Motivating the IT Service: How to Do More with Fewer Employees

• Employee motivation and types of rewards
• Leading Motivation. Maslow's Pyramid
• Demotivation and how to overcome it
• Alternative Theories of Motivation: Herzberg's Theory and Generational Theory

Motivation is a process that motivates people to take action and directs their efforts towards achieving goals. In the work context, motivation plays a key role in increasing employee productivity and success. For effective motivation, it is important to understand the unique needs of each employee and use appropriate incentives to meet them. Invited expert Maxim Karankevich, Ex-Director of Data and Digital Transformation at TD “Baltic Coast”, shares with us how to interpret the 5 types of needs according to Maslow’s pyramid and what tools to use for employees with different types of leading needs.

A simplified model of motivation is a cycle, which means that the motivation process is continuous and looks like this:

• the emergence of a need or desire;
• a need causes an urge to satisfy it;
• a person takes specific steps and actions aimed at achieving his goal and satisfying his need;
• actions lead to certain results that may or may not satisfy the need;
• a state of satisfaction, which, in turn, can lead to the emergence of new needs, and the cycle begins again.

Employee motivation and types of rewards

Each person's needs are unique and depend on their social status and life experience. They can be met in different ways: some people value recognition, others value material rewards. Organizations are mistaken in focusing on the "typical" employee: effective motivation requires a personalized approach.

Reward includes everything a person considers valuable and is divided into internal and external:

• internal: self-esteem, sense of importance, satisfaction from the achieved result, friendship and communication received from work;
• external: salary, promotion, status attributes, bonuses provided by the organization.

Leading Motivation. Maslow's Pyramid

Motivational stimulation is a process in which a manager uses external factors to increase an employee’s work activity. Stimulation offers the employee opportunities to satisfy his or her needs. The manager’s task is to select appropriate external incentives and understand the employee’s leading motivation.

Knowing a person’s leading motivation is important for:

• saving resources: understanding what exactly motivates an employee helps to use the motivation budget more effectively;
• determining the effectiveness of motivation: if current motivation methods are not working, knowing the leading motivational factors helps you understand why this is so and what can be changed to achieve better results;
• career development: knowledge of motivation helps to correctly distribute employees into roles and tasks that correspond to their interests and aspirations, which contributes to their career growth and increased work efficiency.

One of the popular motivation models is Maslow's pyramid, which is a hierarchy of 5 levels of needs:

Each level of needs has specific motivators and tools for determining them:

Motivation tools and ways to determine the leading motivation Physiological needs It is a mistake to believe that basic motives cannot influence the work of employees, and a manager cannot use them as an instrument of influence. As a rule, employees with a leading basic need are more interested in receiving immediate benefits than in implementing long-term plans. Such an employee may choose to make a quick buck on one deal and risk losing a client for the sake of this profit, even if this will negatively affect his future. If this need is leading, then it is important for a person to clearly understand and see specific rewards. When promising a bonus, its size must be clearly stated. These employees may be more efficient if they work on a piecework basis, but they will not strive to earn more than is necessary to meet current needs. Need for security The need for security in the context of employee motivation means the desire for stability and regular rewards. An employee with such a leading need will be motivated if his reward is constant and gradually increasing. It is also typical for them to avoid risks and actions that can disrupt the feeling of stability. To motivate employees with such a need, it is necessary to use methods that support stability: positive incentives to maintain the current state and negative incentives to prevent losses. Type of motivator and its interpretation: material reward and praise of employees Social needs When an employee stops worrying about his safety, relationships with colleagues and belonging to a group, its attributes and rituals (common habits, slang and informal rules) become important to him. Such an employee is unlikely to be motivated by a promotion: it is important for them to have a connection with the group, not to stand out from the team. Need for respect Feeling like “one of them” in the team and receiving respect, an employee may strive to stand out and be unique. This can be manifested in changing their appearance, using special slang or emphasizing their exceptional role. To motivate such employees, it is necessary to use incentives that emphasize their exclusivity and status. For example, assign them a special task and tell them that only they can complete it. Such employees value distinctions and competition. Type of motivator and its interpretation: career growth Need for self-actualization