How media companies support the motivation of their creative effectively

Motivating creatives

How media companies support the motivation of their creative effectively

Introduction

Media creativity captures various concepts, understandings that relate to media transformation, principles, media designs and media dynamics that result from creativity exploration in the work places. Additionally, there is also the aspect of individual inherent creativity. In most cases, the applications of such concepts, understandings and principles of the media organizations relate in topics such as media organizations transformation or transforming the heart of media organization (Kaufman, 2009, 36). Various factors are provided in media organizational creativity during transformation of the media organization and the transformation of the heart of the media organization. Most of these factors do not give a definitive statement regarding the media management, the media organization designs, media transformation or the organizational dynamics (Kaufman, 2009, 45).

The main goal of supporting the motivation and the exploration of creativity in media organizations is to effectively bring out the aspect of creativity solutions in the media organizations, transform the industry in the competitive markets and offer more opportunities in the media industry. Creativity in any organization not only in the media industry remains a major organizational source that provides an organization’s competitive advantage. This means that organizational managers would need to create a working environment, which fosters creativity (Kaufman, 2009, 67).

Generally, this paper will analyze the different approaches involved in creativity levels of an organization in reference to the aspect of production. Additionally, the paper will use the theoretical approach in trying to find some of the answers in reference to how media organizations supports and motivates creativity effectively (Covington, 1998, 68). The paper will also use different methodological approaches in in answering the research questions of how media organizations motivate creativity in the industry. It is in line with this that the aspect of innovation comes in. Generally, innovation aspect entails creativity development and the adaptation into a particular service in the market (Covington, 1998, 68). Depending with the competition aspects in the market and personalities, people use creativity potentials and competency levels in different manners (Kaufman, 2009, 78). Every organization has a creative mind whose job is to generate ideas. Additionally, there is the entrepreneur whose work in the organization is to focus on the success of the market thus through sales and distribution of what the business offers (Covington, 1998, 86).

Organizational creativity generally captures and the merges the lessons learned that bases on the traditional management and the organizational philosophies and approaches that relate to the media organizational transformation and dynamics. Additionally, media organizational creativity also entails set of experiences that contain the lessons and observations learned from creativity exploration in a workplace and individual’s exploration of inherent creativity. The observations and some of the lesson learned will tend to be relative to an individual’s inherent creativity (Covington, 1998, 94).

Media organization creativity is usually designed to exploit some of the most valuable assets through exploitation of the creative spirit that are found within the organizational workers for improved organizational performance. Media organizations creativity main intention is to provide an understanding and insight to access and effectively harness individual’s creative spirit within the media organization (Covington, 1998, 122). Additionally, this aspect is essential in synthesizing and harmonizing individuals into being comprehensible. Media organizational creativity is also essential in creating a unique structure that seeks to meet the media organization needs and the creative spirit of the individuals working in the media organization.

Media organizational creativity does not entirely mean motivating the workers although motivating individuals should be part of it in the organization. Generally, organizational creativity addresses issues related to organizational philosophy, organizational theories and management approaches (Dal, 2008, 76). Alternatively, creativity in the organization also entails learning how to manage individuals creative life energy and creative processes that governs how the organization can manifest individuals energy into experiences. The main idea in this case is harnessing individuals. Additionally, media organization creativity usually aligns media individual’s passion to perform effectively their duties and to establish a collective passion for extraordinary organizational performance.

Consequences intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors in context of the media industry and creative workers

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation revolves around an individual choosing to have a certain kind of behavior or character trait because it is rewarding in the personal context. This implies that an individual is motivated to perform well in their set jobs in order to achieve a personal goal or ambition set. An intrinsically motivated individual for example will be driven to come up with more creative ideas than the other coworkers do simply because they find the work rather enjoyable and fun. In addition, the idea of finding a solution to a challenge can be rather satisfying and the pleasure achieved can act as motivation for the individual to perform the assigned tasks to the very best (Sansone, 2000, p 7).

Generally, it has been observed over the years that a happy employee tends to be very productive. Consequently, most organizations will seek to recruit self-motivated employees, as this would in turn cut costs for the organization in view of the fact that there will be a reduction in employee turnover. This is because self-motivated employees are less likely to quit their jobs and seek employment elsewhere with a better pay (Sansone, 2000, p 7). In addition, hiring intrinsically motivated employees would increase the organizations overall productivity. This is because the employees are driven by the results they hope to attain which means they will strive to be the best at what they do. Consequently, this will influence positively on the organizations overall productivity. Additionally, self-motivated employees tend to build a strong working team in the organization inevitably (Sansone, 2000, p 7).

