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Motivating Your Employees

The ability to motivate employees often is the difference between mediocre and extraordinary leadership. This guide provides a useful tool for understanding and motivating employees.


John E. Barbuto, Jr., Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication
Lance L. Cummins-Brown, Agribusiness Program Coordinator, Department of Agricultural Economics


Leaders able to motivate their workers have a better chance of reducing the typical labor problems faced in today’s economy (turnover, absenteeism, and low productivity). In the past, when the state’s economy was weaker than it is today, agricultural leaders didn’t have to worry about these labor issues because there were plenty of workers from which to choose. Because of the expansion of agricultural enterprises and Nebraska’s exceptionally low unemployment rate, finding, keeping and motivating excellent agricultural workers has become a major leadership issue for employers.

The most common roadblock leaders face when motivating employees is a tendency to assume that all are motivated by the same thing. University of Nebraska–Lincoln researchers examined leader and employee motivation trends throughout the agricultural workforce. This research found that people are motivated in a variety of ways. The five sources of motivation include:

It is important as you read about these sources of motivation to understand that each exists in various proportions in each of us, but in varying degrees. No person is motivated exclusively by just one source of motivation.

The Five Ways That People are Motivated

Intrinsic process (fun) motivation is characterized by task pleasure and sheer enjoyment of the work. Behavior that suggests an employee is motivated by intrinsic process includes:

Instrumental ($$$) motivation is characterized by a concern for tangible incentives (e.g. pay, bonus, or leave allowances). Behavior that suggests an employee is instrumentally motivated includes:

Self-concept external (reputation) motivation is characterized by a concern for others’ opinions. An employee motivated this way is very interested in preserving and enhancing his or her reputation among peers and supervisors. Behavior that suggests an employee is motivated by self-concept external includes:

Self-concept internal (achievement) motivation is characterized by a concern for meeting one’s personal standards of job performance. An employee motivated this way is not concerned with feedback and tends to be self-driven. Behavior that suggests an employee is motivated by self-concept-internal includes:

Goal internalization (principles) motivation is characterized by a need to believe in the cause at work. An employee motivated this way uses value-based principles to guide decisions and actions. Behavior that suggests an employee is motivated by goal internalization includes:

How to Motivate Your Workers

Each of these five sources of motivation exists in all people but in varying degrees. The key to motivating others is being able to tap into the right sources of motivation for each worker. In this section are tips for motivating each source.

(Fun) Intrinsic Process

($$$) Instrumental Motivation

(Reputation) Self-Concept External

(Achievement) Self-Concept Internal

(Principles) Goal Internalization

Resources

Leadership Development Extension Motivation and Leadership Workshops conducted by John E. Barbuto, Jr. throughout Nebraska, from July 1997 to present.

Barbuto, J. and Scholl, R. 1999. Leader’s motivation and leader’s perception of follower’s motivation as predictors of leader’s influence tactics. Psychological Reports, 84, 1087-1098. ARD Journal Series # 12509.

Barbuto, J. and Scholl, R. 1998. Development of new scales to measure an integrative taxonomy of motivation sources. Psychological Reports, 82, 1011-1022. ARD Journal Series # 12159.



Visit the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension Publications Web site for more publications.

Index: Communities & Leadership
Leadership Development
Issued October 2007