Motivation Improvement Action Plan

Job satisfaction refers to employees’ enjoyment or fulfillment from doing their job. It is attached with specific factors that make employees feel fulfilled to be in an organization or do a particular job. Some of the factors that influence job satisfaction are; respect, trust, a healthy environment, security, pay and benefits, and career path. Most likely, when employees are satisfied with their jobs, they feel motivated to present the best versions of their work, which directly impacts an organization.

The leading impact of job satisfaction and motivation is higher productivity at the elementary level. When employees are fulfilled and happy at their jobs, they work hard in whatever they do, resulting in an increase in production. For example, they spend most of their time doing the job rather than relaxing because they derive pleasure. By that, they do more work, which increases productivity. This impacts an organization because higher production rates lead to higher profits from more sales.

Another impact is a lower turnover. Studies have concluded that a higher turnover rate is caused by employee dissatisfaction and lack of motivation (Demirović Bajrami et al., 2021). This means that when employees are satisfied with their jobs, they are motivated to continue working for the organization, reducing the turnover rate. A lower turnover rate is advantageous to an organization because it saves from unnecessary costs such as hiring and training new employees. Essentially, job satisfaction and motivation create a favorable environment for employees to be happy and fulfilled about their jobs. Consequently, they are inspired to be loyal to the organization they work for, helping it improve productivity and achieve its goals.

Reasons Satisfied Employees are Productive, Creative, and Committed

Satisfied employees tend to be more productive, creative, and committed to their roles and responsibilities because they are motivated to perceive that their jobs can provide the things they view as crucial to them. This forms the things that give them satisfaction, which motivates them to be more committed, creative, and productive. Firstly, they are motivated with a good salary. When employees are satisfied, it means they have good pay and feel their efforts are worth their salaries. The fundamental reason employees seek a job and wake up every day to work to gain some returns in the form of salary. When satisfied with their salary, their motivation to continue working is raised, resulting in being more creative, productive, and committed.

Secondly, satisfaction resulting from work-life balance enables them to be more productive, committed, and creative. Work-life balance means employees are given time to engage in extra-curricular activities outside work. For example, they can be given a chance to go swimming or do sports in the evening on weekends. By that, their minds refresh, they become creative and happy. Consequently, they tend to be committed to their roles and responsibilities, resulting in higher productivity.

Lastly, satisfaction improves employee engagement, impacting commitment, creativity, and production. Employee engagement means employees being committed to their work. The commitment comes from being satisfied first, and engagement might not occur if they are unsatisfied or happy with their jobs. By being committed, they work hard and smart, increasing productivity. For example, when employees working in a garment company are committed due to satisfaction, they might make many clothes because they are highly committed to making them. In the end, they make more clothes, increasing production.

Effective Leadership Methods and Practices

Motivating and retaining employees requires committed leaders with some aspect of natural abilities. Leaders are responsible for ensuring employees are satisfied and motivated because they make appropriate decisions regarding employees (Rahbi et al., 2017). Certain effective leadership practices and methods help motivate and retain employees in reference to commitment and natural ability. One of the practices is being connected to employees both professionally and personally. Leaders should be committed to helping employees whenever they need help to perform a role. For example, they should assist them with the necessary training, which means leaders must be committed to training employees. Likewise, leaders must explore their natural ability skills, such as being friendly to employees. Establishing informal relationships with employees should be a natural talent for leaders. This keeps them motivated and desires to work with the leaders, retaining them.

Another practice is acknowledging employees and their achievements. Acknowledgment through gifts and rewards is one of the primary motivating factors for employees (Jamal Ali & Anwar, 2021). When employees are acknowledged for great work, they feel proud of themselves and desire to do more of that. This encourages them to remain in the organization because their hard work is recognized, retaining them. Besides, it calls for committed leaders to acknowledge employees by rewarding them. The commitment comes in through buying gifts and rewards to motivate employees. Additionally, when leaders acknowledge employees, employees feel motivated because the leader has that natural ability to compliment and motivate employees. For example, when a leader commends an employee for doing a great job, the employee feels proud because the leader is ranked higher. This improves motivation, and the employee is retained.

