Motivation Management [Hardcover]

Read this book to gain a better understanding of your needs and those of your people. You will then know how to use motivational power to achieve optimum performance within the company.

... the results of what was obviously a lengthy exercise are impressive. ... a significant contribution to the literature of "motivation" ...

... this book really is a contribution to motivation-in-practice. (Professional Manager, June 1999) REVIEW ... provides the answer to the question of what type of reward or incentive will produce the maximum effect in motivating staff. ... an excellent example of putting research into practice. (Aslib Book Guide, June 1999)

Why we wrote this practical guide to motivation mangement
This book was conceived in frustration. We as trainers felt that motivation as a topic had failed to mature. Managers were still being taught as if Maslow, Herzberg and McGregor were the only writers of note. True, all were pioneers who had made a significant contribution, but there was no work since which was as accepted, or taught so widely, as these. And their work had taken place in the forties to sixties. Surely, we reasoned, the world had moved on? In our view, it had needed to move on not only in theoretical terms, but in providing motivational tools which practical managers could use in a busy world.

Despite our research, there was nothing we felt comfortable with. The only solution was to do the work ourselves. A daunting prospect, but the only possible route that we could see to provide managers with the practical help they told us they wanted. We had an important advantage as trainers. We had access to large numbers of managers at all levels in a range of industries, in commerce and in government. What we had not realised, of course, was just how big the task was going to be.

We were aware of course that there was no simple theory that could possibly give a complete explanation of individual motivational needs. We had to accept, that ultimately, people defy complete analysis. Indeed, that was a fact that we were happy to accept. It is the guarantee that, for example, Berlin walls will tumble and that the most intractable of disputes were capable of resolution. The task, then, became to simplify complexity and this book is the result of our thoughts and efforts

Sheila Ritchie has been a management consultant and trainer for more than 22 years, six of them as a lecturer in applied behavioural sciences. With specialist interests that include negotiating, interpersonal skills, motivation and teamwork, she has worked with a wide variety of business and public sector clients in 16 countries. She also owns and runs a small publishing company which produces textbooks on management and law.

Peter Martin holds a degree in Chemistry, a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Studies and a MSc in Industrial Relations. He has worked as an associate for PE, Metra and Inbucon during his successful career in management consultancy. Now, as Managing Director of Arlington Associates, he provides training for a wide variety of organizations in the UK and overseas, specializing in personal and interpersonal management skills. He is a Visiting Fellow at City University Business School and co-author of Creating a Committed Workforce.