Employee Motivation is a Psychological Process

To understand employee motivation, we first need toIt has been found in the United States that people who
know exactly what it means. The most commonare being underpaid for the work they do are working
definition of motivation states that motivation is theup the level that they could be. They are too busy
psychological process that gives behavior purpose andthinking about their pay and wishing they were getting
direction. It has also been defined as the inner forcemore. If they were getting paid for their time and effort
that drives us to do something.then maybe they would be motivated to do better
If a person is to a job and do it good, they need somework.
sort of employee motivation or motivation factorYou can also look at employee motivation from a
behind it. In most cases it is the responsibility of thepsychological point of view. According to a
boss or supervisor to motivate his or her employees.psychologist named Maslow, there are five different
When employees are motivated they are more likelylevels to motivation. These levels are based on
to enjoy what they do and therefore will producepeople's needs. These needs include, physiological,
better result from their work. Therefore, the managersafety, social, ego, and self- actualizing. Maslow argued
or boss is to motivate the employees then he or shethat lower level needs had to be satisfied before the
should also be motivated.next higher level need would motivate employees.
It has been found that employee motivation is the keyThere are other psychologists who believe that there
to performance improvement. There are severalare other factors that lead to motivation amongst
factors that motivate people to do good work. One ofpeople. These include, motivators or intrinsic factors,
the leading motivating factors in a job is money. Thosesuch as achievement and recognition, produce job
people who are being paid well for their services aresatisfaction. Hygiene or extrinsic factors, such as pay
more likely to do better work then those who are not.and job security, produce job dissatisfaction.