and engagement soared.

Another success story comes from a manufacturing company that was facing high turnover and low employee morale. The company implemented a mentorship program that paired newer employees with experienced mentors. This initiative helped new employees feel supported and engaged, leading to greater retention and improved overall morale within the organization.

Employee motivation is a crucial factor in the success of any organization. By learning from real-life case studies and success stories, we can see that strategies such as empowerment, positive work culture, and alignment with company values can lead to higher employee motivation and ultimately, greater success for the organization.

Why is employee motivation important?

Employee motivation is important because motivated employees are more productive, engaged, and innovative. They are also more likely to stay with the organization, reducing turnover and associated costs.

How can I motivate my employees?

You can motivate your employees by empowering them, creating a positive work culture, and ensuring alignment with the company’s values and mission. Recognition and rewards programs, mentorship initiatives, and opportunities for personal and professional growth can also be effective in motivating employees.

What are some signs of low employee motivation?

Some signs of low employee motivation include decreased productivity, high turnover, absenteeism, and lack of enthusiasm or engagement in the workplace.

Why Motivated Employees Stay: The Connection to Lower Turnover Rates

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Work motivation and its effects on organizational performance: the case of nurses in Hawassa public and private hospitals: Mixed method study approach

Ababe tamirat deressa.

1 School of Nursing, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia

Getachew Zeru

2 African Institute of Governance & Development, Ethiopian Civil Service University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Associated Data

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

The main objective of the study was to assess level of motivation, how nurses perceived work motivation and its effects on organizational performance among nurses working in Hawassa public and private hospitals.

It was found that majority (64.1%) of the nurses perceived motivation as motivators. Getting prospective encouragement, recognition and financial incentives were the main descriptions the nurses gave to motivation. Increased work performance, job satisfaction, good team spirit, patient satisfaction and job attachment were the reported effects of nurses’ motivation.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-019-4255-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Introduction

Rahimic [ 1 ] defined motivation as an individual’s level of readiness to perform an action and it comprises all factors that influence, intensify and organize human behavior. Motivation in the work context is expressed as an individual’s degree of willingness to exert and maintain an effort towards organizational goals. Employees have different competing needs that are driven by various motivators. Therefore, to maximize organizational performance, organization and its managers should understand what really motivates the employees [ 2 ].

Over 50% of health workers in Benin equate motivation with prospective encouragement or retrospective compensation that is considered as what makes them work better. Majority of them considered motivation as a “motivator”, i.e. an incentive, and not as a state of mind. In Kenya, one-fifth understands motivation as encouragement, however, there is a larger share of health workers who refer to that intrinsic state of willingness and pleasure to do one’s work [ 3 ].

Motivation and job satisfaction were both significantly associated with turnover intention [ 4 ]. Low motivation has a negative impact on the performance of individual health workers, facilities and the health system as a whole [ 5 , 6 ].

The evidence that 60.9% nurses in Turkey reported having intention to quit the present workplace within 1 year was secondary to lack of job satisfaction or motivation by majority of them [ 7 ]. On the other hand, it is researched in Istanbul as administrator being informed about the motivation of their employees boosts the morals of the employees [ 8 ]. Physicians of primary health facilities in Pakistan reported that they leave the organization if they are not motivated [ 9 ].

Health workers with higher levels of motivation and job satisfaction in Ghana were less likely to have intentions to leave their current health facilities [ 4 ]. Study on Ethiopian public health workers also evidenced as overall performance of health workers is negatively impacted by low levels of health worker motivation and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is to be important because of its hypothesized association with internal motivation and overall job performance [ 10 ].

The purpose of the study was do assess motivation level of the nurses, how the nurses perceived work motivation and its effects on organizational performance that can contribute for improving work motivation in nursing service leadership.

This study was conducted with mixed method study design. From the strategies of mixed method, concurrent triangulation was considered to triangulate the qualitative with the quantitative data. Purposive sampling was applied to select the hospitals based on the number of nurses they employed. Accordingly, two hospitals (Hawassa university comprehensive and specialized hospital from public, and Alatyon hospital from private hospitals were selected). A total sample of 241 nurses were selected and the response rate was 91.3%. After proportional allocation was computed to each ward in the hospital, simple random sampling with lottery technique was used to select nurses from each ward. Again, Purposive sampling was used to select key informant interviewees (head ward nurse, hospital manager and patients) for the qualitative approach. Different study subjects (e.g. hospital manager and patients) were included for the objective of identifying effects motivation on organizational performance. Hence, seven nurses on position (ward head, matron or CEO (chief executive officer) of nursing service administration), two hospital managers and six patients were selected.

Self-administered questionnaire was used for collecting data for the quantitative approach. Pre-test was conducted in unselected public hospital (Adare hospital). The questionnaire adopted from [ 3 , 11 , 12 ] and modified according to objectives of the study. The multidimensional work motivation scale (MWMS) was applied to measure the work motivation. From 18 options of Multidimensional Work motivation scale (MWMS) to the question ‘Why do you or would you put efforts into your current job?’ the first fifteen (A-O) measures motivation. Each option is scored out of seven starting from ‘Not at all’ (1) to ‘Completely’ (7) answer to the option. Thus, starting from ‘moderately’ (4 point for each) and a total sum of ≥ 60 out of 105 was considered as having work motivation. The qualitative check list was also designed by adopting from different studies. Qualitative data was collected through face to face interview and sound record at work place (in hospitals) after getting oral and written consent from the respondents with involvement of the both principal and co-authors. In addition, field notes were taken during data collection. Interview was accomplished within 20–30 min and data saturation determined the last sample. No relationship was established prior to study commencement with the participants.

For the quantitative data, data collected was coded and entered into EpiData 3.1. After this, it was exported to SPPSS 22 where data cleaning and analysis was conducted. Moreover, sum of scores for multidimensional work motivation scale was done with this software and recoding the variable as ‘motivated and not motivated’ was created on this base. The records were transcribed and coded with two coders. Then, themes were identified depending on repeated expressions (Additional file 1 : Table S1) in the transcripts and thematic analysis with narrative report writing was applied for qualitative data. The transcripts were also returned to participants for checking.

Socio-demographic characteristics

From the total 241 distributed questionnaires, 220 (giving 91.3% of response rate) were returned and used for analysis of the quantitative data. Majorities (51.4%) of the respondents were male with mean age of 27.55 (± 4.039 SD). The mean service year for the nurses were 5.55(± 4.131 SD) and majority (60.0%) of them served less than 5 years. Largest share (46.4%) and 74.1% of the nurses were orthodox religion followers and B.Sc. degree holders respectively (Additional file 2 : Table S2). Four of the nurses responded for the interview were female and three of them were male. The two hospital managers were male. Moreover, four selected patients were female and two of them were male.

Perception towards work motivation

Large number of nurses (49.1%) stated as motivation is prospective encouragement for performance followed by getting recognition (39.5%) and financial incentives (37.3%). Nurses from the public hospital largely described motivation in terms of prospective encouragement (49.3%). On the other hand, getting award (81.8%) was the dominant descriptions of motivation from the private hospital (Table 1 ).

Table 1

Perception towards work motivation among nurses, April, 2017 (n = 220)

a Frequency in number

Similarly, from the qualitative data, nurse perceived motivation as it is doing one’s work with full interest, doing good things and sacrificing yourself as much as possible for others.

