What really motivates employees to be productive? Is it money? Recognition? Job satisfaction? Benefits? Opportunities? Employees are recognized as the most crucial asset of today’s organizations by both practitioners and academics. Employee satisfaction is stressed as one of the most important drivers of continuous improvement and satisfied customers in most classical total quality management (TQM) literature. But what really motivates employees to be productive in their jobs? Two often mentioned motivators are money and job satisfaction. We hear that better pay motivates employees to be more productive. We also hear that “happy employees are productive employees.”

But is there any truth to these sayings or are they just fictional beliefs? Anyone who has ever taken a course in social science has discovered that common sense beliefs are not always validated by scientific research. In some cases, common sense beliefs are just plain wrong. Take “opposites attract,” for example. This is not true. An overwhelming amount of research indicates that we tend to be attracted to people who are similar to ourselves. Thus, “birds of a feather flock together” is true; but “opposites attract” is false. The only way to know if money and job satisfaction really influence productivity is to look at the results of scientific studies. Let’s begin with what researchers have discovered about money.

Have you ever been lost or unsure of which direction to take? In today's technologically savvy world, we are less likely to find ourselves in this situation. We have cellular phones on which we can call and ask for directions or log on to the Internet and look up our destination on a map. Many vehicles are now equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) that takes the guesswork out of finding our destination. We simply enter the address of the place we want to go and follow the verbal prompts of the computer. If we fail to obey the prompts, the system will announce "recalculating" and begin to give us new directions. The only way it could get any easier is if the GPS would drive the vehicle for us.

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Most of us do not take our temperature on a regular basis and in fact, some people never take their temperature. Why would we? We just assume that if we are feeling fine that our temperature must be within the normal range. Although we may not feel the need to monitor our temperature, it is one of the first measurements taken during a visit to the doctor. Why? Because an abnormal reading is a quick indicator that something is wrong. This is true for humans and for their pets. Recently, for example, I noticed some changes in my cat. First, she lost some weight. This seemed like a good thing to me since, like many indoor cats, she was overweight anyway. Then I began to notice she was meowing more loudly and frequently. Well, she has always seemed fond of the sound of her own voice so… But then she lost more weight and our family decided a trip to the veterinarian was a good idea.

What do you think was the first thing the doctor’s office did to my cat? That’s right, they took her temperature. Immediately they knew something was wrong as it was quite a bit higher than normal for a cat. The doctor soon discovered that my cat had an infection.

At this point you may be wondering “what does this have to do with my company?” A lot. Just like I want my pet to be healthy, we all want our companies to be healthy. But in determining whether our companies are healthy we don’t always gather enough information or focus on the right information. I initially made this mistake with my cat. I thought, “She doesn’t act sick.” She was still grooming herself and demanding a lot of attention. But I was focusing on the wrong information. I did not take notice of the fact that she was shedding a lot more than usual, for example. In like fashion, we may focus on our companies profits for the last three or four quarters but not look at other indicators of business health. Peter F. Drucker, in his book Management Challenges for the 21st Century, stated that success “comes to those who know themselves - their strengths, their values, and how they best perform.” This is true for both individuals and companies.

Why aren’t your employees as happy as they were a few years ago?

The economy can certainly explain why many employees are feeling a bit jittery on the job. Gasoline prices are leaving Americans light-headed, food prices are causing cases of sticker shock, home prices are falling at the fastest rate in 30 years, and a credit crisis is rattling Wall Street.