Human motivation Essay Example for Free

Human motivation Essay Sometimes, people are given choices to work within a group or to work alone. As expected, the answers vary. Some prefer to work within groups where they share ideas with some people, get directed at or give instructions. On the other hand, some prefer to work alone. They set their own rules and practice their own rights. Autonomy is giving oneself his right to rule. Autonomy is being applied to other fields of studies like medicine, politics, philosophy and moral studies. In politics, if one wants to be autonomous, then he or she should not be supervised by the government. Autonomy means independence from any higher power. Most autonomous regions in the world are made of the Muslim population. In the field of medicine, however, autonomy is obtained by a patient in which the decision to perform a delicate procedure on him is a choice for him to make. Autonomy in the medicine industry comes in during life-and-death situations. A patient is granted autonomy to decide what he thinks he deserves best. He is made to decide for his own life. Minor patients are not granted autonomy yet, which is why the parents or guardians do the decision-making for the patient. (James, 2000, p. 43). Usually, when autonomy is taken in a philosophical or moral perspective, a man is naturally put into a dilemma where he is against himself. There are rational and un-coerced decisions which he has to make. How does autonomy help in human motivation? Take for example the Muslim rebels who are experiencing autonomy not just from a country but probably from the world. They are pretty much determined to fight for their right and their land. Too bad it has caused plenty of lives. Likewise, autonomy helps a person stick to his goal. It serves as a guide for him to accomplish whatever it is that he intends to do. How one can allow another to decide for himself is a way to get life going. Autonomy is a tool to know the two sides of any issue, discussion or concern. (Adams, 2001, p. 43). Autonomy helps one person to make great decisions. The power to make rational decisions is a big thing. It serves as a guide for him to keep inspired in whatever one is achieving. References Adams, L. (2001). On Rebels and Terrorists. Cambridge: New Life Publishing. Caine, S. (2005). Impact of being Autonomous. Oxford: Oxford Publishers. James, J. (2000). Politics and Ethics. Massachusettes: Sunderland Press. Serendon, R. (2006). Making Great Decisions. Oxford: Oxford Publishers. Zosimo, D. (2006). The Power of Autonomy. New York: Misit Press.

Great Gatsby Essay -- essays research papers

A symbol is an object or place used to represent an abstract idea or quality. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald there are many such symbols. F. Scott Fitzgerald incorporates each symbol into the plot and structure of the novel. His use of symbolism helps give the reader a better meaning and understanding of the story. The themes of The Great Gatsby are revealed through its use of symbols. Among the most important of the many symbols used in the novel are the green light, the contrast between East Egg and the West Egg, the valley of ashes, and the giant oculist sign. The green light lights up across the bay from Gatsby’s place. This light burned at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s dock. For Gatsby, this green light symbolized the “go-ahead'; sign. Green was the symbol for promise, hope, and renewal. Gatsby’s dream in life was to be with Daisy. The green light on the other side of the bay that Gatsby saw gave him an unyielding hope that his dream would be realized. At the end of the first chapter Gatsby was seen stretching his arms toward the green light appearing as to be worshipping it. Gatsby saw his dream or goal and never gave up. He remained loyal to his quest until death at the end of the novel. Gatsby moved into the mansion across the bay to be near Daisy. The green light symbolized that Gatsby had a hope of winning Daisy. Gatsby asked Daisy to tell Tom that she loved him, but this was too much to ask of her. Dais...

