Motivation and the working environment

Businesses can motivate workers by changing the nature of their job, ideas include:

-Job rotation: encouraging workers to do a number of different jobs and move from one job to another at regular intervals. This helps to maintain their interest in the work.

-Job enrichment: giving the employee greater responsibility. E.g. a production worker will work better as part of a team making a product than if he or she sees just a small part of the process. The worker can see the whole job and its importance, and so will be motivated. Team working in this way is linked to 'cell production'; where each team or 'cell' produces an entire product.

-Job enlargment: increasing the employees range of responsibilities and/or skills.

Managers can operate different leadership styles to make a better working environment. If they are good managers, they will vary the syle according to the situation. The main styles are:

-Autocratic:managers instruct and direct. They may demotivate workers.

-Laissez-faire: managers allow employees to express views and argue a case. This can be more motivating, but may lead to a lack of central direction or purpose-manager may even be pulling in different directions.

-Democratic: managers allow staff to participate in decision making, leading to more motivation and job satisfaction; however this may also be innefficient.

-Bureeaucratic: managers make decisions according to a rigid set of rules. This can destroy interest, innovation and motivation.

-Paternalistic: Managers take the welfare of workers into account when making decisions. The main drawback is that managers' and workers' ideas of what is best for the employees may not coincide.