                        8.  THE SUPERVISOR AS MOTIVATOR.
        
             Supervisors need to motivate their employees to work--to
        make them want to do their jobs.  The question is how does the
        supervisor actually motivate others to perform up their
        individual potential?  
        
             Employees possess certain needs and wants that they bring to
        work with them.  These are called motives.  They are the things
        which make employees do the things they do.  Everything an
        employee does is to satisfy a motive.  If an employee fails to do
        something, it generally is because he or she does not see any
        personal advantage in doing it.  It does not satisfy some motive.
        
             What kinds of motives do employees possess?  Let's examine
        this further.  
        
             Maslow (1954) described the basic needs of human beings as
        follows:
        
        1.   Basic Physical Needs.  The basic necessities of life are
             food, shelter, clothing, rest, reproduction, and the other
             physical needs that are instinctive in all of us so that we
             might survive.  
        
        2.   Safety Needs.  Once our basic physical needs are somewhat
             satisfied, our thoughts turn to the need to protect
             ourselves from danger, to be secure.  We want freedom from
             worry about our future welfare, and normally this means job
             security to most of us.  We want to feel that our jobs are
             secure and that we will have an income until we retire.
        
        3.   Social Needs.  All of us want to feel that we are "in"--that
             we are a member of or belong to a certain group.  This is
             the social need.  It is to belong to a part of a group, and
             to be accepted and respected by other members of the group
             is a strong urge in all of us.
        
        4.   Esteem Needs.  Closely related to the social need is the
             need for self-respect, or the need to be recognized for who
             we are and what makes us unique.  All of us feel this need
             when we want recognition, status, achievement, or a sense of
             accomplishment.  It is basically respect for self.  The
             individual feels that what he is doing what he was put there
             to do.  Esteem needs are very powerful needs because they
             relate to feelings of worth and importance.
        
        5.   Self-Actualization Needs.  Self-actualization needs are what
             psychologists call the highest order of needs.  After the
             first four needs have been somewhat satisfied, then we
             experience the need for self-actualization.  We want to feel
             that we have accomplished things to best of our abilities--
             our potentialities.  When we have met this need, we say to
             ourselves that we have become all that we are capable of
             becoming.  When we have met this need, we have been fully
             creative and are occupied in performing to the limits of our
             capacities.  Not many of us turn to this need because we are
             so busy trying to satisfy social and esteem needs (Chapter
             5).  
        
             Every person is different.  The major influence is
        individual biological makeup.  Age, sex, weight, height, race,
        physique are factors that bear on our personalities.  Childhood
        plays a large part in determining our later adjustment and
        personality.  Such factors as feeding patterns, environmental
        conditions, family units, and training patterns are things which
        affect personality and adjustment.  Finally, the broad culture in
        which we grow up profoundly influences the individual.  The
        American culture stresses freedom of choice, competition, equal
        opportunity, and rewards for accomplishment.  Individuals growing
        up in America have a strong regard for a good day's work, and a
        belief that if they work hard enough, they can live "The American
        Dream."  
        
             All people are a product of their inherited physical makeup,
        early childhood, and culture.  These factors make us who we are,
        and supervisors need to recognize this.
        
             The supervisor's job is to get others to do things because
        they want to do them.  The successful supervisor is one who
        provides his or her employees with the opportunity to satisfy
        their own needs.  They will work because they see that by doing
        so they will satisfy their individual needs.  Before a supervisor
        can provide this opportunity to employees, he or she must first
        be aware of the types of things that motivate his or her
        employees.  
        
             Matching jobs and individual needs is one way to satisfy
        employees' needs.  If an employee is placed in a position which
        is challenging and satisfies his or her needs, motivation will
        not be a problem.  This may mean reworking jobs to make them more
        complex, more challenging, and hopefully, more satisfying to the
        employee.  Matching employee needs with jobs is a very difficult
        process.  Once the supervisor understands what an employee's
        basic needs are, he or she can be more sensitive to these needs
        and try to match the employee with jobs that offer him or her the
        opportunity to satisfy individual needs.  
        
             Menninger and Levinson (1956) surveyed thousands of
        employees in many different industries.  In the survey,
        supervisors were asked to rank ten job factors in the same way
        they thought their employees would.  Then the employees were
        asked to rank these same ten factors in order of their importance
        to them.  The results show that many supervisors did not
        understand what workers wanted out of their jobs.  See Figure 1
        on the next page.
        
