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THE EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION - THE KEY FACTOR IN BUSINESS SUCCESS
1Dzneladze L. T. Ph.D. Academic Doctor of Economics (Assoc. Prof.), 2Khachidze N. D. Master of English Philology (MS)
1Batumi, Georgia, Batumi State Maritime Academy (BSMA); 2Batumi, Georgia, Georgian-American School of Batumi (GASB).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31435/rsglobal_ijite/01072018/5942
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Received: 16 May 2018 Accepted: 23 June 2018 Published: 01 July 2018
KEYWORDS
motivation, employees, managers, stimulate, working environment, quit a job.
We present you the work: "The Employee Motivation - the Key Factor in Business Success", where we present the results of the research on this issue conducted by the universities of California and Stanford, based on which the author in cooperation with Batumi State Maritime Academy students made some enquiries in Batumi. Analysis of the survey revealed that if the managers are eager to keep the best employees, it is essential to consider them carefully and make an adequate use of their talent and extensive opportunities. Consequently, they must do their best in order to provoke qualified specialists' desire to work with them, and in turn, to maximize the promotion of the business profit.
Citation: Dzneladze L. T., Khachidze N. D. (2018) The Employee Motivation - the Key Factor in Business Success. International Journal of Innovative Technologies in Economy. 6(18), Vol. 2. doi: 10.31435/rsglobal_ ijite/01072018/5942
Copyright: © 2018 Dzneladze L. T., Khachidze N. D. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Introduction. In any company, for the organizations of production and service field (including the government service) it is quite possible to create the conditions that make the best workers leave their jobs. The problem in terms of the employee motivation is concerned thoughtfully as the world's leading universities conduct some research on it. Sometimes the reason for leaving the job seems to be «not on the surface» and managers' attention is only concentrated on the fact that one of the employees has quit. Whereas, the idea that he has left his job because of the specific behaviors (actions), seems to be immediately ignored (?!).
Unfortunately, while it is easy to take preventive measures in order to reduce the dignified and qualified staff outlet, often, the heads give little attention to such measures!
Any organization is aware of the importance of motivation and involvement of employees. However, in most cases, managers cannot manage to be focused on this direction, which becomes the catalyst for the lower echelon problems.
As the result of the research conducted by the University of California, it was found that a motivated employee is more productive by 31% and in this case, the sales increase by 37%. In addition, a motivated employee is three times more creative than a demotivated one. According to the study by the corporate leadership consultancy, where 50 000 people took part in, the expectance that motivated employee will leave its job is less by 87%.1
Studies have shown that motivation of 70% of the staff depends entirely on its supervisor.
The reasons that the managers use to force their employees "to stuff things" are quite interesting. The reasons are as follows:
- busy work schedule;
- the well-executed assignment is undervalued and unrewarded;
- do not care about their employees;
1 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/70-of-employees-say-they-are-disengaged-at-work-heres-how-to-motivate-them/
- do not respect their promises;
- they hire and promote inappropriate people;
- people are not allowed to carry out their aspirations;
- they are less creative;
- they do not let them meet some intellectual challenges.2
Let's try to consider the reasons for incompatibility between motivation and employment.
According to a new study conducted by Stanford University, if the employee works more than 50 hours a week, its productivity dramatically decreases, whereas after 55 hours of work a week, it totally disappears.
Overcrowded work schedule often becomes the reason for the fact that the employees get exhausted quickly. Their selfless work prompts the leaders to load them more than others, that is why a good worker feels like he was punished for a well-done job. In normal conditions, with the increase in work, promotion to talented employee and increase in salary are forms of adequate action. If workload is only due to employee's talent, it will probably find a job that it deserves.3
It is unacceptable when a well-executed assignment is undervalued and unrewarded! It is important to encourage those who work unselfishly and are engaged with their job. Encouragement can be made by increase in salaries, one-time bonuses, or simply verbal gratitude, which gives some stimulus to a person's motivation. If the managers run their companies in a correct way, they will have to award a good worker quite often.
When the leaders do not care about their employees - more than half of those people who decide to leave their job are taking this step because of the relationship with their managers. Prospective companies help managers to be balanced professionals and kind people. Such managers celebrate the success of their employees, they suffer from their failure and are not afraid of meeting the challenges. Those managers who do not care about the personnel have always had a huge outflow. It is hard to work with someone for more than eight hours a day that is not fully involved in your work and does not care about your outcomes.4
If managers do not respect their promises, they are simply called «unreliable and careless» people. Whereas, when the managers keep their promises, they gain a reputation of a reliable and respectable person among the employees. Overall, if the manager does not keep its promise, then what obligations do the subordinates have?!
Sometimes, managers hire and promote inappropriate people (?!). A hardworking employee, who is aware of its responsibilities, wants to cooperate with people with the similar professionalism. When the manager hires nonprofessional people, cooperating with them becomes one of the demotivating factors. When the worker devotes itself to work in order to get a promotion and at that time someone else is promoted undeservedly, it is obvious that this kind of good worker will definitely leave. The undesirable promotion may have even worse consequences for the company.
What happens when people are not allowed to carry out their aspirations? Talented employees constantly strive to achieve something. Creating appropriate basis for their aspirations increases their productivity and job satisfaction. However, the problem is that a lot of managers try to make their employees work with them in a small locked box. They fear that if they let the subordinates increase their focuses and carry out their aspirations their productivity will be reduced.
