Managing and Leading People in International Organisations

DEVELOPING A STRATEGIC MANAGERIAL APPROACH FOR THE EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION AND ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE
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Developing a Strategic Managerial Approach for the Effective Management of Employee Motivation and Organisational Performance
Introduction
Organisational performance is highly dependent on organisational human resources. Organizations can increase employee motivation, engagement, and commitment through strategic human resources management. According to Pancasila et al. (2020), increasing employee motivation increases their job satisfaction and performance. Thus, increasing employee motivation and performance leads to a direct improvement in organisational performance. This paper aims to identify strategies that organisational management can adopt to effectively manage employee motivation and organisational performance.
Context
This paper focuses on an international context. Due to globalisation, many organisations are now operating at an international level, and those that are not are always looking for opportunities to internationalise. The literature and organisations explored in this paper are of an international nature.
Discussion
Employee Motivation
As indicated in the introduction part of this paper, increasing employee motivation is crucial in enhancing organisational performance. Two questions arise here:
* What is Employee Motivation?
According to Cole (2019, p.290), employee motivation is the desire of an employee to do an exemplar job by investing their time, energy, and effort into their work. It is part of human behaviour and can be influenced by different factors. Werner (2022, p.41) indicates that employee motivation is a voluntary behaviour that differs from one person to another because people have varying needs, desires, and goals that cannot be met in a one-size-fits-all approach.
* What drives Employee Motivation?
Employee motivation is not something that occurs in a vacuum. According to Neubert and Dyck (2021, p.96), employees are motivated by different motivators based on who they are and what life experiences and lessons they have been through. The drivers that are a result of life experiences and lessons include the desire for achievement, fairness, affiliation, and power. When employees are motivated by the desire for achievement, they need meaningful, relevant, achievable goals to be set because achieving the set goals will motivate them further to tackle the next goals and objectives (Neubert and Dyck, 2021 p.97). Employees who are motivated by their desire to achieve are usually high-achievers with a strong belief that they can achieve their goals and reap the benefits of their success. Organisations can create self-development and growth opportunities to motivate these employees.
Employees who are motivated by the desire for fairness are more interested in equal and just treatment in the workplace (Neubert and Dyck, 2021 p.97). This means that wages and salaries should be equitably distributed without any form of discrimination. In addition, there should be a fair distribution of rewards because if employees perceive or feel as if they have been under-rewarded or over-rewarded, they are more likely to be unmotivated in the workplace. Also, Neubert and Dyck (2021, p.97) indicate that when employees are motivated by the desire for power, they strive to have some type of power in the organisation, such as legitimate, expert, or referent power, among others. Employees who are motivated by the desire for power can be motivated through appropriate employee promotion and delegation of work, including supervisory roles in the workplace.
Employees’ innate needs also drive employee motivation. Innate needs include the needs described in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory as well as spiritual needs (Neubert and Dyck, 2021 p.97; Uwimpuhwe, 2019 p.39). When trying to establish the most strategic managerial approach to effective management of employee motivation, organisations need to understand the needs of their employees. According to Pancasila et al. (2020), employees are motivated to work because their needs are being met. When their needs are unmet, it becomes difficult for the employees to focus on work and remain motivated because they will keep wondering about the next thing they need to do to meet their needs, including looking for employment elsewhere. As such, organisations need to research and identify ways to meet their employees’ needs from the basic to the most elaborate needs. These needs vary depending on the employees and their character. For instance, the needs of a high achiever will be different from the needs of a low achiever. In addition, employees from diverse countries have diverse needs, and international organisations cannot use just one approach to managing employee motivation.
Theories of Motivation
To better understand employees’ needs, it is important to first understand the needs-based theories of motivation. According to the needs-based theories, employees are motivated to work based on their needs and how these needs are met in the workplace (Spector, 2021 p.179). The idea behind needs-based theories is that the need to fulfil human needs is what drives human behaviour in the workplace.
