There are four cornerstones of employee behavior and performance, and motivation is arguably the most important of these for managers on a daily basis. Two other factors—abilities and situational factors—are fairly stable in the short term, and the third factor—role perceptions—is typically managed within goal setting and related motivational practices. In other words, when it comes to maximizing employee engagement and performance, motivation is vital and probably the dominant factor for managers to consider.

The quest for a motivated and engaged workforce has not been easy, however. Most managers (92 percent of them, according to one major survey) say that motivating employees has become more challenging. Three factors seem to be responsible for this increasing challenge. First, globalization, information technology, corporate restructuring, and other changes have dramatically altered employment relationships. These changes potentially undermine the levels of trust and commitment necessary to energize employees beyond minimal standards. Perhaps this explains why approximately one-fifth of the American workforce is disengaged—retired on the job.⁷⁶

Second, in decades past, companies typically relied on armies of supervisors to closely monitor employee behavior and performance. Even if commitment and trust were low, employees performed their jobs with the boss watching them closely. But most companies have reduced costs by flattening organizational structure and removing layers of management. Managers now have many more employees, so they can't possibly watch for laggards. This is just as well because today's educated workforce resents "command and control" management. Most people enjoy the feeling of being motivated, but this requires the right conditions; so managers need to search for more contemporary ways to motivate staff.

The third challenge is that a new generation of employees has brought different expectations to the workplace. A few years ago various writers disparaged Generation-X and Generation-Y employees as slackers, cynics, whiners, and malcontents. Now we know that the problem wasn't their lack of motivational potential; it was that managers didn't know how to motivate them! It seems that many companies still haven't figured this out: According to one report more than 40 percent of employees aged 25 to 34 sometimes or frequently feel demotivated compared to 30 percent of 35- to 44-year-olds and just 18 percent of 45- to 54-year-olds.⁷⁷

This chapter has described the three foundations of employee motivation: (1) individual drives and needs, (2) goals, expectations, and feedback, and (3) extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. Managers play a central role throughout this process. They try to discover what really drives employees, recognizing that people have complex needs. Then they direct effort from those drives and needs by setting achievable goals, clarifying expectations, and offering constructive feedback along the way. Finally, managers are responsible for configuring financial rewards, providing formal and informal recognition, and designing jobs that exude natural intrinsic rewards. Then, with these three parts well crafted, managers must step back and allow that context to have the intended influence on employee motivation.