Factors effecting Motivation Essay

* Job satisfaction: if workers get job satisfaction they will enjoy working which will mean high quality work is being produced. Workers will come early to work, they will have good attendance at work, workers will take pride in their work, workers will want to work overtime, and would want to help the business meet its objectives and goals. If employees do not get job satisfaction they will not be motivated at work and will become really lazy, will not put time and effort into the quality of the work, targets which are set will not be met because employees are not enjoying themselves. * Challenge: if you are in a monotonous environment you are in a day in day put routine where you have no motivation, you feel your work is not challenging enough. Therefore it is necessary for employees to have a challenging role within the work place. By having more challenges employees will set themselves targets, work harder more importantly they will feel the necessity to work to their best potential. * Rewards: if employees are given rewards it will motivate them to work more harder. Rewards may be shares for the business, profit related pay, performance related pay, introduce schemes such as employee of the year, company cars etc. * Money: money is one of the greatest factors for motivation, when pay rises are given employees tend to work much more harder. However apart from money there are factors that motivate employees such as social status, recognition, responsibility, opportunity for promotion etc. * Promotion/Career development: if employers offer employees chance to develop their career, it will be a great method of motivating employees, because they will want to work towards the companies goals and also will want to work up the organisational structure. * Training: Having training schemes within the business is another motivating factor. If employees feel that employers are spending time and effort on them they will feel appreciated and in return will work really hard during the training and will try there best to put the training skills in practise. THEORIES OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION AND BEHAVIOUR Abraham Maslow and ‘the hierarchy of needs’ Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970) said that all motivation comes from meeting unsatisfied needs. He stated that there was a ranking of needs which must be achieved in the correct order – from the bottom to the top of a ‘pyramid’ (see diagram below) Basic physiological needs (e.g. food, water,)are at the bottom and self actualisation is at the top. The need †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Which is achieved by†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Self actualisation Personal growth and self fulfilment Esteem Recognition Achievement Status Social needs Affection/love/friendship Safety needs Security Freedom from pain and threats Physiological needs Food, water, air, rest, sex Abraham Maslows Hierarchy of needs was first formulated in 1943. Maslow suggested that human motivation was dependent on the desire to satisfy various levels of needs. Maslow saw these needs as being organised in a hierarchy as shown on the diagram. * Physiological needs: persons first concern is to be fed, clothed and house themselves and family to an acceptable standard. Insys provide this need to their employees as these basic needs are met by an adequate wage which allows the employees to have there physiological needs. * Safety and security: this includes things like job security, social security and protection from arbitrary actions of others for example superiors. Insys ensure employees are have job security, sick pay, pension schemes. If these securities are not met then they will move to jobs, which provide these securities. * Social needs: these needs include the feelings of belonging and affection. Once low level needs are met relationship with others seem of great importance, everyone wants to be expected in a team, and if these needs are not met individuals will want to move to a job which will welcome them, and will be nice to them. Insys believe in ensuring that social needs are met such as liasing with one another, this is done in team briefings (informal), internal memos, emails. This helps the all the individual to feel as part of a team. * Esteem needs: desire to self-respect and respecting others, employees need to be recognised. Employers should give respect, and employees should value the work employee’s produce. Also bonuses should be given to employees for their hard work. This is a part of praise. Insys invest in incentives and bonus schemes for commending employees on outstanding efforts. They believe the team should work together, respect one another and help each other to be successful. * Self-actualisation needs: this involves self-fulfilment and release of potential. There will be a need to release ones full potential. Work becomes truly satisfying only it enables the individuals to realise their full potential. Insys believe that it is really important to encourage employees to release their full potential as it will give the individual self-satisfaction and it’s a great asset to Insys to have multi skilled employees. Insys may not realise that the Maslow Hierarchical of needs relates to there company but when people like myself cross reference the theory and Insys itself you can link the theory to Insys as indicated above. Due to the current redundancy situation at Insys, it has been closely analysed that employees who had been employed there for over a number of years feel rather demotivated due to the situation. Referring back to Maslow’s theory Insys can closely relate to the situation of hierarchical needs. The remaining employees at Insys were at the top of the Maslows hierarchical of needs, i.e. they were content with their jobs, felt secure. Due to the redundancies taking place the employees have know travelled down the hierarchy of needs feeling low self esteem and they have no sense of stability within there jobs. DOUGLAS McGREGOR THEORY X AND THEORY Y McGregor believed that manager’s basic beliefs have a dominant influence on the way that organisations are run. Mangers assumptions about the behaviour of people are central to this. McGregor argues that these assumptions fall into two broad categories – theory X and theory Y. these findings were detailed in ‘The human side of enterprise’, first published in 1960. Theory X and theory Y describe two views of people at work and may be used to describe two opposing management styles. Mc Gregor formulated two theories: X and Y, which makes a number of assumption: Theory X is summarised as follows: The traditional view of direction and control * The average human being has a dislike of work and they avoid there work * Due to the basic dislike of work, most people must be