For me, motivation is doing your own work without any enforcement, that mean with no interference of anyone, by yourself after accepting your profession; but first the person should accept his own profession and I, myself, love my profession. For me, motivation is these all (27 years old ward head nurse with 5 years work experience from public hospital).

Actually I’m not this much good in narration! But, thinking empathically for people with sense of ‘had it been me’ and when the person does good, may be difficult always, but with all possible extents; this is motivation (28 years old head ward nurse with 4 years of service from the private hospital).

From multidimensional work motivation scale (MWMS) used to measure the motivation of nurses, doing the work because the job is part of their life was scored highly with mean of 3.78 and mode of 4 (Table 2 ). The mean score for the summation of MWMS score was 53.13 (± 20.16 SD). Majority (61.4%) of them, from which nurses from the public hospital account for great number, were not or less motivated (scored < 60/105) whereas only 85(38.6%) of them were found to be motivated (scored ≥ 60/105) (Additional file 3 : Figure S1).

Table 2

Multidimensional work motivation scale (MWMS) for nurses’ motivation, April, 2017

Effects of motivation on organizational performance

From 219 participants who responded to effect of work motivation, 67.9% (147) of them believed that their motivation has effect on their organizational performance and 32.9% (72) of them responded as their motivation has no effect on their organizational performance. The majority (64.2%) stated increased work performance followed by good team spirit (62.2 as the effect of their motivation (Fig. 1 ).

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Object name is 13104_2019_4255_Fig1_HTML.jpg

Effects of work motivation on organizational performance, April, 2017

Though some report from the patient in case of public hospital is different, the interview result also agrees with the above quantitative finding.

It is said that ‘doctor treats disease and nurse treats patient’. So, if nurses are motivated; patient will be satisfied, heals quickly and hospital stay will be decreased. Even work that may take long time can be accomplished within short period (28 years old head ward nurse and head of nursing service administration from the public hospital).

Motivated or satisfied servant provides satisfying services. Thus, the foremost result of nurses’ motivation is patients’ satisfaction (31 years old nurse with 10 years of service from private hospital).

Public hospital manager stated that “nurses’ motivation can bear many effects on the organizational performance. To say some of them: infection prevention will be practiced in efficient way and this can contribute to reduction of morbidity and mortality in the hospital. Moreover, development of complications from health care service can be significantly controlled if we have motivated nurses. These all result in patients’ satisfaction.

The private hospital manager also said that “when nurses are motivated; they become punctual, serve the patient quickly, give standardized care and create good team spirit within the organization. That is why our customer admires our nurses by saying ‘your nurses, your nurses…’ we hear this”.

In line with the above, patient from the private hospital realized this report. A 25 years old patient who was admitted 5 days back responded; “Here it is good; they follow you timely, give medication on time, make bed daily and appear immediately when you call them. I will return here in the future if I need health care and also invite others”. Clean, made and attractive bed was also observed. But, medication sheet that is not uniformly distributed and maintained in the private hospital near the patient’s bed was actively working in the public hospital.

In public hospitals some patient responded getting timely medication and follow up from nurses. Some beds were observed naked without linen, not made and this was totally different from neat and made bed in the private hospital. Though her bed was made clean, a 23 years old patient who was admitted before 14 days of the data collection period complained “nurses sometimes don’t come and ignore me when I need and call them”.

Mainly motivators were perceived as motivation in this study. This is in line with study in Benin [ 3 ] that indicated majority of nurses equated motivation with some motivators. Few nurses than report from Benin stated as motivation is having means and materials to work in this study. Socio-economic difference might contribute for this variation. It is known that Ethiopia is the developing country whose most people didn’t achieve their basic needs yet. This could be the reason why nurses in this study described motivation in the view of financial benefit than its work and work related expression. But, in line with the study of Benin; majority of the nurses explained motivation as motivator, not as set of mind. Thus, less number of nurses stated motivation as willingness or pleasure to do work. This disagree with the finding from Kenya in which larger share described motivation as willingness and pleasure to do one’s work [ 3 ]. The study design used and socio-economic difference in which nurses in this setup are paid less than those countries may contribute for this variation.

The qualitative report that says “For me, motivation is doing your own work without any enforcement, that mean with no interference of anyone after accepting your profession” partly agrees with definition that has been stated by indicating motivation as individual’s degree of willingness to exert and maintain an effort towards organizational goals [ 13 ]. Since issue of motivation is highly emphasized in professionals of social sciences, lack of optimal awareness about motivation can contribute to the perception of nurses about motivation in this way.

Similar to study in Addis Ababa, this study identified as majority of nurses are not motivated especially in the public sector [ 14 ]. This is also supportable with finding from South Africa that identified as overall doctors were dissatisfied in their work motivation [ 15 ]. Difficulty of getting vital things as needed and absence of practicing motivation by the public organization in developing countries may be the reason behind of these scenarios.

The majority of nurses in this study stated increased work performance followed by job satisfaction to be effect of their motivation. Similarly, these were the dominantly reported effects in Benin study [ 3 ]. Again, the patient satisfaction from the performance was described by nurses and hospital managers in the interview. Observation result also witnessed this finding that the more motivated private hospital’s nurses give better care such as comforting and making the patient’s bed.

Conclusions

Majority of nurses perceived motivation as motivators. Getting prospective encouragement, recognition and financial incentives were the main descriptions the nurses gave to motivation. Very few of them described motivation in terms of non-financial incentives. Greater part of them, from which nurses of the public hospital accompany the large share, were not or less motivated. Increased work performance, job satisfaction, good team spirit, patient satisfaction and job attachment were the identified effects of nurses’ motivation.

Limitations

The cross sectional study design may not guarantee the exact assessment of cause-effect relationship.
Not using software for qualitative data analysis may not have strong analysis output.
Scarcity of resources from the public hospital might bias the observation data collection.

Additional files

Authors’ contributions.

ATD contributed to conception and design of the study, analysis, interpretation of the data and manuscript preparation. GZ also contributed to design of the study, analysis and interpretation of the data. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Acknowledgements

We express our gratitude to Mekane Yesus College of management and leadership for its academic support of this research. We also extend our gratitude to both Hawassa University Comprehensive specialized hospital and Alatyon hospital for their cooperation.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Availability of data and materials

Consent to publish.

Not applicable in this section.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Mekane Yesus College of management and leadership was ethics committee that processed the approval of this study. After approval, this College written letter of request to both Hawassa University Comprehensive specialized and Alatyon hospital. Then, conduction of this study was permitted after contacting managers of the two hospitals. The purpose of the study was explained to the study participants, the confidentiality was also safeguarded, and both oral and written consent was obtained before data collection.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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The Science of Improving Motivation at Work

The topic of employee motivation can be quite daunting for managers, leaders, and human resources professionals.

Organizations that provide their members with meaningful, engaging work not only contribute to the growth of their bottom line, but also create a sense of vitality and fulfillment that echoes across their organizational cultures and their employees’ personal lives.

“An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.”

In the context of work, an understanding of motivation can be applied to improve employee productivity and satisfaction; help set individual and organizational goals; put stress in perspective; and structure jobs so that they offer optimal levels of challenge, control, variety, and collaboration.

This article demystifies motivation in the workplace and presents recent findings in organizational behavior that have been found to contribute positively to practices of improving motivation and work life.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients create actionable goals and master techniques to create lasting behavior change.

This Article Contains:

Motivation in the workplace, motivation theories in organizational behavior, employee motivation strategies, motivation and job performance, leadership and motivation, motivation and good business, a take-home message.

