Employees’ Motivation in Knowledge-Based Organizations in the IT Industry

Employees’ motivation is, probably, the biggest and most profound concern of managers today. Considering the constant changes of the marketplace, along with the attrition rates nowadays, we can easily understand why this matter is of high importance. But how did the study of motivation evolve throughout time and what stage has it reached today? From Maslow and the Pyramid of Needs to Herzberg and the Two-Factor Theory, McGregor and the X and Y Theories or McClelland and his Need for Achievement Theory, the matter of motivation has long been debated and researched. The present scientific paper aims to analyze how today’s employees in knowledge-based organizations find job satisfaction, what helps them feel motivated and the way in which the management and the organizations can influence the level of job satisfaction and motivation for the employees working in the IT industry. Generations evolve and so do their expectations of what a workplace should look like. For the employees working in the IT industry, the autonomy, and the learning opportunities they could have while doing their job are at least as important, or perhaps more important than their level of satisfaction with the financial benefits offered by companies. The research methodology of the present paper is based on literature review, and the objectives are related to describing the knowledge-based organizations and how they differ from other types of organizations, analyze the evolution of motivation theories over time, presenting the IT industry and its specifics for the motivation of employees in this field.