Employee Motivation and Engagement

Employee Motivation and Engagement

As the business environment continues to shift and grow, organizations are beginning to recognize the significant importance of employee engagement and motivation in a company’s success. The WHO meta-souls of a corporation are the motivated and engaged staff members instrumental to innovation, productivity, and consistent firm advancement. They will likely put in their best effort, foster an environment conducive to work production, and exemplify organizational commitment, making the rate of employee turnover cheaper for the company. By analyzing the theories on organizational behavior, it is clear that several factors can influence employee motivation and engagement, including leadership styles and corporate culture, recognition and rewards programs, and employees’ personal growth opportunities. This means that to maximize human capital, a company needs to ensure all the above elements are supported, encouraged, and cultivated, enabling the company to gain a competitive edge in today’s world.

Thesis Statement

This paper intends to establish what exactly employee motivation and engagement are and determine why they are essential in organizational behavior. It will examine two academic articles evaluating the role of factors affecting the motivation and engagement of employees, information that would illuminate existing issues about maintaining motivation and engagement of workers within an organizational setting. Also, this report identifies some effects of having less motivated and engaged employees, which compels one to counter the factors.

Analysis of Article #1: The Effects of Transformational Leadership on Employee Creativity (Shafi et al., 2020)

The article by Shafi et al. (2020) explores the concept of transformational leadership as a critical factor in driving motivation and employee engagement in the organization. Leadership mobilizes followers based on high ideals beyond mere self-interest and steers followers in a higher pursuit of mission and destiny. This leadership style arose from the understanding that when leaders motivate people to do more than they can, they do so by appealing to employees’ beliefs and moral values, which will help them achieve more.

The Article’s Essential Points

In particular, the article analyzes the principles of transformational leadership, and one of the significant elements defined is communication and the ability of the leader to share the vision. Transformational leaders communicate a clear vision of the future and ensure that the vision is inspiring by providing mental images that include goals and objectives that need to be accomplished. They rise to the occasion of assisting organizations to develop and achieve organizational goals and ensuring that employees grasp and appreciate their role as individuals in the success of those goals. When individual motivation is harnessed in a strategic direction to support organizational goals and objectives, it provides employees the direction of why they are doing what they are doing, which can act as motivation. Total transformation, thus, entails enhanced communication processes by leaders to a standard that makes employees embrace the organization and its goals (Shafi et al., 2020). When the vision and strategy frameworks are articulated and understood on a broader level, employees are more likely to understand and appreciate the value and purpose of their tasks under the bigger picture, which can motivate them to be more engaged in their work.

The article also discusses individual consideration as another competent component of transformational leadership. Transformational leaders know that all organizational members have different abilities and require and expect different things. By recognizing individual differences, leaders can address a need to meet these differences while addressing the employees so that they can influence them more appropriately. Another aspect of leadership of transformational leaders is the recognition, understanding, appraisal, and acknowledgment of employees, as well as the promotion of support, encouragement, and recognition regarding the projects and plans of employees by providing encouragement and support catering to the personal goals and the aspirations of the individual. Besides, nurturing staff with attention and care helps them feel valued and appreciated, enabling and encouraging them to acquire new knowledge, which is a significant element for motivation and participation.

Description of How the Article Relates to the Chosen Topic

Discussing the results obtained in the article, one notes the importance of the impact of the transformational leadership paradigm on the promotion of conditions for increasing motivation and stimulating employees’ actions. In addition, by embracing this leadership approach, organizations can enhance workforce trust, delegation, and the team’s vision toward organizational change. Notably, trust is essential for compliance with the principles of motivation and effective engagement of employees. Suppose employees have faith in the company’s leadership and the institution. In that case, such employees will feel obliged to dedicate themselves to achieving the organization’s objectives and performing as expected. The development of trust is a critical aspect where transformational leaders ensure that they practice and model organizations’ transparency and consistency and show concern and care for the growth of their workers. In addition, when it comes to change, transformational leaders also give employees freedom in decision-making. This creates a sense of endorsement and commits employees in the manner that they are willing to assume the responsibility of following through and seeing the organization succeed (Shafi et al., 2020). Finally, transformational leaders are great at identifying the group; this is their ability to ensure that followers and members of the group look at themselves as part of one entity working together rather than looking for their accomplishments. They enable individuals to see the light in keeping with the organization’s vision by aligning the employees’ efforts with noble objectives and purposes, thus creating value and meaning in the common task.