Another leadership practice is providing advancement opportunities to employees. Employees stay where they can benefit and advance in various aspects (Ronda et al., 2018). It means that leaders must be able to provide advancement opportunities such as training to motivate employees to stay at the organization. For example, they can implement hygiene classes or computer classes for employees. Alternatively, they can have several interests to accommodate diverse groups of employees. By this, they will motivate employees because the value is being created through the organization. However, the leaders must show commitment towards creating advancement opportunities for employees. It would take commitment to finances, time, and effort to advance employees. Furthermore, leaders are naturally knowledgeable and trainers. This means that training employees or advancing them through their knowledge would help motivate and retain employees.

Reason Motivation and Job Satisfaction should be mutually exclusive

For high job satisfaction and motivation to be realized, the two should be mutually exclusive due to two reasons. Firstly, they supersede each other, meaning that one must lead to the other or both must lead to each other. In this case, the company must first strive to make its workers satisfied with their jobs to be motivated to work to increase the production and quality of their work. When employees are satisfied with their jobs, it means that they are contented with their work, which is likely to motivate them to work hard. For example, when workers are content with what they do, they will feel motivated to work hard.

However, motivation can also lead to job satisfaction in that when employees are motivated; they feel satisfied at the workplace. If the organization considers motivating employees to trigger job satisfaction, it will have to do so through various motivating factors. For example, providing its workers with a good salary will serve as a significant motivating factor. If employees are paid low than they would like or would expect, they might be dissatisfied with their jobs. This means that good pay could increase motivation. Hence, one factor must lead to the other, which is why they should be mutually exclusive. Job satisfaction and motivation complement each other. The company can either start by motivating employees to lead to satisfaction or satisfy them through various factors to lead to motivation. However, they should happen at the same time.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards

Rewards work differently, and what suits a certain group of employees might not suit another group. Due to this, the company needs to employ certain intrinsic and extrinsic rewards to motivate employees to assimilate new skills and knowledge. Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards motivate employees to assimilate new skills and knowledge in different ways. Firstly, intrinsic rewards create positive working culture. Positive working culture is essential in motivating workers to learn. For example, when employees are intrinsically rewarded through being celebrated and valued, they find the environment fulfilling to enable them to learn new skills.

Secondly, intrinsic rewards keep employees more engaged, boosting their learning motivation. For example, employees feel appreciated for their hard work through recognition and praise. This triggers them to learn more so that they can work harder and be recognized and praised more and more. Recognizing and praising them keeps them engaged in their roles, resulting in the urge to learn.

Thirdly, extrinsic rewards such as job perks, salary, and flexible working arrangements motivate employees to learn by providing them with the necessary resources. Learning requires time, money, and physical resources such as books. In that case, if the organization rewards them with finances, flexible working hours that will give them time, and job perks such as free stationaries, employees will be motivated to learn. Thus, motivation to gain new skills and knowledge should be triggered by rewards.

References

Demirović Bajrami, D., Terzić, A., Petrović, M., Radovanović, M., Tretiakova, T., & Hadoud, A. (2021). Will we have the same employees in hospitality after all? The impact of COVID-19 on employees’ work attitudes and turnover intentions. International Journal Of Hospitality Management, 94, 102754. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102754

Jamal Ali, B., & Anwar, G. (2021). An Empirical Study of Employees’ Motivation and its Influence Job Satisfaction. International Journal Of Engineering, Business And Management, 5(2), 21-30. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijebm.5.2.3

Rahbi, D. A., Khalid, K., & Khan, M. (2017). The effects of leadership styles on team motivation. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 16(3).

Ronda, L., Valor, C., & Abril, C. (2018). Are they willing to work for you? An employee-centric view to employer brand attractiveness. Journal Of Product & Brand Management, 27(5), 573-596. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpbm-07-2017-1522