Motivation in the workplace has been traditionally understood in terms of extrinsic rewards in the form of compensation, benefits, perks, awards, or career progression.

With today’s rapidly evolving knowledge economy, motivation requires more than a stick-and-carrot approach. Research shows that innovation and creativity, crucial to generating new ideas and greater productivity, are often stifled when extrinsic rewards are introduced.

Daniel Pink (2011) explains the tricky aspect of external rewards and argues that they are like drugs, where more frequent doses are needed more often. Rewards can often signal that an activity is undesirable.

Interesting and challenging activities are often rewarding in themselves. Rewards tend to focus and narrow attention and work well only if they enhance the ability to do something intrinsically valuable. Extrinsic motivation is best when used to motivate employees to perform routine and repetitive activities but can be detrimental for creative endeavors.

Anticipating rewards can also impair judgment and cause risk-seeking behavior because it activates dopamine. We don’t notice peripheral and long-term solutions when immediate rewards are offered. Studies have shown that people will often choose the low road when chasing after rewards because addictive behavior is short-term focused, and some may opt for a quick win.

Pink (2011) warns that greatness and nearsightedness are incompatible, and seven deadly flaws of rewards are soon to follow. He found that anticipating rewards often has undesirable consequences and tends to:

Extinguish intrinsic motivation
Decrease performance
Encourage cheating
Decrease creativity
Crowd out good behavior
Become addictive
Foster short-term thinking

Pink (2011) suggests that we should reward only routine tasks to boost motivation and provide rationale, acknowledge that some activities are boring, and allow people to complete the task their way. When we increase variety and mastery opportunities at work, we increase motivation.

Rewards should be given only after the task is completed, preferably as a surprise, varied in frequency, and alternated between tangible rewards and praise. Providing information and meaningful, specific feedback about the effort (not the person) has also been found to be more effective than material rewards for increasing motivation (Pink, 2011).

They have shaped the landscape of our understanding of organizational behavior and our approaches to employee motivation. We discuss a few of the most frequently applied theories of motivation in organizational behavior.

Herzberg’s two-factor theory

Frederick Herzberg’s (1959) two-factor theory of motivation, also known as dual-factor theory or motivation-hygiene theory, was a result of a study that analyzed responses of 200 accountants and engineers who were asked about their positive and negative feelings about their work. Herzberg (1959) concluded that two major factors influence employee motivation and satisfaction with their jobs:

Motivator factors, which can motivate employees to work harder and lead to on-the-job satisfaction, including experiences of greater engagement in and enjoyment of the work, feelings of recognition, and a sense of career progression
Hygiene factors, which can potentially lead to dissatisfaction and a lack of motivation if they are absent, such as adequate compensation, effective company policies, comprehensive benefits, or good relationships with managers and coworkers

Herzberg (1959) maintained that while motivator and hygiene factors both influence motivation, they appeared to work entirely independently of each other. He found that motivator factors increased employee satisfaction and motivation, but the absence of these factors didn’t necessarily cause dissatisfaction.

Likewise, the presence of hygiene factors didn’t appear to increase satisfaction and motivation, but their absence caused an increase in dissatisfaction. It is debatable whether his theory would hold true today outside of blue-collar industries, particularly among younger generations, who may be looking for meaningful work and growth.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory proposed that employees become motivated along a continuum of needs from basic physiological needs to higher level psychological needs for growth and self-actualization . The hierarchy was originally conceptualized into five levels:

Physiological needs that must be met for a person to survive, such as food, water, and shelter
Safety needs that include personal and financial security, health, and wellbeing
Belonging needs for friendships, relationships, and family
Esteem needs that include feelings of confidence in the self and respect from others
Self-actualization needs that define the desire to achieve everything we possibly can and realize our full potential

According to the hierarchy of needs, we must be in good health, safe, and secure with meaningful relationships and confidence before we can reach for the realization of our full potential.

For a full discussion of other theories of psychological needs and the importance of need satisfaction, see our article on How to Motivate .

Hawthorne effect

The Hawthorne effect, named after a series of social experiments on the influence of physical conditions on productivity at Western Electric’s factory in Hawthorne, Chicago, in the 1920s and 30s, was first described by Henry Landsberger in 1958 after he noticed some people tended to work harder and perform better when researchers were observing them.

Although the researchers changed many physical conditions throughout the experiments, including lighting, working hours, and breaks, increases in employee productivity were more significant in response to the attention being paid to them, rather than the physical changes themselves.

Today the Hawthorne effect is best understood as a justification for the value of providing employees with specific and meaningful feedback and recognition. It is contradicted by the existence of results-only workplace environments that allow complete autonomy and are focused on performance and deliverables rather than managing employees.

Expectancy theory

Expectancy theory proposes that we are motivated by our expectations of the outcomes as a result of our behavior and make a decision based on the likelihood of being rewarded for that behavior in a way that we perceive as valuable.

For example, an employee may be more likely to work harder if they have been promised a raise than if they only assumed they might get one.

Expectancy theory posits that three elements affect our behavioral choices:

Expectancy is the belief that our effort will result in our desired goal and is based on our past experience and influenced by our self-confidence and anticipation of how difficult the goal is to achieve.
Instrumentality is the belief that we will receive a reward if we meet performance expectations.
Valence is the value we place on the reward.

Expectancy theory tells us that we are most motivated when we believe that we will receive the desired reward if we hit an achievable and valued target, and least motivated if we do not care for the reward or do not believe that our efforts will result in the reward.

Three-dimensional theory of attribution

Attribution theory explains how we attach meaning to our own and other people’s behavior and how the characteristics of these attributions can affect future motivation.

Bernard Weiner’s three-dimensional theory of attribution proposes that the nature of the specific attribution, such as bad luck or not working hard enough, is less important than the characteristics of that attribution as perceived and experienced by the individual. According to Weiner, there are three main characteristics of attributions that can influence how we behave in the future:

Stability is related to pervasiveness and permanence; an example of a stable factor is an employee believing that they failed to meet the expectation because of a lack of support or competence. An unstable factor might be not performing well due to illness or a temporary shortage of resources.

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

Colin Powell

According to Weiner, stable attributions for successful achievements can be informed by previous positive experiences, such as completing the project on time, and can lead to positive expectations and higher motivation for success in the future. Adverse situations, such as repeated failures to meet the deadline, can lead to stable attributions characterized by a sense of futility and lower expectations in the future.

Locus of control describes a perspective about the event as caused by either an internal or an external factor. For example, if the employee believes it was their fault the project failed, because of an innate quality such as a lack of skills or ability to meet the challenge, they may be less motivated in the future.

If they believe an external factor was to blame, such as an unrealistic deadline or shortage of staff, they may not experience such a drop in motivation.

Controllability defines how controllable or avoidable the situation was. If an employee believes they could have performed better, they may be less motivated to try again in the future than someone who believes that factors outside of their control caused the circumstances surrounding the setback.

Theory X and theory Y

Douglas McGregor proposed two theories to describe managerial views on employee motivation: theory X and theory Y. These views of employee motivation have drastically different implications for management.

He divided leaders into those who believe most employees avoid work and dislike responsibility (theory X managers) and those who say that most employees enjoy work and exert effort when they have control in the workplace (theory Y managers).

To motivate theory X employees, the company needs to push and control their staff through enforcing rules and implementing punishments.

Theory Y employees, on the other hand, are perceived as consciously choosing to be involved in their work. They are self-motivated and can exert self-management, and leaders’ responsibility is to create a supportive environment and develop opportunities for employees to take on responsibility and show creativity.

