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INTRODUCTION Motivation is an important function of every manager. It deals with actuating the people to work for the accomplishment of objectives of the organization. Issuance of well conceived instructions and orders does not mean that they will be followed. A manager has to make appropriate use of motivation to enthuse the employees to follow them. Effective motivation succeeds in having an order accepted and also in gaining a determination to see that it is executed efficiently and effectively. In order to motivate the employees, the management has to understand their needs and satisfy them by providing financial and non-financial incentives.

DEFINITON OF MOTIVATION A few definitions by some of the prominent writers on the subject are given below: (1) “Motivation means a process of stimulating people to action to accomplish desired goals”. W.G. Scott (2) “Motivation can be defined as a willingness to expend energy to achieve a goal or a reward”. Dale S. Beach (3) “Motivation is the process of attempting to influence others to do their work through the possibility of getting a reward”. Edwin, B. Flippo Thus motivation is a process which inspires the human efforts of an organization to perform their duties in the best possible manner so that the pre-determined objectives of the enterprise may be achieved.

NATURE OF MOTIVATION The characteristics of motivation may be described as under: 1. Incentive Motivation is the incentive of employees. It is a personal and natural feeling of the mind of the employees. In fact an individual is inspired to make his efforts to satisfy the needs of his life. 2. Unending Process Motivation is an unending process. Satisfaction of one need leads to the feeling of another one and this process never ends. 3. Psychological Concept Motivation is a psychological concept. It develops the mental power of an individual and motivate him to do more and better.

4. Power to Act Motivation is a power to act. It inspires an individual to work. Feeling of a needy creates tension and a person wants to work to satisfy his need. 5. Increase in Efficiency Motivation increases the quantity and the quality of production. 6. Increase in Morale Morale is a group feeling. Motivation motivates the employees to work with the cooperation of others. Thus the motivation is helpful in increasing the morale of the employees.

OBJECTIVES OF MOTIVATION The objectives of motivation may be described as under: To motivate the employees to do more work. To satisfy the economic, social and psychological needs of the employees. To develop human relations in the enterprise. To increase the morale of employees. To increase the efficiency of employees. To get the cooperation of the employee. To establish sweet relations between labour and capital. To get the maximum exploitation of human resources. To achieve the objects of enterprise. HUMAN NEEDS Needs are staring point in motivation. If the needs of the workers are identified and satisfied, they will feel happy and show higher productivity. However, the needs of people are large in number and some of the needs are more complex than others. So it is not easy to satisfy all the needs of the workers at the same time.

Types of Needs (Maslow’s Need Hierachy Theory) Abraham Maslow, an eminent US psychologist, offered a general theory of motivation, called “Need hierarchy theory”. These are briefly discussed below: 1. Physical Needs These needs relate to the survival and maintenance of human life. They include such things as food, clothing, shelter, air water and other necessaries of life. 2. Safety Needs These needs are also important for the most of the people. Every body wants job security, protection against danger, safety of property etc. 3. Social Needs Man is a social being. He is therefore, interested in conversation, sociability, exchange of feelings, companionship, recognition etc.

4. Esteem and Status Needs These needs embrace such things of self confidence, independence, achievement, competence, knowledge, initiative and success. These needs are concerned with prestige and respect of the individual. 5. Self-Fulfillment Needs These are the needs of the highest order. They are generally found in persons whose first four needs have already been fulfilled. They are concerned with achieving what a person consider to be his mission in life. INCENTIVE MEANING OF INCENTIVE The term incentive may be defined as follows: An incentive is something which stimulates a person towards some goal. An incentive is something which induces an individual to response in a desired manner.

Need of Incentives Man is a wanting animal. He continues to want something or other. He is never fully satisfied. If one need is satisfied, the other need arises. In order to motivate the employees, the management should try to satisfy their needs. For this purpose, various kinds of incentives may be provided to employees. METHODS OF MOTIVATION These are discussed below: 1) Positive and Negative Incentives Positive incentives Positive incentives are the incentives which motivate the employees to do their best and to produces more and better quality by providing them more wages and salaries and bonus etc. Negative incentives Negative incentives are the incentives which compel the employees of the enterprise to do more work, because of the fear of punishment or penalty. These incentives include termination from services, suspension punishment, penalty etc.

2) Individual and Collective Incentives Individual incentives Individual incentives mean the incentives which are offered to any individual. These incentives are offered to those employees who contribute their special efforts and who cause extra benefit by their efforts to the enterprise. These incentives may be monetary as well as non-monetary. Collective incentives Collective incentives are the incentives which are offered collectively to a group of workers. The aim of these incentives is to motivate the whole group. These incentives may be monetary incentives and non-monetary incentives. 3) Monetary or Financial Incentives: Monetary incentives are associated with the monetary financial benefits to the employees. These benefits can be expressed in terms of money. Financial incentives are commonly used in modern organizations to motivate the employees to increase their productivity. These include wages and salaries, bonus, insurance, medical allowances, housing, facilities and retirement benefits. They are paid in terms of money.

Role of Monetary Incentives Money is a real motivating factor when the psychological (food, clothing and shelter) needs of the workers have not been satisfied. Money helps in satisfying the social needs of the workers to some extent because money is often recognized as a basis of status, respect and power. People in higher positions are not motivated by monetary incentives. They may be motivated by money only if the increase is large enough to increase their standard of living and status in the society. But in case of employees at the operative levels, money certainly plays a significant role in motivating them because their basic needs have not been fulfilled.

1- Non-monetary Incentives Financial incentives do not work for ever to motivate the people at work. The employees do not always run after money as it cannot satisfy all their needs. They want status and recognition in the society. They want to satisfy their egoistic needs and achieve something in their lives. Non-monetary incentives cannot be expressed in terms of money. They include the following incentives: a. Competition Competition is a kind of non-financial incentives. If there is a healthy competition among the individual employees, it will lead them to achieve their personal goals in a better way. b. Job Security Generally, workers prefer security of job. They may not prefer job with higher wages or salaries which do not carry security. Job security is an important non-financial incentive for most of the workers.

c. Praise Praise satisfies one’s ago needs. Some times, praise is more effective than any financial incentive. d. Opportunity for Growth If the employees are provided the opportunity for their advancement and growth and to develop their personality, they feel very much satisfied and become more committed to the organization goals. e. Group Recognition Group incentives are more powerful to motivate the employees than the individual incentives. When the reputation of the group is at a stake, group members work with a team spirit. They have high morale and their productivity increased. f. Suggestion System Suggestion system satisfied many needs of the employees. Many organizations which use suggestion system make use of cash awards for useful suggestions. They sometimes publish the worker’s name with his photograph in the company’s magazine. This motivates the employees to be in search for something which may be of great use to the organization.