Motivation rewards

Motivation rewards You have to get rewarded in the soul and the wallet. The money isnt enough, but a plaque isnt enough either (Hymowitz, Murray, 1999, 4). Motivation-the willingness to exert oneself, consequent of the afore-implied intrinsic and extrinsic incentives, is fundamental to the prosperity of individuals, groups, organizations and society; for absent of this, there exists a lack of satisfaction, productivity and willpower that ultimately leads to inefficiency, dissatisfaction and management constraints. It is the aim of this paper to contest traditional views, by asserting that pay is of equal importance as job-design in achieving motivation-which will in turn provide an appreciation that both job-design and pay act as complementary factors in inducing varying levels of motivation, greatly dependent upon circumstance. This will be accomplished through the exploration of the individual implications of job-design and pay, through the application of practical examples, empirical research and mo tivational theories. Job-design is a comprehensive term, and for clarification purposes, it will within this paper include: working environment, relationships, feedback, achievement, responsibility and lastly, growth and developmental opportunities. Hereafter, aspects of job-design which motivate simply through the activity itself, such as feedback, achievement, responsibility, growth and development will be referred to as intrinsic factors; conversely, aspects of job-design which motivate through the anticipation of external rewards, such as changes in the working environment, status through relationships and mainly pay, shall be referred to as extrinsic factors (Deci, 1972). Similarly, pay in this paper refers to salary, pay-per-performance schemes, and any other form of monetary compensation. Furthering this, Herzbergs hygiene-motivator theory examines the intricate relationship between the extrinsic and intrinsic components of job-design. The theory associates extrinsic aspects of job-design with the hygiene factors, of which the absence or inadequate development will result in dissatisfaction, thereby prohibiting motivation from occurring; however, when adequately present, motivation is still not attainable solely based on those factors (Herzberg, 1987). Conversely, the factors which are claimed to motivate are those of intrinsic nature, being capable of stimulating psychological growth. Upon application to conventional employment, it is commonly accepted that few individuals are able to dedicatedly pursue a goal, if exposed to inappropriate atmospheres, harassing superiors or neglectful colleagues. Thereby, it is understood that prerequisites of extrinsic factors must suffice, and only thereafter could an individual be satisfied and hence motivated by undertaking work which stimulates psychologically. Thus, it is imperative to understand that the visible extent of intrinsic factors available in the design of a specific job, will ultimately dictate the extent to which an individual can be motivated. Alternatively, job characteristics theory suggests that motivation of employees is best achieved through the application of meaningful work-characterised by skill variety, task identity and task significance, for which the employee is personally responsible, and receives clear feedback regarding performance (Hackman, Lee, 1979). Thereby, the perceived purposefulness of a job, which is then reinforced through feedback, indicates that the design of a job in terms of potential achievement and its recognition, responsibility and consequently growth and development through significant contribution-all intrinsic factors, will determine the attitude of an employee, and hence will reflect upon the perceived self-image of the individual in relation to their organization. The lack of feedback could typically induce feelings of insignificance, through impressions of the work not being important towards an organization. Hence, if an individuals perceived role is rather minor, there will be a lac k of incentive to perform well. Since people work more for meaning and enjoyment than anything else in their lives, not providing an individual with the opportunity to learn and develop through application of meaningful tasks and feedback, will result in reduced commitment and motivation (Pfeffer, 1998). Illustrating the significance of acknowledging social needs incorporated into job-design: a case study examining the effects of improving working conditions of workers in The Western Electric Company in Hawthorne, resulted in continuous increases in production during the experiment (Mayo, 1975): clearly illustrating the positive correlation between job-design and motivation. Additionally, the bringing together of individuals placed in an autonomous team, resulted in spontaneous but consistently increasing dedication and collaboration-once again improving productivity, demonstrated that the possibility to develop relationships and achieve esprit de corps is fundamental, and of great significance (Fayol, 1949) in attaining motivation. However, even control groups seem to have improved their productivity-most likely as a result of increased perceived importance; a phenomenon, which furthermore underlines the influential impact of self-image upon motivation, generated by the perception o f work as being meaningful to the organization. Individuals involved in work whose job-design allows for major involvement and dependency through autonomy and responsibility, would typically find themselves being confident. Such an individual will have earned the respect of management, and in turn developed an increasingly prevalent self-esteem. Taking this into account, the hierarchy of needs suggests that such an individual would be motivated by having the option through commitment in achieving his fullest potential: self-actualization (Maslow, 1943). However, pre-requisites for the basic need satisfactions according to Maslow are amongst others, freedom to express ones self and freedom to investigate and seek information. Drawing on this, individuals who are not autonomous-those who are not granted this discretionary right, will never be able to undergo motivational enlightenment; in other words, jobs which do not stimulate the intrinsic aspects of job-design have significantly reduced effects in motivating individuals accordin g to Maslows theory. Consequently, it is imperative to accommodate