Motivating Personnel Techniques to Secure the Best Results

IN T R O D U C T IO N I in tend this p resen tation to be p ractica l. W hat you are here for, afterall, is to learn techniques to apply to the work you do, hopefully, so you can im prove it. Nevertheless, I w ant to begin by providing you with an organizing fram ew ork th a t is theoretically based b u t w ritten in p la in English. T h e purpose of this fram ew ork is to educate you abou t the several approaches th a t can be taken to m otivate persons with whom you work. T he fram ew ork is based upon three levers of m otiva­ tion. Personnel can be m otivated by: 1. Changing the content of the work to make it more meaningful. 2. Setting moderately challenging (realistic) goals that when reached provide a sense of accomplishment. 3. Offering desirable rewards (which can be given or withheld) for desired performance. Using any one of these levers will increase the level of m otivation of your personnel. M any m anagers, of course, use at least one of these levers. W hat should be rem em bered , and , indeed, w hat I w ould like to em phasize today, is th a t there is a po ten tia l to use all three levers. In o ther words, a com plete p rogram for m otivating personnel would in ­ teg rate techniques based upon each of the three levers. Given this organizing fram ew ork let us exam ine specific techniques th a t relate to these th ree levers.