coerced, controlled, directed, threatened with punishment to get them to put forth-adequate effort towards the achievement of organisational objectives. * Most humans prefer to be directed they wish to avoid responsibility, and have little ambition and overall want security. A theory X management style therefore requires close, form supervision with clearly specified tasks and the threat of punishment or the promise of greater pay as motivating factors. A manager working under these assumptions will employ autocratic controls, which can invariably lead to mistrust and resentment from those they manage. In contrast, ‘people centred’ employers who subscribe to the alternative Theory Y assume their employees: * Like working and seek responsibility * Do care about the objectives of their organisation * Like to be fully employed and developed to their full potential * Like variety in work and are motivated by interesting tasks * Are not motivated simply by money or threats These categorise are too broad and too extreme to be entirely useful in human resource planning and management. The workforce is an organisation, it may contain different employees who conform to both theories, or display muted elements of both. The same employees may also move between these categories over time as their working environment, expectations, and attitudes change. SUMMARY OF THEROY X AND Y X Y In a realistic workplace it is very difficult to get staff which fit in theory Y. and there are individuals who do fit into theory X. Insys encourages and aims to get employees from theory X and works towards theory Y. this is done via performance reviews (Appraisals). FREDERICK HERZBERG – The hygiene motivational theory The hygiene motivation or ‘two factor’ theory resulted from research with two hundred Pittsburgh engineers and accountants. These people were asked what pleases and displeases them about their jobs. From their reponses, Herzberg concluded that man has two sets of needs: * Lowers level needs as an animal to avoid pain and deprivation * Higher level needs as a human being to grow psychologically Some factors on the work place meet the first set of needs but not the second and vice verser. The first group of factors he called ‘hygiene factors’ and the second ‘motivators’. Fredrick Herzberg developed his ideas in 1966. From his research he listed those factors which improve job satisfaction and those which, if improved or handled correctly, would reduce or at least prevent job dissatisfaction. Herzberg said that certain elements in a job motivate people to work harder. He called these elements SATISFIERS. They include: * Achievement * Recognition * Responsibility * Advancement * Personnel growth * And the actual work itself Other elements do not motivate people to work harder. These are called HYGIENE FACTORS. They include: * Pay and conditions * Status in the organisation * Job security * Benefits (pensions, company cars etc) * Relationships with fellow employees * The quality of the organisations managers Herzberg’s key point was that hygiene factors do not motivate but if they are not very good then the satisfiers will not motivate either. For example: ‘even if a job is interesting and gives a person a substantial sense of achievement it will not motivate them properly if they are not earning enough money to live in a reasonable house and cannot feed themselves and their family properly. Obviously all individuals differ. The personnel administrator at Insys was interviewed, her views on the theory were: ‘pay is not the only motivating factor, there are other aspects to consider such as experience of different jobs, gaining new skills and achievement. However views can differ some employee’s priority may be the pay, you will never get all members of the team thinking in the same manor. FREDERICK WINSLOW TAYLOR – FATHER OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT Taylor (1856 – 1915) worked as a factory superintendent in a locomotive axle factory in the USA. From his studies of how people worked making axles he concluded that: > Employees got jobs there because they were friends or relatives of the managers, not because they were any good at the job > Employees did not work hard because they thought it would throw some of their friends out of work > Employers paid employees as little as they could get away with > Employees got very few instructions on how to do their jobs so they did them badly. The amount produced and the quality of output was often poor. Taylor said that the following ideas would improve matters: * Only money would motivate employees to work hard – therefore they should be paid on a piecework system, i.e. each item made would earn the certain amount of money – this would encourage hard work. * Properly trained managers should run organisations and supervise employees effectively with firm but fair disciplinary methods * Employees must be properly trained, through what he called ‘scientific management’ to do specific tasks efficiently – this was the beginning of what we today call Organisations and Methods Study or Work Study * Employees should be properly selected through tests and interviews to make sure they are right for the job; Taylor was one of the first people to see the need to do this * Employees, if motivated by good pay, would work efficiently without questioning what they were required to do. Many organisations still operate Taylorism, even in rich countries, but there has long been a recognition that employees want more from their jobs than job security and good pay. Other writers have developed more complex theories about what motivates people at work – as I have explained a few of them above. Insys and other organisations do have a linkage with the motivational theories I have explained above. However they do not use all the parts of the theories. Some theories do not even apply to the organisation such as Insys. Such as Frederick Taylor’s view of motivational theory does not apply to Insys itself as shown above that employees want more from their jobs than job security and good pay. Some other motivational theories Expectancy theory This theory states that an employee will only be motivated to work harder if they believe that it will lead to a reward, which they feel is worth having. The key point is that the reward does not match the employee needs it will not motivate them very well. Equity theory This means that people are better motivated if they feel they are fairly treated by their bosses and on par with other employees. Goal Theory Setting employees specific goals motivates them more effectively. If the goals are achieved they get more money or promotion. Reactance Theory This means that people are motivated by what they think they have achieved. For example, where pay is tied to employee’s performance it motivates them to work harder. Their achievement has been rewarded.