Theory X is heavily informed by what we know about intrinsic motivation and the role that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs plays in effective employee motivation.

Taking theory X and theory Y as a starting point, theory Z was developed by Dr. William Ouchi. The theory combines American and Japanese management philosophies and focuses on long-term job security, consensual decision making, slow evaluation and promotion procedures, and individual responsibility within a group context.

Its noble goals include increasing employee loyalty to the company by providing a job for life, focusing on the employee’s wellbeing, and encouraging group work and social interaction to motivate employees in the workplace.

There are several implications of these numerous theories on ways to motivate employees. They vary with whatever perspectives leadership ascribes to motivation and how that is cascaded down and incorporated into practices, policies, and culture.

The effectiveness of these approaches is further determined by whether individual preferences for motivation are considered. Nevertheless, various motivational theories can guide our focus on aspects of organizational behavior that may require intervening.

Herzberg’s two-factor theory , for example, implies that for the happiest and most productive workforce, companies need to work on improving both motivator and hygiene factors.

The theory suggests that to help motivate employees, the organization must ensure that everyone feels appreciated and supported, is given plenty of specific and meaningful feedback, and has an understanding of and confidence in how they can grow and progress professionally.

To prevent job dissatisfaction, companies must make sure to address hygiene factors by offering employees the best possible working conditions, fair pay, and supportive relationships.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs , on the other hand, can be used to transform a business where managers struggle with the abstract concept of self-actualization and tend to focus too much on lower level needs. Chip Conley, the founder of the Joie de Vivre hotel chain and head of hospitality at Airbnb, found one way to address this dilemma by helping his employees understand the meaning of their roles during a staff retreat.

In one exercise, he asked groups of housekeepers to describe themselves and their job responsibilities by giving their group a name that reflects the nature and the purpose of what they were doing. They came up with names such as “The Serenity Sisters,” “The Clutter Busters,” and “The Peace of Mind Police.”

These designations provided a meaningful rationale and gave them a sense that they were doing more than just cleaning, instead “creating a space for a traveler who was far away from home to feel safe and protected” (Pattison, 2010). By showing them the value of their roles, Conley enabled his employees to feel respected and motivated to work harder.

The Hawthorne effect studies and Weiner’s three-dimensional theory of attribution have implications for providing and soliciting regular feedback and praise. Recognizing employees’ efforts and providing specific and constructive feedback in the areas where they can improve can help prevent them from attributing their failures to an innate lack of skills.

Praising employees for improvement or using the correct methodology, even if the ultimate results were not achieved, can encourage them to reframe setbacks as learning opportunities. This can foster an environment of psychological safety that can further contribute to the view that success is controllable by using different strategies and setting achievable goals .

Theories X, Y, and Z show that one of the most impactful ways to build a thriving organization is to craft organizational practices that build autonomy, competence, and belonging. These practices include providing decision-making discretion, sharing information broadly, minimizing incidents of incivility, and offering performance feedback.

Being told what to do is not an effective way to negotiate. Having a sense of autonomy at work fuels vitality and growth and creates environments where employees are more likely to thrive when empowered to make decisions that affect their work.

Feedback satisfies the psychological need for competence. When others value our work, we tend to appreciate it more and work harder. Particularly two-way, open, frequent, and guided feedback creates opportunities for learning.

Frequent and specific feedback helps people know where they stand in terms of their skills, competencies, and performance, and builds feelings of competence and thriving. Immediate, specific, and public praise focusing on effort and behavior and not traits is most effective. Positive feedback energizes employees to seek their full potential.

Lack of appreciation is psychologically exhausting, and studies show that recognition improves health because people experience less stress. In addition to being acknowledged by their manager, peer-to-peer recognition was shown to have a positive impact on the employee experience (Anderson, 2018). Rewarding the team around the person who did well and giving more responsibility to top performers rather than time off also had a positive impact.

Stop trying to motivate your employees – Kerry Goyette

Other approaches to motivation at work include those that focus on meaning and those that stress the importance of creating positive work environments.

Meaningful work is increasingly considered to be a cornerstone of motivation. In some cases, burnout is not caused by too much work, but by too little meaning. For many years, researchers have recognized the motivating potential of task significance and doing work that affects the wellbeing of others.

All too often, employees do work that makes a difference but never have the chance to see or to meet the people affected. Research by Adam Grant (2013) speaks to the power of long-term goals that benefit others and shows how the use of meaning to motivate those who are not likely to climb the ladder can make the job meaningful by broadening perspectives.

Creating an upbeat, positive work environment can also play an essential role in increasing employee motivation and can be accomplished through the following:

Encouraging teamwork and sharing ideas
Providing tools and knowledge to perform well
Eliminating conflict as it arises
Giving employees the freedom to work independently when appropriate
Helping employees establish professional goals and objectives and aligning these goals with the individual’s self-esteem
Making the cause and effect relationship clear by establishing a goal and its reward
Offering encouragement when workers hit notable milestones
Celebrating employee achievements and team accomplishments while avoiding comparing one worker’s achievements to those of others
Offering the incentive of a profit-sharing program and collective goal setting and teamwork
Soliciting employee input through regular surveys of employee satisfaction
Providing professional enrichment through providing tuition reimbursement and encouraging employees to pursue additional education and participate in industry organizations, skills workshops, and seminars
Motivating through curiosity and creating an environment that stimulates employee interest to learn more
Using cooperation and competition as a form of motivation based on individual preferences

Sometimes, inexperienced leaders will assume that the same factors that motivate one employee, or the leaders themselves, will motivate others too. Some will make the mistake of introducing de-motivating factors into the workplace, such as punishment for mistakes or frequent criticism, but negative reinforcement rarely works and often backfires.

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There are several positive psychology interventions that can be used in the workplace to improve important outcomes, such as reduced job stress and increased motivation, work engagement, and job performance. Numerous empirical studies have been conducted in recent years to verify the effects of these interventions.

Psychological capital interventions

Psychological capital interventions are associated with a variety of work outcomes that include improved job performance, engagement, and organizational citizenship behaviors (Avey, 2014; Luthans & Youssef-Morgan 2017). Psychological capital refers to a psychological state that is malleable and open to development and consists of four major components:

Self-efficacy and confidence in our ability to succeed at challenging work tasks
Optimism and positive attributions about the future of our career or company
Hope and redirecting paths to work goals in the face of obstacles
Resilience in the workplace and bouncing back from adverse situations (Luthans & Youssef-Morgan, 2017)

Job crafting interventions

Job crafting interventions – where employees design and have control over the characteristics of their work to create an optimal fit between work demands and their personal strengths – can lead to improved performance and greater work engagement (Bakker, Tims, & Derks, 2012; van Wingerden, Bakker, & Derks, 2016).

The concept of job crafting is rooted in the jobs demands–resources theory and suggests that employee motivation, engagement, and performance can be influenced by practices such as (Bakker et al., 2012):

Attempts to alter social job resources, such as feedback and coaching
Structural job resources, such as opportunities to develop at work
Challenging job demands, such as reducing workload and creating new projects

Job crafting is a self-initiated, proactive process by which employees change elements of their jobs to optimize the fit between their job demands and personal needs, abilities, and strengths (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001).

Today’s motivation research shows that participation is likely to lead to several positive behaviors as long as managers encourage greater engagement, motivation, and productivity while recognizing the importance of rest and work recovery.

