Theoretical and practical models of employees' motivation

Straipsnyje nagrinėjami Lietuvos įmonių darbuotojų pagrindiniai darbo motyvai, požiūriai į darbo motyvaciją. Aiškinama tinkamo darbuotojų motyvavimo Lietuvoje nauda ir sunkumai, nurodomi esminiai darbuotojų motyvavimo trūkumai, įvardijamos darbuotojų motyvavimo teorijos, susiformavę istoriniuose įmonių valdymo etapuose, bei darbuotojų motyvavimo modelis taikytinas Lietuvos įmonėse besikeičiančios rinkos sąlygomis.In order to rise from a hard economical situation and begin to compete with developed countries' enterprises Lithuanian enterprises should find ways to increase the employees' motivation using their labour potential. Employees' motivation is a complex phenomenon; therefore, many motivation theories and concepts have been created for its explanation. All of them arc correct, but not every of them can be put into practice in our country. It is clear that society transformation processes, going on in the direction of democracy and progress, determine the application of up-to-date motivation theories in enterprises, however, it should be understood that motivation is connected not only with the evolution of society, but is conditioned by national culture as well. In order to adapt Western motivation theories in enterprise management, basic cultural and economical differences of employees in Lithuanian enterprises should be taken into account. Lithuanian enterprises have yet accumulated neither enough knowledge about motivation nor experience how to do it. Hard economical situation, constant threat of bankruptcy, legal base, the lack of experience under market conditions, the low activity of trade unions and working people as well as the low influence on enterprise activity harden and limit motivation models' implementation opportunities in Lithuanian enterprises. It could be explained that the main reason of employees' behaviour is conditioned by motives and situation, where it turns up under certain conditions and in some time. According to the investigation data insufficient attention is paid to the employees' motivation models in Lithuanian enterprises. At best, separate motivation measures arc tried to be used in country's enterprises for the stimulation of employees. Having analysed motivation theories of foreign scientists and having evaluated results of practical investigation in Lithuania, it has been determined that the motivation base of Lithuanian enterprises is the motives of each employee (both leading workers and executive ones), directed towards desirable results, and employees' behaviour is a conscious achievement of these results. It can be stated that the sense of motivation lies in the change of an employee's behaviour and activity into the desirable direction for an employer. To prove this proposition there has been created (under changing market conditions) a motivation model for employees in Lithuanian enterprises. According to the data, employees' motivation models in Lithuanian enterprises are not applied so far, however, in economically developed countries, for example in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, employees' motivation enrichment conceptions have been created using similar models. The aim of these conceptions is to give more responsibility, autonomy and freedom while adopting the solutions for workers. Starting to apply the above suggested employees' motivation model, enterprise leaders should fulfil practical investigations of work motivation in their own enterprises, trying to determine which work and behaviour motives (self-expression, respect, moral and material) predominate between workers and what motivation measures (work salary or wish to get real repayment from independent work) are more important to subordinate workers. Finally one can affirm that the aim of motivational activity of leaders should be a timely evaluation of change in the employees' motives before choosing a motivation model for enterprise employees