This insight makes this a valuable article for any organization that wants to foster leadership that will motivate its members. Organizations can encourage employee motivation and commitment through the principles of transformational leadership, a straightforward and effective communication process, concern for employee needs, and the development of trust and employee power (Shafi et al., 2020). Furthermore, the article covers a crucial aspect concerning transformational leadership, where the leader is expected to be a role model. Remarkably, by compromising with the attribute expected from all employees, which is to perform optimally, by adopting the new positive attitude, transformational leaders can set the pace for emulation by the rest of the organization, enhancing motivation and commitment to work. Finally, using the transformational leadership style can help organizations harness employees’ full potential and enhance a workforce’s performance creatively and organizationally/corporately, not to mention organizational competitiveness in today’s enhancing global business environment.

Analysis of Article #2: Role of Organizational Culture in Driving Employee Engagement (Soni et al., 2022)

In elaborating on the article by Soni et al. (2022), it becomes clear that organizational culture plays a significant role in improving employee engagement and retention. Ermera, Simons, and Taylor (2022) further emphasize the significance of developing a positive organizational culture as a significant determinant of the organizational climate that has a direct impact on the way employees perceive their work, the company, and what they do in general to have a positive effect on the level of employee motivation and engagement.

The Article’s Essential Points

The theoretical concept of organizational behavior emphasized in the article is culture, which must be created within the company to support its values, vision, and mission. According to this study, when an organization’s values align with an individual’s values, employees feel a part of the organization and have a sense of belonging, and thus, they feel that they have a purpose to be wherever they are. This alignment thus brings about a mutual conceptualization of what the organization seeks to achieve and attain, facilitating the relationship between individual efforts and general organizational objectives and mission. Thus, it is characteristic of meaningful work that employees make sales, solve problems, or produce profits not simply for a paycheck; they do so because their contribution makes sense and helps bring about goals worth accomplishing.

A remarkable focus is also placed on the organization’s need for open communication, trust, and transparency. The opportunity to share ideas and express concerns makes employees feel active participants in addressing challenges and empowered to rise to the occasion (Soni et al., 2022). This type of management fosters the exchange of information, where workers comprehend the reasons for the actions and measures within the enterprise. This transparency fosters trust and credibility and allows employees to track the organization’s actions to its policy standards and values. In addition, trust, especially between the organization’s leadership and employees, and clear information sharing in decision-making or the organization’s policies fosters accountability and fairness. Suppose staff can be convinced that certain decisions are fair and arrived at through fair procedure. In that case, it will increase the staff’s perception of the organization’s worth, improving their motivation.

Description of How the Article Relates to the Chosen Topic

The article discusses the importance of collaboration and teamwork in organizational culture.

Another essential criterion discussed in the article refers to the issue of collaboration and teamwork in organizational culture. Accordingly, a corporate culture that fosters cross-functional teamwork, flow of information and communication, and employees addressing problems collectively increases employee motivation and innovative solutions and ideas. Also, when employees are recognized as team or group members, and their work makes a difference, targets are appreciated, making the employees happy to be part of the team. Consequently, the likelihood of burnout is significantly reduced, and the chances of engagement are enhanced effectively (Soni et al., 2022). Organizational learning environments create esprit de corps and unity of purpose, and employees are organically focused on achieving specific working objectives through teamwork and heterogeneousity. Such an approach also helps set the tone for an environment that fosters the creation and thoughts of highly innovative ideas. Whenever employees can present or discuss their opinions and experiences with broader audiences, top management can obtain many new ideas, develop new strategies, and enhance their existing processes.

The article has a significant implication for the contexts concerning employee motivation and engagement since it emphasizes the impact of organizational culture in determining these factors. To some extent, an organization that encourages workforce voice, cooperation, and identification with organizational goals can develop an environment that enhances productivity (Soni et al., 2022). Also, during training, employees are duly engaged and motivated, thus resulting in organizational commitment and low staff turnover. This is because, with employee satisfaction, employees’ morale and perception of the organization are positively enhanced. Therefore, they do not look forward to searching for other jobs in other organizations, thereby minimizing the effect of high turnover rates. Furthermore, the beauty of the workplace is that it is still possible to have a highly positive and open organizational culture, which can still be a tool for organizations to attract the best people. The paradigms have shifted in the labor market: prospective employees are not only looking at the responsibilities that the jobs come with or salary, among other things, but also the culture and values of the organization.

