Successful management of people is the most important task of modern management, the solution of which determines the efficiency of the activity of the organizations headed by them. When human resources management is properly organized, the company gains a significant competitive advantage in the market. Which is the most important condition for business success?
Enterprises' interest in improving production efficiency results from the structure of economic systems. Each of them has two parts: a managing and a managed one. One of the main functions of the management system is to create effective incentives for the managed system.
The way to the effective professional activity of a person is through understanding his motivation. Only knowing what motivates a person, what motivates him to activity, what motives are the basis of his actions, we can try to develop an effective system of forms and methods of his management. It is necessary to know how these or those motives appear or are called up, how and by what methods they can be activated, how to motivate people.
Today, there are a huge number of ways to influence the motivation of a particular person, and their range is constantly growing. And the factor that motivates a particular person to work hard today may contribute to the "disconnection" of the same person tomorrow. No one can say exactly how the motivation mechanism works in detail, what the motivating factor should be, when it will work and why it will work.
A wealth of literature on motivational issues is accompanied by a variety of views on their nature. This, undoubtedly, predetermines a great interest in the problems of motivation and stimulation of a person for activity, including a professional one.
The issue of people's motivation to work in our country has always been considered from non-economic and nonsocial-psychological positions. Yes, by combining stick discipline and ideological slogans, albeit ineffectively, but for some time it was possible to make a friendly family of nations work. But over time, even the most short-sighted have their eyes opened, and the friendly family, if not quite broken up, is experiencing chronic family troubles. Therefore, we must learn to motivate our fellow citizens not only to conscientious but also to substantive work aimed at creating scientific and technical values that are competitive in the modern world. Therefore, the world experience in the field of motivation should be useful to us in the first place.
Among the motives that make a person to work are the following:
- The motives of public order;
- Obtaining certain material benefits;
- The satisfaction of the need for self-actualization, self-expression, self-realization.
It is important to take into account different level of employees' claims and expectations in the process of motivation. Thus, for one employee who is accustomed to a modest salary, the establishment of a monthly salary of, say, 300 USD will be an effective incentive to motivate conscientious work. Another highly paid employee, on the other hand, will be dissatisfied with such a salary and become a dematerializing factor.
In general terms, the motives of human activity can be divided into selfish and altruistic. The former is aimed at the well-being of the individual, while the latter is aimed at family, collective and society as a whole.
The historical approach to motivation, which was developed in the old days, was called the "stick and carrot" method. The essence of this approach very accurately reflects the social philosophy that has prevailed in society for many centuries. Everyone who can be forced to work with a stick, i.e. under the threat of punishment, should be motivated in this way. Where it is dangerous or impossible to punish, encouragement should be used. In medium situations, a combination of encouragement and punishment should be used.
The analysis of economic systems is usually based on selfish motives (the concept of "economic person"). This approach is justified in most practical situations. At the same time, altruistic motives are as intrinsic to human beings as selfish ones. In the course of evolution, those groups of people who provided effective care for children, the elderly, the sick and the weak were preserved and developed.
to be continued in the next part