the needs of an individual to ensure optimal productivity, by providing meaningful, appreciated autonomous work in a steady environment, and thereby avoiding the instigation of absenteeism and the free-rider problem (Knights Willmott, 2007). Therefore, when the unavoidable occurs-sub-optimal provision of intrinsic and other job-design factors, organizations must ensure that extrinsic aspects succeed for the purpose of compensating the motivational loss. For this reason, the primary source of extrinsic motivation: pay, will is now examined. Implications of pay as a motivator have long been explored, for the vital purpose of determining to what extent individuals should be rewarded for their efforts. Traditional studies, which largely focus on the self-reported importance of pay, have frequently dismissed its absolute significance as a motivator (Rynes, Gerhart, Minette, 2004). Of such nature, an extensive study performed at the Minnesota Gas Company, was conducted in order to ascertain which of the factors (advancement, benefits, company, co-workers, hours, pay, security, supervisor, type of work, working conditions) were most important to employees, and as a result would be most motivating (Jurgensen, 1978). Males ranked pay as fifth and females seventh respectively in terms of importance. However, when those exact employees were asked to attribute the same factors in order of preference from the viewpoint of a fellow worker, both males and females remarkably ranked pay as the number one factor! These discrepancies bet ween findings are suggestive of social norms dictating that money as a source of motivation is much less noble than factors involving challenging work, and ultimately contributing to society (Rynes, Gerhart, Minetta, 2004). Additionally, this example is indicative of traditional studies presenting distorted findings, thereby begging the question of how employees behaviours change in accordance with a change in pay. Hence: more conventional studies which instead examine behavioural proclivities, have largely concluded that increases in pay or introductions of individual pay incentives, have led to significant increases in production, far greater than those resulting from job enrichment procedures (Locke, et al, 1980). A meta-study of this nature, evaluated through behavioural responses, examined the effects of inducing varying motivational techniques of firstly increased pay or pay per performance, secondly setting goals and receiving feedback, thirdly employee participation in decision making, and lastly job enrichment, arrived to the conclusion that pay was the greatest motivational factor (Locke, et al, 1980). By having observed the behavioural modifications of involved individuals as opposed to subjective self-reporting information, this case-study illuminates the possibility of pay being far more significant than what Herzberg, Hackman, Maslow and Lawler claim it to be. Despite there being evidence pinpointing the absolute importance of pay as a motivator, it must be considered that its significance does in fact depend on a number of factors (Rynes, Gerhart, Minetta, 2004). Firstly, it is imperative that variability exists in pay; if this is not the case, when considering pay as a motivator, there would be no incentive to increase performance. Secondly, the effects of pay as a motivator when variability is existent, is dependent on its relative contribution to the existing wealth of an individual. Considering the implications of a billionaire receiving a raise will have ridiculously minute effects. Thus, the motivational effects of pay can be related to its relative impact in achieving varying levels on Maslows hierarchy of needs. Although traditionally assumed that pay can only satisfy lower-order needs (Lawler, 1969), it must be stressed that in contemporary actuality, pay greatly impacts an individuals perceived status, likeability, friendships, respectability and perhaps even sexual relationships. Moreover, it can be assumed that pay in the sense of allowing the accomplishment of the aforementioned much sought characteristics of man, will ultimately lead individuals being motivated by their desire for them. Especially since, descriptors attributed to characteristics are always relative to other individuals, it is vital that in the same way, the inputs of an individual-(which could potentially lead to those much desired traits through pay), relative to their outputs, are equivalent in comparison to others (Adams, 1965). If this condition is ill met, i.e. inequitable circumstances exist: an individual would have no incentive to perform well, thereby losing motivation to perform conscientiously as a result of pay. However, if an equitable environment is maintained, pay would result in motivating an individual as long as it possessed variation, and could impact status. Realistically, as pay is somewhat of a gateway to obtaining other goods, there will often be conflict involved regarding which individuals will benefit most. Variances in pay which is theoretically a determinant for motivation, is therefore met with competition to claim certain monetary rewards. The traditional method of measuring motivation, through changes in performance and output will often experience decreases, despite enhanced individual motivation: a phenomenon, explained by the undermining of teamwork and perception that certain relationships determine outcome, rather than individual input (Pfeffer, 1998). Even more so, through the lens of Marxism, pay-incentives will ultimately result in alienation from others and oneself, and could completely obstruct efficient functionality through head to head competition, instead of teamwork (Knights Willmott, 2007). Fundamentally, regardless of intrinsic and extrinsic factors being available to a specific job, motivation will be determined by an account of what rewards are possible, and are desired for completing a certain task. Hence, the reward value and the probability of that reward occurring from ones effort is what dictates motivation (Lawler, 1969). As seen, both job-design and pay can largely result in motivation, however, the effectiveness of either are established by the underlying reasons of undertaking an activity; if it is simply for the joy of participating in the work with the expectancy of improving knowledge, pay will have very limited effects in terms of motivation. However, if an individual only conducts a specific