Controlling People

Abstract

One of the major problems facing management today is that of understanding what motivates people. In order to be able to control people it is necessary to understand what makes them move. For some it will be the offer of more pay, for others higher status and prowess, but there is no one single thing which will satisfy all people for most of the time. It is these facts — that all people are different and have different wants and desires and that motives are complex and dynamic — which make it difficult to predict people’s motives with any frequency or reliability. However, by studying motivation we can gain some insights, draw some conclusions and arrive at some useful generalizations, all of which will make the process of controlling others that bit more effective. In this chapter therefore we will be looking at what motivates people as well as how to motivate them. In addition we will also be examining management styles which play an important part in influencing employees to pursue goals and derive job satisfaction as a consequence.