Praise Motivates
Introduction
Praise or recognition is a form of non-financial motivator that plays a crucial role in satisfying the ego needs of the organization’s workforce. Therefore, praise motivates employees and can be very instrumental in employee motivation than other incentives. Praise makes employees respond by trying to give the best of their abilities (Robbins, 2009). Praises are also important in the long term relationships between employees and managers. Manager who praise and celebrate employees’ success at work tend to have motivated staff than unappreciative managers. On the other hand, praise may be paradoxical, not genuine and may just come from people whom the employees try to appease (Robbins, 2009). Employees who are praised tend to be satisfied by their jobs and thus are considerably productive. Furthermore, praises may lower the absenteeism incidences and at the same time discourage staff turnover. In turn, this leads to job efficiency (Robbins, 2009).
Praise motivates
In his theory of Reinforcement, Skinner argued that there are two ways through which an organisation can motivate its employees. According to Skinner, positive reinforcement is a situation whereby organisations motivate employees through both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Companies give these incentives as a positive response to individual performance and behaviour. Praise can be a positive reinforcement of motivation if employees are going to be stimulated by it. However, Skinner also argues that organisation at the same time can use negative reinforcement to remove undesirable consequences. This could be through demotions, punishments, penalties or transfers (Phillips & Gully, 2012).
The second theory of motivation was postulated by Herzberg in 1959. Herzberg identified two factors that are crucial to employee satisfaction. He identified hygiene factors as those factors essential for employee motivation in an organisation. According Herzberg, hygiene factors do not lead to long term employee satisfaction. However, when they are absent within an organisation, it leads to dissatisfaction. Herzberg identified remuneration; job security; physical, working conditions; employee status; work conditions and fringe benefits as key hygiene factors. In his second factors, Herzberg categorized praise or recognition, sense of achievement, work promotions, responsibility and meaningful work as motivational factors. Herzberg was of the opinion that motivational factors are intrinsic satisfiers that result to positive satisfaction among employees in an organisation (Herzberg, Mausner & Snyderman, 2005).
Organizations today are challenged by the issue of motivating their employees to enhance work performance. Many organisations engage in planning and implementing of reward schemes with the belief that the rewards will bring desired change in employee motivation (Woodruffe, 2006). Organisations assume that offering these kinds of incentives will encourage employees and result to improved work performance. However, drawing the link between incentives and motivation of employees is a very complex thing to study (Woodruffe, 2006). The underlying question is: can any substantial gain be achieved by pursuing incentives and rewards as the only way of motivating employees? Though incentives stimulate employees to greater job action, it cannot lead to the overall satisfaction of an individual on its own. Apart from theincentives and monetary rewards, there are other stimuli of motivation and performance. Employees may as well be motivated by recognition or rather praise from the management, job satisfaction and security, job promotion or other accomplishments (Woodruffe, 2006).
Praise as a motivator can play a crucial role in the overall motivation of an individual or group. In his article “Motivation: Try praise”, Nelson (1996) argued that praise can be a powerful tool in staff motivation. Nelson (1996) presented different ways in which the management can praise employees within the organisation. Managers should make people part of their “to do” list through praising them. Nelson (1996) presented a scenario where a manager develops a habit of praising the employees on a weekly basis by close observance. The manager makes a list of employees who have outstanding achievements during the week and praises them. This results to employee motivation leading to efficient job performance (Nelson, 1996).
Organisations can also motivate employees through groups. Managers can start staff meetings by reading customer praise letter to the staff. Alternatively, the managers can also create a “wall of fame” as a way of putting across organisation’s appreciations to the staff for their achievements. According to Nelson (1996), organisations can also have scrapbooks in which employee teams are recognized by their performances and accomplishments. This will ultimately result to employee motivation (Nelson, 1996).
Mariotti (1997) in his article “The power of praise” reveals that praise is the most important form of compensation that management can give to its employees. In his argument, Mariotti (1997) discusses that businesses in the modern world face many difficulties and the best way of motivating its workforces is by praise which does not require any budgetary allocation. Mariotti recognises that a highly motivated staff working together with energy and enthusiasm can be reinforced to work even harder through praise (Mariotti, 1997). From his experience with workers working for long hours, Mariotti (1997) revealed that praise is important in motivating groups of employees. He met a group of demotivated workers and said“thanks” to them. This came as a surprise to the workers who had not received any appreciation message for a long time from the company management. From a simple word such as “thanks”, the worker feel appreciated (Mariotti 1997).
