Key Elements of Motivation

Key Elements of Motivation

Key Elements of Motivation

Kaplan University

Motivation is the process that account for an individual’s intensity, direction and persistence toward attaining a goal. It is the result of the interaction of the individual and the situation. This paper will discuss motivational theories of Malsow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory; Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, McClelland’s Theory, Reinforcement Theory, Equity Theory and Expectancy Theory, how they apply to modern managers and why managers who uses motivational theory increases worker productivity.

Motivation has been defined as: the psychological process that gives behavior purpose and direction (Kreitner, 1995); a predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific, unmet needs (Buford, Bedeian, & Lindner, 1995); an internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need (Higgins, 1994); and the will to achieve (Bedeian, 1993). Motivation refers to the forces either within or external to a person that arouses enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a certain course of action, it is inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals.

According to Maslow, employees have five levels of needs (Maslow, 1943): physiological (includes most basic human physical needs, including food, water and sex); safety (the need for a safe and secure physical and emotional environment and freedom from threats. In an organizational workplace, safety needs reflect the needs for safe jobs, fringe benefits and job security); social (needs reflect the desire to be accepted by one’s peers, have friendships, be part of a group and be loved. In an organization, these needs influence the desire for good relationships with co-workers, participation in a work group and a positive relationship with supervisors); ego (feelings of self-confidence derived from achieving something, desire for a positive self-image and to receive attention, recognition and appreciation from others. Within an organization, esteem needs reflect a motivation for recognition, an increase in responsibility, high status and credit for contributions to the organization), and self- actualizing (achieving one’s full potential and dreams). Maslow argues that low-order needs take priority they must be satisfied before higher-order needs are activated. The needs are satisfied in sequence: physiological needs come before safety needs, safety needs before social needs, and so on. A person desiring physical safety will devote his or her efforts to securing a safer environment and will not be concerned with esteem needs or self-actualization needs. Once a need is satisfied, it declines in importance and the next higher need is activated.

Fredrick Herzburg’s theory of motivation is called the two-factor theory (Herzburg 53-62). Herzburg suggests that there are two factors that contribute to employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The first is referred to as motivators, which includes responsibility, advancement, and recognition. The other is known as hygiene factors, which includes the work environment, management, salaries, and company policies. Unsatisfactory hygiene factors can act as de-motivators. When hygiene factors are poor, work is dissatisfying. However, good hygiene factors simply remove the dissatisfaction; they do not in themselves cause people to become highly satisfied and motivated in their work.

McClelland’s theory focuses on three needs: the need for achievement, the drive to excel, the strive to succeed.; the need for power, the need to make others behave in a way they would not have before and the need for affiliation which is the desire to be friendly and have close interpersonal relationships. This theory finds that high achievers differentiate themselves from others by their desire to do things better. Employees seek out situations which they attain personal responsibility for finding the solutions to the problem.

Reinforcement theory has four ways to modify behavior. The first and most affective way is positive reinforcement, which refers to rewarding a desirable behavior to strengthen the likelihood that it will be repeated. The second way a manager can modify behavior is negative reinforcement, which is defined as removing a negative stimulus in the environment after the behavior occurs. Another way to modify behavior is punishment, which decreases the chances of the behavior to occur. This works on the principle that punishment is something unpleasant and that employee will try to avoid. The last method of the behavior modification is lack of reinforcement. The idea behind this method is that if a behavior is not reinforced in any way that it will decrease in frequency, and be eliminated.

Equity Theory focuses on individuals’ perceptions of how fairly they are