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WORK MOTIVATION: THE BEST WAYS TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES

WITHOUT RAISING THEIR PAY

Nikitina M. A., student

Abushaeva Magipervas Enverovna, senior teacher in Department of foreign business language

Tomsk / Tomsk Polytechnic University / Institute of social and humanitarian technologies

―The very first step towards success in any occupation is to become interested in it‖

(Sir William Osier)

At all times one of the most important things for most of people was a sense of satisfaction from their

work. For feeling it, each person should be interested in his/her activities and should be motivated for their con-tinuous improvement. Motivation is central to understanding and managing organizational behavior because it

explains why people behave as they do in organizations. Work motivation determines how hard members in an

organization will work to help achieve its goals. In other words, work motivation can be defined as psychologi-

cal forces within a person that determine the direction of a person‘s behavior in an organization, effort level, and

persistence in the face of obstacles. Nowadays, motivation of employees is a very important and pressing issue

for most of top-managers in any company because it impacts on organizational effectiveness and productivity.

No doubt that employee motivation is the level of energy, commitment, and creativity that a company‘s

workers apply to their jobs. In the increasingly competitive business environment there exist different methods

of work motivation that managers try to use. In fact, in recent years a number of ways of employee motivation

have emerged, ranging from monetary incentives to increased involvement and empowerment. But the ways of

motivation are different in foreign and Russian companies. Thus, the Forbes magazine has conducted the research on the main factors of motivation in different

countries. The results showed that the motivators are completely different. For example, the main method of

work motivation for employees of Russian organizations is still paying high level of salary, while for employees

from European companies this is providing opportunities for self-realization and ability to move up the career

ladder.

Also in October 2012 top-managers of International Recruitment Company conducted another research

on ―Work motivation on the Russian labor market‖. And the results may confirm that now the main way of mo-

tivation for most of Russian employees is opportunity to earn high salary (76% of participants). On the second

and third places are such motivators as ability to move up the career ladder (45%) and comfortable atmosphere

in the workplace (35%). There are other motivators but they are less attractive for Russian employees. All of

them are shown in Fig.1 It is important to note that the opportunity to move up the career ladder as one of the

motivating factors among employees in Russia is also associated with high levels of income. Therefore, 70% of respondents said that if they decided to leave the company, there was one way to motivate them to stay. This is

an increase in their salaries.

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Fig. 1 – ―What motivators are the most important for Russian employees?‖

Why do motivators in Russian and European companies differ from each other? This is because of differ-ent level of economic development, individual cultural features in each of countries, and also aspects of Russian

mentality. There is a hope that by adapting the experience of foreign colleagues and by using their own skills,

top-managers will create effective methods of wok motivation in Russian organizations besides paying monetary

incentives.

Nowadays, there are a lot of effective ways to motivate employees without raising their pay. But, unfor-

tunately, not in all companies top-managers are ready to think and try to use other creative and interesting meth-

ods because of lack of time or other reasons. Therefore, one of the most topical issues for them is to analyze this

aspect, find the most suitable motivators and try to use them for their employees. According to foreign experi-

ence of motivation, Russian top-managers should pay their attention to the following 7 motivating methods:

1. Promote two-way communication. It is not a secret that the best top-managers spend more time lis-

tening and talking. So one of the best ways to motivate employees is to maintain an open-door policy in the

company. Employees who feel comfortable communicating with their supervisors are more inspired to deliver their best work. Therefore, sometimes it is better to be interested in them as in good workers than just pay mone-

tary incentives but without listening to their ideas and opinions about working aspects.

2. Show clear direction (to be honest with employees). It is necessary to provide clear information on

how the company makes and loses money, upcoming products and strategies for competing in the marketplace,

and how the person fits into the overall plan. All employees should know what is potentially ahead for them,

what opportunities there are for growth, and what the future is for the company where they work.

3. Provide employees’ development. It is important to give people a chance to grow and learn new

skills, show them how you can help them meet their goals within the context of meeting the organization‘s goals.

So good top-managers need to create a partnership with each employee.

4. Provide high involvement. If an employee understands his/her involvement in the company, he/she

will appreciate it and work harder and with enthusiasm. Therefore, top-managers need to involve employees in decision making, especially those decisions that affect them and allow them to explain their positions about dif-

ferent working questions. Employees should feel confident and at ease when talking but at the same time they

should not forget about status and position of top-managers.

