How do we motivate people who are

engaged in mundane activities?

Mounika Mekla (DM17121)
Vishnu V Unni (DM17159)
Bhavana Reddy Mula (DM17162)
Arpit Garg (DM17165)
Anand Singhania (DM17104)

Introduction:
There is person called xxx, of age 30, working in Sodexo of Great lakes
institute of management Chennai as service man. The main role in his job
is to serve the food. Sometimes he will help to others for their work and
sometime he will seek the help from others. His role may extend to floor
cleaning, plate washing, maintaining the hygiene of the mess, handling the
cash counter etc. He has to work for 12 hours in a day from morning 7AM to
3PM and 7PM to 11PM. He is very dedicated to the work. There is no fixed
day for the week off in the Sodexo. The employees are allowed to take one
holiday on any day in the week but they have to inform one day before and
they have the privilege to take to emergency leave. Apart from this he is
getting the medical and accommodation benefits from the Sodexo.
There is an appraisal system in the Sodexo which involves the general
increment for everyone as well as performance based. When the employee
performs well, we will be getting both appraisals. And they have recognition
policy, every month star performer will be recognized according to this. Apart
from this, employee will get the bonus for the Dewali. They celebrate the
birthdays of the employees and conduct the events for the fun.
Even though he is earning INR 8200, he is satisfied with work what he is
doing and with pay what he is earning. He is getting the encouragement
from the colleagues and praises for the work he has done from supervisor.
He doesnt have any complications with the colleagues, everyone is
cooperative, friendly in nature, supportive in the work. He is being treated
equally with all the colleagues and he is getting the equal respect.

Analysis:
When we analyze the xxxs skills, he is good at serving the food to people,
can handle the cash i.e. he is good at basic mathematics etc. He involves
every tasks in the day. According to the job theory, he has high variety of
skills and has high task identity but low task significance.
He has very flexible tasks in the job. He can share his work with the
colleagues.
As there is no variable pay system in his organization, he is getting paid
according to the general increment and performance based. He is being paid
based on the policy. So the internal equity is maintained. This led to perform
the job well with self-motivated.
With the amount which he is earning, he is able spend for his food, cloth etc
and is financially secured. As he is earning, he is being respected by the love
and belongings from the village. According to the Maslows hierarchy his
physiological, safety & security and social needs are satisfied. Now he is
trying to fulfill his esteem need by growing in his career. According to
Maslow, an individual remains at a particular need level until that need is
satisfied.

But when we related this to ERG theory of Alderfer, his existence needs are
satisfied i.e. individual physiological and physical safety needs are satisfied.
He is maintaining significant interpersonal relationships (be it with family,
peers or superiors), getting recognition. These are relatedness needs. Now
he is concentrating on Growth needs- These include need for self-
development and personal growth and advancement. Maslows self-
actualization needs and intrinsic component of esteem needs fall under this
category of need.

While Maslows need hierarchy theory is rigid as it assumes that the needs
follow a specific and orderly hierarchy and unless a lower-level need is
satisfied, an individual cannot proceed to the higher-level need; ERG Theory
of motivation is very flexible as he perceived the needs as a range/variety
rather than perceiving them as a hierarchy. According to Alderfer, an
individual can work on growth needs even if his existence or relatedness
needs remain unsatisfied. Thus, he gives explanation to the issue of
starving artist who can struggle for growth even if he is hungry.

Xxx id self-directed, enjoys his work and accepts the responsibility at work.
So he belongs to theory Y category according to McGregors Theory X and
Theory Y.

During the interview with xxx, we came to know, he is satisfied with the
earnings, getting good rewards and appreciations, has good working
conditions, has good relationship with the colleague. At the same time he is
concentrating on his own career by involving and learning various works in
the organization. So according to the Hertzberg motivation hygiene theory
he is not dissatisfied as his hygiene factors are fulfilled and he is becoming
expert in the skills which he possess.

When we relate this to the management, the job should have the challenge
to utilize the ability of the employee. Xxx is demonstrating the increasing
levels of ability that will create increasing levels of responsibility as he grows
in career.

But job satisfaction may not led to motivation or productivity. Satisfying all
the hygiene factors means we are treating the employees to be not
dissatisfied but not satisfied. The employee should be motivated when there
is motivation factors like growth, responsibility, achievements in the
organization. Therefore, hygiene factors must be there to remove
dissatisfaction and motivation factors to be there to create satisfaction.

Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation to engage in an activity for its own

sake. People who are intrinsically motivated perform tasks and engage in
behaviors because they find them enjoyable. Simply participating in the
activity is reward enough. Xxx falls into this category. He is enjoying the work
what he is doing currently and is happy about that. He needs no other
motivator to continue in the work.

On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is motivation promoted by factors

external to the individual. Individuals who are extrinsically motivated work on
tasks because they believe that participation will result in desirable
outcomes such as a reward or praise. Xxx is motivated by external rewards
such as praise to perform well.

It is easy to assume that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation fall along a

continuum with intrinsic motivation on one end and extrinsic on the other.
However, there is no automatic relationship between the two. For any
activity, an individual may have both high extrinsic and intrinsic motivation,
low or in between, on any given day.
Xxx is intrinsically motivated by his personal interest i.e. serving the food to
people, but he is also motivated extrinsically by rewards to get the
recognition among the colleagues.
Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are time and context dependent.
Things that people find interesting one day can slowly become mundane the
next; doing something because one wants to can easily become doing it
because one has to. Suppose, if xxx was became in charger to the people/
trainer to the colleagues to train in serving , his intrinsic motivation for
serving the food might decrease because now he has to train the people.
In the organization like Sodexo, the serving the food is the major task, as the
employees are dealing with people in this task. So organization has to Use
some motivational tools to encourage their employees who are serving the
food to perform at their maximum

Learnings:
Motivation involves goals and requires activity. Goals provide the impetus for
and the direction of action. Motivation directs behavior toward particular
goals. Motivation determines the specific goals toward which people strive.
Motivation also leads to increased effort and energy. Motivation determines
whether the employee will pursue a task (even a difficult one) with
enthusiasm or a lackluster attitude.
Motivation increases the initiation and persistence of activities. Motivation
will increase employees' time on task and is also an important factor
affecting their learning and achievement.
Membership in a group can impact sense of self-concept because it allows an
individual to take pride in being part of larger successes. For example, if an
entire team earned an award for performance, an employee would feel a
sense of pride by contributing to the success of the team, no matter how
much he or she actually individually contributed.
Finally, motivation leads to improved performance. Everything that we have
discussed effort, initiation lead to improved performance.