Special Issues in Motivation

Some of the special issues in motivation are discussed below.

Various groups of employees provide specific challenges in terms of motivation. Some of them are explained below:

1. Motivating the Diversified Work Force: Not everyone is motivated by money. The needs of women, physically disabled and other diverse groups are not the same. If you are going to maximize your employees' motivation, you have got to understand and respond to this diversity. This can be done in the following ways:

i) We should be ready to design work schedules, compensation plans, benefits, and physical work settings, etc., to reflect the employees' varied needs.

ii) Allowing employees who are going for further training to colleges to vary their work schedule.

iii) Offering employees facilities like childcare, flexible work hours and job sharing for employees with family responsibilities.

iv) For employees coming from other states /countries- providing them flexible leave possibilities to enable them to go home for extensive periods.

2. Motivating Temporary Workers: Temporary workers may be motivated in the following ways:

i) When there is a system whereby permanent employees are selected from a pool of temporary employees, the latter will often work hard in hopes of becoming permanent.

ii) The ability of a temporary employee to find a new job is largely dependent on his or her skills. Therefore, temporary employees may be provided with the opportunity for training.

iii) When temporary employees work alongside permanent employees who earn more pay for doing the same job, they are likely to be de-motivated. Separating such employees might help to lessen this problem.

3. Motivating Professionals: Professionals have a strong and long-term commitment to their field of expertise. Their loyalty is more often to their profession than to their employer. These professionals receive a great deal of intrinsic satisfaction from their work. They may be motivated in the following ways:

i) Their loyalty is towards their profession. To keep current in their fields, they need to regularly update their knowledge. Therefore, providing them opportunities for training and development is one sure way of motivating them. Reward them with educational opportunities – staging workshops, attending conferences – that allow them to keep current in their field.

ii) The chief reward of a professional is the job itself. They prefer challenging jobs. Therefore, provide them with ongoing challenging projects.

iii) Professionals want others to think what they are working-on is important. Therefore, ask questions and engage in other actions that demonstrate that you are sincerely interested in what they are doing.