Motivation and Psychological Contract Essay

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On improving service quality within an organisation staff need to be motivated to adopt the aims and objectives of the organisation and modify their behaviour to improve service. Managers need to be able to motivate staff to change to improve productivity and produce sustained change. This report will look at how organisational theory underpins the practice of management and creates options for managerial actions. Using motivational theories in discussing the scenario the report will make recommendations and evaluate their application giving industry examples. The report will then access the success of the recommendations for change and the impact different management styles may have on motivation in organisations in periods of change.
One of the most significant pieces of theory in organisational theory for managers is the psychological contract and motivation. The psychological contract refers to a series of mutual expectations and satisfaction of needs arising from the people organisational relationship.
The chartered institute of personal development (CIPD) suggests that the psychological contract may have implications for organisational strategy including management. They go on to state that managers need to “enable their people to be innovate, be creative, feed into strategy, work in teams, communicate well and give their emotional intelligence full rein” to be competitively successful (CIPD website 2000.
The idea of a psychological contract, that employees do not just come to work for the money but to have other needs satisfied such as; * Job security * Recognition * Safe and hygienic working conditions * Development and career progression has meant a huge shift for managers who had been very driven by the bureaucracy classical school and scientific management with ‘one best way of working’ to the human relations school of involving employees in the strategic management of the organisation.
The Hawthorne study highlighted to managers that the people in the organisation respond positively to being managed and the importance of the informal organisation. The results of the study showed that workers responded positively to the attention of managers and productivity was increased as the motivation of the employee improved even when the variables were not changed productivity still rose. This highlighted to managers that a workforce can be motivated by showing an interest, engaging with the individuals and their ideas as they become more invested in the task. Motivation is a key concept in the role of management and organisation theory has invested in this area with a number of theories and tools.
Motivational theories and the workplace
"Motivation" can be defined as those forces within an individual that push or propel him to satisfy basic needs or wants (Yorks 1976, 21).It looks at direction and persistence of an action and why people stick with a prescribed course of action even when faced with difficulties and problems. Vroom defines motivation as a process governing choices made by persons among alternative forms of voluntary activity (Hamner and Organ 1978, 142)
Mitchell identified four common characteristics which underlie the definition of motivation

(Mullins 2010)
So motivation is a driving force that gets the individual to voluntarily pursue a specific course of action through difficulties and setbacks to achieve a desired outcome.

A simple illustration of the basic motivational model
Feedback
Feedback
Which provide
Which provide
Result in
Result in
To achieve
To achieve

Mullins (2010) P.253
There are a number of different motivational theories used by managers to get staff working towards the aim and objectives of the organisation effectively. The individual performance is determined by their ability and motivation Performance = function (ability x motivation)
Motivation theories are divided into content theories; these try to explain the factors at work that
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