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation factors refer to any form of external factors that act as motivation for an individual to complete the tasks in time and as efficiently as possible. In such an instance, the motivating factors could be the rewards that come with completing the task such as employee salary, pay raises and employee recognition in the organization (Cameron, 2006, 45). There may be instances when failure to complete the task or achieve the goal can result in some form of punishment. This further motivates the individual to work harder and attain the goals in time. As much as extrinsic motivation can have good influence on individual behavior, it may however act as a hindrance to intrinsic motivation (Cameron, 2006, 65).

In the media industry, creativity is very important. In order for this creativity to reach the expected level, there has to be some inner motivating factor that drives the individual to perform as best as one can. As much as the monetary reimbursement for the services motivates the individual to perform as would be best expected, the person may not feel the need to dig deeper intellectually and broaden their creativity. At the end of the day, the individual only works to reach the companies goals and is not motivated to improve on their creativity in any way (Cameron, 2006, 70).

Extrinsically motivated employees are generally viewed to perform better at their work as they are motivated by the external rewards such as compensation that they are likely to get at the completion of their tasks. The only problem with this idea is that the employee will keep expecting the rewards to keep growing and this will result in extra costs for the organization if at all the management hopes that the employees maintain that level of performance (Sansone, 2000, p 7). The other downside of employing extrinsically motivated for the organization would mean that the management would see no need to pose more challenges for the employee. As much as some of the employees may not see this as a problem, the long-term effect is that the management does not help to grow the employee professionally. The employee’s creativity will not improve as long as the only motivation is achieving the desired results. In addition, the external factors may not really motivate employees to work harder. For instance, if there are no financial rewards set in place, the employee will require the management to come up with other incentives in order for the employee to perform the required tasks (Cameron, 2006, 87).

Intrinsic innovation generally entails engaging in organizational behaviors because they reward personally. Essentially, it elaborates how an employee can perform an organization activity for his or her own sake instead of desiring for external reward. On the other hand, the extrinsic motivation, which occur when the media employees are motivated to engage or perform organizational activities to avoid organizational punishment or earn rewards. The two types of motivational factors have both advantages and disadvantages to employees (Cameron, 2006, 98). Additionally, enacting some of these motivational factors to the media industry would encourage the media employees to display different aspects of motivations. In most cases, managers are encouraged to employ intrinsically and the extrinsically aspects for the purposes of improving skills and creativity in the organization (Frey, 2002, 56).

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation factors have both positive and negative consequences in an organization. It is always important to motivate the employees as a unit rather than individually. Motivating employees individually would encourage hate and selfishness at the workplace. However, on a brighter side, the extrinsic and intrinsic motivation factors create more positivity in the workstation that the negatives. Some of the positive effects of the intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors include labor costs, positive organizational innovations, organizational operational control and personal controls (Cameron, 2006, 102).

In most cases, media employees who have high intrinsic motivation levels can reduce the total costs of labor. The fact that most organizational managers often fail to motivate their workers as required, but instead focusing on productivity, this aspect allows the media organization to operate on minimum budget (Frey, 2002, 86).

There are several advantages of Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivations in any given organization. In the event where the media employees are intrinsically motivated, chances are that they would be more likely to attempt to solve their issues at personal levels instead of requiring managerial assistance. Additionally, intrinsically motivated media employees would most likely take their own projects instead of being guided by the management of the organization on what to do (Sansone, 2000, p 17).

Innovation

Intrinsically motivated media employees can sometimes be creative than the employees who need to be pushed to get motivation. In this case, the employees who flourish on personal accomplishment and the development of their career are likely to develop valuable and innovative contributions that pertain to strategic initiatives for the purposes of accomplishing meaningful aspects in a given organization (Sansone, 2000, p 23). For media organization where innovations can transform the power structure, the media employees can be considered as valuable.

Operational Control

Operational Control is one of the main advantages of establishing extrinsic and intrinsic motivational aspects in an organization. Establishing the extrinsic motivation in a media organization allows greater control degree over the organization operational processes. Alternatively, extrinsically motivated employees tend to require extended supervision in order to keep their production high. Establishing this aspect would require that managers are allowed to closely monitor or guide the media employee as they perform their duties. Close supervision may sometimes be intolerable to some employees while others may thrive under extensive supervision thus through guidance and encouragement (Sansone, 2000, p 34).