task, with the emphasis on craving monetary compensation, even job-designs offering a variety of intrinsic factors will not suffice. Especially considering that every individual will identify a different incentive for undertaking a certain activity-founded on varyin g cultures, morals and ideals, it is vital to provide a mixture of motivational inducements: namely pay, and job-design. Subsequently, as seen, job-design through controlling the extent and availability of socially responsible environments, significant and acknowledged tasks, establishment of comradeships, responsibility and discretionary rights, ultimately determines the possible levels of motivation. Consequently, if those aspects are suboptimal, an insufficient reward value for the completion of a task would be incurred. Hence, pay-which is highly probable to occur, can to some extent be used to substitute for the absent intrinsic motivational factors in job-design, which would normally satisfy the psychological needs of individuals, by instead, attaining items and relationships which could indirectly improve self-esteem and image. In this light, both job-design and pay act as complements to each other, compensating for the lack of either, and once again inherently allowing for the pursuit of a goal. Hence: it is understood that both pay and job-design share equal importance. Thereby, it is apprecia ted that single system approaches, regardless of whether their focus is on design, payà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦are just plain destructive and suicidal (Lawler, 1980, 542) and that both must be equally considered, in order to maximise potential motivation.

There is Need to Review Our Education System

Liting Wang Professor Feindert ENGWR 48007 April 2018 Critique of â€Å"There is Need to Review Our Education System† T he article â€Å"There is Need to Review Our Education System: Africa News Service. (Apr. 1, 2009)Africa News Service. News Provided by Comtex. Byline: Rhoda Kalema† looks at some pressing issues that the education system in Uganda is currently facing. She is a well-known woman. According to Wikipedia, â€Å"she was honored in 1996 by Uganda's Forum for Women in Democracy as a transformative leader. On March 13, 2018, she received the Sudreau Global Justice Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pepperdine University School of Law and the Ugandan Judiciary.† There have been no proper mechanisms to foresee high-quality education is offered in the country. She explains that, the experience of educational people feels afraid for what was happing to the education world. They worry about the future get lost on what will happen to the education. If people do not have good education, they will not have a bright future. As a result, the country will fall backward and weak. It will affect the country's improvement. She suggests that, the educational administrator should start to look at this situation. In addition, both learners and teachers face challenges that make it impossible for the education system to be ranked anywhere in the world. The government is aware of these challenges but offers no solution. Through critique, the key issues facing the primary, secondary, and vocational education in Uganda are examined. The opinion that is currently viable to revive this whole situation is an overall reviewing of the education system from the tradition one to a modern one that will suit the needs of the students and benefit them to fight in equal terms with the rest of the students, if not in the world but Africa. The Ugandan government should take an example of the neighbouring Kenya, which has had several amendments in their system, and currently they have embarked on a new system of 2-6-6-3. This will make sure that the current students do not undergo the kind of suffering experienced by their fore front-runners. Everyone in the country and even those that have been lucky to secure jobs outside the country never experienced a balanced education about 25-30 years ago, and it is for this reason that they are in pain over what is happening in the education system. What is bothering them is Uganda's future is doomed to be at a loose end, if drastic measures are not put into place. Many stakeholders have reflected on several aspects that they have observed which will bring doom to the Ugandan education sector unless a review is done instantaneously and aggressively. One of the most intriguing factors with the education system is one that dates back more than four decades ago when fresh graduate teachers had the aspiration of literally igniting the classrooms. Shortly when they dive into the adventure towards greatness, these graduates understand that the procedure has been pre-decided and what is required of them is to stick within classroom limits of the syllabus. The objective here is to cover the syllabus, and any idea of presenting new substance is disapproved. There is no space for learning for information's purpose, an instructor in class is to educate and how well one educates is obvious through students' execution in exams. Those who have different thoughts of possibly to energize the students, and familiarize them with new ideas and thoughts, influence them to think, and long to know more, are left to swallow their skills and watch as the students follow the old road of the low-quality education. Guardians and parents expect more from schools. They have high expectations that school will change their kids. Occasionally, they even observe the instructor as a wonderful professional of sorts, after all an educator could influence a child to learn. A typical presumption is that tutoring will shape the children and the instructor will be the one individual to guarantee this happens. In any case, things are not as basic and practical as they appear, and teachers face challenges explaining to parents that with this old education system, they should not expect much from their children. What the government has failed to understand is that Education is a public entity, which has a good aim of providing quality training with a specific end goal to reduce variations (instruction as an equalizer). Framework change should address parts of value and correspondence and additionally the more extensive quality objective. The change procedure must be incorporated, problematic, and transformative for there to be substantial outcomes for all students. An intricate procedure must be