BTEC Business unit 8: human resources
Task 2: Examine methods of managing employee performance and how motivation
impacts on business performance
P3: Explain the links between motivation and business performance.
P4: Explain the ways a business organisation can motivate its employees.
M2: Assess ways to increase motivation and improve business performance.
D2: Evaluate the link between effective strategies for motivation and business performance.
Explain the links between motivation and business performance.
There are a variety of perspectives on what motivates employees. There are also several
theories about them. Unfortunately, not all of these theories achieve the same conclusions!
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856– 1917) proposed that workers are primarily driven by
money. In his Theory of Scientific Management, he contended that: Workers do not enjoy
their jobs by nature, necessitating close supervision and control. As a result, managers should
divide down output into manageable tasks. Workers should then be given suitable training
and equipment so that they can focus on a single task as efficiently as feasible. Workers are
then paid on a piece-rate basis, based on the quantity of products they produce in a given
amount of time. As an outcome, employees are motivated to work hard and achieve
maximum productivity. Companies saw the advantages such as improved productivity and
lower unit costs, therefore Taylor's methods were widely implemented. Workers, on the other
hand, quickly grew to despise Taylor's approach since they were given only monotonous,
repetitive jobs to complete and were handled as if they were living robots. As production
levels increased, businesses could afford to lay off workers. Strikes and other types of
industrial action by disgruntled workers increased as a result of this.
Workers, according to Elton Mayo (1880–1949), are not just driven by financial benefits, but
also by having their social needs addressed while at work (something that Taylor ignored).
He popularized the Human Relation School of thinking, which advocated for managers to
show more interest in their employees, respect them as persons with valuable perspectives,
and recognize that workers love connecting with one another. Mayo conducted a series of
trials at the Western Electric Company's Hawthorne factory near Chicago. He evaluated the
impact of modifying elements such as lighting and working environment on the performance
of two groups of women workers.
As the lighting or other conditions deteriorated, he expected output levels to fall. What he
discovered astonished him: regardless of the change in lighting or working circumstances,
worker productivity increased or remained constant.
Mayo came to the conclusion that better communication between managers and workers is
the most effective way to encourage employees (Hawthorne workers were consulted over the
experiments and also had the opportunity to give feedback) Managerial participation in
employees' working lives should be increased (Hawthorne workers responded to the
, increased level of attention they were receiving). Working in groups or teams is a good idea
(Hawthorne employees had not previously worked in groups.) In practice, organizations
should reorganize production to encourage more use of teamwork and establish personnel
departments to encourage greater manager engagement in looking after the interests of
employees. His theory is best compatible with a paternalistic management approach.
In the 1950s, Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970) and Frederick Herzberg (1923-) founded the
Neo-Human Relations School, which concentrated on employees' psychological
requirements. Maslow proposed the idea that there are five different levels of human needs
that must be met by employees at work. All of the needs are organized into a hierarchy, and a
worker will be driven by the prospect of having the next need up in the hierarchy met once a
lower level of need has been fully met. A person who is dying of hunger, for example, will be
motivated to earn a minimum salary in order to buy food before caring about securing a job
contract or earning the respect of others. As a result, a company should provide various
incentives to employees in order to assist them in meeting each demand and progressing up
the corporate ladder.
Frederick Herzberg (1923-) was a close friend of Maslow's and advocated in a two-factor
motivation theory. He said that a company might implement certain variables that would
directly drive employees to perform harder (Motivators). Nevertheless, there were some
things that, if absent, would de-drive an employee, but would not, in and of themselves,
motivate individuals to work more (Hygiene factors) Motivators are more interested in the
task at hand. For example, consider how fascinating the work is and how much more
responsibility, recognition, and promotion opportunities it provides. Considerations that
‘surround the job' rather than the job itself are referred to as hygiene factors. For example, a
worker will only show up for work if a company offers a fair wage and safe working
conditions, but these things will not motivate him to work harder once he is there.
Businesses could encourage employees, according to Herzberg, by using a democratic
approach to management and changing the nature and substance of the actual job through
various techniques. Managers could employ a variety of strategies to accomplish this,
including:
Job enlargement— workers are given a wider range of duties to complete (not necessarily
more difficult), which should make their work more meaningful.
Job enrichment - entails providing employees with a broader range of more difficult,
interesting, and challenging tasks that surround a single unit of work. This should make them
feel more accomplished.
Delegating additional power to employees to make their own decisions in areas of their work
life is referred to as empowerment.
Impact of motivation on business performance.
A company's and its employees' motivation is critical. It assists a person in achieving
personal objectives. A motivated person will have a higher level of job satisfaction, higher
performance, and a desire to strive. This is appreciated by the rest of the team as well as the
organization as a whole. A motivated worker is continually looking for a better approach to
complete a task. They will always search for methods to streamline a process, minimize
Task 2: Examine methods of managing employee performance and how motivation
impacts on business performance
P3: Explain the links between motivation and business performance.