Personal limits

In some cases, extrinsic motivation aspects can come in various forms that include the financial incentives instead of encouragement. It is always important to use incentives to boost employees’ motivation or pushing the employees to break their own performance records. Incentives are also important in an organization because they help the organization attain new levels of productivity. In the media industry, incentives are advantageous because they tend to have both the intrinsically and extrinsically motivation aspects to the employees. In this case, for the extrinsically motivated media employees, incentives as a motivational aspect are important in providing them with a ‘carrot’, which will entice them to increase their productivity levels. Alternatively, for the intrinsically motivated media employees, providing them with incentives would be important because it would allow the intrinsically workers with attainable goals and set measurable (Cameron, 2006, 43).

Employee motivation also comes in various forms not just in bonuses and parking space for good job done by the employees but things like the good old-fashioned cash. To date, money remains one of the best motivational factors among employees, which helps in increasing productivity levels in organizations. The use of money as a motivational factor can be categorized under the intrinsically and extrinsically motivational aspects and are therefore of great advantage to both the organization and the workers. Some of the effects of using incentives as a motivational aspect in an organization include effectiveness, extensive and broad options.

Effectiveness

Money as a form of motivational aspect is important in motivating organizational employees across organization broad spectrum. Most surveys conducted indicate that at least 89 percent of Companies use financial incentives in the organizations to enhance employee productivity.

Broad Options

Another advantageous aspect of using the intrinsically and extrinsically motivational aspects and in this case money is that the organization will tend to have broad options when it comes to using this aspect (Cameron, 2006, 65). Bonuses, Commissions, cash rewards and gift certificates are always used as motivational aspects to ensure that the employees strive for bigger organizational goals. However, for media organizations, they have the options alter some of these aspects depending on the organizational goals. Doing this will mean that cash will not be the best incentive in which the organizational will offer to motivate employee for increased productivity. Companies have the option of increasing employee benefits, which would be important for the employee in times to come (Cameron, 2006, 65).

Far-Reaching

Money as an incentive generally appeals to all demographics thus; it can be used as a motivation to even the lowest earning employee in an organization or even to the CEO of the organization. The advantage of using this type of intrinsically and extrinsically aspect is that money tends to appeal to any type of organizational staff member (Frey, 2002, 56).

Tips

Although money is considered as one of the best motivational aspect in an organization, Companies should always wary of extensive use of money as a motivational aspect to their staff. In most cases, Companies which over rely on using money as a motivational aspect tend to lose its effectiveness (Frey, 2002, 54). In most cases, the employees may feel as if the Company values money more than anything else hence, they may fail to meet the company expectations. Additionally, organizations should not be afraid to add some creativity in the organization especially while using money as a motivational factor. Instead, organizations can come up with other options of monetary rewards in the organization (Frey, 2002, 76).

Theoretical approach

Theories of motivation in relation to creativity in the media

Generally, organizations or business which have employees who are not motivated usually face high turnover rates and low productivity. Various theories are in place to help explain how employees are motivated. Additionally, the theories provide various suggestions for how organizations can increase the aspect of motivation in an organization. Therefore, it is always important to understand which theory is the most effective for the organization for the purposes of improving the organization. This can be done by improving employee productivity and increasing employee retention rates (Dal, 2008, p 4).

Theory X and Y

In reference to the creativity in the media and the aspect of theories of motivation in an organization, theory X and theory Y would effectively fit in this aspect. In order to ensure employees in the media are motivated when it comes to creativity in media, the employers would need to impose rules and enforce punishments. Alternatively, theory Y reveals how employees would enjoy putting a lot of efforts in their work place especially when they are given more control in the media organization (Dal, 2008,p 4). Media employers must at least develop opportunities for their employees so that they could take responsibility and enhance creativity at the work place as a way of stirring Theory Y employees. The third motivational theory, which somehow relates with Theory X and the Theory Y is the Theory Z. Theory Z generally encourages social interactions and group work to motivate media employees in their workplace (Dal, 2008,p 4).

Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs entails five different levels, which generally play a significant role in shaping motivation styles in the media industry. In order to motivate employees, the media industry must move along the needs pyramid to ensure that at least every need of the employees are met. Psychological needs of the employees such as sleep, food and shelter are on the bottom part of the pyramid. Additionally, safety of the employee, which also act as a motivational factor makes up the second level but belongs on the third aspect. Self-actualization and esteem form the pyramid’s top two levels thus, they are important in providing media employees with opportunities to develop and recognize that they remain a valuable asset in the media organization.

