Money as a Motivator at Work
The word “motivation” in this essay will be used in order to indicate the interests, desires and internal readiness of a worker to apply certain efforts. If there had been an opportunity to ask the company leaders, owners of different companies, HR-managers or specialists what kind of employees they want to have in their companies, the answer would have been unambiguous. All of them would be unanimous about such qualities as the ability to think and act independently, the ability to show personal initiative and take reasonable risks and ability to take responsibility for actions. Furthermore, Wright (13) recommends, albeit more controversially, strengths becomes the focus of an organization’s selection strategy. He states “…not only is the likelihood increased that employees will be both psychologically and physically healthy themselves, but the health of the employing organization will similarly benefit by exhibiting high performance, adaptability and flexibility” (Wright 20).The question how motivated an employee should be to correspond to this list of qualities demands and is money an effective motivator at work to make each of them to become an “outstanding” employee. Competition and financial pressures are driving organizations to produce more with less, leaving employees feeling undervalued and dissatisfied with their jobs (American Psychological Association, Stress in the workplace survey summary). Solely focusing on monetary gains and getting the competitive edge, can create unhealthy, unproductive working environments with significant human costs. It goes without saying that money is the reason we have jobs and work but sometimes it may not be enough to keep the employee motivated to perform at work.
Managers apply a lot of effort to make the working places of their companies look attractive for professional and skillful employees. Money nowadays is not a factor that can make the employee work at his full both at work and...