The most prominent needs-based theory is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory classifies employees’ needs starting from the lowest, most basic needs at the bottom of the pyramid to the highest, most elaborate needs at the top of the pyramid (Spector, 2021 p.180). At the bottom of the hierarchy are physiological needs, including basic things such as food and shelter. Providing employees with cafeterias in the workplace is a strategy that can be used to meet some of their physiological needs. The next needs are referred to as safety and security needs, such as health, financial, physical, and job security (Spector, 2021 p.180). These needs can be met by implementing medical benefits, retirement benefits, as well as a safe working environment, among others. The third hierarchy of needs is love/belonging through friendships and family relationships. These can be met by implementing programs that allow employees to have a life outside of work. The fourth hierarchy of needs is esteem needs such as mastery, independence, and status. Esteem needs are characterised by a need for respect, accomplishment, and achievement. These needs can be met through employee recognition programs and reward systems, among others. At the top of the hierarchy are self-actualisation needs which are characterised by self-fulfilment and peak growth (Spector, 2021 p.180). Employees seeking to meet these needs require training opportunities. While these needs do not have to be met in the order listed in the hierarchy, it would be difficult for people to focus on meeting other needs, such as esteem or self-actualisation needs, if their most basic needs such as food and shelter have not been met. However, people place priority on different needs in the hierarchy. For example, some people may prioritise esteem at the expense of a sense of belonging. As such, it is important for an organisation, especially in the international context, to understand what needs their employees have given priority rather than prioritising employees’ needs based on the hierarchy. Also, as Spector (2021, p.181) indicates, employees in different parts of the world have different needs/deprivation, and focusing on the wrong needs will not motivate employees. For instance, when dealing with employees in developing countries, an organisation should understand that meeting basic needs, such as food, is a challenge and can therefore look for ways to ensure employees have access to food and other basic needs. However, these might not work for employees in a developed country who may never understand what it means to lack access to food and housing.
There is also the achievement goal theory which focuses on understanding employee motivation through goal-setting. According to Ryan (2019, p.512), the achievement goal theory proposes that people pursue different goals at the workplace based on how they view intelligence. Those who see intelligence as something fixed are more likely to focus on their capabilities to achieve their goals based on whether they perform better than their peers. As such, these people would be more motivated in the workplace if the managerial approaches for effective management of employee motivation involved performance-based appraisals and rewards. The more they outperform their peers and receive performance-based rewards that align with their goals, the more motivated they become in the workplace. However, those who consider intelligence to be amenable are more likely to set their goals around their mastery of completing a task (Ryan, 2019 p.512). In this case, organisations are more likely to motivate these employees if they provide them with training opportunities to help employees perfect their skills and become masters in their areas of expertise. In addition to the achievement goal theory, the goal-setting theory of management can help organisations in motivating employees. The goal-setting theory proposes that goals can be directed or shaped by employee motivation (Neubert and Dyck, 2021 p.103). To effectively manage employee motivation, the goals must be hard and specific but achievable. However, it is important to engage the employees while setting these goals to ensure the employees are in agreement with the goals and are capable of achieving them.
Another theory that is important in explaining employee motivation is equity theory. This theory proposes that their perceived fairness influences employee motivation in how they are treated when compared to others in the workplace (Neubert and Dyck, 2021 p.110). In particular, employees are more motivated in the workplace when they perceive social equity. To assess social equity, employees look at their input and outputs and compare them with that of their peers. The comparison determines whether the employee is under-rewarded, equitably rewarded, or over-rewarded (Neubert and Dyck, 2021 p.110; Spector, 2021 p.188). If the employee feels like they have been under-rewarded or over-rewarded, they are less motivated. However, when they feel equitably rewarded, they are more motivated. Organisations can establish equal pay policies and inclusion and diversity programs to ensure social equity.
How Various Companies have Successfully Applied Motivational Theories and Implemented Employee Motivational Strategies
* Samsung
Samsung is an example of a company that understands its employees’ needs and has strategically focused on meeting these needs by designing programs and systems ...