Hawthorne Effect Theory

The Hawthorne Effect theorizes that organization employees become more effective and productive when they are aware that their work is being studied or measured. Additionally, the theory states that the organizational employees are more productive when they are given feedbacks that relate to the conducted studies. The theory also states that media employees need recognition especially performing a great job or given reassurances in relation to their jobs. Reassuring the media employees will give them a chance to come up with creative ideas hence the growth of the industry (Covington, 1998, p 22).

Equity Theory

The Equity Theory by John Stacey Adams argues that media organizations employees tend to be motivated when they recognize that their treatment in the organization is fair. Additionally, the theory states that the employees would tend to be unmotivated when they feel that their treatment in the organization is unfair (Covington, 1998, p 22). Providing media employees with the required recognition for work they have done will encourage more creativity and productivity. This can be done by awarding the media employees with advances and bonuses. Singling out media employees for recognition is not advisable. It is always advisable to recognize all the employees as a unit hence encourage more productivity and creativity at the work place.

Creativity and Innovation

Creativity and innovation in the media industry remains a vital ingredient especially when it comes to the success or the productivity levels of an organization. Currently, this aspect has become a big challenge to many media organizations to stimulate and encourage new ideas generation, innovations which are beneficial for both the media employees and the organization. Consumer driven markets innovations are usually described as having the power to take new ideas towards satisfying the needs of the customers. However, the needs to create and come up with ideas and innovations in the market are not confined to obviously commercial organizations (Creativity and innovation: Preconditions for entrepreneurial education, 2010, 76).

The Job Characteristics model by Hackman and Oldham

This theory looks into some of the factors that make particular occupations satisfying. It gives a description of the existing relationship between job characteristics and the response individuals attach to their work. According to Hackman and Oldham (1980), employee tasks should have outstanding features in order to motivate the employees. For this reason, the model provides for the fact that a job that has an appealing design will have a positive impact on the quality of performance as well as on the employee satisfaction. On this note, the media industry can be able to design jobs that allow for stress reduction, which is a factor that essentially improves the creativity of individuals within the organization (Mackay, 2006, 36). Following the creation of such an environment, it is possible to insinuate that the creatives in the organization will have a suitable environment to come up with unique developments, which enhances the organization’s competitiveness in the global market.

The Job Characteristics Theory focuses on five job characteristics that are helpful in the prediction of job satisfaction. These characteristics include skill variety, which looks into the talent and skills that the job requires. The second characteristic is task identity, which questions whether there is a clear definition of the task from the beginning to the end of it. For this reason, the employee should be in a position to know what is required from him or her in the performance of a specific task. The third characteristic of the theory is task significance, which looks into the determination of whether the task will have a significant impact on either the society or the organization. Autonomy is the fourth characteristic in the Job Characteristics Theory, which focuses on the freedom that an individual gets in the accomplishments of his or her work (Mackay, 2006, 44). The freedom is inclusive of the work schedules and the tasks the employees are supposed to accomplish. The final characteristic of the theory is job feedback, which emphasizes on the need to make the employees aware of their performance. For this reason, they will be able to improve on their performance if they are underperforming of continue with their good performance if they are on the right track.

The five characteristics lead to different psychological states in the employees, whose presence is necessary for ensuring the job satisfaction and motivation of the employees. Firstly, the characteristics might influence the individual employees into having a meaningful experience within the media organization. This means that the individual might find the system acceptable if he or she attaches some value to it. On the other hand, the characteristics might influence an individual into experiencing a personal responsibility for accomplishing a number of tasks within the organization. This means that the worker will be accountable for the results that he or she achieves, thereby creating some room for creativity in the accomplishments of the given tasks (Mackay, 2006, 48). Consequently, the worker will have a good understanding of how well he or she is performing the job, which is likely to determine his or her level of creativity needed. With all these considerations, it is possible to determine that job designs begin with the scientific management of the employees, which is intrinsic to the tasks the individuals are required to accomplish (Garg & Rastogi, 2006, 2). Since working in the media is challenging, it creates room for achievement, advancement, growth and recognition, which is a factor that motivates the personnel working in the industry (Hesmondhalgh and Baker, 2011).

Psychological motives behind motivation practices

Since motivation represents one of the most vital variables in the performance of an individual in the workplace, the management of a media company should be in a position to facilitate a worker with a positive experience in the organization (Elena, 2009, 23). Consequently, the management of the media organization should be in a position to facilitate the performance of the workers through the application of motivational techniques. Through the techniques, the management of the media organization creates the need for autonomy among the personnel, which is a factor that enhances their creativity. A number of psychologists indicate that the motive behind motivational practices is for the creation of an internal or external force that leads to the initiation, intensity, persistence and direction of behavior. However, despite the hypothetical construct of motivation, it is possible to determine that it leads to action.