The insights in the article can be beneficial when it is necessary to develop a valuable set of measures to build a beneficial and tolerant organizational culture that can foster commitment and retention of employees. Through the practice of ethical standards among the members of an organization, observation of political fitness, and comprehension of the management style and hierarchy, organizations can foster a culture that transforms employees into empowered workers. Moreover, the article discusses leadership support, gaining buy-in, and maintaining the correct behavioral outcomes concerning organizational culture (Soni et al., 2022). From this perspective, leaders are required to model their behavior, meaning that they should navigate the organizational culture according to the expectations set by the company. This positive reinforcement system aids in establishing an authorized culture and behavioral patterns across the organization to ensure the company becomes a united entity on culture. In sum, organizations must create a favorable working environment for supporting staff and encourage them to work as productively as possible. It can, therefore, help result in better performance, idea generation, and competitive prowess in a constantly evolving environment.

Conclusion

The analysis of two articles has brought enormous understanding to the impacts of motivation and engagement of employees on the success of organizations. Analyzing the far-reaching effects of transformational leadership and organizational culture, these articles have responded knowledgeably to the experimented and vast aspects of attitudes, behaviors, and job satisfaction levels of employees successfully, reflecting all intricate factors. By highlighting various dynamics of a company, the analysis underscores the reality that creating a highly motivated and engaged workforce is not a one-dimensional but a complex process requiring a comprehensive approach comprising leadership, organizational culture, and employee training and development. These elements are interconnected, and organizations that focus on the perfect synergy shall accrue countless benefits, such as recruiting and maintaining employees with the best talent, incubating a culture that is friendly to innovation, and developing a long-term sustainable competitive advantage in the industries.

In the contemporary business environment, it is essential to highlight that regular organizational activities to monitor and facilitate employee motivation and engagement should be constant. It must be informed directly by mechanisms that engage and solicit employee feedback and supported by a ceaseless focus on training and people development. Engaging, mobilizing, and empowering the workforce means organizations would listen more often to their people and meet and address their needs and self-actualization. Additionally, organizations should continue looking for new ideas and various approaches to encouraging employees to be involved. In the case of experiencing new knowledge and ideas, reading a new topic, and exploring new methods for working, organizations can ensure the sharpness of competition and practical cooperation within the processes.

At its core, the failure to invest in not only employee motivation but engagement levels more broadly must be viewed as being far more than an issue of simple ethical considerations; instead, it is viewed as being the direction for value creation and sustainability that organizations need to track if they want to navigate increasing uncertainties in the business environment. Since workforces are central to organizational growth and success, aspects and policies that promote employee worth should be taught and implemented to improve workforce potential in the long run. An organizational culture wherein people can openly communicate and work together, accept and share responsibility for the organization’s mission and goals, motivates people, effectively driving innovation, collaboration, and the ability to change and improve standards. Thus, one becomes motivated to perform more than expected, contributing ideas/solutions that may not directly come from the organizational set-up but incorporate the organization’s interests. Consequently, based on the articles under review, it can be noted that employee motivation and reward should remain a top concern for organizations. By practicing transformational leadership, focusing on a healthy culture, and being dedicated to the training and development of employees, organizations secure and foster staff development and are thus prepared for long-term competitiveness in the rapidly developing and increasingly competitive business world.

References

Shafi, M., Lei, Z., Song, X., & Sarker, M. N. I. (2020). The effects of transformational leadership on employee creativity: The moderating role of intrinsic motivation. Asia Pacific Management Review, 25(3), 166-176. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1029313218305530

Soni, M. S., Jhajharia, P., & Nag, M. B. (2022). Role of organizational culture in driving employee engagement: An empirical study of a leading two-wheeler Indian manufacturing company. Specialusis Ugdymas, 1(43), 7030-7045. http://www.sumc.lt/index.php/se/article/view/972

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Employee Motivation and Engagement

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