8. THE SUPERVISOR AS MOTIVATOR. Supervisors need to motivate their employees to work--to make them want to do their jobs. The question is how does the supervisor actually motivate others to perform up their individual potential? Employees possess certain needs and wants that they bring to work with them. These are called motives. They are the things which make employees do the things they do. Everything an employee does is to satisfy a motive. If an employee fails to do something, it generally is because he or she does not see any personal advantage in doing it. It does not satisfy some motive. What kinds of motives do employees possess? Let's examine this further. Maslow (1954) described the basic needs of human beings as follows: 1. Basic Physical Needs. The basic necessities of life are food, shelter, clothing, rest, reproduction, and the other physical needs that are instinctive in all of us so that we might survive. 2. Safety Needs. Once our basic physical needs are somewhat satisfied, our thoughts turn to the need to protect ourselves from danger, to be secure. We want freedom from worry about our future welfare, and normally this means job security to most of us. We want to feel that our jobs are secure and that we will have an income until we retire. 3. Social Needs. All of us want to feel that we are "in"--that we are a member of or belong to a certain group. This is the social need. It is to belong to a part of a group, and to be accepted and respected by other members of the group is a strong urge in all of us. 4. Esteem Needs. Closely related to the social need is the need for self-respect, or the need to be recognized for who we are and what makes us unique. All of us feel this need when we want recognition, status, achievement, or a sense of accomplishment. It is basically respect for self. The individual feels that what he is doing what he was put there to do. Esteem needs are very powerful needs because they relate to feelings of worth and importance. 5. Self-Actualization Needs. Self-actualization needs are what psychologists call the highest order of needs. After the first four needs have been somewhat satisfied, then we experience the need for self-actualization. We want to feel that we have accomplished things to best of our abilities-- our potentialities. When we have met this need, we say to ourselves that we have become all that we are capable of becoming. When we have met this need, we have been fully creative and are occupied in performing to the limits of our capacities. Not many of us turn to this need because we are so busy trying to satisfy social and esteem needs (Chapter 5). Every person is different. The major influence is individual biological makeup. Age, sex, weight, height, race, physique are factors that bear on our personalities. Childhood plays a large part in determining our later adjustment and personality. Such factors as feeding patterns, environmental conditions, family units, and training patterns are things which affect personality and adjustment. Finally, the broad culture in which we grow up profoundly influences the individual. The American culture stresses freedom of choice, competition, equal opportunity, and rewards for accomplishment. Individuals growing up in America have a strong regard for a good day's work, and a belief that if they work hard enough, they can live "The American Dream." All people are a product of their inherited physical makeup, early childhood, and culture. These factors make us who we are, and supervisors need to recognize this. The supervisor's job is to get others to do things because they want to do them. The successful supervisor is one who provides his or her employees with the opportunity to satisfy their own needs. They will work because they see that by doing so they will satisfy their individual needs. Before a supervisor can provide this opportunity to employees, he or she must first be aware of the types of things that motivate his or her employees. Matching jobs and individual needs is one way to satisfy employees' needs. If an employee is placed in a position which is challenging and satisfies his or her needs, motivation will not be a problem. This may mean reworking jobs to make them more complex, more challenging, and hopefully, more satisfying to the employee. Matching employee needs with jobs is a very difficult process. Once the supervisor understands what an employee's basic needs are, he or she can be more sensitive to these needs and try to match the employee with jobs that offer him or her the opportunity to satisfy individual needs. Menninger and Levinson (1956) surveyed thousands of employees in many different industries. In the survey, supervisors were asked to rank ten job factors in the same way they thought their employees would. Then the employees were asked to rank these same ten factors in order of their importance to them. The results show that many supervisors did not understand what workers wanted out of their jobs. See Figure 1 on the next page. SUPERVISOR-EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION INDEX SURVEY Employee Ranking Item Being Rated Supervisor Ranking 1 Appreciation of work well done 8 2 Feeling of being "in on things" 10 3 Help on personal problems 9 4 Job security 2 5 Good wages 1 6 Interesting work 5 7 Promotion and growth in company 3 8 Personal loyalty to employees 6 9 Good working