Before investigating what motivates people to work you have to answer why do people work in the first place? The first answer you will usually get will be 'money'; it is obvious that in order to live you have to find a job that pays and adequate wage. Often you will ask someone 'What do you do for a living'. The answer you will get is not just to do with living but as a wider meaning in that people have a wider range of needs.

In order for people to go into work and work at an optimum rate they have to be encouraged or motivated to work. As mentioned above it is more than money that motivated people to work. Motivation is what makes people behave in a particular way. Companies might want an employee to work in a certain way in order to achieve the company's objective. The most efficient way of doing this is to make sure that the way they want employees to work benefits both the company and the individual worker. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a good exam

The Body Shop is worldwide manufacturer of cosmetics that are animal friendly. They have a brilliant and unique way of motivating their employees. Their staff are offered childcare, fair pay, participative management, a good work place and health care as basic components of their policy. Their staff are motivated by the opportunity given to have ownership of the goals and values of the company. The company has added a number of initiatives to the motivational strategies: -

Level 3-Affiliation needs- the desire for receiving and giving friendship and love, a sense of belonging

Level 4-Esteem needs-feeling self-respect and experiencing the respect of others.

If we look at examples of motivation in the real world we can see how these ideas can be achieved. The Swedish ship building company Kockums, turned a 15 million dollar loss into a 100 million dollar profit in the course of 10 years due entirely to a change perception of the workforce brought about by better motivation. At Western Electric there was a dramatic improvement in output after the supervisor and managers started taking greater interest in their employees. This is part of Maslow's 3rd level of the desire for receiving and giving friendship and love and a sense of belonging. Many financial companies in London now employ an idea known as 'Dress down Friday' where by employees are allowed to wear casual but smart clothes on a Friday. Also many new companies now are designing their workplace around the needs of the workers with such ideas as sofas and televisions and games consoles in offices. Again this can be related back to Maslows Hierarchy of needs Level 2, Security needs, the sense of being in a secure environment. The car phone warehouse is another example whereby employees go out on a Friday night drinking and having fun all paid by the company, also this can be related back to Maslows hierarchy of needs and Theory Y by McGregor.

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Approximate Word count = 1930
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)