Extrinsic Compensation Motivate Employees to Achieve Their Tasks or Learn More to Further Their Career

Giving employees the right balance of direction, tools, and encouragement is essential for motivating them to carry out their duties as required. According to Shanks (2007), managers face a constant problem in inspiring their staff to work toward both the company's and their own personal goals in order to help the firm achieve its objectives. Extrinsic motivation stems from achieving rewards that are administered externally, such as money, status, material things, and positive feedback. Extrinsically driven workers are dedicated to the extent that they can acquire or get external benefit for the work they complete. Employees’ satisfaction, job performance and their motivation to achieve their tasks or further their careers through learning are the cornerstones to every business’s success because without those companies would not be at a position to realize their goals, vision, or mission. Ali, Edwin, & Tirimba (2015) assert that the valuation of employee satisfaction is common in companies where the managers believe in the importance of employee well-being. They continue to say that satisfaction of employees is a driver of retention of employees as well as productivity and that when employees are satisfied there is increased responsiveness, customer service and quality. The reward for performing a duty is what is referred to as motivation. Despite the fact that people work for rewards or salaries, there are many means of motivating employees through rewards based in the performed function (Ali, Edwin, & Tirimba, 2015). Workers’ performance is very significant because of the increasing fear of personnel experts and human resource managers concerning the level of obtained output from employees caused by poor remuneration. The entire efforts of the managers need to be geared towards development of workers’ interest in their jobs to make them comfortable in providing their best to their work, which in turn guarantees harmony in the industry. It is important to understand the point of view of the employees towards extrinsic rewards or motivation in terms of whether they enhance or undermine the satisfaction, performance and the will of the employees to advance in their careers. Therefore, this paper is a researched argument that extrinsic motivation influences job performance and satisfaction of the employees and in addition, extrinsic compensation motivates the workers to realize their tasks. This knowledge is very significant in addressing any issues that arise from motivational strategies in an organizational environment.

Analysis

According to Ali, Edwin, & Tirimba (2015), the affective event theory elucidates the manner in which moods and emotions impact job satisfaction. Usually, there are linkages between the internal influences of employees and their responses to incidents that happen in their workplaces, which impacts on their performances, job satisfaction and commitment in the organization. If an employee values a given job facet, his or her satisfaction is positively impacted when the expectations are met and negatively influenced if there is a failure in meeting the expectations.

Similarly, Mafini & Dlodlo (2014) say that extrinsic motivation entails the willingness by an individual to exert increased effort levels towards the goals of an organization, conditioned by the ability of an individual to satisfy some needs. These authors go further to show that job satisfaction and dissatisfaction can be explained by the two-factor model of motivation that distinguishes the associated extrinsic motivation from intrinsic motivation. The current researches on organizational behavior have been shown to challenge and revolutionize the earlier propositions that extrinsic aspects have no role in motivating employees. Shanks (2007) say that according to reinforcement model, people are motivated when their actions are reinforced. According to Mafini & Dlodlo (2014), extrinsic motivation influences many aspects like commitment by an employee, citizenship behavior of an organization, personal accomplishment as well as turnover. Therefore, it appears that extrinsic motivation and behavioral contingencies powerfully determine behavior of a motivated employee.

Irshad (2016) evaluated the impact of extrinsic rewards on the performance of employees and found out that the working conditions and salary influenced their performance, and employers should focus on the extrinsic motivational factors to motivate their workers. The author maintains that management is helped by rewards in holding a workforce that is efficient and experienced. On the other hand the workers feel encouraged and motivated whenever they know that their employers will reward them.

Irshad (2016) is for the belief that in the current competitive environment, if companies want to be successful, then their employees must be motivated for them to perform well. The author confirms that past studies have observed that monetary incentives are mandatory for receiving fruitful outcomes from employees. However, there has been a need to understand the point of view of employees towards extrinsic rewards to determine if it improves performance levels of employees or not. Employees agree that their performances are enhanced by favorable working conditions and salary, which means that employers should focus on these extrinsic motivational factors that motivate employees and enhance their performances. Irshad’s findings agree with Ali, Edwin, & Tirimba (2015), who conducted a study to examine the effect of extrinsic rewards on the satisfaction of employees in the attainment of the business objectives. In particular, the authors examined how bonuses, salaries, commissions and the conditions at the workplace affect the satisfaction of employees. According to the findings in this study, salaries, payment of bonuses, commissions and conditions for work have a constructive association with employees’ performances. Therefore, based on these findings, it can be concluded that a positive relationship exists between extrinsic rewards and satisfaction of employees. For this reason, Ali, Edwin, & Tirimba (2015) have recommended organizations to consider providing benefits, bonuses, commissions and favorable working conditions to hard working workers, thereby giving a responsibility sense, promoting employees that show consistent hard work as well as treating the workers without any form of discrimination to ensure favorable conditions at workplaces. In a similar study by Mafini & Dlodlo (2014), the authors found a statistically significant association between remuneration and job satisfaction, quality of work life and teamwork. According to the authors, these findings are very essential in empowering managers to motivate their employees with an aim of enhancing their job satisfaction, which in turn would lead to reduced dysfunctional actions like high turnover, absenteeism and unsatisfactory performances of work (Mafini & Dlodlo, 2014).

