Free Custom «Work Motivation» Essay Paper

All along debate has been there on whether people work best when motivated by sense of purpose rather than the pursuit for money. In my own view, they work best when they have a proper understanding of why they are working. It is true that many people work for money but, they work best when they are aware of what they want to achieve or to accomplish. Having a sense of purpose means that an individual expects to have certain results after doing the work and these results may not necessarily be money. An individual, for example, a carpenter, will work to see a smart building at the end and will feel proud having built the house.

The sense of purpose is powerful when it comes to motivation. Without the sense of purpose, it becomes hard to know your goals and, without clear goals, one cannot achieve anything. It will even be hard to work hard since one will not know what he is working towards. Many different things motivate a person but, without a clear reason as to why motivation is crucial, motivation may never happen. Motivation is valuable and, without it, individuals would not work to their level best (Evans, 2011).

 

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When one gets a clear sense of purpose, he can achieve the set goals because he will be working towards achieving those goals. A clear understanding of the need for motivation assists one, to achieve whatever he wants. When a person starts some work with clearly laid down goals, he is likely to achieve what he wants unlike a person who lacks a clear sense of purpose. Knowing the purpose means understanding why one is in that job and, not in another job. This understanding helps in doing the job perfectly.

One needs to know what he wants to achieve. The purpose could be something small such as cooking a delicious meal, or something significant such as purchasing a house. Whatever purpose is, one needs to have it in mind and must work towards achieving it. An individual’s purpose could also be to improve his efficiency at work and, by the end of it all; he will get his salary. The salary is not the motivator in this case but the motivator is the purpose, which is to improve your efficiency. Sense of purpose is, therefore, critical in achieving the set goals (Deci, 2005).

A clear purpose will also make a person not to give up even when a task proves to be quite difficult. This is so because with a purpose it means something must be achieved no matter how tough it appears to be. Purpose helps an individual not to lose the sense of direction because he exactly knows what he wants to achieve. Without knowing how the results will look like, a person can end up giving up even when it is not difficult. Proper understanding of one’s goal helps in motivation a person and, without goals, an individual must be working for the sake of it. With the sense of purpose, a person will achieve his set goals, the organization’s goals, the mission and in the long run, the vision (Creech 2006).

It is also beneficial for one to reward oneself after achieving something. To achieve something, we go step by step. Once a step has gone through, learn to reward yourself. This will give one pleasure and motivate him to achieve all the set goals. Apart from the organization’s goals, it is vital for an individual to set his own goals, which could even be different from those of the organization. However, he must never lose sight of the organization’s goals since they are the ones that have kept him in his position, which he is working.

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It is not possible to achieve motivation without a sense of purpose. The clearness of what ought to be achieved is particularly beneficial. Purpose means what, who, where and why do a task. The purpose should also be in one’s mind, which helps in increasing motivation.

For example, one can keep a journal of the tasks and the time it will take him to accomplish them. This clarity helps an individual not to lose sight of anything, in that he will always have a clear picture in mind of what he should deliver as the outcome (Latham, 2007).

When one looks at the journal, which he prepared, the motivation increases because it reminds one of the purposes. If, for example, one’s aim is to make fifty sales in a month, he will start by making a target for everyday sales. This will help him in achieving the long-term goals of one month. We go back to the point of motivating oneself. Always make a point of rewarding yourself for that achievement.

Money as a motivator in the workplace has always been an issue for decades. Money, always mentioned as a motivator in many motivation books, serves a dominant role in motivation of employees. The issue of money may be necessary but it serves as the immediate gratification, which it brings. We always hear people say that they want to make much money, to earn a lot of money in order to fulfill their desires.

Important to note is that a person’s inner values contribute a lot when it comes to motivation. This brings us back to the purpose as a motivator. We all want to boost wealth, security and be recognized in the society. This could be the purpose as to why we work. It could be the goal, and indeed, working towards its achievement. Self-motivation is especially supremely relevant in that it helps an individual to lead a respectable life at work, at play or even at home (Zerbe, 2007).

When driven by purpose, we are able to be self reliant, responsible, healthy, and, we even become creative. Some people just love their job, and they will even say that they would do the job even without any payment. For example, some nurses just love their job, and they will do it no matter the cost or the little salary. Money to them is not relevant. It is just psychological, and it gives some emotional energy.

Some people lose sight, and they forget exactly what put them in their working position. We should love the jobs and, this way we can become extraordinary achievers. When money becomes the motivator, people may not continue with their jobs after getting the money. Therefore, money should not be the sole motivator. However, the moment we get a sense of purpose, we are able to love the job and to enjoy doing it. We are eager to see the achievements and, the work becomes smart in all aspects. If a person gets motivated by money, he will eventually start enjoying the money which he had been working to get and, he eventually forgets his role at the work place.

For those employees, who believe that money is the motivator to work, they end up not achieving their long term goals. Attainment of success becomes unattainable simply because they have nothing else to achieve in their lives. However, when one has the sense of purpose she is can work well and continue working even after achievement of the initial goals. For example, an accountant who feels that the goal should be to serve clients will be successful in his career. This is simply because he will enjoy doing his job and he will do it thoroughly. This also reduces the cases of fraud in organizations. Financially driven employees usually engage in money stealing than employees who are purpose driven (Pinder, 2004).

Motivation by sense of purpose becomes independent of outside pressures such as to earn more money or the internal pressures such as beliefs. Financially driven employees will keep on changing their jobs. They will shift from one company to another in search for better salaries, remuneration or even benefits. This will affect the performance of an organization in that the management will keep on recruiting new employees now and then. During the recruitment interviews, the interviewers ought to get to know what motivates an employee. This would help the company to recruit employees motivated by the sense of purpose (Gagné, 2005).

Money is, however, important, and, in fact, many people work for money. This money comes either in the form of salaries, bonuses, remuneration or benefits. Money helps us to secure decent shelter, clothing and food. With the money, we can do exceptionally many things such as investing and enjoying some very expensive leisure activities. Therefore, whatever the case, almost everyone works for money because we cannot survive without it. Money should not be underrated as a motivator to those people who work. My stand, however, remains that people would work best within an organization if they understood the purpose of working. Understanding the purpose should, however, go hand in hand with good pay. Employees should not be taken advantage of, simply because motivation for them comes as a result of sense of purpose.