                   SUPERVISOR-EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION INDEX SURVEY
        
        Employee Ranking        Item Being Rated      Supervisor Ranking  
        
             1    Appreciation of work well done          8
        
             2    Feeling of being "in on things"         10
        
             3    Help on personal problems               9
        
             4    Job security                            2
        
             5    Good wages                              1
        
             6    Interesting work                        5
        
             7    Promotion and growth in company         3
        
             8    Personal loyalty to employees           6
        
             9    Good working conditions                 4
        
             10   Tactful disciplining                    7
        
             (p. 12)
        
             This research does not prove that money, good working
        conditions, and loyalty to employees are unimportant.  These
        factors are extremely important and companies need to continually
        strive to be competitive in these areas.  All ten factors are
        important needs to all employees.  Most employees expect a
        company to provide good working conditions, fair pay, opportunity
        for growth, and interesting work.  Most companies attempt to
        provide these.  Lower ranked needs are very important and if they
        are not satisfied, they will cause employees to be less motivated
        to achieve higher needs.  What is important for the supervisor to
        distill from the research is that the needs which are most
        important to most employees are social and esteem needs.  The
        effective supervisor then, should pay close attention to these
        areas.    
        
             George (1979) encouraged supervisors to use the following
        strategies in meeting the social and esteem needs of their
        employees:
        
        1.   Treat employees as individuals.
        
        2.   Be sincere with praise.
        
        3.   Promote participation.
        
        4.   Make the work interesting.
        
        5.   Promote cooperation and teamwork.
        
        6.   Provide growth opportunities (p. 136).
        
             There is no formula for motivating employees.  George (1979)
        wrote that the best approach for getting employees to work along
        with him or her is to remember the following:
        
        1.   Communicate with your employees and praise them.
        
        2.   Consult with your employees about their work.
        
        3.   Encourage your employees to participate in setting goals on
             the job.
        
        4.   Counsel your employees about teamwork, opportunity, and so
             on.  
        
             What are the characteristics of the supervisor who most
        successfully motivates his or her employees?  He or she is not
        the bull-of-the-woods tough guy or gal, or the one who uses fear. 
        The supervisor who motivates best is not the one who plays his or
        her cards "close to his chest" and makes all the decisions him or
        herself.  
        
             George (1979) concluded that the supervisor who motivates
        his or her employees best is one who:
        
        1.   Establishes realistic goals for him or herself and others--
             goals that are worthwhile, challenging, and attainable.
        
        2.   Makes decisions after relevant participation by his or her
             subordinates.  He seeks and is seriously interested in their
             thoughts and ideas.  
        
        3.   Seeks and gives feedback to his or her employees about how
             they are doing, the progress they are making, and the
             problems that are coming up.  Because of his or her open
             communication and feedback, his employees are motivated to
             perform well.  They openly evaluate their progress, and they
             do not hesitate to seek changes when they think they are
             needed.  
        
        4.   Resolves conflicts with good judgment, understanding, and
             openness.  The supervisor focuses on solving the conflict
             rather than placing blame.  He or she attempts to understand
             the problem and find the best solution.
        
        5.   Always communicates to his or her employees, explaining what
             is being done and why it is being done.  He talks honestly
             and openly about how he or she feels about things.  This
             process of open and continuous communication lets the
             employees know what is going on inside him or her.  
        
        6.   Always listens to what his or her employees tell him, tries
             to understand what they are saying, and makes good comments
             about their ideas.  He or she doesn't hesitate to question
             them and ask them, "How about explaining that again to me?" 
             Being listened to makes the employee feel important and also
             makes him or her more willing to listen to what the boss
             says.  
        
        7.   Is genuinely interested in his or her employees as
             individuals.  He is interested in their growth and future
             progress.  
        
        8.   Is open and sincere in his praise, reprimands in private,
             and praises in public.
        
        9.   Controls his or her temper.  When angry, the supervisor
             doesn't brood.  He or she approaches the employee and
             directly and expresses his or her feelings honestly.  This
             can encourage dialogue between the supervisor and employee
             and a major crisis can be disposed of as a minor problem.
        
        10.  Is open-minded, always willing to listen to new ideas, even
             those that are different from his or her own.  He or she
             doesn't mind criticism and readily admits to his or her
             mistakes.  He or she is the type of person the employee
             would like to have as a personal friend.
        
        11.  Uses reprimands only when necessary and even then delivers
             them in private.  He or she uses them to educate and correct
             and not to punish an employee.
        
        12.  Makes jobs as interesting and desirable as possible.
        
        13.  Is not afraid to delegate and willingly gives credit to his
             or her employees for a job well-done.
        
        14.  Doesn't try to get work out of his or her employees by
             threatening them.
        
        15.  Is not afraid to admit he or she is wrong and his or her
             employees are right.
        
        16.  Actively seeks the opportunity to promote his or her
             employees--even if it means losing them.  
        
        17.  Tries to run an orderly department, bringing system to an
             otherwise confused situation.
        
        18.  Is big enough not to compete with his or her employees for
             credit.  He or she lets employees bask in the spotlight for
             a job well done.
        
        19.  Is not condescending.
        
        20.  Is not a know-it-all (pp. 138-139).
        
             Finally, the supervisor who motivates best is the Theory Y
        supervisor (McGregor, 1960).  This supervisor supports the
        employees meeting their higher-level needs.  His or her approach
        is to supervise in such a way that social and esteem needs can be
        met so that the employees can feel self-actualized.  
