Content and process theories of motivation
Content and process theories of motivation
Introduction into motivation
In this essay the writer is going to explore the concept of motivation, this is hopefully going to be achieved through exploration of the complex and variable nature of needs and expectations. Formal and informal theories of motivation will be discussed, focussing on the former. Mainly but this will involve mainly the formal theories because these are the ones that content and process theories fall under. Content and process theories of motivation will be evaluated with particular emphasis on the links between motivation and leadership. The writer will compare the various content theories and process theories. Finally writer also aims to compare the various content theories and process theories this will be done by brief illustration of the main ones and analysis of the most influential ones since some of the theories are similar in nature.
Motivation is one of the most crucial skill that a manager needs to have it is the reason why it has to be studied it could be described as a leadership skill because a good leader has to be able to motivate their staff; firstly we need to know what motivation is. Motivation is " a set of processes that moves a person towards a goal, thus motivated behaviours are voluntary choices controlled by the individual employee." The reason an employer motivates their employees is to get the most out of them as in better work quality because there is a link between motivation and performance better motivated staff will put in more effort. The reason they will do this is because they are after something content theories will argue that individuals are motivated mainly because they want to satisfy their needs. On the other hand process theories will argue that the reason staff are motivated in a work situation is because they have expectations that effort will result in a satisfying outcome I will explain the exceptional theories later these are the basis of the process theory.
There are two main overall categories of theories of motivation these are formal and informal theories of motivation informal theories are based on assumptions of managers these are the assumptions on what motivates staff. These are theory X and theory Y types of management the basis of these is that theory X managers believe staff are not motivated enough and dislike work and responsibility, theory Y managers believe the opposite that staff are motivated and seek responsibility. The other assumption-based theory is the social assumptions. The Fredrick Taylor theory of motivation also falls under the assumption based theories it is assumed that by Taylor money is the only motivator and the last main assumption based theory was the hawthorn studies about the impact of social relations on motivation. The Hawthorne studies are very important because Fredrick Herzberg (1969) who did a formal theory to motivation based some of his ideas from the Hawthorne studies.
The formal theories of motivation
The formal theories of motivation fall under three main headings these are content theories, process theories and reinforcement theories.
Content theories consist of four major theories that are going to be evaluated to give a deeper understanding to what content theories are all about. These theories are Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Alderfer's modified need model Herzberg's two factor theory and McClelland's motivational theory. These are described in Mullins (2005) as theories as concerned with identifying people's needs and their relative strength, and the goals they purse in order to satisfy those needs people's needs. These content theories of motivation are need-based theories. A need is an individual's desire.
Knowledge of the theories is not enough we also have to understand how they are applied in an organisation; the best way to motivate staff is from having a leader. When we think about it you can either be self motivated this is motivation from within as an individual or someone else can help in motivating us this is where a leader comes in it is their job to motivate their staff in an organisation, in a leadership sense it is one of the main functions or skill a good leader has to have this ability to motivate ...
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Knowledge of the theories is not enough we also have to understand how they are applied in an organisation; the best way to motivate staff is from having a leader. When we think about it you can either be self motivated this is motivation from within as an individual or someone else can help in motivating us this is where a leader comes in it is their job to motivate their staff in an organisation, in a leadership sense it is one of the main functions or skill a good leader has to have this ability to motivate their staff which is to instil a driving force in subordinates that allows them to meet their needs. (Derek Torrington et al). By establishing this link between leadership and motivation businesses can use this to their advantage by use of motivational theories to improve staff's work performance, so when staff are motivated there are more liked to stay reducing staff turnover is good for any organisation it save money from re- training.
Individuals have to have needs or expectations in them before they reach the driving force stage this is where behaviour is performed a stage identified by (Kreitner et al) this driving force can result in the achievement of goals which is backed up by a theory done by Locke whom had a theory that people's goals will determine the way they behave.
Unsatisfied needs brings tension to individuals and by engaging in goal oriented activity to satisfy needs in the form of behaviour this (Derek Torrington et al) e.g. this could be working harder to improve your performance at work, or this could be making yourself more competent in tasks that are related to the need you want to be satisfied. Lets say in a work situation you want to become a supervisor, this in context of content theories which are need based can be explained by Maslow's theory on motivation. Individuals differ on what a particular need satisfies, this for this individual could be an esteem need that you need to satisfy. Which you can only gain from the esteem of others and by being supervisor will meet this need, as you will get recognition and the esteem needs are met but this goal can only be done by putting in the behaviour required to reach such a position that you have what it takes to become a supervisor when this need is achieved it will bring you satisfaction.
Maslow (1943) Based all his ideas on that "individuals have needs and will feel motivated to fulfil them most powerful at the time" he formed a structure of how needs are arranged by identifying that needs where on different levels. This had five main levels all arranged in a hierarchy this took the form of a pyramid shape. They start from the most basic off needs these are physiological needs e.g. water food oxygen these were described by Maslow as functions that enable homeostasis. To the next level that is safety needs e.g. safety and security, freedom from pain and attack. The next level form this are love needs e.g. affection, a sense of belonging The next level from this is esteem needs the he referred to as "Ego needs" and the highest level need he identified as self actualisation needs this need was one he described as reaching one's full potential Maslow' s work argues that, every one is capable of reaching this level but few mange to reach it. Maslow stated that the order is not fixed because some people put some needs above other needs. As influential as Maslow's theory is it has been argued that his work was not intended for a work situation this will reduce the validity of his work when applied to work situations but in the writers opinion it cannot fully be relied upon on its own for effective motivation in an organisation. This is because
Another content theory was done by Alderfer (1972) who used the same ideology that needs where arranged in order of levels and where arranged in the form of a hierarchy but his theory had one main exception it condensed Maslow's hierarchy into 3 levels from the 5 that Maslow had stated where. These where existence needs just like Maslow's lower level needs are the basic human functions these are physiological desires e.g. food. Relatedness needs these are the needs to form relationships in a work situation this would be a need to form friendships or bond with your work colleagues.