conditions 4 10 Tactful disciplining 7 (p. 12) This research does not prove that money, good working conditions, and loyalty to employees are unimportant. These factors are extremely important and companies need to continually strive to be competitive in these areas. All ten factors are important needs to all employees. Most employees expect a company to provide good working conditions, fair pay, opportunity for growth, and interesting work. Most companies attempt to provide these. Lower ranked needs are very important and if they are not satisfied, they will cause employees to be less motivated to achieve higher needs. What is important for the supervisor to distill from the research is that the needs which are most important to most employees are social and esteem needs. The effective supervisor then, should pay close attention to these areas. George (1979) encouraged supervisors to use the following strategies in meeting the social and esteem needs of their employees: 1. Treat employees as individuals. 2. Be sincere with praise. 3. Promote participation. 4. Make the work interesting. 5. Promote cooperation and teamwork. 6. Provide growth opportunities (p. 136). There is no formula for motivating employees. George (1979) wrote that the best approach for getting employees to work along with him or her is to remember the following: 1. Communicate with your employees and praise them. 2. Consult with your employees about their work. 3. Encourage your employees to participate in setting goals on the job. 4. Counsel your employees about teamwork, opportunity, and so on. What are the characteristics of the supervisor who most successfully motivates his or her employees? He or she is not the bull-of-the-woods tough guy or gal, or the one who uses fear. The supervisor who motivates best is not the one who plays his or her cards "close to his chest" and makes all the decisions him or herself. George (1979) concluded that the supervisor who motivates his or her employees best is one who: 1. Establishes realistic goals for him or herself and others-- goals that are worthwhile, challenging, and attainable. 2. Makes decisions after relevant participation by his or her subordinates. He seeks and is seriously interested in their thoughts and ideas. 3. Seeks and gives feedback to his or her employees about how they are doing, the progress they are making, and the problems that are coming up. Because of his or her open communication and feedback, his employees are motivated to perform well. They openly evaluate their progress, and they do not hesitate to seek changes when they think they are needed. 4. Resolves conflicts with good judgment, understanding, and openness. The supervisor focuses on solving the conflict rather than placing blame. He or she attempts to understand the problem and find the best solution. 5. Always communicates to his or her employees, explaining what is being done and why it is being done. He talks honestly and openly about how he or she feels about things. This process of open and continuous communication lets the employees know what is going on inside him or her. 6. Always listens to what his or her employees tell him, tries to understand what they are saying, and makes good comments about their ideas. He or she doesn't hesitate to question them and ask them, "How about explaining that again to me?" Being listened to makes the employee feel important and also makes him or her more willing to listen to what the boss says. 7. Is genuinely interested in his or her employees as individuals. He is interested in their growth and future progress. 8. Is open and sincere in his praise, reprimands in private, and praises in public. 9. Controls his or her temper. When angry, the supervisor doesn't brood. He or she approaches the employee and directly and expresses his or her feelings honestly. This can encourage dialogue between the supervisor and employee and a major crisis can be disposed of as a minor problem. 10. Is open-minded, always willing to listen to new ideas, even those that are different from his or her own. He or she doesn't mind criticism and readily admits to his or her mistakes. He or she is the type of person the employee would like to have as a personal friend. 11. Uses reprimands only when necessary and even then delivers them in private. He or she uses them to educate and correct and not to punish an employee. 12. Makes jobs as interesting and desirable as possible. 13. Is not afraid to delegate and willingly gives credit to his or her employees for a job well-done. 14. Doesn't try to get work out of his or her employees by threatening them. 15. Is not afraid to admit he or she is wrong and his or her employees are right. 16. Actively seeks the opportunity to promote his or her employees--even if it means losing them. 17. Tries to run an orderly department, bringing system to an otherwise confused situation. 18. Is big enough not to compete with his or her employees for credit. He or she lets employees bask in the spotlight for a job well done. 19. Is not condescending. 20. Is not a know-it-all (pp. 138-139). Finally, the supervisor who motivates best is the Theory Y supervisor (McGregor, 1960). This supervisor supports the employees meeting their higher-level needs. His or her approach is to supervise in such a way that social and esteem needs can be met so that the employees can feel self-actualized.