The Role Of Women Of John Steinbeck s The Pearl - 915 Words

The Role of Women in John Steinbeck’s The Pearl Throughout the centuries of mankind, the male gender has been the main focus as the dominant, respected, and superior gender. Women on the other hand, especially in traditionalist and old-world writings, are perceived as weaker and of less importance. How then, can women prove their own distinctive dominance and sophisticated standing in society while still assuming the responsibilities of a supporting figure? Juana’s role in the pearl represents the role of women in the early modern world as she is fortitudinous and wise in her attempts to relieve her family from the dangers and ill will she believes the pearl harbors as well as supporting both her husband and infant son, in addition to embodying the fundamentals of a benevolent wife and mother. The role of women reflected in John Steinbeck’s short story The Pearl is quite limited, as there is only one female character whose actions are of great significance. However, the actions of this woman in the story heavily portrays the oppression of women during the mid-1940s. The Pearl, based on a Mexican folk tale, is a novella that tells the story of a poor diver, Kino, and his wife and son’s change of luck after Kino discovers a great pearl, the â€Å"Pearl of the World,† when the family is foraging for payment for the doctor of the town to heal their infant son, Coyotito, from a fatal scorpion sting. From the beginning of the story to this said point, the reader can take notice of theShow MoreRelatedThemes And Styles Of John Steinbeck s The 4033 Words   |  17 PagesJohn Buttiglione Mr. Bruno English IV Period 08 November 17, 2014 Themes and Styles of John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was born on February 26, 1902 in Salinas, California. He spent the majority of his childhood there and readers learn about his home city and childhood in his works. Steinbeck wrote novels, non-fiction books, short stories, poetry, and plays. Some of his most impactful and recognized works include: Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, The Pearl, The Moon is Down, EastRead Morecomparison2085 Words   |  9 PagesBoth are misunderstood by the people around them. Of Mice and Men was written in 1937 by John Steinbeck to show the most vulnerable people in society at that time. The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850 to illustrate the way of life for the Puritan society and the way some were punished or misunderstood due to not following the Puritan ways. In Of Mice and Men and The Scarlet Letter Steinbeck and Hawthorne share a common theme between the two novels. By comparing and contrastingRead MoreAre Women Destructive Forces?1674 Wo rds   |  7 Pagesof her refusal to permit those adversities to direct her and decide who she ends up to be. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter in the early 1800’s about a disgraced woman who emerged from the shadows to alter the precise definition of the disgraceful letter â€Å"A† on her chest. Later, John Steinbeck composed Of Mice and Men in the 1930’s that depicted Curleys spouse as determined but also immensely egotistic, ultimately prompting his wife to turn into a destructive power which end up ruiningRead MoreRedefining The Tragic Tragedy Of Chinua Achebe s Famous Things Fall Apart2188 Words   |  9 Pagesthe reader with an overwhelming sense of tragedy. For instance, the main character of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the average and short-tempered, George Milton, fails to meet several aspects of the ancient definition. Despite his low social status, George’s murder of his mentally disabled companion, Lennie, consumes the reader with a feeling of both compassion and fear. Also consider The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck: the downfall of the main character, the poor and insignificant farmer, Wang LungRead MoreAmerican Revolution and Study Guide Essay example5377 Words   |  22 Pagesthe main causes of Bacon’s rebellion: 3 examples (9ts) b) Speculate the significance of the outcome of Bacon’s Rebellion with respect to the development of government in colonial America. 3 examples (9pts) 4. Compare and contrast the status of women in the South with that of New England (10pts) Chapter 5 Study Guide â€Å"The Eve of Revolution† 1. Many immigrants poured into colonial America, yet â€Å"the land of opportunity† was not a world of equality and consensus. Explain why they continued