This essay will explore the importance of motivation in the work environment and the effective methods to maintain company morale along with increasing productivity. Managers are continually challenged to motivate a workforce to do two things. The first is to motivate employees to work toward helping the organization achieve its goals. The second is to motivate employees to work toward achieving their own personal goals. (Buchbinder 2012)
Motivation can be a very powerful thing. It is used to give individuals accountability, direction, persistence and more effort in what they are doing or trying to achieve. Good leadership is vital in keeping employees motivated. Understanding what motivates people; managers can better understand their employees and what their needs are to be successful and productive. An employee who is highly motivated works hard at their job and shows enjoyment in what they are doing. As a health care manager you play a large role in how motivated your employees are in doing assigned tasks, reaching goals along with daily duties.
Oftentimes when you read about motivation, the term engaged appears within the same context. In order to be motivated, employees must be engaged—and in order to be engaged, they must be motivated. Disengaged employees bring morale down and impact the organization’s bottom line. (Buchbinder 2012)
“Positive reinforcement can be a valuable tool and strengthens the frequency of desirable behavior by making a satisfying result depending on its reappearance” (Lombardi, Schermerhorn, & Kramer, 2007, p. 288). Using positive reinforcement in the workplace I would be mindful of two very important laws, the law of contingent reinforcement and the law of immediate reinforcement. “The law of contingent reinforcement: For a reward to have maximum reinforcing value, it must be delivered only if the desirable behavior is exhibited.