Performance and control problems in motivation

Motivation refers to the inner drive of a person that makes him work for the betterment of his own conditions.

Although it is required to lead a content life, in the orgazinational context, it acquires a special place. People are self-motivated when they do what they love doing and are always willing to stretch themselves in terms of their personality traits when required. Bringing oneself out of his/her comfort zone and drawing a parallel between the personal and organizational goals is what motivated people do excellently. Therefore the difference between a succesful and a not so succesful can sometimes be the persence or absence of motivated employees. This hints at the importance of measuring the levels of motivation in an organization by which one can make a guess of the competitiveness it possesses.

Motivation can be measured in the following manner-

Motivation = Perceived Probability of Success (Expectancy) *

Connection of Success and Reward (Instrumentality) *

Value of Obtaining Goal (Valance, Value)

There can be a no. of ways for quantifying motivation. Some options available for expressing motivation in magnitudinal manner can be Training, Job Stability and Promotions (for the growth and development evaluation), ESOPS, Salary and Insurance(for Compensation), Supervision, Recreational facilities, Family Welfare Plans and Hygiene Factors (for Non-Monetary Compensation assessment) and Challenges, Controls, Competition and Recognition (for Intrinsic factors judging). By giving them values and comparing these to some already defined basis or standard, areas of improvement can be had and appropriate work can be done. Organizations are understanding the roles played by such measures in increasing the effectiveness with each passing day and employing these quantitave measures for the benefits they bring.

Using "motivation drugs" is the latest development in this area of increasing motivation. However their authenticity is questionable so are not much prevalent.

KPIs do the task of letting the organization know whether the tasks being performed at the work-place are just out of the greediness for some monetary gains or are people actually involved in what they are doing. Motivated employees act as the energizers in the organizations and KPIs help in creating such entities, which exude confidence and energy. Running some motivational programs or indulging in such activities on the superficial level is not enough. Lot of resources in terms of money and efforts go into them and can be fruitful only if a proper follow-up is also done. This can be achieved by quantifying the process of motivation in different dimensions using different parameters to know whether the inputs are being prudently used or not. Flaws detected can be removed by various measures.

Motivated employees exhibit more productivity, better quality and hence, improved performance.

One of the most prominent challenges faced is changing the priorities of the employees and making them understand that they will have to work for the growth of both their own career and the organization. The subject deals with the human psychology which is almost always a hard nut to crack. People have to be made open and receptive to changes. Next comes the challenge of imparting values to the parameters. This can be a mammoth task, at times, as qualitative factors are pretty tough to quantify.

The crux of the matter is that motivated employees create a positive feedback loop that is self-sustaining and compels the employees and the person himself to crave for improvements ever in the tasks done. To create such conditions one has to have a means for measuring motivation to know whether the organization is moving on the right track or not. KPIs come into play at this point. The more motivated we are, the more perfection we try to bring in our jobs . A self-propelled upward spiral develops that fuels the desire for betterment of the situations around us.