One key factor for increasing work engagement is psychological safety (Kahn, 1990). Psychological safety allows an employee or team member to engage in interpersonal risk taking and refers to being able to bring our authentic self to work without fear of negative consequences to self-image, status, or career (Edmondson, 1999).

When employees perceive psychological safety, they are less likely to be distracted by negative emotions such as fear, which stems from worrying about controlling perceptions of managers and colleagues.

Dealing with fear also requires intense emotional regulation (Barsade, Brief, & Spataro, 2003), which takes away from the ability to fully immerse ourselves in our work tasks. The presence of psychological safety in the workplace decreases such distractions and allows employees to expend their energy toward being absorbed and attentive to work tasks.

Effective structural features, such as coaching leadership and context support, are some ways managers can initiate psychological safety in the workplace (Hackman, 1987). Leaders’ behavior can significantly influence how employees behave and lead to greater trust (Tyler & Lind, 1992).

Supportive, coaching-oriented, and non-defensive responses to employee concerns and questions can lead to heightened feelings of safety and ensure the presence of vital psychological capital.

Another essential factor for increasing work engagement and motivation is the balance between employees’ job demands and resources.

Job demands can stem from time pressures, physical demands, high priority, and shift work and are not necessarily detrimental. High job demands and high resources can both increase engagement, but it is important that employees perceive that they are in balance, with sufficient resources to deal with their work demands (Crawford, LePine, & Rich, 2010).

Challenging demands can be very motivating, energizing employees to achieve their goals and stimulating their personal growth. Still, they also require that employees be more attentive and absorbed and direct more energy toward their work (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014).

Unfortunately, when employees perceive that they do not have enough control to tackle these challenging demands, the same high demands will be experienced as very depleting (Karasek, 1979).

This sense of perceived control can be increased with sufficient resources like managerial and peer support and, like the effects of psychological safety, can ensure that employees are not hindered by distraction that can limit their attention, absorption, and energy.

The job demands–resources occupational stress model suggests that job demands that force employees to be attentive and absorbed can be depleting if not coupled with adequate resources, and shows how sufficient resources allow employees to sustain a positive level of engagement that does not eventually lead to discouragement or burnout (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001).

And last but not least, another set of factors that are critical for increasing work engagement involves core self-evaluations and self-concept (Judge & Bono, 2001). Efficacy, self-esteem, locus of control, identity, and perceived social impact may be critical drivers of an individual’s psychological availability, as evident in the attention, absorption, and energy directed toward their work.

Self-esteem and efficacy are enhanced by increasing employees’ general confidence in their abilities, which in turn assists in making them feel secure about themselves and, therefore, more motivated and engaged in their work (Crawford et al., 2010).

Social impact, in particular, has become increasingly important in the growing tendency for employees to seek out meaningful work. One such example is the MBA Oath created by 25 graduating Harvard business students pledging to lead professional careers marked with integrity and ethics:

The MBA oath

“As a business leader, I recognize my role in society.

My purpose is to lead people and manage resources to create value that no single individual can create alone.

My decisions affect the well-being of individuals inside and outside my enterprise, today and tomorrow. Therefore, I promise that:

I will manage my enterprise with loyalty and care, and will not advance my personal interests at the expense of my enterprise or society.
I will understand and uphold, in letter and spirit, the laws and contracts governing my conduct and that of my enterprise.
I will refrain from corruption, unfair competition, or business practices harmful to society.
I will protect the human rights and dignity of all people affected by my enterprise, and I will oppose discrimination and exploitation.
I will protect the right of future generations to advance their standard of living and enjoy a healthy planet.
I will report the performance and risks of my enterprise accurately and honestly.
I will invest in developing myself and others, helping the management profession continue to advance and create sustainable and inclusive prosperity.

In exercising my professional duties according to these principles, I recognize that my behavior must set an example of integrity, eliciting trust, and esteem from those I serve. I will remain accountable to my peers and to society for my actions and for upholding these standards. This oath, I make freely, and upon my honor.”

Job crafting is the process of personalizing work to better align with one’s strengths, values, and interests (Tims & Bakker, 2010).

Any job, at any level can be ‘crafted,’ and a well-crafted job offers more autonomy, deeper engagement and improved overall wellbeing.

There are three types of job crafting:

Task crafting involves adding or removing tasks, spending more or less time on certain tasks, or redesigning tasks so that they better align with your core strengths (Berg et al., 2013).
Relational crafting includes building, reframing, and adapting relationships to foster meaningfulness (Berg et al., 2013).
Cognitive crafting defines how we think about our jobs, including how we perceive tasks and the meaning behind them.

If you would like to guide others through their own unique job crafting journey, our set of Job Crafting Manuals (PDF) offer a ready-made 7-session coaching trajectory.

Prosocial motivation is an important driver behind many individual and collective accomplishments at work.

It is a strong predictor of persistence, performance, and productivity when accompanied by intrinsic motivation. Prosocial motivation was also indicative of more affiliative citizenship behaviors when it was accompanied by motivation toward impression management motivation and was a stronger predictor of job performance when managers were perceived as trustworthy (Ciulla, 2000).

On a day-to-day basis most jobs can’t fill the tall order of making the world better, but particular incidents at work have meaning because you make a valuable contribution or you are able to genuinely help someone in need.

J. B. Ciulla

Prosocial motivation was shown to enhance the creativity of intrinsically motivated employees, the performance of employees with high core self-evaluations, and the performance evaluations of proactive employees. The psychological mechanisms that enable this are the importance placed on task significance, encouraging perspective taking, and fostering social emotions of anticipated guilt and gratitude (Ciulla, 2000).

Some argue that organizations whose products and services contribute to positive human growth are examples of what constitutes good business (Csíkszentmihályi, 2004). Businesses with a soul are those enterprises where employees experience deep engagement and develop greater complexity.

In these unique environments, employees are provided opportunities to do what they do best. In return, their organizations reap the benefits of higher productivity and lower turnover, as well as greater profit, customer satisfaction, and workplace safety. Most importantly, however, the level of engagement, involvement, or degree to which employees are positively stretched contributes to the experience of wellbeing at work (Csíkszentmihályi, 2004).

17 Tools To Increase Motivation and Goal Achievement

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Daniel Pink (2011) argues that when it comes to motivation, management is the problem, not the solution, as it represents antiquated notions of what motivates people. He claims that even the most sophisticated forms of empowering employees and providing flexibility are no more than civilized forms of control.

He gives an example of companies that fall under the umbrella of what is known as results-only work environments (ROWEs), which allow all their employees to work whenever and wherever they want as long their work gets done.

Valuing results rather than face time can change the cultural definition of a successful worker by challenging the notion that long hours and constant availability signal commitment (Kelly, Moen, & Tranby, 2011).

Studies show that ROWEs can increase employees’ control over their work schedule; improve work–life fit; positively affect employees’ sleep duration, energy levels, self-reported health, and exercise; and decrease tobacco and alcohol use (Moen, Kelly, & Lam, 2013; Moen, Kelly, Tranby, & Huang, 2011).

Perhaps this type of solution sounds overly ambitious, and many traditional working environments are not ready for such drastic changes. Nevertheless, it is hard to ignore the quickly amassing evidence that work environments that offer autonomy, opportunities for growth, and pursuit of meaning are good for our health, our souls, and our society.

Leave us your thoughts on this topic.

Related reading: Motivation in Education: What It Takes to Motivate Our Kids

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Good and helpful study thank you. It will help achieving goals for my clients. Thank you for this information

A lot of data is really given. Validation is correct. The next step is the exchange of knowledge in order to create an optimal model of motivation.

