Administrative Staff Motivation

Administrative Staff Motivation

The motivators in an organization are typically higher level professional employees and are most often employees that work in the administration department. Although administrative employees are required to be the motivators, they also need to be motivated. In fact, every individual has needs that motivate him or her through life. Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory relates to human needs that must be satisfied to achieve motivation. This theory also challenges employers to provide a workplace environment that encourages and enables employees to achieve their own self-actualization (Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn, 2005, Chap. 6).

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, motivation of administrative staff must begin with satisfying the lower order of needs or the basic provisions in life, which include such things as water, food, air, shelter, and sex. Once the physiological needs are satisfied, safety needs, such as security, law, order, and stability are activated. Employers contribute to satisfying or providing provisions and safety needs by paying employees wages. Moving up the ladder, once the physiological and safety needs are satisfied, they become the motivators that will aide in satisfying the employees' social needs (Chapman, 2006).

Human social needs include family, affection, relationships, and work groups. Employers are a contributor in satisfying the social needs of administrative employees in numerous ways. One way is by professional or personal communications with colleagues or customers, which also causes friendships and relationships to form. The feeling of being a valued asset to the organization will also satisfy administrative employees' social needs with the feeling of job security. Working at a higher employment level, the social needs of administrative staff will not be satisfied without the assurance that they are employed with a stabile organization that whose compensation will satisfy his or her necessities in life. The satisfaction of social needs motivates the employees' self-esteem and self-actualization.

Self-esteem and self-actualization are the higher-order needs on Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. Due to their professional status, the higher order needs might be more important to administrative staff than the lower order needs. Administrative staff may require additional achievement than