Motivational Theories

Motivational Theories

Theory Name

Major Theorist(s)

Time Period Created

Key Theory Concepts

Achievement motivation

Elliot

1997

Orientation results from achieving success and avoiding failure

Goal setting

Locke and Latham

2002

A relationship exists between how difficult and specific a goal was and people's performance of a task. Specific and difficult goals lead to better task performance than vague or easy goals.

Cognitive dissonance

Harmon-Jones & Mills

1999

People find consistency comfortable and prefer to be consistent in their thoughts, beliefs, emotions, values, attitudes, and actions.

Self-actualization

Rogers & Maslow

1959

Needs, start with the most basic physiological demands, progress upward through safety needs, belonging needs, and esteem needs and culminate in self-actualization. Each level directs behavior toward the need level that is not being adequately met. As lower-level needs are met, the motivation to meet the higher-level needs becomes active. Furthermore, as an individual progress upward, it becomes progressively more difficult to successfully fulfill the needs of each higher level.

Self Efficacy

Bandura

1997

Learners need to know, understand, and appreciate. what they are doing in order to become motivated.

Attribution

Weiner

1986

Individuals explain achievement related events by one of four "attributions": ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck"

Introduction

Motivation is the driving force behind every action. Human beings perform various tasks, but there is a driving force behind every task they perform. They should be motivated in order to perform their task in the best possible manner. Motivation plays a prominent role in outstanding performance. This performance can be in academics, work, house etc. All performances, whether small or big, require motivation and once an individual gains motivation he or she can perform the task in a remarkable manner (Boddy, 2009).

There are two basic types of motivation, namely Intrinsic and Extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation refers to the motivation that comes from with an individual. His inner motivation is the basic driving force behind his work, and it is due to that intrinsic motivation that an individual is able to do his tasks. Extrinsic motivation is that motivation that comes from monetary rewards, recognition programs and other external sources. This type of motivation is very important at workplace. Organizations should make sure that they provide extrinsic motivation so that employees perform at their highest level ((Kriz, 2006).

Motivational theory at Workplace

Managers should make sure that their employees are motivated enough to perform the task at its highest level. Motivating each and every employee of the organization is very difficult task. The motivation level of employees is quite low in every organization, and it is the duty of management to bring it to a higher level. This is why productivity at organizations is low. In order to increase productivity and to keep employees happy, the management should introduce extrinsic motivation. They should incorporate additional benefits in the compensation package and should also bring recognition programs in the organization (Marcic, 2005).

Management can also increase intrinsic motivation by arranging seminars with motivational speakers. This is how employees can be motivated, and productivity can be increased. Intrinsic motivation plays a dominant role in the performance of an individual; therefore, it should be considered. Even if there is little extrinsic motivation, but if the employee is ...