Employee MotivationINTRODUCTIONIn an effort to get the most out of employees and achieve organizational success, employers have recognized the need to recognize that people have complex needs. With the growing wealth of our society, today's Singaporeans are no longer driven solely by money but also by the challenges inherent in their responsibility. This is supported by our Prime Minister Goh who recently commented that Singaporeans prefer work experience overseas rather than locally as the foreign employer upholds the importance of not only the job, but also the needs of the employee . (TODAY, March 15, 2007). Before discussing motivational strategies, a simplistic approach will be taken, using Hackman Oldham's job characteristics model, which defines the workforce into two categories. The first category is made up of staff in work contexts with low skill variety, task identity, task importance, low autonomy and feedback, followed by staff in complicated work contexts with high scores on all fronts (Robbins, Millet, Waters- Marsh, 2004 ). GOAL SETTING/EXPECTATION THEORY “Specific difficult goals produce a higher level of output than the generalized goal of “do your best” (Robbins, 2003). This statement defines Edwin Locke's goal setting theory which advocates giving employees clear goals so that they are aware of what needs to be done and how much effort needs to be spent. While easier goals are accepted more easily, difficult goals, once accepted, result in higher performance because the specificity of the goals themselves act as an internal stimulus. Furthermore, people tend to perform better when timely feedback is provided (Bartol, Tein, Matthews, & Martin, 2005). When applied to individuals motivated by inhe... middle of paper...cShane , S and Glinow, MA 2003, Organizational Behavior, McGraw-Hill, New York.McShane, S and Travaglione, T 2007, Organizational Behavior in the Pacific Area, Irwin/McGraw-Hill, Sydney.Robbins, SP 2003, Organizational Behavior, Prentice Hall, SydneyRobbins, SP, Millet, B, and Waters-Marsh, T, 2004, Organizational Behavior, Prentice-Hall, SydneyWood, J , Chapman, K, Fromholtz, M, Morrison, V, Wallace, J, Zeffane, R , Kennedy, R, Schermerhorn, J, Hunt, J and Osborn, R 2004, Organizational Behavior: A Global Perspective, John Wiley & Sons, Brisbane. Internet References “Singapore leaking talent” http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories /specialreport/news/264096_8/1/.html"The best companies to work for" according to Fortunehttp://money.cnn.com/magazines/ fortune/fortune_archive/2007/01/22/8397996/index.htmAIA Singaporehttp:// www.aia.com.sg/Content.asp?ca_typeid=4