A good article, thank you for sharing. The views and work by the likes of Daniel Pink, Dan Ariely, Barry Schwartz etc have really got me questioning and reflecting on my own views on workplace motivation. There are far too many organisations and leaders who continue to rely on hedonic principles for motivation (until recently, myself included!!). An excellent book which shares these modern views is ‘Primed to Perform’ by Doshi and McGregor (2015). Based on the earlier work of Deci and Ryan’s self determination theory the book explores the principle of ‘why people work, determines how well they work’. A easy to read and enjoyable book that offers a very practical way of applying in the workplace.

Thanks for mentioning that. Sounds like a good read.

All the best, Annelé

Motivation – a piece of art every manager should obtain and remember by heart and continue to embrace.

Exceptionally good write-up on the subject applicable for personal and professional betterment. Simplified theorem appeals to think and learn at least one thing that means an inspiration to the reader. I appreciate your efforts through this contributive work.

Excelente artículo sobre motivación. Me inspira. Gracias

Very helpful for everyone studying motivation right now! It’s brilliant the way it’s witten and also brought to the reader. Thank you.

Such a brilliant piece! A super coverage of existing theories clearly written. It serves as an excellent overview (or reminder for those of us who once knew the older stuff by heart!) Thank you!

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Employee Motivation at the Workplace: Case Study of Slovenian Company

Research note
Open access
Published: 08 April 2019

Work motivation and its effects on organizational performance: the case of nurses in Hawassa public and private hospitals: Mixed method study approach

Ababe Tamirat Deressa 1 &
Getachew Zeru 2

BMC Research Notes volume 12 , Article number: 213 ( 2019 ) Cite this article

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Introduction

Socio-demographic characteristics

Perception towards work motivation

Similarly, from the qualitative data, nurse perceived motivation as it is doing one’s work with full interest, doing good things and sacrificing yourself as much as possible for others.

For me, motivation is doing your own work without any enforcement, that mean with no interference of anyone, by yourself after accepting your profession; but first the person should accept his own profession and I, myself, love my profession. For me, motivation is these all (27 years old ward head nurse with 5 years work experience from public hospital).

Actually I’m not this much good in narration! But, thinking empathically for people with sense of ‘had it been me’ and when the person does good, may be difficult always, but with all possible extents; this is motivation (28 years old head ward nurse with 4 years of service from the private hospital).

Effects of motivation on organizational performance

Effects of work motivation on organizational performance, April, 2017

Though some report from the patient in case of public hospital is different, the interview result also agrees with the above quantitative finding.

It is said that ‘doctor treats disease and nurse treats patient’. So, if nurses are motivated; patient will be satisfied, heals quickly and hospital stay will be decreased. Even work that may take long time can be accomplished within short period (28 years old head ward nurse and head of nursing service administration from the public hospital).

Motivated or satisfied servant provides satisfying services. Thus, the foremost result of nurses’ motivation is patients’ satisfaction (31 years old nurse with 10 years of service from private hospital).

Conclusions

Limitations

The cross sectional study design may not guarantee the exact assessment of cause-effect relationship.

Not using software for qualitative data analysis may not have strong analysis output.

Scarcity of resources from the public hospital might bias the observation data collection.

Abbreviations

Chief Executive Officer

Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale

standard deviation

Statistical Package for Social Sciences

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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School of Nursing, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia

Ababe Tamirat Deressa

African Institute of Governance & Development, Ethiopian Civil Service University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Getachew Zeru

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Additional files

Additional file 1: table s1..

Themes identified for thematic analysis.

Additional file 2: Table S2.

Socio-demographic characteristics of the nurse respondents, April, 2017.

Additional file 3: Figure S1.

Level of motivation for nurses, April, 2017.

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Deressa, A.T., Zeru, G. Work motivation and its effects on organizational performance: the case of nurses in Hawassa public and private hospitals: Mixed method study approach. BMC Res Notes 12 , 213 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-019-4255-7

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Like what you hear, 7 effective employee engagement case studies and strategies for a productive workplace.

1. Acknowledgment and Appreciation
2. Emphasis on Employee’s Holistic Wellness
3. Initiatives that are Development-Focused
4. Develop a Sense of Purpose, Values & Mission
5. Maintain Transparent Communication Channels
6. Create Conducive Working Conditions

7. Create Space for Fun & Happiness

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Are you looking for employee engagement case studies? Learn from some of the best companies out there that have successfully increased employee engagement. See how they did it and what worked for them.

As more and more employers in today’s corporate world realize the importance of employee engagement , the demand for effective and result-oriented employee engagement programs is rising. The internet may present many employee engagement initiatives, but here’s something more: case studies to prove that certain employee engagement strategies are really effective. Follow our blog to learn more about employee satisfaction and ensure that your company is teeming with higher employee engagement initiatives.

According to Johnson and Johnson “ the degree to which employees are satisfied with their jobs, feel valued, and experience collaboration and trust. Engaged employees will stay with the company longer and continually find smarter, more effective ways to add value to the organization. The end result is a high-performing company where people are flourishing and productivity is increased and sustained.”

Nokia Siemens describes employee engagement as “ an emotional attachment to the organization, pride and a willingness to be an advocate of the organization, a rational understanding of the organization’s strategic goals, values, and how employees fit, and motivation and willingness to invest the discretionary effort to go above and beyond”.

While we learn what employee engagement means and its importance, incorporating practical and effective employee engagement programs as part of company culture is the right recipe for success. Here are certain strategies for best employee engagement with case studies.

1. Acknowledgment and Appreciation

The first and foremost step to boost employee engagement is making sure your employees are valued, acknowledged, and appreciated. This motivates employees to become more productive , stay on track with tasks, and perform well. This can be done in many ways and you need to choose an approach that your employees can relate with. While some enjoy public recognition, others don’t. Hence, you can work on innovative recognition ideas .

The 40 Best Thank You Messages for Colleagues

According to a study , social workers in a company received personalized letters of recognition at their home addresses. The workers were chosen randomly and half of them received letters while the rest half didn’t receive any. The first half of the letter was chosen from a few positive motivational sayings and the second half of the letter had a personal note of appreciation written by managers. After a month of the letter experiment, the workers who received letters felt more recognized and appreciated for their efforts, compared to those who didn’t get any. This also had a positive effect on their motivation levels and well-being, according to the results of this study.

2. Emphasis on Employee’s Holistic Wellness

There are many components of employee wellness like nutrition, work-life balance , mental health, and stress management, to name a few. A healthy employee will be more productive and employees who are mentally and physically healthy will exhibit positive motivation, and better morale and resulting in a win-win for both employers and employees. A wellness program can be a good way to start where employees get a chance to explore yoga, in addition to vacation days. A wellness room provides employees with a personal space for their personal needs.

The indispensable role of wellness and an overall effective wellness strategy for an organization can be best understood based on a study that explored the objective of workplace wellness programs and their impact on employees health and medical expenses and so on. The study identifies certain key factors to boost wellness ideas in a corporate setup such as:

Effective communication strategy

Organizations that were part of this research emphasized the importance of how a wellness program is communicated to employees, both in-person and mass information campaigns, with messaging and clear interaction getting the highest priority.

Accessibility of wellness programs

Making wellness programs accessible for all employees is an effective strategy to boost the levels of employee engagement in their organization.

Engaged leadership

According to this study, for wellness programs to be successful, senior leadership should imbibe wellness as an integral and important part of the company culture.

