Motivation

Motivation stimulates people and encourages them willingly to put more effort into doing something. Well-motivated employees will feel fulfilled and happy in the workplace. Additionally, they are likely to be more productive and produce work of a higher quality. This case study focuses upon three different theories of motivation and uses these to illustrate how employees are motivated within an engineering environment at Siemens.

Motivated individuals are influenced by a number of different factors. Initially, everybody has basic needs, such as for food or accommodation, which pay can provide. However, there are many other different factors that motivate individuals. A creative environment, such as that provided by engineering, can be very stimulating. Some staff at Siemens thrive on the problem-solving aspect of their roles and respond to challenges. Other employees find the varied nature of the work motivating – having the opportunity to try different roles. Siemens employees also value the fact that they are allowed to be imaginative and can influence their own work.

The structure of Siemens motivates individuals by empowering them to improve processes. Siemens provides the sort of environment where workers can learn new things and are given the opportunity to progress within the business. This culture demonstrates that Siemens values its employees and helps to recruit the next generation of engineers.

A motivated workforce puts more energy into work in order to achieve the required outcomes:

• Motivated employees feel that their work is special.
• They are encouraged to take pride in what they do.
• There is low absenteeism because employees are happy to go to work.
• Individuals are more loyal to the organisation and stay longer because their needs are being met.

Unmotivated workers will not be as satisfied with their role in the work environment. The job may not be as important for them and this may lead to poor performance. The workers may not be as efficient. They are likely to be absent more often and may ultimately leave the organisation.

All of these factors will have a negative impact on a business, either through a drop in reputation, poor productivity or increased costs involved in replacing workers or covering absent staff.