acknowledged through community-oriented associations amongst government and other key players, for example, guardians, current society, and the private area. Sometimes individuals expect too much from old system framework models to deliver present 21st-century skilled students. Uganda like the rest of Africa has a considerably young populace that forms an important part of the human resource. The youth forms the vital group that is thought to take Africa to the next African Rebellion urged by education and training. Based on the problems that the Ugandan education system is facing, the following are some of the ways that can help redeem the learners from surging into the problematic conditions just like their predecessors. Education syllabus The current education syllabus needs through amending to suite Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE). This will enable students to gain more skills based on their talents rather than based on theories. Practical's need to be more encouraged in schools as different learners have different learning abilities. Promotion of students With a review of education systems, students can be graded based on their talents rather than their class performance. Even with the recommendation of automatically promoting students to the next grade, there can be incentives, which will see students grouped based on their talents. Vocational/technical courses The revised curriculum needs to focus on the vocational and technical teaching, to provide young skills together with the academic learning. Teaching the young people skills means that they will never be lost children. This calls for the movement to come up with improved and more accessible vocational colleges, which are modern and which go hand in hand with the rest of the world to ensure students rank well outside Africa and the rest of the world when they go job seeking. In addition to that, parents should be taught to encourage their children not to follow the old model of only seeing them worth if they take white color jobs. In conclusion, anything that contributes to meeting the huge needs of the education systems in Africa is a positive thing. Such programs or projects are driven by people who want to serve the general good of the country in the area that, as a reminder, is the top priority of all priorities. The impression that one's gets is that there is a desire to be involved in proposing the beginnings of a solution, a standard foundation for teaching that will integrate specific local features and at the same time train future citizens of an interconnected and culturally very mixed world. A change of school learning system will reflect this concept, and it is an interesting one. The important thing is that there are on-going discussion and dialogue, and adjustments constantly being made to ensure the consistency at country level and then ideally, at the level of each regional African community, of an educational offering that necessarily has to be diversified. This is also one of the recommendations from the summary of the debate that we must have high-level, national education authorities, which must be separate and independent from the governments. They should also be tasked with the responsibility of managing the fundamental choices affecting education systems in the long term, to set a course that is not changed every time there is a change in government. Work Citedâ€Å"There is Need to Review Our Education System.† Africa News Service, 1 Apr. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A196876335/OVIC?u=sacr73031&sid=OVIC&xid=d3a28488. Accessed 3 Apr. 2018.

Statement of Educational Philosophy Essay - 1103 Words

Statement of Educational Philosophy A person’s philosophy of education is important because it affects the way that their classroom will be run. To be a good teacher, a person should genuinely like the students and want to make a difference in their lives, giving them the confidence to succeed. There are many things that go into developing an educational philosophy: The nature of the students, the nature of knowledge, the purpose of education, the method of education, and the curriculum. I believe that every student is very different. Each student should be treated as an individual and not be just grouped together without any personal identification of their own. Most children seem to learn better by watching adults rather†¦show more content†¦Not only good for themselves, but for other people as well. Education should encourage students to think for themselves because this is a skill that is used everyday. Another purpose of education is to produce honest people that will respect others. Education is important because without it we would be nowhere. There are many new things in the world that have come about by people gaining more knowledge through education and putting it to new use. As a teacher I hope to accomplish many things. I would like to inspire my students to be the best that they can. I want them to know that they can do anything if they set their mind to it. I want my classroom to be a fun place to learn. I do not want my students to dread coming to my class; I want them to enjoy my class as well as the whole learning process. My students should leave my classroom with the confidence they need to survive in the world today. I think that the method of teaching varies from student to student. I think that the Socratic method† would work as a basic method in most cases. Dialogue, discussion, and debate seem to be very effective in the classroom. I also agree with Rousseau in that the child should be happy and in an environment that promotes the desire to learn. I agree with the pragmatic view that process is more important than product. It is more important that a student understands something and is able to progress than if they make an A. AsShow MoreRelated Educational Philosophy Statement Essay1327 Words   |  6 PagesEducational Philosophy There have been many philosophies passed down through the years by many great educators. Views and opinions that have varied from individual to individual. Some ideas were widely accepted and others were not. I feel that it is important for every educator to obtain their own individual educational philosophy. An individual philosophy is good way to help an educator become grounded in what they believe and strive to make that philosophy happen in the classroom. 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