Sociology

What research shows us is that a highly motivated employee proves out to be the best when it comes to achieving organizational goals. This becomes significantly important for the management of the organization that the employees should remain motivated. The question that arises here is that what factors motivate employees, and is there a single motivational tool that can be used for every employee (Luthans, 2001).

In this regard it is very helpful in distinguishing between the different types of employees that are present in an organization. There are different people in an organization all with different skill sets and different types of aspirations. Everyone has different preferences and different goals in life therefore their preferences regarding monetary incentive are also different (Islam, 2008).

After reaching this we can identify that there are two types of factors that plays a major role in employee motivation. One of them is the extrinsic motivational factors or in other words external incentives.  These types of people are mainly driven by external benefits and they are only interested in making more and more money (Frey, 2002).

While most of the managers of this era believes that money is the single most important element of employee motivation , experts believe that the most motivating rewards comprises of both the monetary benefits and nonmonetary benefits (McIlroy, 2004).

In this regard the importance of informal recognition cannot be ignored. By informal recognition we mean acknowledging an employees good. This does not necessarily means rewarding them with some monetary item infact just a pat on the back, or employees involvement in decision making, asking about their opinion, giving them authority to do their jobs in their domain, supporting them when they are not performing quiet up to the mark, calling them by their names and etc, all these plays a vital role in employee motivation as a sense of ownership is developed in the employee and this feeling leads them towards giving their best for the organization (Harvard Business School Press, 2005).  
 
Motivational Theories
As the business world is getting more and more complex the importance of human resource is growing in stature. Managers of todays business world have identified that the human resource is their most valuable asset, an asset which cannot be easily imitated by their competitors and that is why the need for keeping their employees motivated and satisfied is increasing (Dawson, 1987).
When it comes to motivation then the question that arises in the mind of the managers is that what makes their employees motivated. There are two broad categories in which motivation at work is segmented is the extrinsic motivational factors and the intrinsic motivators. The extrinsic motivators deals with mainly the external factors like salary, workplace condition, job security etc. on the other hand the intrinsic motivators contributes to the inner satisfaction of the employee, opportunity to prove their worth., importance of their work and recognition, how their work is being viewed in the outside world etc (Wiley, 1997).

If both of these factors are expanded, it can be said that both of them are needs of an individual which makes them motivated, and keeps them satisfied with their job. This concept of need leads us towards the most important theory related to motivation that is the Maslows Hierarchy of Needs.

According to Maslow, human needs can be categorized into a hierarchy of five segments. An individual is standing on one of the five steps of this need ladder and cannot go up until and unless that particular need is not fulfilled. These needs are
Physiological needs
Safety needs
Social needs
Sneed for self esteem
Self actualization

The important thing which should be kept in mind regarding the Maslows theory is that according to Maslow an individual cannot jump to a higher need until its previous need is not fulfilled. The physiological needs refer to the very basic needs of any human being that is the need to eat when they are hungry and thirst when feeling thirsty need for rest when they are tired etc and other bodily needs (Bonnera, 2002). Second need on the hierarchy is the safety needs, this type of need deals with the security regarding physical and emotional harm. After that comes the social need and as its name suggest its related with the need of affection, friendship, belongingness, the need of being loved etc. After that is the need of self esteem and recognition, this also includes the factors like self respect, status, recognition and attention. And last but not the least is the self actualization need which is the ultimate need of an individual, its related with inner achievement and pride for self (Myers, 1998).

Now if we compare this theory with assignment in hand it would show us that a good manager would know that currently on which step of the need ladder his employee is standing. Once the manager identifies the need of the employee he can quiet easily take the best out of that employee and at the same time keeping the employee motivated and satisfied. the initial factors of the need hierarchy is based on the basic necessities of an individual, when an individual is standing on the any of the first two steps their priority would be to satisfy these two needs like for example job security. After that when these needs are being fulfilled then the next need becomes dominant. Similarly when an employee has fulfilled the first three needs then they no longer would be a motivational factor for him. With this we can further divide the needs into two categories where the lower order needs are mainly concern with the external features and the higher order needs represents the internal needs of an individual (Maslow, 1973).

Alderfers ERG Theory
The ERG theory is a modified version of Maslows theory. According to Alderfer there are three core needs of any human being and they are
Existence
Relatedness
Growth

The existence need is similar to the Maslows first two needs that is the physiological and safety needs. Relatedness is much related to the social needs of the individual, need of interpersonal relationships. And the third one is the growth need and as the name suggests its related with an individuals strive for development (Dawson, 1987).
Herzbergs Two Factor Theory
Herzberg classified the human needs into two factors which are
Hygiene or extrinsic factor
Motivators or intrinsic factors

The hygiene factors primarily comprise of the administration, supervision, working conditions, and salary, and if these needs are not satisfied the employee may become dissatisfied with the job. Similarly the second kind is that of the motivators that include recognition of their job, responsibility and growth. These needs are fulfilled by an individuals work and performance at the job (Dawson, 1987).

After we have analyzed the most important theories of motivation it could be said that there is no fixed pattern from which a person can become motivated. It is often observed that professionals that are on the upper management of an organization are not much motivated by the extrinsic factors reason being they have made enough money, they have all the luxuries in the life and their basic needs are fulfilled so money is not a motivational factor for them. What motivates them is a challenging job, or a new venture, or some creative job where they can demonstrate their skills. This might not be the case for a mid level manager when his physiological and safety needs are fulfilled but the quality of life that he has in his mind is not yet achieved. This means that until that need is not fulfilled he would not move up to the other need (Kulkaa, 2005).

A survey was conducted in order to know that what motivated the employee most and the overall perception that was acquired was that it was cold hard cash that makes people come to work every morning.  Lots of surveys and studies have been conducted lately to investigate the factor which is most crucial for employee motivation and not surprisingly the finding of the survey showed that still there are majority of people who prefer money as motivational factor over other non monetary benefits. The reason why there is a high tendency of money as motivator is because of the high inflation and other economic situations where people are not much sure about their current job and want to make more and more money so as to secure their future. But still a proper balance should be maintained between the monetary benefits and non monetary benefits for the reason that you cannot motivate everyone with the same yardstick.