Motivation - the fourth step in POCM (part 1)

In a series of articles Pat Sheridan talks about the various aspects of the management function under the headings of plan, organise, control and motivate (POCM). If you are responsible for the work of others and for achieving any kind of preordained results then you are, in fact, managing. Whether your title is manager, supervisor, team leader, chargehand or superintendent, you are actually managing and, ipso facto, POCM applies to you. In this article we look at motivation, the fourth step in POCM. This subject matter deals primarily with people. As a general rule it is the more complex aspect of management and would take many articles to cover this fascinating topic. However, we will try and cover the key areas over two articles.

Review
So far in this management series we have considered the necessity for planning what we want or need to do in our work or businesses, the process of organising the resources to achieve the details set out in our plan and the need for various control features to ensure we are in a position to identify and react effectively to influences which could detract from the achievement of our targets and objectives.

All of the actions and reactions involved in any endeavour which requires getting things done through others have motivational implications. Getting these motivational factors right can make the difference between getting the tasks or business done effectively or ineffectively, productively or unproductively, with co-operation or without co-operation.

Introduction
The subject is complex and contains many ambiguous behavioural considerations, however, it is extremely important for managers and for the company as a whole to get this aspect of management right. For the new manager or for managers who have not studied management concept before, and motivation in particular, motivation provides an insight into human behaviour and this applies equally to ourselves and our own behaviour as well as the employees being managed. This article will hopefully challenge your thinking and lead you to arrive at an understanding and a personalised approach to motivation and the development of your own management style.

It is extremely important to consider how we interact with others and the impact our behaviour and values have on others. Some managers seem to have a track record of success, but a glance under the surface reveals that they are despised by many and have cost the company significantly in terms of leavers, lost opportunity and performance. However, other managers seem to have a laid-back approach and achieve the same, if not better, results and they are highly regarded by all employees who would acknowledge that they would do anything for their manager and would not let him or her down under any circumstances. Studying these variations of attitude which occur in individuals is fascinating. Understanding why it is so and adapting the positives is essential for managers.

Motivation of people is a difficult business, influenced by a myriad of psychological and environmental factors which alter from person to person, from company to company and from manager to manager.

Managers need to be capable of adaptation in style and behaviour to cater for the differences in people to be able to motivate all those whom he or she is responsible for. This includes all those who have any responsibility whatsoever for the work of others as managers for the purpose of this perspective.

Definition
A ‘motivator’ is a need which acts as a driving force causing a person to try to achieve a particular result. People generally have groups of needs.

The history and development of approaches
For those who have attended almost any management or supervisory development programme, motivation will immediately conjure up a range of theorists and psychologists who have identified key aspects of human motivational facts based on human behaviour. The main contributors to our understanding of key motivational influencers include the research and theoretical work of Mayo, Maslow, Hertzberg and McGregor. They have helped us to gain an insight into what we might do to motivate, enthuse, drive, support and encourage people at work.

We will not examine the contributions made by each and every one of these theorists but will briefly look at the key aspects of their motivational approaches.

However, we really cannot begin this process without looking at what could be called the base-line understanding. So, a quick review of Maslow’s work is a good starting point for those who have not yet read up on any motivational concepts.

Maslow (1943) was one of the first to classify human needs and motivation, suggesting that they could be classified into motivating factors that influence behaviour. He proposed that these needs be formulated into a hierarchy with basic needs as the base-line and higher needs at the top.

The most basic human need is the acquisition of the basic survival requirements of food, clothing and shelter (the physiological needs). During our human evolution over the millennia these basic needs has ensured our survival as a species and has changed little, despite our sophisticated lifestyles of the 21st century. In countries which are not economically sound, or where there are social, political and cultural unrest or in those countries which suffer massive disasters (such as the tsunami), it is reasonable to suppose that this instinctive response to survival needs emerges and is as pronounced as it was in our early development.

Food, clothing and shelter are regular requirements in our daily lives. Once these are satisfied the next motivational need is to ensure that these are available to us on a regular daily basis, these are security needs. The safety and comfort of knowing that the basic survival needs will be met for some distance into the future becomes as important as the first step.

Regular employment will at least guarantee that these basic requirements can be met on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis. As these become an established part of our life they are no longer motivators. However, the sudden absence of these features would of course change this position. This is an interesting point about motivation, the need to achieve something is a motivator but once achieved and regularised into our life it may not continue to motivate to the same degree, if at all.

So, once these first two basic steps are satisfied what motivators tend to ‘kick-in’ next? The next level of motivation includes social needs such as, belonging, acceptance, interactions with friends and affiliations. In a work context this translates as social interaction at work, friends at work and teamwork.

The final two levels are concerned with esteem and self-actualisation needs. In today’s work environment we describe such needs as respect and recognition for good performance, respect and a status which reflects personal achievement, self-fulfilment and personal development.

Every manager, supervisor, charge-hand, team-leader or any other person who is responsible for getting work done through others must successfully work through the management steps of planning, organising, controlling and the motivation of others to achieve the plan. So what makes the last element, ‘motivation’ so much more complex than the other elements? The infinite variations and complexities of human nature is the quick answer.

You can have a team of ten people of similar expertise / abilities all charged with the same objectives, but they will have different levels of personal motivation depending on their attitude, personal circumstances, relationships within the team, relationships outside the team and particularly their relationship with the leader or manager of the group.

McGregor took a view on motivation from managers’ behaviour and reflected that there were, in his experience, only two types of managers. He called them the Theory X Type Managers and the Theory Y Type Managers. The Theory X Manager believes that humans are by nature lazy, avoid responsibility and the only way to motivate them is by constant control. The Theory Y Manager, on the other hand, has the perception that humans like work, like responsibility and, once involved in a shared objective, will be self-motivating and highly productive. These two approaches in fact represent styles of management behaviour and there are a multitude of variations on these themes. Motivational styles throughout these approaches are often referred to as the ‘stick or carrot approach’, which is self explanatory.

Anyone interested in seeking their own level of understanding from which they can develop a progressive and suitable management, leadership and motivational style should read the various theorists and measure these against modern motivational success stories. For example what styles seem to be prevalent in larger companies and multi-nationals where Human Resource policies and practices have been evolving as proactive employee relations cultures in the Irish context, but with some foreign influences?

Summary
Over the last fifty years the progressive organisations have incrementally changed their approach to managing people and the motivational style associated with such changes. There was more stick than carrot in the past. Now there is more carrot. So how do we define the ‘carrot’. Is it just necessary to provide the opportunity to earn more money? Is that the sum total of the carrot approach? No of course not, it is necessary to satisfy to some extent all the motivational needs of people at work and, as outlined already, these vary greatly. Money is still important. If it is a constant struggle to get fair pay it actually has a de-motivating affect but having the rate pitched right is not a sufficient motivator, in itself, to create high productivity. It needs other motivators to satisfy other needs.

So if you have several hundred employees, is there a core group of motivators which are common to all and will they adequately motivate all the employees to achieve high performance levels? Or is it necessary to individualise these approaches for maximum effect? Is this even possible given the potential variations in needs? There are, as you can see, many considerations.

There are core values in dealing with people but, these values need to be followed with due care and attention by managers and in a consistent way to ensure they are genuine (and clearly seen to be genuine). For example, the development of mutual respect, the identification and publication of core values reflecting principles of human dignity and mutual trust, the need to recognise and plan to satisfy some of the higher needs such as self-actualisation. These are a few of the possible approaches which managers need to consider.

The next article will deal with some progressive and innovative motivational approaches in vogue at present.