Motivation:

Basic Principles and Theories

Reported by:
Precious Keitch P. Horvidalla

“It's the power that prompts, instigates and inspires you to deliver your best. It's a compelling force that
encourages you to remain committed to achieving your set goal irrespective of what others comment on
your chosen goal, you remain positive of reaching your goals. It has the power to change your life
dramatically.” (1)

[Valid RSS feed] Category Rss Feed - http://www.ArticlePlayground.com/rss.php?rss=140 By : Lindelle Jones Submitted 2010-05-30
05:02:58

WHAT IS MOTIVATION?

It is a general tendency to believe that motivation is a personal trait. Some people have it and the others don’t.
In practice, some are labeled to be lazy because they do not display an outward sign of motivation. However,
individuals differ in their basic motivational drives. It also depends upon their areas of interest. The concept of
motivation is situational and its level varies between different individuals and at different times. If you
understand what motivates people, you have at your command the most powerful tool for dealing with them.

DEFINING MOTIVATION

Motivation is to inspire people to work, individually or in groups in the ways such as to produce best results. It
is the will to act. It is the willingness to exert high levels of effort towards organizational goals, conditioned by
the efforts and ability to satisfy some individual need.

Motivation is getting somebody to do something because they want to do it. It was once assumed that
motivation had to be injected from outside, but it is now understood that everyone is motivated by several
differing forces.

Motivation is a general term applied to the entire class of drives, desires, needs, wishes and similar forces. To
say that managers motivate their subordinates is to say that they do those things which they hope will satisfy
these drives and desires and induce the subordinates to act in

To motivate others is the most important of management tasks. It comprises the abilities to communicate, to set
an example, to challenge, to encourage, to obtain feedback, to involve, to delegate, to develop and train, to
inform, to brief and to provide a just reward.
PROCESS OF MOTIVATION

opportunity rewards

performance
environment
effort

ability
tension
Goals and
incentives

Needs and
drives Needs
satisfaction

Th e m ot iv a t io n p r o cess

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MOTIVATION, SATISFACTION, INSPIRATION AND MANIPULATION

Motivation refers to the drive and efforts to satisfy a want or goal, whereas satisfaction refers to the contentment
experienced when a want is satisfied. In contrast, inspiration is bringing about a change in the thinking pattern.
On the other hand Manipulation is getting the things done from others in a predetermined manner

Hence, manipulation or external

stimulus as well as inspiration or
internal stimulus acts as carriers
of either demotivation or
motivation which in turn either
results into dissatisfaction or
satisfaction depending upon.
 TYPES OF MOTIVATION

(1) Achievement Motivation

It is the drive to pursue and attain goals. An individual with achievement motivation wishes to achieve
objectives and advance up on the ladder of success. Here, accomplishment is important for its own shake and
not for the rewards that accompany it. It is similar to ‘Kaizen’ approach of Japanese Management.

(1) Achievement Motivation

It is the drive to pursue and attain goals. An individual with achievement motivation wishes to achieve
objectives and advance up on the ladder of success. Here, accomplishment is important for its own shake and
not for the rewards that accompany it. It is similar to ‘Kaizen’ approach of Japanese Management.

(2) Affiliation Motivation

It is a drive to relate to people on a social basis. Persons with affiliation motivation perform work better when
they are complimented for their favorable attitudes and co-operation.

(3) Competence Motivation

It is the drive to be good at something, allowing the individual to perform high quality work. Competence
motivated people seek job mastery, take pride in developing and using their problem-solving skills and strive to
be creative when confronted with obstacles. They learn from their experience.

(4) Power Motivation

It is the drive to influence people and change situations. Power motivated people wish to create an impact on
their organization and are willing to take risks to do so.

(5) Attitude Motivation

Attitude motivation is how people think and feel. It is their self confidence, their belief in themselves, their
attitude to life. It is how they feel about the future and how they react to the past.

(6) Incentive Motivation

It is where a person or a team reaps a reward from an activity. It is “You do this and you get that”, attitude. It is
the types of awards and prizes that drive people to work a little harder.

(7) Fear Motivation

Fear motivation coercions a person to act against will. It is instantaneous and gets the job done quickly. It is
helpful in the short run.
 P OSITIVE
Mot iva t ion t ow a r d s a Goa l
Types of
Motivators
“Write your “I really Intrinsic
report and want to Motivators
you get a write this Intrinsic motivators
bonus.” report.” are those that come
Ext r in sic In t r in sic from within; no one
Som eon e w a n t s Yo u w a n t does anything to
you t o d o it t o d o it create these,
“Write this “I really
although we can
report or don’t want sometimes create
you’re to write conditions that
fired!” this report” allow these
motivators to
emerge. When
you've gone a while
N EGATIVE
Mot iva t ion a w ay fr om som et h in g
without eating, for
example, you
experience hunger
—that is, you are
intrinsically
motivated to eat. When you're tired, you're intrinsically motivated to sleep. When you're cold, you're
intrinsically motivated to find a way to be warmer. When you're bored, you're intrinsically motivated to find
something interesting to do. Nobody has to create these motivations within you because you already have
them; they're part and parcel of being human.
Extrinsic Motivators
Extrinsic motivators are external factors that control your behavior. Nobody is born with a yearning for
money; money is an external or extrinsic driver of behavior, a learned motivator. Hearing "You're a good
boy!" or "You're a good girl!" from your parents when you're growing up is extrinsically motivating as well.
With extrinsic motivators, something outside of you urges you to behave in a certain way. Money, gold stars,
treats, prizes, grades and praise are all examples of extrinsic motivators. Intrinsic motivators, such as food,
can be used as extrinsic motivators, too. For example, one might use food to motivate a dog to come when its
name is called. The dog will seek food because of hunger, an intrinsic motivator. However, food can also be
linked to the act of coming when called. In this instance, food is an extrinsic motivator for that particular
behavior.
Positive Motivators – Motivation towards a Goal
Negative Motivators= Motivation away from something
 Theories of Motivation

