Can the need for Affiliation influence an employee’s Motivational Drive?

No man is an island! No matter what kind of organization we are in, we need to communicate. We need to belong; we need people whom we can talk to and who will listen to us. So it’s very obvious that there’s a need to be connected with our fellow employees in an organization: this is an employee’s need for affiliation.

Can we use affiliation as a motivational drive? Yes we can! Once we commend a worker for a job well done we positively affiliate ourselves to that worker and naturally it creates a positive motivational force within him.

We should also give free space for employees to communicate and interact with each other. For this is part and parcel of their freedom as employees. We are in a democratic world that’s why we must allow our workers to fulfill their need for affiliation. Provided, that they do it during break time and not during their working hours.

Thus, by giving our employees freedom to affiliate with their fellow employees. We create an impression in their minds that the organization that they belong doesn’t curtail their rights to affiliate with their co-workers. By doing so we can also avoid negative behavioral problems from cropping up in the future.

We must always remember that curtailment of an employee’s freedom to affiliate would only result in their demotivation. And to have a demotivated workforce is not good for any organization. - Marino J. Dasmarinas