According to Wiscombe (2002), majority companies of cannot sustain the cash incentives as motivating factors to their employees. Wiscombe (2002) is of the idea that praise and recognition are cost-effective ways of motivating employees. Saying a word as “Good Job” to an employee is valuable in boosting employee morale hence increasing productivity (Wiscombe, 2002).
To further emphasise the importance of praise in motivation, Milne (2007) reveals that research carried out by Cameron and Pierce indicate that different rewards have different impacts on employee motivation. The study found out that praise or positive feedbacks leads to improved employee interest and work performance (Milne, 2007). Milne (2007) stated that, though salaries make people go to work, there are other factors that keep worker on jobs. Milne (2007) recognized that paying attention to employees and thanking them for their job achievement cannot be underestimated. She is of the opinion that the simple verbal word of praise to employees is fundamentally powerful in motivating workers. Praise in this context plays an important role in the workers having a sense of self accomplishment that makes them work extra hard towards achieving the set goals (Milne, 2007).
Praise is also inevitable in cultivating morale in students. According to Cook (2003), praise as an intrinsic factor is very important in the overall performance of students in a learning setup. Cook (2003) opined that praising is essential and enables students develop pride in their own accomplishments. Praise leaves students with high self esteem, confidence, and self enjoyment. This can only be achieved when both parents and teachers applause students academic achievements (Cook, 2003).
In his journal article, Alexander (1998) gives ten low-cost strategies that employers can use to keep workers happy. Alexander acknowledges that besides the use monetary incentives as ways of motivating the workforce, employers can simply praise the employees for the job well done. Alexander (1998) presents an example of managers who have used praise as a motivational tool. One manager agreed that employees needed to be acknowledged “for having the right demeanour, answers, work process, and practices”. Another manager also acknowledged the importance of praise by saying: “praise is always good as long as it is not overdone” (Alexander, 1998, p. 91).
However, praise as a motivating factor has its own counterpoints (Robbins, 2009). Praise may turn out to be paradoxical when rottenly used. Furthermore, praise from managers, whom the employees work hard to appease, may be of no consequence. An employee may work hard to appease the manager not because he or she is motivated by the praise from the senior personnel. Sometimes praise may not be genuine from the person giving it. By falsely giving praise to the employee and yet they do not need it may breed narcissism. Flattery praise by the managers seeking to appease employees tends to be worthless. Employees fail to be motivated by such praise (Robbins, 2009).
Sometimes praise may be aggressive and may sound as sarcasm to the individuals being praised. In the true sense, praise may mean trying to keep the workers in the same position. Employees may interpret the praise to mean the management is out to ensure that employees deserve not to be promoted. In such a circumstance praise leads to low morale and low motivation of workers (Changing Minds, 2012).
The systematic model of organisational behaviour manager should be compassionate and sensitive to the needs of the workforce. Employees respond to these by embracing effectiveness in the performance of their duties. However, praise if not properly handled by the managers may be detrimental to group performance. According to Miller (n.d.), praising a few employees within a team may create problems. Miller is of the opinion that managers who publicly praise one employee so as to motivate others are likely to cause more problems. Such praise makes employees sense an element of favouritism that can lead to low morale of other employees (Millar, n.d.).
Conclusion
Organisations have a lot of strategies at their disposal that they can use to improve employee behaviour at the workplace. Modern organisations use extrinsic and intrinsic rewards and incentives as a way of motivating their workforce. Most of the organisations use monetary incentives in trying to motivate their workforces for enhanced job performance. However, economic and financial strains may limit other organisations from using such reward systems. Research has shown that monetary rewards are not the only incentives that can motivate the staff. Therefore, organisations need to also adopt non-monetary incentives to motivate employees. Praise as an intrinsic cost effective reward is crucial in motivation of employees. Managers should regularly praise individual and groups of individuals for their outstanding performances. Praise will create employee confidence and build a sense of accomplishment that will motivate them to be more productive. Moreover, praise will help in avoiding employee absenteeism and curb staff turnover. However, the management should genuinely praise only for good performance, and not just to appease the employees.
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