P4: Explain the ways a business organisation can motivate its employees.
M2: Assess ways to increase motivation and improve business performance.
D2: Evaluate the link between effective strategies for motivation and business performance.
Explain the links between motivation and business performance.
There are a variety of perspectives on what motivates employees. There are also several
theories about them. Unfortunately, not all of these theories achieve the same conclusions!
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856– 1917) proposed that workers are primarily driven by
money. In his Theory of Scientific Management, he contended that: Workers do not enjoy
their jobs by nature, necessitating close supervision and control. As a result, managers should
divide down output into manageable tasks. Workers should then be given suitable training
and equipment so that they can focus on a single task as efficiently as feasible. Workers are
then paid on a piece-rate basis, based on the quantity of products they produce in a given
amount of time. As an outcome, employees are motivated to work hard and achieve
maximum productivity. Companies saw the advantages such as improved productivity and
lower unit costs, therefore Taylor's methods were widely implemented. Workers, on the other
hand, quickly grew to despise Taylor's approach since they were given only monotonous,
repetitive jobs to complete and were handled as if they were living robots. As production
levels increased, businesses could afford to lay off workers. Strikes and other types of
industrial action by disgruntled workers increased as a result of this.
Workers, according to Elton Mayo (1880–1949), are not just driven by financial benefits, but
also by having their social needs addressed while at work (something that Taylor ignored).
He popularized the Human Relation School of thinking, which advocated for managers to
show more interest in their employees, respect them as persons with valuable perspectives,
and recognize that workers love connecting with one another. Mayo conducted a series of
trials at the Western Electric Company's Hawthorne factory near Chicago. He evaluated the
impact of modifying elements such as lighting and working environment on the performance
of two groups of women workers.
As the lighting or other conditions deteriorated, he expected output levels to fall. What he
discovered astonished him: regardless of the change in lighting or working circumstances,
worker productivity increased or remained constant.
Mayo came to the conclusion that better communication between managers and workers is
the most effective way to encourage employees (Hawthorne workers were consulted over the
experiments and also had the opportunity to give feedback) Managerial participation in
employees' working lives should be increased (Hawthorne workers responded to the
, increased level of attention they were receiving). Working in groups or teams is a good idea
(Hawthorne employees had not previously worked in groups.) In practice, organizations
should reorganize production to encourage more use of teamwork and establish personnel
departments to encourage greater manager engagement in looking after the interests of
employees. His theory is best compatible with a paternalistic management approach.
In the 1950s, Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970) and Frederick Herzberg (1923-) founded the
Neo-Human Relations School, which concentrated on employees' psychological
requirements. Maslow proposed the idea that there are five different levels of human needs
that must be met by employees at work. All of the needs are organized into a hierarchy, and a
worker will be driven by the prospect of having the next need up in the hierarchy met once a
lower level of need has been fully met. A person who is dying of hunger, for example, will be
motivated to earn a minimum salary in order to buy food before caring about securing a job
contract or earning the respect of others. As a result, a company should provide various
incentives to employees in order to assist them in meeting each demand and progressing up
the corporate ladder.
Frederick Herzberg (1923-) was a close friend of Maslow's and advocated in a two-factor
motivation theory. He said that a company might implement certain variables that would
directly drive employees to perform harder (Motivators). Nevertheless, there were some
things that, if absent, would de-drive an employee, but would not, in and of themselves,
motivate individuals to work more (Hygiene factors) Motivators are more interested in the
task at hand. For example, consider how fascinating the work is and how much more
responsibility, recognition, and promotion opportunities it provides. Considerations that
‘surround the job' rather than the job itself are referred to as hygiene factors. For example, a
worker will only show up for work if a company offers a fair wage and safe working
conditions, but these things will not motivate him to work harder once he is there.
Businesses could encourage employees, according to Herzberg, by using a democratic
approach to management and changing the nature and substance of the actual job through
various techniques. Managers could employ a variety of strategies to accomplish this,
including:
Job enlargement— workers are given a wider range of duties to complete (not necessarily
more difficult), which should make their work more meaningful.
Job enrichment - entails providing employees with a broader range of more difficult,
interesting, and challenging tasks that surround a single unit of work. This should make them
feel more accomplished.
Delegating additional power to employees to make their own decisions in areas of their work
life is referred to as empowerment.
Impact of motivation on business performance.
A company's and its employees' motivation is critical. It assists a person in achieving
personal objectives. A motivated person will have a higher level of job satisfaction, higher
performance, and a desire to strive. This is appreciated by the rest of the team as well as the
organization as a whole. A motivated worker is continually looking for a better approach to
complete a task. They will always search for methods to streamline a process, minimize