Like Alderfer, also Fredrick Herzberg realised the importance of work relationships as he stated "The research on existence of social groupings among lower level workers and the discovery that these groupings are highly functional on those levels has helped the trend to an insistence on group activity in many areas in which it is far from appropriate"(Herzberg, 1959,pg129). Here it is seem the similarities between the two theories as the two theorists both have stated differently but the general idea is that people have a need to bond at work Herzberg in his theory described it in the sense of social groups and their effect on individuals and Alderfer also suggested, "These needs are more a continuum than a hierarchal levels." More than one can be activated at the same time." This is an improvement on Maslow's work as it is stated by Maslow that the hierarchy was not fixed but from his experience from most people he worked with that was indeed the order but after looking at Alderfer's work and the mention of a "continuum" system it is more valid in a work situation because it is possible to have several needs on different levels at the same time.
Content theories are based on individual's need for satisfaction for motivation to be achieved, the process theories on motivation are based more on expectancy and these are the expectations of the individual on the type of treatment they should get from their organisation. Mullins (2005) describes these process theories as the link between expectation of rewards and its effect on motivation. To put it simply when you expect a reward this will influence your behaviour and the degree to which you are motivated to receive this reward. These rewards can be described, as tangible rewards (Boddy et al) because of their nature, a reward could be in the form of money a pay rise. An individual may feel they have worked in a organisation for a long enough time that they should be getting paid more this raises expectation, with this expectation in mind it has an influence on work attitude and behaviour. You may be more or less motivated based on you judgement weather it will happen or not. These tangible rewards are categorised under extrinsic motivation, which is all about motivation separate from your ability to do a task, under this heading rewards salary and promotion fall (Boddy et al). In that particular situation the expectancy of earning more will have been the key motivator in them staying in the organisation for so long. So in that example the expectation of being rewarded for good performance is a motivator because an individual will have expectancy for the outcome as being a reward in this case reward would be in the form of a promotion or pay rise.
Vroom (1964) devised a theory on expectancy based on the assumptions on how people behave and the decisions they make on the basis of perceived outcomes of actions. He stated that there where three main variables to this expectancy theory. These were valence, instrumentality and expectancy. Vroom describe valence, as the feeling you get from an outcome this could be satisfaction or dissatisfaction as well as the anticipated satisfaction of an outcome. Vroom's second variable instrumentality that distinguishes first level outcomes (performance related) and second level outcomes (need related). His final variable was expectancy, which is "the relationship between the chosen coarse of action and its predicted outcome," (Mullins, 2005,pg491) when a individual has an expectancy of an outcome its human nature to make a conscious decision to try and influence the chances of the expectation materialising this is by a choice to perform a certain behaviour to make this happen.
Process theories being about expectations of the individual brings in the concept of the psychological contract this is described by Mullins (2005) as the unwritten codes of conduct or expectations that individuals feel their organisations or employers should meet, these are hard to meet fully but there has to be a balance a little give and take so as to satisfy both needs of the employee and the organisation. The expectations of an individual could be to be treated fairly in the form of rewards an individual could feel they have worked in an organisation long enough for an organisation that they should get a reward (Adams). The equity theory devised by Adams could be used to explain how a reward system could work. A individual could feel they have worked long and hard enough for the company to earn a reward this could be in the form of a rise in pay this is extrinsic motivation or this could be in the form of recognition by a better position or both this is a form of intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is described to be all about "psychological rewards" these take various forms this could be an individual's expectation for reward of a particular behaviour thus motivating the individual and reinforcement of performing this behaviour. The process theories are based on this ideology of "expectation is the main driving force for individuals" as long as they believe that they are working towards something that will meet their needs, and individuals are under that assumption their manager or organisation work on a similar policy of effective reward and recognition.
The way this individual is motivated besides the expectancy of reward for work this individual is also goal oriented because they are working towards something in this case promotion. This is explained in the goal theory based on work by Locke, which states "working towards a goal is a motivator itself, this was stated by Locke that goal setting is more appropriately viewed as a motivational technique rather than a formal theory of motivation." If a manager wanted to increase motivation and performance goal setting would be very effective these goals should be realistic and achievable and the workers should also have an implicit knowledge of what is required from them. To the writer's belief this is one the most commonly used theories in today' s business world the evidence is that manager's these days work mostly on performance indicators to asses a individual's motivation so if you are going to use those figures goals must have already been set to be achieved which makes this theory very important if you want to motivate staff. The amount of motivation the individual has will depend on how badly they want to achieve their goals. This although is a process theory and is about expectations it is also very tightly linked with the content theory of motivation as they work together hand in hand. The individual has a expectation of an out come of putting in effort but the extent to which they are motivated also depends on what needs have to be satisfied, which is a content theory.
Conclusion
These are all theories on motivation but at the end of the day they are all theories so it would be fair to say they are guidelines on motivating staff. Application of motivational theories might be easier than the actual identification of what motivates a particular individual, what is their driving force and which is the most effective way of helping them in the search for satisfaction of their needs. When you apply they them a lot of variables must be considered there was one thing common as a weakness in all theories and that is how individual differences play a part in motivation. This is because no matter what theory you apply individuals have too many needs to all be satisfied it might work in small organisations but in big ones a manager cannot identify the dominant need in each and every individual.
Referencing
Human resource Management, 5th Ed
Management and organisational behaviour
Management and introduction
People Management and Development
A motivation to work
http://www.canberra.edu.au/uc/lectures/mantech/manpol/sem972/unit4207/Motivation.html
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