The researches prove contradictory - that is when people think so euphorically, which makes them five times more productive than normal.5
Employees are sometimes less creative. The most talented employee is constantly trying to improve everything. If the manager blocks their tendency of changes and improvement only to maintain its status quo, it will make a talented employee hate its job. The restriction of desire to create something new will have a negative impact on their motivation!6
In most cases, managers do not let them meet some intellectual challenges. A good supervisor will direct employees to a seemingly unfulfilled assignment. Instead of the usual routine goals, they are putting up the tasks that force a person to violate their comfort zone. Then they do their best to succeed. When a talented employee deals with easy and boring work, he begins searching for a job that offers new challenges.7
The above-mentioned foreign studies show how important the motivation of the employee is and how many conditions need to be satisfied to bring the manager recognition as a good head, with whom work will be acceptable and desirable.
We have also tried to conduct a survey in this direction through direct polls that might have been
2 https://www.marketer.ge/menejeruli-shecdomebi/
3 https://lifehacker.com/if-you-work-more-than-50-hours-a-week-youre-probably-n-1771165123
4 https://www.marketer.ge/menejeruli-shecdomebi/
5 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/70-of-employees-say-they-are-disengaged-at-work-heres-how-to-motivate-them/
6 https://www.marketer.ge/menejeruli-shecdomebi/
7 In the same source.
anonymous for the respondents. With the help of some students of the academy, the survey was conducted in Batumi. About 120 employees of various types of organizations (such as microfinance organization, supermarkets, various stores, salons, catering services) were interviewed by our questionnaire.
Obviously, we do not claim that this survey has exactly reflected the current situation, as the large-scale survey requires appropriate resources. However, some of the trends have really evolved.
In the table below, we have presented the questions8 that the respondents answered:
№ Question Total Data % indicator out of 120 respondents
1. How long have you been working in this organization? 0-1........................................................................................ 40 48 32 - 33 40 27
1-3........................................................................................
Over 3.................................................................................
2. Do you often change your working place? Yes....................................................................................... 16 96 8 - 13 80 7
No........................................................................................
Hard to answer.....................................................................
3. Your main motivator in the given job is a) High salary....................................................................... 24 48 48 - 20 40 40
b) Fear of unemployment..................................................... c) Good working environment / conditions.........................
4. How many hours does your working day include? 0-8........................................................................................ 88 32 73 27
Over 8 hours.........................................................................
5. Is the working day duration acceptable? Yes....................................................................................... 88 24 8 - 73 20 7
No........................................................................................
Hard to answer.....................................................................
6. Would you change your working place? Yes....................................................................................... 56 24 40 - 47 20 33
No.......................................................................................
Hard to answer.....................................................................
7. Do the managers study the preferences of the employees? Yes....................................................................................... 24 72 24 - 2 6 2 o o o
No........................................................................................
Hard to answer.....................................................................
8. Are there practices to encourage the good workforce? Yes....................................................................................... 50 54 16 - 42 45 13
No........................................................................................
Hard to answer.....................................................................
9. What are the means of encouragement of the employees for their efficient work? a) Verbal praise........................................................... b) Certificate............................................................... c) Cash reward............................................................ d) Nothing................................................................... 40 8 14 58 33 7 12 48
10. Do the managers hire and promote people with inappropriate qualifications? Yes.............................................................................. No............................................................................... Hard to answer............................................................ 24 24 72 - 20 20 60
Research results: Analysis of the results of the survey revealed that a significant portion of the respondents (40%) have worked for 1-3 years in the given workplace and a relatively small portion of them (27%) for over 3 years. 80% of the respondents do not often change their workplaces. However, the fear of unemployment and the motive of a good working environment / conditions are equally equivalent to 4040%. The duration of the working day ranges within 8 hours (73%) and is acceptable for a large part of the respondents (73%), whereas, those, for whom it is not acceptable (27%), mainly work in salons and catering facilities, where the working period lasts for 12 hours and in some cases even longer.
Despite the existence of the motive of good working environment / conditions, the number of people willing to change the job (47%) is not that small, but they need to overcome the fear of unemployment (40%). Only 20% do not want to change their working places. Here, in our opinion, the important motivator must be the fact that the managers do not study the preferences of their employees (60%)! Only 20% are interested
8 The questions have been developed by the authors of the article. The Basis: research materials of the foreign universities.
in staff's point of view, which is probably a significant flaw in successful business implementation. 42% of the respondents indicate that their organization has a practice to encourage good workforce. However, it is mainly expressed in a verbal praise (33%), cash reward (12%), or efficient work is not encouraged at any way (48%). It is also worth to mention that the respondents note the employment of people with inappropriate qualifications for their job positions and their promotion due to personal relationships. Thus, managers seem to support employment, «create» working places for relatives, but it is actually harmful for business, because due to the suspicious qualification of such employees, major works are performed on the expense of qualified specialists. It becomes the reason of their loss of motivation, since they are not adequately stimulated.
Conclusions. To conclude, we can say that if the managers are eager to keep the best employees, they should carefully consider them and adequately use their talents and extensive opportunities. Consequently, they must do their best in order to provoke qualified specialists' desire to work with them, and in turn, to maximize the promotion of the business profit.
REFERENCES
1. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/70-of-employees-say-they-are-disengaged-at-work-heres-how-to-motivate-them/
2. https://www.marketer.ge/menejeruli-shecdomebi/
3. https://lifehacker.com/if-you-work-more-than-50-hours-a-week-youre-probably-n-1771165123
4. Analysis of the results of the direct poll conducted by the authors. The questions have been developed by the authors of the article, based on the materials of foreign research.