Individuals are motivated by what they perceive to be of their own self-interest, which is a description of psychological egoism. On the other hand, people have altruistic motives in the performance of their duties. The conceptual framework adopted in the discussion follows psychological egoism, which focuses on the motivation workers gain from interactions in the media industry. This framework is applicable in the description of the action of the workers in terms of their ulterior motives, which borrows heavily from the job design. Firstly, the schematic description of the term psychological egoism in terms of worker motivation is that a worker’s ultimate desire is egoistic in nature. Given a suitable job design in the accomplishment of his or her tasks, it is possible to predict that the worker will perform a task based on the meaningfulness that he or she attaches to the task. This might mean that the ulterior motive is personal gain. The ripple effect of this gain might ensure that the worker in the media industry will be creative enough to develop ideas whose conversion into marketable production will be of benefit to the media organization. Nevertheless, depending on the personality of the worker, some of the desires, which refer to the motivational mental state of the worker, are altruistic (Smith, 1992, 57).

The egoistic and altruistic desires make up the bare theses. Some philosophers indicate that psychological egoism is developed from the claim that an individual’s ultimate desire is a concern to him or herself (Smith, 1992, 58). This means that the concern of an individual is dependent on his or her own well-being, welfare or benefit. For this reason, a job design that promotes accountability in the results obtained from a task will tend to create an intervening role between the psychological state of the individual and the outcomes. This does not mean that the individual will be selfish since the ultimate desire is not expected to affect anyone. Consequently, a worker’s desire is altruistic if it concerns what the individual perceives to be of benefit to other people rather than oneself. However, the altruistic desire is dependent on the egoistic desire, which is the more basic desire that drives creativity (Zelick, 2007, 4). This argument might be an indication that given a suitable environment, a media personality might come up with creative ideas that might fulfill his or her altruistic desires, thereby benefitting the organization.

Methodology

The methodology in use in this case in order to determine how media companies can support their creatives in the industry, it would be vital to evaluate the Job Diagnostic Survey for the analysis. On the other hand, another vital development would be the consideration of theories, as well as literature on the subject, which will ensure a better understanding of the thesis. In the determination of the degree of the job scope as well as the job possession, Hackman and Oldham developed a questionnaire, whose quantitative scores can be used for the calculation of the job scope. This makes it possible to calculate the motivational potential score (MPS) of individuals working in the media industry. Consequently, results from the survey could be used to measure other job dimensions that psychologists use to give a description of the psychological states of individuals and how they influence their creativity (Garg and Rastogi, 2006, 574). The psychological state in this case is inclusive of the meaningfulness that the individual attaches to work, work responsibility and the information the employees obtain from the feedback they get. The context for the achievement of this psychological disposition depends on a number of factors, which are inclusive of the supervisory satisfaction derived from the work environment, the growth satisfaction as determined by the job scope, as well as their individual needs among other considerations.

From the development of an elaborate model, it will be possible to determine the factors that influence the creativity of individuals in the media companies. Some of the internal factors include the choices of job designs that the media companies adapt, which are inclusive of the organizational design, the management style, the workplace spirit and the technology in use in the organization. Some of the factors that are external to the organization media company but have an influence on the creativity of individuals working in the media industry include the labor market, the environmental uncertainty and the available technology among other factors. In light of the internal and external factors, it is possible to indicate that they can have an influence on the job characteristics (Garg and Rastogi, 2006, 574). On this note, the removal of demarcations or barriers is likely to create a good environment that ensures the delivery of excellent services. The reasonable assumption in this case is that the job characteristics are likely to mould the individuals working in the media companies into characters that rely on their individual abilities as well as personalities to develop their creativity.

One of the elements of job design is the fact that problem-solving demands occur due to the need to prevent faults, which is a factor that increases vigilance within the media company. Due to the aspect of preventing fault within the operations of the media company, there is need to develop diagnosis of errors that actively checks the creativity of the media personnel, which ensures that the ideas developed are marketable. In the modern job environment, feedback is one of the outstanding features that are likely to lead to the provision of accurate, timely and fair responses (Garg and Rastogi, 2006, 576). Through this provision, it will be possible for the employees to cope well with some of the work demands since the culture in the workp