The Effects of Human Resource Management Practices on Employees' Motivation and Retention

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of human resources motivation which is considered one of the most important ways for a sustainable organizational development. Motivation is one of the most important concepts in HRD in most organizations, it is common to hear the refrain that a particular employee is not motivated and hence his or her performance has taken a backseat. This is the reason companies spend humongous amounts of money in arranging for training sessions and recreational events to motivate the employees. Motivation can be understood as the desire or drive that an individual has to get the work done. For instance, when faced with a task, it is the motivation to accomplish it that determines whether a particular individual would complete the task according to the requirements or not. Further, the absence of motivation leads to underperformance and loss of competitiveness resulting in loss of productive resources for the organization. It is for this reason that the HR managers stress on the employees having high levels of motivation to get the job done. Motivation is the driving force which help causes us to achieve goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but, theoretically, it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation. According to various theories, motivation may be rooted in a basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, goal, state of being, ideal, or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism, selfishness, morality, or avoiding mortality. Conceptually, motivation should not be confused with either volition or optimism. Motivation is related to, but distinct from, emotion. Retention The condition of retaining (keeping) something. “You may be able to memorize facts in the short term, but how well is your retention of those facts over the long-term?” “Successful companies need to foster a good working environment so that employee retention remains at a high level. It involves the whole process of what a company can do to make sure their employee does not get a reason to leave his job. The HRM-performance linkage often invokes an assumption of increased employee commitment to the organization and other positive effects of a motivational type. We present a theoretical framework in which motivational effects of HRM are conditional on its intensity, utilizing especially the idea of HRM.