Effective use of existing resources

Organizations leverage the existing resources and then build relationships, which also include health plans to provide employees with more options.

Ongoing assessment

Most companies agree that continuous assessments are required for employers to better understand their employee’s wellness needs.

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3. Initiatives that are Development-Focused

Ongoing development is key for every employee and there are a few development-focused initiatives that you can adopt actively to help your employees gain professional growth like professional networking, master’s or even Ph.D. programs, industry seminars, training courses and conferences, internal promotions, mentoring groups, and career coaching.

This study titled A Study on the Influence of Career Growth on Work Engagement among New Generation Employees involved six companies from diverse industries like consulting, finance, management, real estate, and so on. The findings of this study show that:

Organizational identification (IO) is very important for engagement levels and career growth.

Employee career growth positively impacts work engagement;

Person-organization value is positively linked to career growth and organizational identification (IO).

If employees recognize that they can make career progress in a company, they feel more attached and this increases employee loyalty, particularly for the new generation. It motivates them to put in the extra effort, improve performance, work on new skills, and so on.

4. Develop a Sense of Purpose, Values & Mission

A visible employee engagement program to achieve higher employee satisfaction levels requires employees to gain a sense of purpose, portray the company’s values and understand the mission. It is important to also understand what each of these attributes stands for.

Purpose

A company's purpose is the reason it exists in the first place. Purpose-driven companies are devoted to achieving goals that are bigger than just making money and increasing shareholder value. They also want to make a positive impact on the world around them and approach their work sustainably and ethically. In other words, they're committed to making a difference.

Mission

The mission of a company is similar but not identical to its purpose. Many people use the terms interchangeably, but we see the main difference as follows: the mission statement focuses on what the company has been built to achieve.

To learn even more about improving the employee experience and increasing your competitive advantage while providing a fast return on investment, download our ebook now.

Values

Values are important because they act as a compass for the overall expectations of an organization - they guide how employees do their jobs, how managers communicate with clients and partners, and how workers interact with their peers. By understanding and sharing company values, employers can make better decisions that reflect the priorities of the business.

According to a study by Deloitte , a company’s purpose and mission impact corporate confidence as well, as indicated by the results of this study.

Nearly half of all executives (47%) say that they can identify with their company's purpose, while only 30% of employees feel the same way.

A whopping 44% of executives believe that exemplary leadership involves setting an example that lives and breathes the company's purpose - but only 25% of employees share this belief.

41% of executives believe that a company's purpose plays a significant role in major corporate decisions, whereas only 28% of employees feel the same way.

38% of leaders claim that their company's purpose is communicated clearly and openly to all, but only 31% of employees actually think this is the case.

Ultimately, teaching your employees about the company's purpose, mission, and vision takes time and patience. It's a gradual process, but when done correctly, it has numerous benefits for employers. Creating a sense of purpose for your employees allows you to see numerous benefits in the long run such as a more committed workforce and less employee turnover.

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5. Maintain Transparent Communication Channels

Many employees feel reluctant to share their concerns and opinions with their managers or peers, either due to a perception that their managers don’t pay much attention to them or maybe they tried earlier but no action was taken by the leadership. Encouraging employees to share their concerns with leaders has its own benefits.

Practicing reflective listening helps managers to understand the message, through attentive communication.

Making employees understand they are respected helps them to respect you back and this is an employee engagement strategy based on common sense.

Acknowledging employee views is a way of recognizing a diverse range of ideas and respecting what they say, even though in the end you may still agree to disagree.

Seeking employee’s input actively helps to boost job satisfaction levels.

A research study analyzed communication between employers and employees and its impact on engagement levels. The findings supported the general definition of engagement as a sense of shared responsibility between both supervisors and employees, proving that establishing communication with your employees has a wide range of benefits and can work wonders for a company’s employee engagement levels .

“Our staff has praised the increased communication level Workmates delivers. We use it to communicate important project matters and give staff specific ‘kudos’ or even recognize their birthdays. More importantly, we use Workmates to clarify important project details that needed rapid dissemination among the entire team.”

6. Create Conducive Working Conditions

While expecting high performance from employees by an organization is quite natural, it is also equally important to provide necessary conditions for employees to do their best, by supporting them in any way you can. You can encourage positive and healthy competition in the workplace, show zero tolerance for toxic behavior, maintain a clean and healthy workplace ambiance, and create supportive teams . One way to support your workforce is by encouraging them to focus on things that are already good in their lives.

According to a consultant, Stephanie Pollack , a visible change is possible when employees are encouraged to know more about the benefits of gratitude and become aware of good things already existing in their lives. Showing gratitude has a plethora of benefits that range from reducing stress to making people feel better about themselves. It's important to build a culture of appreciation in your company so that employees feel comfortable expressing gratitude to one another and also feel appreciated in their jobs. This will not only lead to employees appreciating their jobs and coworkers more, but it will also help them appreciate themselves on a whole new level. Creating a grateful environment takes time, but it's worth it to see the positive transformation it can have on your organization as a whole.

A New Way to Manage Frontline Workers and Remote Teams

Workers who are content with their jobs are more likely to be motivated, productive, and engaged than those who are unhappy with their work. And happiness usually comes with having fun. However, this doesn't mean that employees should neglect their tasks or ignore deadlines. Learning how to balance work and play is key to being successful in both areas.

Employees should get the chance to do fun stuff to uplift their moods and refresh their minds and thoughts. This will make them more productive while handling their daily tasks. This can be in the form of having lunch together, organizing joke sessions, quizzes, celebrating employee milestones and birthdays, hosting parties, sports activities, recreational outings, and so on. According to a study “ Finding Fun in Work: The Effect of Workplace Fun on Taking Charge and Job Engagement” , having fun in the workplace motivates employees in a positive way improving their job satisfaction levels, productivity, commitment, energy, and creativity. It also helps to reduce anxiety, turnover, stress, and absenteeism.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to improving employee engagement in the workplace. You can employ one or more of these strategies based on case studies and see what works best for you and your workforce. Creating a nurturing and fun-filled productive place can make a great difference for your company and its growth in the years to come.

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Author Bio:

This article is written by a marketing team member at HR Cloud. HR Cloud is a leading provider of proven HR solutions, including recruiting, onboarding, employee communications & engagement, and rewards & recognition. Our user-friendly software increases employee productivity, delivers time and cost savings, and minimizes compliance risk.

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Case Study on Motivation in the Workplace

Motivation in the workplace case study:.

Motivation in the workplace is a complex of methods and techniques that help one encourage an employee’s performance. Every entrepreneur understands that he will not be able to build a profitable company if he does not train and encourage his employees to work hard. Every employee is a unique personality who has her personal material and spiritual values, expectations and ambitions. A smart leader will be able to recognize motives and values of every employee in order to find the right approach towards his personality. A workplace is a very important factor that influences the quality of one’s work.

An average employee spends more than eight hours of his time in the workplace every day. It is natural that the quality of this workplace will influence his performance seriously.A good business leader should know how to organize a workplace effectively and how to create the best working atmosphere for his employees.He should know that employees decide to work, because they need money, social contacts and opportunities for self-development. A leader should offer the most favorable salary to his employees in order to motivate them financially.