content theories

 focus is on the content(nature) of items that may motivate a person. They relate to
the person's inner self and how that person's internal state of needs determines
behavior

process theories

 Theories that rely heavily on intended results, careful measurement, and systematic
application of incentives. These theories provide perspectives on the dynamics by
which employees can be motivated

Abraham Maslow’s “Need Hierarchy Theory”:

One of the most widely mentioned theories of motivation is the hierarchy of needs theory put forth by
psychologist Abraham Maslow. Maslow saw human needs in the form of a hierarchy, ascending from the
lowest to the highest, and he concluded that when one set of needs is satisfied, this kind of need ceases to be a
motivator.

Theorist Abraham Maslow claimed that motivation is developmental. He contended that humans are born
intrinsically motivated to meet:

Physiological needs:

These are important needs for sustaining the human life. Food, water, warmth, shelter, sleep, medicine and
education are the basic physiological needs which fall in the primary list of need satisfaction. Maslow was of an
opinion that until these needs were satisfied to a degree to maintain life, no other motivating factors can work.

 (e.g., eating, sleeping), but as these needs are reliably met, a new set of dominant motivations arises

Security or Safety needs:

These are the needs to be free of physical danger and of the fear of losing a job, property, food or shelter. It also
includes protection against any emotional harm.

 (e.g., freedom from the elements, pain and, of course, death). As these are reliably satisfied, new intrinsic
motivations for

Social needs:
Since people are social beings, they need to belong and be accepted by others. People try to satisfy their need
for affection, acceptance and friendship.

 love and belonging become dominant. These comprise the needs to feel loved, show love and feel part of at
least one social group. When a person feels securely loved, the new dominant motivations centre on

Esteem needs:

According to Maslow, once people begin to satisfy their need to belong, they tend to want to be held in esteem
both by themselves and by others. This kind of need produces such satisfaction as power, prestige status and
self-confidence. It includes both internal esteem factors like self-respect, autonomy and achievements and
external esteem factors such as states, recognition and attention.

 feeling good about yourself and knowing that others hold you in high regard

Need for self-actualization:

Maslow regards this as the highest need in his hierarchy. It is the drive to become what one is capable of
becoming; it includes growth, achieving one’s potential and self-fulfillment. It is to maximize one’s potential
and to accomplish something.

Finally, once this whole set of basic or deficit needs are consistently fulfilled, a new order of motivators
emerges. These are called being needs or self-actualization needs, and they are comprised of the needs for:

 Knowledge (e.g., science, philosophy, history)

 Beauty (e.g., painting, music, dance)
 Goodness (e.g., justice, peace, philanthropy)

The system Maslow used to detail the developmental aspect of motivation is called Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs. Some of the research in this area is a little shaky, but Maslow's hierarchy is useful for youth workers
because it provides a framework for thinking about what might be intrinsically motivating to youth clients.
 Self actualization
Needs

Esteem Needs

Social / Belongingness
Needs

Security and
Safety Needs

Physiological Needs

As each of these needs is substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant. From the standpoint of
motivation, the theory would say that although no need is ever fully gratified, a substantially satisfied need no
longer motivates. So if you want to motivate someone, you need to understand what level of the hierarchy that
person is on and focus on satisfying those needs or needs above that level.

Maslow’s need theory has received wide recognition, particularly among practicing managers. This can be
attributed to the theory’s intuitive logic and ease of understanding. However, research does not validate this
theory. Maslow provided no empirical evidence and other several studies that sought to validate the theory
found no support for it.
ERG Theory

Clayton Alderfer’s

 Alderfer has tried to rebuild the hierarchy of needs of Maslow into another model named ERG i.e.
Existence – Relatedness – Growth. According to him there are 3 groups of core needs as
mentioned above. The existence group is concerned mainly with providing basic material
existence. The second group is the individuals need to maintain interpersonal relationship with
other members in the group. The final group is the intrinsic desire to grow and develop
personally. The major conclusions of this theory are :

Frustration-regression principle.

 An already satisfied lower-level need becomes reactivated when a higher-level need is frustrated

The major conclusions of this theory are :

In an individual, more than one need may be operative at the same time.
If a higher need goes unsatisfied than the desire to satisfy a lower need intensifies.