Major Theories in Motivation

• Motivation


  The force that drives an employee to perform well
• Work motivation


  The internal force that drives a worker to action as well as the external factors that encourage that action
• Ability and skill


  • Determine whether a worker can do the job
• Motivation


  • Determines whether the worker will do the job properly
• Work motivation


  A set of energetic forces that originate both within as well as beyond an individual's being, to innate work-related behavior, and to determine its forms which are: Direction, Intensity, Persistence
• Motivation

  A force that serves 3 functions: it energizes or causes people to act; it directs behavior toward the attainment of specific goals; and it sustains the effort expended in reaching those goals
• Perspectives of work motivation theories

  • Environmental
  • Social
  • Dispositional (genetic)
  • Cognitive
• Critical concepts of work motivation

  • Behavior
  • Performance
  • Ability
  • Situational Constraints
  • Motivation
• Conditions for employee motivation

  • They have a personality that predisposes them to be motivated
  • Their expectations have been met
  • The job and organization are consistent with their values
  • The employees have been given achievable goals
  • The employees receive feedback on their goal attainment
  • The organization rewards them for achieving their goals
  • The employees perceive they are being treated fairly
  • Their coworkers demonstrate a high level of motivation
• Personality


  • Conscientiousness is the best predictor of work performance, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and academic performance; Stability is most associated with salary and setting high goals; and Extraversion is most highly correlated with the number of promotions received
• Self-esteem


  The extent to which a person views himself as valuable and worthy
• Consistency theory


  Employees will be motivated to perform at levels consistent with their levels of self-esteem
• Types of self-esteem


  • Chronic self-esteem
  • Situational self-esteem
  • Socially influenced self-esteem
• Increasing self-esteem


  1. Self-esteem workshops and Outdoor training

  2. Experience with success

  3. Supervisor behavior
• Pygmalion effect


  If people believe that something is true, they will act in a manner consistent with that belief
• Golem effect


  Negative expectations of an individual cause a decrease in that individual's performance
• Intrinsic motivation


  Work motivation in the absence of external factors such as pay, promotion and coworkers
• Extrinsic motivation


  Work motivation that arises from such nonpersonal factors as pay, coworkers, and opportunities for advancement
• Needs for achievement, affiliation, and power

  • Employees differ in the extent to which they are motivated by these needs
• Classification of motivation theories

  • Content theories
  • Process theories
• Achievement motivation theory


  Focuses on the importance of work itself, dealing with the specific needs that motivate and direct behavior
• Achievement motivation theory


  • Proponent: David McClelland (1961)
  • It states that three needs are central to work motivation: the needs for achievement, power, and affiliation
• Need for achievement


  The compelling drive to succeed and to get the job done
• Need for power


  The need to direct and control the activities of others and to be influential
• Need for affiliation


  The desire to be liked and accepted by others
• Individuals with a high need for achievement attain personal success in their jobs, but only if the type of work that they do fosters personal achievement
• Persons high in need for achievement might be less effective in team situations, and they have a tendency to try to accomplish goals by themselves rather than delegate to others or work with them as a unit
• Those high in need for affiliation should do best in a job in which they work with others as part of a team, but research suggests that affiliation-motivated people are only cooperative when they feel secure and safe
• Persons with high need for power should thrive in jobs that satisfy their needs to be in charge
• The need for achievement is positively related to subsequent promotions among middle and upper level managers
• Entrepreneurial men and women have been found to score significantly higher in the need to achieve than those who were not entrepreneurs
• Mastery goal


  Developing competence and self-satisfaction through acquiring knowledge and skills
• Performance goal


  Developing competence by performing better than other people
• Application of achievement motivation theory in the work setting

  1. Matching worker's motivational profiles to job requirements

  2. Achievement training program
• Needs hierarchy theory

  Employees would be motivated by and satisfied with their jobs if certain needs are met, arranged in a strict hierarchy of importance from basic to higher-order needs
• Levels of needs hierarchy theory

  • Physiological
  • Safety
  • Social
  • Esteem
  • Self-actualization
• Higher-order needs are unlikely to be satisfied in the typical worker, so there is a constant upward striving to satisfy these needs
• Some support for basic needs but not for higher-level ones in needs hierarchy theory, and the theory is vague and hard to test
• ERG theory


  A needs theory with 3 levels: Existence, Relatedness, and Growth
• Motivation


  Self-actualization which is continuous and never satisfied