Motivation is the person, interior process that energizes, guide, and sustains behavior. It is an individual pressure that makes one to act in a given way. Motivation is the major determinant that enables us to a achieve goals. Motivation can either be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is the motivation that is caused by an individual interest towards task, and it is always within the individual rather than being caused by any external pressure.
Workers are probable to be motivated intrinsically if they have that believe that they can be useful agents in achieving the desired goals, if they are interested in mastering the assigned task. On the other hand extrinsic motivation is that motivation that is caused by external factors. The ordinary extrinsic motivations are the rewards such as cash, grades, and punishment threats.
Workers therefore need to be motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically. Organization therefore requires to find a proper way of motivating their workers, since through these motivations the company performance are more likely to improve as it have been mentioned in various motivation theories.
Methods used by Google to motivate its staff
There are various theories that can be used to analyze the methods that Google employs to motivate its employees. A Elton Mayo theory is more appropriate in analyzing the motivation methods that Google uses. Elton Mayo in his theory believes that workers motivations are not because of money alone. They can be motivated through company meeting their social needs when at work.
This is greatly practiced by Google. In Google workers do not concentrate on work alone. They involve themselves in pursuing other interests ranging from cross-country cycling to testing of wine, from flying to Frisbee. Elton mayo in his theory introduced the school of thought for human relation, which concentrates on executives taking good care of their employees, handle the workers as people who posses valuable opinions and understands that employees enjoy interacting to each other.
This is usually practiced by Google as motivation to their staff. In Google it is believed that each worker is equally important part of their good performance. Workers are free to share their innovative ideas and opinions. In Google there is no employee who is superior than the other. Every workers opinion is equal. This can greatly help Google to adopt innovative ways of conducting its operations and intern contributes to its success.
Mayo performed a number of experiments to determine the performance between motivated workers and workers who are working minus being motivated. Mayo isolated two groups of female employees and analyzed the impact on their levels of productivity. Melton expectation was to see productivity levels reduce as lighting or other factors become constantly worse. He was surprised to see that whenever the light change or working conditions, the employee’s productivity levels increase or remain constant.
From the experiment Mayo concluded that better communication between managers and employees is one way of motivating workers. Managers in Google always associate with employees in a good manner. The employees are free to sit at any table and also the employees are free to talk to Googlers from different teams. The Google employees are free to talk with Larry or Sergey every week. They are also free to play valley ball with their managers.
Mayo advocated for team work. Therefore firms should change production system to promote application of team work and set up personnel departments to promote greater manager participation in looking after interests of employees. Google always employ the same method to motivate its staff. In Google employees are comfortable in sharing ideas and opinions. Each employee contributes equally to the organization’s progress.
Google always concentrate on employing those with a good background, mostly in computer science. Google are aggressive in their hiring and they prefer capability over experience. They have their offices worldwide and their staffs are from different races and tribes. Google always encourages its workers to work as researchers, by using twenty percent of their time on latest projects that they select, thus promoting innovation among workers. This will always motivate the employees.
Google always provides washing machines to its employees at the company. Workers motivation is attached to various conveniences and happy tummy. The Google employees like those cleaning machines are always given free meals and free medical checkup by doctors at the company offices.
Google provides also, on-site gym, dentist, and celebrity chef as benefits to its workers. At lunch time, almost all the employees eat in office cafe. The workers always sit on any table and enjoy the conversation with other Google workers from various teams. This has enable Google to deliver good services to the clients they serve using their dedicated employees and thus its success.
Google offices share some important features. The Google workspaces are somehow the same in all offices worldwide. Within the workspace there is local expression for every location, showcasing every region of the office and personality. The offices are equipped with bicycle or scooters for resourceful move between meetings.
Googlers sharing cubes. In offices there are laptops everywhere. The office is also equipped with football, valley ball courts, pool tables, piano, gyms that provide yoga and dance lessons, and various video games. Good lunches and dinners for every worker at a range of cafes. Break rooms equipped with a range of snacks and drinks to maintain Googlers going.
These factors have greatly contributed to the success of Google. The methods that Google employs to motivate their workers have improved the company’s performance. By June 30 2009 Google revenues increased to $ 5.53 billion that is 3.36 billion pounds, a three percent enhance over the similar quarter in the previous year. As the organization proceeds to reduce its costs in the middle of global economic crisis, profits realized was $1.48, that is 0.9 billion pounds, a 19 percent increase. The organization achieved this success because of the motivation factors they use.
Conclusion
Staff motivation is incredibly significant. As a manager we need to understand that humans are very unique creatures with feelings and demands. As it happened in Mayo staff motivation theory factory staff employees were affected by lighting changes. Production was further increased and workers were very happy when the manager replaced the dimmer bulb with the brighter intensity bulbs. From this theory it is evident enough that when workers are motivated they will enjoy the job and produce the best result. Managers should always be on the lookout not to introduce things that might kill employee’s motivation. Managers are therefore required to make use of Mayo motivation theory and the issue of employee’s will never be problem to them.
