Motivation

Motivating employees is one of the most important managerial functions. Successfully motivating employees is essential in the quest to utilise the full potential of people. This helps to maximize the quality of products and service. In Australia, being such a multi-cultural society and with a very diverse workforce, motivation is a vert complex issue. This is owing to the uniqueness of people and the wide range of internal and external factors that impact on it. Motivation is interdisciplinary and therefore cannot be separated from other branches of social sciences. An example is leadership, which is the ability to inspire people to voluntarily and enthusiastically work towards the attainment of organisational goals. But what is motivation? And how does one motivate people? The purpose of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive approach to the question of employee motivation. First, we explore the meaning of motivation. We investigate the practical application of various content and process theories in the workplace. The role of goal setting in motivation is examined, and the power of money as a motivator is considered. We also consider new developments in the study of motivation