Employees are motivated through extrinsic compensation to achieve their tasks and learn more to further their careers, which in turn enhances their productivity and that of their organizations. Shanks (2007) notes that a motive is a desire that makes an individual act, and companies that motivate usually provide the employees with motives. The author asserts that motivation is derived from some need that results to behavior that lead to a kind of reward whenever the fulfillment of the need is accomplished. Whenever the employees are satisfied with their jobs, they work harder than the unsatisfied employees. To be at a position to raise their productivity and show their efforts to their employers, they develop a need to enhance their skills in their respective fields, thereby furthering their careers. In a study to investigate the manner in which reward approaches affect the innovative behavior of employees, Zhou, Zhang & Montoro-Sanchez (2009) found out that economic compensation constructively correlates with innovative behavior in innovation tasks. Employees that expect salary increase as well as monetary reward often have enhanced performance, which in turn influence innovative behavior. However, unlike other authors concerned with the topic of influences of extrinsic motivation, the study by Zhou, Zhang & Montoro-Sanchez (2009) found that although tangible extrinsic rewards are significant in encouraging innovative behaviors in employees, too much of the rewards have the potential of depressing this behavior because it erodes the self-motivation.

Despite the fact that Shanks (2007) has described what motivation is, differentiated between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and shown the benefits of extrinsic motivation in enhancing job satisfaction and productivity of employees in the workplace, the author has also pointed to the misconceptions concerning motivation and satisfaction of employee. Shanks say that it is important for the managers of different organizations to assess and understand the present misconceptions for increased effectiveness with an aim of not perpetuating motivational myths. There are some managers that make inappropriate assumptions concerning what motivates their workers.

Conclusion

Many authors have recognized the importance of motivating employees in the workplace. These different authors have recognized both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational strategies, but they have all shown the significance of extrinsic motivation in enhancing satisfaction and productivity of employees. Moreover, the authors have shown that extrinsic compensation motivates employees to achieve their tasks and be innovative in enhancing their careers. Based on the findings of the analyzed researches, it is concluded that a positive relationship exists between extrinsic rewards or motivations and employee productivity, satisfaction and desire to achieve their tasks or learn more to further their careers.





























References

Ali, A. A., Edwin, O., & Tirimba, O. I. (2015). Analysis of Extrinsic Rewards and Employee Satisfaction: Case of Somtel Company in Somaliland. International Journal of Business Management & Economic Research, 6(6). Retrieved online on 17th April, 2017 from http://www.ijbmer.com/docs/volumes/vol6issue6/ijbmer2015060609.pdf

Irshad, A. (2016). Impact of Extrinsic Rewards on Employees’ Performance. J Glob Econ, 4(203), 2. Retrieved online on 17th April, 2017 from https://www.esciencecentral.org/journals/impact-of-extrinsic-rewards-on-employees-performance-2375-4389-1000203.pdf

Mafini, C., & Dlodlo, N. (2014). The relationship between extrinsic motivation, job satisfaction and life satisfaction amongst employees in a public organisation. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 40(1), 01-12. Retrieved online on 17th April, 2017 from http://www.sajip.co.za/index.php/sajip/article/view/1166/1547

Shanks, N. H. (2007). Management and motivation. Fonte: http://www. jblearning. com/samples X, 76373473. Retrieved online on 17th April, 2017 from https://www.jblearning.com/samples/076373473X/3473X_CH02_4759.pdf

Zhou, Y., Zhang, Y., & Montoro-Sanchez, A. (2009). How Do The Reward Approaches Affect Employees' innovative Behaviors?--An Empirical Study In Chinese Enterprises. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2009, No. 1, pp. 1-6). Academy of Management. Retrieved online on 17th April, 2017 from https://umoprojectgroup.wikispaces.com/file/view/Extrinsic,Intrinsic,Total+Rewards.pdf