5. Organize celebration and special days. Celebrate successes of the company, of the department and

of individuals in it. It is important to take time for team-and-morale building meetings and activities. Also eve-

rybody knows that special days like pizza, popcorn or cookies days, will help break up the everyday routine and

help people stay motivated. Since it is a natural for people to get excited in anticipation of something, schedule

some of these days in advance;

18%

35%

76%

45%

22%

35%

16% 11%

16%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

What motivators are the most important for Russian employees?

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6. Create good work environment. Top-managers should strive to create a work environment that is

open, trusting and fun. They need to encourage new ideas and initiatives. Each employee would like to feel com-

fortable in their workplace. So it is important to create interesting design of offices with pictures on the walls,

plants and creative details. Work space should be suitable for everyone (not only for top-managers);

7. Do not forget to commend employees and give them “personal thanks”. It is necessary to remem-

ber about thanks. A simple ―thank you‖ employee for doing a good job one-on-one, in writing, or both, still goes

a long way in motivating employees. Thus, supervisors should do it timely, often and sincerely. Also they can

create a ―Wall of Fame‖ for employees‘ certificates, awards, and letters of thanks and make a note of employees‘

birthdays and give them a card or gift. It is always much appreciated.

As we can see, none of these tips are very complicated. In fact, most of them are very simple. What is re-

ally hard for managers is to realize that these steps will make a difference in the company. With time, most of employees in the organization will understand it and begin to notice a positive differ-

ence. Thus, top-managers of Russian companies should analyze all the motivating methods that can be used

without raising employees‘ pay in order to improve effectiveness in the company and change people‘s views on

work motivation. Everybody should understand that motivated staff is the cornerstone of quality customer ser-

vice and product innovation. And by acknowledging your employees‘ achievements, you let them know their

contributions are integral to the organization‘s success.

References:

1. Understanding and Managing – Organizational Behavior. – 2009 – pp. 174-180;

2. Ways to motivate your employees – 2012 – www.my.jobsdb.com/MY/EN/V6HTML/employer/504_career.html;

3. Dave Worman, Motivation employees without raising their pay – 2012 –

www.biztrain.com/motivation/stories/20ways.htm;

4. Employee motivation – 2010 – www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Di-Eq/Employee-

Motivation.html;

5. Jacki Bradbury-Guerrero, Ways to motivate your employees – 2011 –

www.contractingbusiness.com/feature/cb_imp_24934

ENERGY CONSERVATION: MANAGEMENT’S SIDE VIEW

Orumbayeva Sh.R.

Master in Management, PhD candidate

Almaty, University of International Business

Energy conservation is one of the major issues in all commercial companies. Some of these companies

pay different level of attention to this issue that is why the range of the energy conservation problem can vary

according to its significance in the company. Therefore some of them try to conserve energy by managing both

production process and all other socio-economical issues, while others are satisfied with just power-saving. To

the first group we usually attribute all companies which have complicated production process (oil and gas explo-

ration and production, metallurgical works, industries, etc.); as for the second one we refer all other commercial companies (financial, social, etc.).

In present conditions, speaking of effective energy conservation, we mostly talk about industrial produc-

tion companies, whose work is based on heating technologies, since the practical implementation of the economy

of major fuel, heat and energy reserves is possible solely here.

Energy conservation refers to efforts made to reduce energy consumption. Energy conservation can be

achieved through increased efficient energy use, in conjunction with decreased energy consumption and/or re-

duced consumption from conventional energy sources. /1/

Energy conservation can result in many spheres such as financial capital issues (maximizing profit), envi-

ronmental quality (energy saving methods and equipment), national security (national policy on energy conser-

vation, legislative base, programs), personal security, and human comfort (as the humans are final consumers of

energy and its products). Individuals and organizations that are direct consumers of energy choose to conserve

energy to reduce energy costs and promote economic security. Industrial and commercial users can increase en-ergy use efficiency to maximize profit by implementing new technologies into operations process. /Ibid/

Talking on energy conservation at the companies and consumers level we should refer to the national pol-

icy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of energy conservation.