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When one receives good money for his work, he will work harder to save his workplace. Then, if an employer provides his employees with wide opportunities for self-improvement, they will appreciate their job, because every smart person wants to use her workplace as a tool for career growth and self-education. Moreover, a leader should have knowledge about human psychology in order to be able to encourage his employees with the help of his voice. Finally, it is possible to motivate employees with the help of a friendly piece of advice and gratitude for their successful work.Motivation in the workplace is a favorable topic for investigation, because a student will be able to learn something new about the important skill of encouragement.

He should start his case study with the profound research of the suggested case. One should study the case sight; learn about the employer and his employees, his methods of motivation and employees’ performance. Moreover, you should pay attention to the analysis of the cause and effect of the suggested problem in order to be able to solve it efficiently. In the end, one should demonstrate his professionalism and evaluate the usefulness and importance of motivation in the workplace for a company’s profit.One is able to prepare a good case study if he takes advantage of the additional assistance of the Internet. A student has a good chance to learn something new about his topic if he looks through a free case study sample on motivation in the workplace prepared by an experienced and well-trained writer.

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The Power of Employee Motivation: Case Studies and Success Stories
Case Study 1: Google. Google is known for its exemplary employee motivation strategies, and one of the most renowned is its "20% time" policy. This policy allows employees to spend 20% of their work time on projects of their choosing. This has led to the development of some of Google's most successful products, including Gmail and Google ...
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This result is in line with the findings of prior researchers (e.g., [45,52]), postulating that humans' autonomy and social relatedness breeds work motivation. The study of Theurer et al. (2018) argued that, among motivational elements, autonomy had been found to greatly predict positive work motivation. When people feel they have enough ...
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Abstract. Employee Motivation is about the commitment to doing something. Motivation plays an important role to meet the company's goals in an organization. In the context of a business ...
PDF Employee Motivation at the Workplace: Case Study of ...
Abstract. Employee motivation at the workplace is one of the main determinants of the workers' productivity, as well as enticing organizational culture, which in turns affects the organizational performance. The usual approach to motivation is based on the concept of the carrot and the stick, which uses the reward and the punishment as the main ...
Rousing our motivation
This self-derived motivation, in turn, is linked to feelings of well-being and engagement as well as declines in distress and improvements in positive behaviors at work (Motivation and Emotion, Vol. 42, No. 5, 2018). The meta-analysis included studies from multiple countries, including Iran, the Philippines, Korea, Bulgaria, Holland, China, New ...
PDF Work motivation: an evidence review
Thus, 'work motivation' refers to the need or reason(s) why employees make an effort to perform their day-to-day job to the best of their ability.1 In the popular management literature, however, the term 'work motivation' can have different meanings. In most cases, it refers to the 'theory' or logic model that explains why a certain ...
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It isn't a stretch to see that intrinsic motivation holds the key to an organization's ability to foster innovation and adaptability. Indeed, studies have demonstrated a range of benefi ts when intrinsic motivation is stoked, including far better individual performance. According to Korn Ferry's global employee opinion database, 76% of ...
Motivation & Incentives: Articles, Research, & Case Studies on
New research on motivation and incentives from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including what motivates employees to contribute to organizational betterment, money as a motivator, the key to effective habit formation, and leveraging reputations to encourage prosocial behavior. ... A study of GitHub's efforts to sponsor software coders ...
Work motivation and its effects on organizational performance: the case
Self-administered questionnaire was used for collecting data for the quantitative approach. Pre-test was conducted in unselected public hospital (Adare hospital). The questionnaire adopted from [3, 11, 12] and modified according to objectives of the study. The multidimensional work motivation scale (MWMS) was applied to measure the work motivation.
Research: A Little Recognition Can Provide a Big Morale Boost
Ashley Whillans is an assistant professor in the negotiations, organizations, and markets unit at the Harvard Business School School and teaches the "Negotiations" and "Motivation and ...
Motivation in The Workplace: a Procter and Gamble Case Study
MOTIVATION IN THE WORKPLACE: A PROCTER AND GAMBLE CASE STUDY. Gabriele Napolitano. Babelcube Inc., May 25, 2018 - Business & Economics - 48 pages. The topic of motivation in the workplace is becoming recognized as an issue of growing importance not just for employees, but also for organizations themselves. This book was born of an interest in ...
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Motivating people Digital Article. Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek. Talking about whistling while you work. Lindon Beckford, who works in the patient transport department at a Boston ...
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The Science of Improving Motivation at Work. 14 Jan 2020 by Beata Souders, MSc., PsyD candidate. Scientifically reviewed by Maike Neuhaus Ph.D. All motivation comes from within, whether it is triggered by rewards or endeavors that enhance our self-image or intrinsically motivating activities that we engage in for no reward other than the ...
Leadership's Impact on Employee Work Motivation and Performance
et al., (2018) asserted that numerous studies prove that the correlation between the leader. and employee performance is successful, and the studies show that the leader has a. positive effect on employee work performance. Thus, the theory of leadership style is. best suited for improved employee performance.
Employee Motivation at the Workplace: Case Study of ...
This paper investigates employee motivation at the workplace, using the case study of one Slovenian company. The survey covers a wide range of employees divided by gender, age, education and length of employment. The goal is to explore the level of motivation of the employees and discuss it within the context of self-determination theory and ...
Work motivation and its effects on organizational performance: the case
The main objective of the study was to assess level of motivation, how nurses perceived work motivation and its effects on organizational performance among nurses working in Hawassa public and private hospitals. It was found that majority (64.1%) of the nurses perceived motivation as motivators. Getting prospective encouragement, recognition and financial incentives were the main descriptions ...
Motivation in the Workplace: Amazon Case Study
Motivation is the desire to complete a task to the best of once ability. This can be influenced by rewards or threat, punishment or discipline. However, true motivation comes from within. According to Maslow human behaviour is goal-directed. Motivation cause goal-directed behaviour. Motivation can help individuals handle and tackle their needs ...
A Study on Employee Motivational Factors and Employee Engagement in
The key objectives of the research were aimed to identify the key employee motivational factor, to determine the extent of influence motivational factor has on EE and to find the moderating role of work from home (WFH) on employee motivational factors and EE. The study examined multinational companies of information technology and information ...
Employee Motivation at the Workplace: Case Study of Slovenian Company
This paper investigates employee motivation at the workplace, using the case study of one Slovenian company. The survey covers a wide range of employees divided by gender, age, education and length of employment. The goal is to explore the level of motivation of the employees and discuss it within the context of self-determination theory and ...
7 Effective Employee Engagement Case Studies and Strategies for a
Here are certain strategies for best employee engagement with case studies. 1. Acknowledgment and Appreciation. The first and foremost step to boost employee engagement is making sure your employees are valued, acknowledged, and appreciated. This motivates employees to become more productive, stay on track with tasks, and perform well.
Motivation in The Workplace: a Procter and Gamble Case Study
MOTIVATION IN THE WORKPLACE: A PROCTER AND GAMBLE CASE STUDY - Kindle edition by Napolitano, Gabriele, Skewes, Jacqueline. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading MOTIVATION IN THE WORKPLACE: A PROCTER AND GAMBLE CASE STUDY.
Case Study on Motivation in the Workplace
Motivation in the Workplace Case Study: Motivation in the workplace is a complex of methods and techniques that help one encourage an employee's performance. Every entrepreneur understands that he will not be able to build a profitable company if he does not train and encourage his employees to work hard. Every employee is a unique ...

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Work motivation and its effects on organizational performance: the case of nurses in Hawassa public and private hospitals: Mixed method study approach

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Table 1

Table 2

Effects of motivation on organizational performance

Conclusions

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Acknowledgements

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