Critically discuss how managers may best develop reward strategies to
motivate knowledge workers
6. Motivation from a work perspective is broadly defined as the inner beliefs and
drivers of an individual and how these manifest themselves in the ability to connect
and focus on a task or objective. Motivation theories attempt to understand from a
wide perspective, what the driving forces are which drive motivation or indeed
demotivate individuals or groups of individuals in an organisational sense. These
theories of motivation have therefore been used by organisations development
practitioners and management in trying to design best fit reward systems which are
aligned to the people in the organisation, the organisational objectives themselves as
well as from a contextual point of view, ensure they are in line with the market they
operate within. The result (in theory) therefore of a well designed and executive
reward system is increased employee motivation and engagement which leads to
increase performance, improved customer satisfaction and therefore retention of
customer loyalty (the service-profit chain). The benefits from an employee point of
view will be job satisfaction, loyalty to the company (and retention). Overall the
psychological contract between employer and employee develops and prospers.
Traditional theories of motivation were often characterised by what is termed “content
theories”. These were pioneered in the 1940s to 1960s and were based on needs
and wants – or intrinsic/extrinsic and social factors. At a basic level McGregor’s X
and Y theory even questioned broad motivation. Theory X described workers who
were at a basic level not interested in work, had little interest motivation and needed
to be controlled. This fitted with bureaucratic, top down Taylorist principles and the
carrot/stick approach. Reward systems were devised therefore from achievement of
