Motivation Theory: Ensuring Success of the Workplace

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Motivation Theory: Ensuring Success of the Workplace

Since the beginning of mankind, leaders have risen to take charge of societies and make decisions. These decisions often meant the difference between having food and going hungry, having shelter or being left outside, and sometimes the difference between life and death. As society has progressed, we have seen great technological advances such as television, computers, cars, and space travel. Despite such advancements, the basic needs of mankind still remain the same. Business is the means by which people make the money to acquire their needs, and managers today are the leaders who rise to make decisions and ensure the survival of the business. The success of a business is largely dependent upon the ability of mangers to motivate workers to achieve the highest results. All engineers, whether in a management position or not, should understand motivation theory so that they can help ensure the success of their workplace. Having a firm understanding of motivation theory will allow us to draw conclusions from case studies and decide how engineering managers can be most successful.

A. History of Motivation Theory:

Thousands of years before the word motivation entered the manager's vocabulary,

people realized the importance of influencing workers to accomplish tasks for an organization. The oldest technique used to motivate others is known today as the Carrot and Stick method. The name evolved from the stubbornness of donkeys who could only be moved by taunting them with a carrot. Early managers regularly offered economic "carrots" to entice people to work harder. This technique was passed on from generation to generation and was a deeply rooted part o...

... middle of paper ...

... Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.

Carnegie, Dale. How to Win Friends and Influence People. New York: Pocket Books

Printing Co., 1982.

Greenberg, Jerald, and Robert A. Baron. Behavior in Organizations. Needham Heights:

Simon and Schuster, 1993.

Hoover, Gary et al. “At Nordstrom Stores, Service Comes First – But at a Big

Price.” Wall Street Journal 2 Feb. 1990: A1, A11.

Mescon, Michael H., et al. Management. New York: Harper and Row, 1985.

Newstrom, John W., and Keith Davis. Oranizational Behavior, Human Behavior at

Work. New York: Macgraw Hill, 1993.

Ramstad, Evan. “How Trilogy software Trains its Raw Recruits to be Risk Takers.”

Wall Street Journal 21 Sep. 1998: A1, A10.

Wright, Patrick M. and Raymond A. Noe. Management of Organizations. Chicago:

Times Mirror Higher Education, 1996.

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