MOTIVATION THEORIES

Motivation Theories



Motivation Theories

Task 1: Explaining Motivation using appropriate Sources and Theory

Motivation is a process that starts with a physiological or psychological need that activates a behavior or a drive that is aimed at a goal. Every employee is expected to show increased and qualitative productivity by the manager. To achieve this the behavior of the employee is very important. The behavior of the employees is influenced by the environment in which they find themselves. Finally, an employee's behavior will be a function of that employee's innate drives or felt needs and the opportunities he or she has to satisfy those drives or needs in the workplace. If employees are never given opportunities to utilize all of their skills, then the employer may never have the benefit of their total performance. Work performance is also contingent upon employee abilities. If employees lack the learned skills or innate talents to do a particular job, then performance will be less than optimal. A third dimension of performance is motivation.

So long as physiological needs are unsatisfied, they exist as a driving or motivating force in a person's life. A hungry person has a felt need. This felt need sets up both psychological and physical tensions that manifest themselves in overt behaviors directed at reducing those tensions (getting something to eat). Once the hunger is sated, the tension is reduced, and the need for food ceases to motivate. At this point (assuming that other physiological requirements are also satisfied) the next higher order need becomes the motivating need. According to Maslow an individual would stay at a certain need level until that need was satisfied. ERG theory counters by noting that when a higher- order need level is frustrated the individual's desire to increase a lower- level need takes place. Inability to satisfy a need for social interaction, for instance, might increase the desire for more money or better working conditions. So frustration can lead to a regression to a lower need. In summary, ERG theory argues, like Maslow, that satisfied lower- order needs lead to the desire to satisfy higher-order needs; but multiple needs can be operating as motivators at the same time, and frustration in attempting to satisfy a higher- level need can result in regression to a lower- level need.

Certain characteristics tend to be consistently related to job satisfaction and others to job dissatisfaction. Intrinsic factors, such as work itself, responsibility and achievement seem to be related to job satisfaction. Respondents who felt good about their work tended to attribute these factors to them. On the other dissatisfied respondents tended to cite extrinsic factors such as supervision, pay, and company policies and working condition. Herzberg proposed that his findings indicated the existence of a dual continuum: the opposite of “satisfaction” is “ No satisfaction” and the opposite of “Dissatisfaction” is “No Dissatisfaction.

According to Herzberg, the factors leading to Job satisfaction are separate and distinct form those that lead to job dissatisfaction. Therefore, managers who seek to eliminate factors that can ...