As a manager, he/she is responsible for motivating subordinates and subordinates expect some kind of a motivating effort from their superiors when they are to perform a good job. When a subordinate has done a good job, the manager must try to motivate them for repetition of that good work even better that the current state.
There are no of ways in which a manager can encourage/motivate good performance of a subordinate but the level of motivation achieved depends on person. Care should be taken to use appropriate motivational tactics depending on the person to be motivated. Techniques that managers use to motivate employees for better performance are explained below:
After observing an employee performing well, they can be awarded financial rewards such as bonuses, salary increment and other rewards to motivate them to perform better in the future. Monetary rewards can act as a motivator and it can improve the performance in the future. But money does not act as a motivator always since for some employees money is a hygiene factor as explained in “Two Factor Theory” by Herzberg.
Since not all employees are not motivated by monetary rewards managers can use non monetary rewards to motivate employees. Non monetary rewards can be in many forms such as paid leave, flexible working hours and so on. This can make the employee feel that his effort is recognized and work more to get better rewards.
Praising the employee for the good job he has done can make him to work more to get more praises from the manager. A simple word of thank you/well done from the manager can have a bigger impact on the subordinate performance than what we expect. It will motivate the employee because his effort is recognized by the person who is supposed to do it.
Managers can inform and recommend other subordinate to follow him good work. This will make the well performer motivated because his colleagues are asked to take him as an example to perform. This situation will facilitate a healthy competition among worker because it motivates the well performer to perform better and other to outperform the good performer.
When an employee is performing well, he can be asked to participate in decision making when they are faced with a problem or if they are to improve performance. This can be interpreted as a recognition given to a well performer and he will be motivated to perform because he realizes that he gets all these unique opportunities due to his performance.
Managers can provide well performers with more tasks to perform and they can be given additional responsibilities in their job. This method should only be used for people who are motivated to work and foe people who feel great when they are given more duties. These people can be called people who are born to perform.
Well performers can be promoted within the organizational hierarchy and this can lead to improved satisfaction and hence perform well in the new job role.
