Before deciding on a particular wage and benefits package, it is important to understand why some people are motivated in the office and others are not. This is such an important issue that management experts have been doing research in this area for many years. Most now believe that pay and benefits are a baseline or threshold employers must meet to develop a motivated worker. Motivation then comes from the achievement, growth, and recognition gained from the job. Employers must cover both factors to have a truly satisfied and motivated worker. According to this theory, employees will be dissatisfied if they are not paid enough. However, simply paying an adequate, or even excessive, wage will not produce a more motivated worker. It may lead to a worker who is less likely to leave because of the high pay. Still, it does not make the person a better or more motivated worker.

Researchers have developed many other theories to explain what motivates employees in the workplace. Motivation refers to all the forces that direct, energize, and maintain a person’s effort on the job. Highly motivated employees work hard to achieve their performance goals. If they have adequate skills, resources, and freedom at work, they will show high job performance. To be an effective motivator, the dental practice owner must know what behaviors they want and then stimulate and challenge employees to do those behaviors.

Three factors determine a person’s performance on the job (Box 26.10). The first is the ability or physical and mental preparation to do the job. This includes all forms of training and experience. Employers assess this through the application and interview process and by licensing and training credentials. The second factor is the environment. A person cannot properly do a job without the proper setting, tools, and materials. Employers control the work environment to help in the work process. The third factor determining job performance is motivation, or desire to do the job. Employers must motivate through daily interactions with the people involved.

LEADERSHIP

People often think of leadership as an innate ability that certain people possess and others lack. Research has shown, however, that leadership, rather than being a genetic or personal trait (like blue eyes or black hair), is a style or behavior that people display. Leadership is creating a vision, having the power to translate it into reality, and then sustaining it over time. Leaders inspire people to perform; managers see that the organization runs smoothly. In the dental office, the dentist will fulfill both of those roles.

Leadership means working with the office’s employees (dental team members) to have a shared office goal and then getting the people to “buy into” the goal and work toward meeting that goal. It is the human factor that binds the workgroup together and makes it function at its peak. Leadership involves power but is not necessarily pure power. It is the employer’s ability to influence those who work for them (Box 26.11). As the owner of the practice, the owner has legitimate power over the people they hire to work for them. The employer can legally fire or reprimand employees and set work conditions (such as hours of employment). The employer also has reward power in establishing pay scales and offering raises, as well as issuing recognition and praise for performance. Conversely, the employer may also punish non‐compliance by using coercive power. Because dentists have unique skills, training, knowledge, and certification (licensing), they also have power as an expert that other employees do not have. Personal power comes from the influence that an employer may (or may not) have over others through the force of individual personality.

Leadership then involves getting the people in the office to perform as the employer wants them to by the employer’s behavior influencing the employees’ behavior. The effectiveness of the employer’s leadership depends on several factors. The employer’s background, experience, personality, and style will affect their leadership effectiveness. An equally important factor is the background, experience, and personality of the followers in the office. If there is not an appropriate match, then the interaction is destined to fail. Finally, leaders who understand a subordinate’s task are in a much better position to select an appropriate leadership style and strategy to fit the situation. To understand these interactions, employers first must understand themselves.

WHY PEOPLE WORK

Many dentists believe that a person will work harder if they are paid more. Many also believe that pay is the only reason that people work. However, modern management proposes that people work for reasons other than just pay. (After all, many people put in many hours of volunteer work for organizations that pay nothing.) Although people must meet their financial needs, they also work because of the friendships they form on the job and the sense of personal accomplishment and value they can gain from a job. It follows, then, that if people work for these other reasons, a business owner can motivate them to work harder or do better by arranging the job so that they can accomplish these needs.

Modern management experts believe that people work for three reasons: compensation (pay and benefits), psychological reasons (personal growth and fulfillment), and social reasons (friendships and relationships in the workplace) (Box 26.12). As the manager–dentist, the practice owner must control these motivational factors to develop and encourage excellent employees. That is a difficult task in itself. To make the problem even more difficult, different employees want varying amounts and types of fulfillment in each of these areas. Obviously, motivating employees to work at their peak level can be a complex problem.

THE WORK ENVIRONMENT

Many dentists believe that job motivation is a trait that a person either possesses or does not possess and that they can do little to influence motivation. The experience and history of US business do not bear out this belief. Most people want to do well on the job and are willing to work hard if they are reasonably sure that their hard work will result in a meaningful pay‐off (financial, social, or personal). This is the point where owner–dentists can affect the environment in their practice by setting goals and reward systems that allow and encourage motivated people to succeed in their jobs. The employer can encourage those workers who value personal development to take continuing education courses and report to the group important items learned. They also can encourage work‐related social activities for those who value that aspect of their job. For those motivated more by money, the employer can establish a pay system that rewards taking on additional duties or work.

How a manager arranges job tasks and the work environment profoundly affects the motivation of employees. As the manager of a small business (i.e. the dental practice), the dentist is responsible for formulating policies and an environment that enhances the practice’s productivity. Employee work habits, turnover, tardiness, and performance affect productivity. By learning which factors lead to enhanced motivation of employees, employers can understand what causes workers’ behaviors (good and bad), predict the effect of policy changes, and direct workers’ behaviors to meet the business’s needs better.

The basic paradigm of a motivation system is to define the job’s objectives as to the practice needs, identify a person’s needs, and then set a system that encourages constructive behavior on the job by rewarding proper behaviors and punishing or extinguishing improper behaviors. This assumes that the dentist can clearly define challenging yet attainable goals, that there is an effective ongoing system for monitoring the attainment of those goals, and that constructive methods of thinking about performance are present.

EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION CONCEPTS

Researchers have proposed that several theories help explain what motivates people at work. If employers can learn what motivates people on the job, they can structure the job to have more motivated employees. None of these theories explains all the motivation (or lack of motivation) that occurs in the workplace. However, they are all helpful in explaining some of the motivation that occurs or certain cases of motivation or demotivation.