Human motivation

Introduction

Most of us get up in the morning, go to school, university or work, and behave in ways that are predictably our own. We respond to our environment and the people in it with little thought about why we work hard, enjoy certain classes or find some recreational activities so much fun. Yet all these types of behaviour are motivated by something. Motivation refers to the forces either within or external to a person that arouse enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a certain course of action. Employee motivation affects productivity, and part of a manager’s job is to channel motivation towards the accomplishment of organizational goals.

A simple model of human motivation is shown as above. People have basic needs – such as need for food, achievement or monetary gain – which translate into an internal tension that motivates specific behaviour with which to fulfill the need. To the extent that the behaviour is successful, the person is rewarded in the sense that the need is satisfied. The reward also inform the person that the behaviour was appropriate and can be used again in the future.

Authorities distinguish between two types of reward:

“Intrinsic rewards derive form the process of performing a particular function. Accomplishing a complex task, overcoming a serious problem or resolving a difficulty being feelings of satisfaction. They arise from pleasing oneself.

Extrinsic rewards are provided by someone else. They include increases in pay and responsibility. They stem, therefore, from pleasing someone else. Although frequently provided by a manager, colleagues can also offer extrinsic rewards through their appreciation.”

The important of motivation as illustrated in above picture is that it can lead to behaviour that reflects high performance within organization. Therefore, managers can use motivation theory such as Needs theory, Job Design and Reinforcement theory to help satisfy employee’s needs and simultaneously encourage higher performance.

“Content Theories of Motivation: Human Needs

Content theories emphasize the needs the motivate people. At any point in time, people have basic needs such as those for food, achievement or monetary reward. These needs translate into an internal drive that motivates specific behavior in an attempt to fulfil the needs. An individual’s needs are like a hidden catalogue of the things he or she wants and will work to get. To extent that managers understand worker needs, the organization’s reward system be designed to meet them priorities towards attainment of organizational goal.

Two of most popular need hierarchies are Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy and Clayton Alderfer’s ERG theory of motivation.

“Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory

Perhaps the most famous content theory was developed by Abraham Maslow. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory proposes that humans are motivated by multiple needs and that these needs exist in a hierarchical order as illustrated at the following picture. Maslow identified five general types of motivating needs in order of ascendance:

Physiological needs: These are the most basic human physical needs, including food, water and sex. In the organizational setting, these ...

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“Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory

Physiological needs: These are the most basic human physical needs, including food, water and sex. In the organizational setting, these are reflected in the needs for adequate heat, air and a base salary to ensure survival.

Safety needs: These are the needs for a safe and secure physical and emotional environment and freedom from threats – that is, for freedom from violence and for an orderly society. In an organizational workplace, safety needs reflect the needs for safe jobs, fringe benefits and job security

Belongingness needs: These needs reflect the desire to be accepted by one’s peers, have friendships, be part of a group and be loved. In the organization, these needs influence the desire for good relationships with co-workers, participation in a work group and a positive relationship with supervisors.

Esteem needs: These needs relate to the desire for a positive self-image and to receive attention, recognition and appreciation from others. Within organizations, esteem needs reflect a motivation for recognition, an increase in responsibility, high status and credit for contributions to the organization.

Self-actualisation needs: These represent the need for self-fulfillment, which is the highest need category. They concern developing one’s full potential, increasing one’s competence and becoming a better person. Self-actualisation needs can be met in the organization by providing people with opportunities to grow, be creative, and acquire training for challenging assignments and advancement.

Intrinsic motivation has clear links with Maslow’s esteem and self-actualisation needs.

According to Maslow’s theory, low order needs take priority – they must be satisfied before higher-order needs are activated. The needs are satisfied in sequence: physiological needs come before safety needs, safety needs before social needs, and so on. A person desiring physical safety will devote his or her effort to securing a safer environment and will not be concerned with esteem needs or self-actualisation needs. Once a need is satisfied, it declines in importance and the next higher need is activated.

“Alderfer’s ERG Theory

Clayton Alderfer responded to some of the criticism of Maslow’s work by conducting his own study of human needs. He identified three basic categories of needs:”

Existence needs – it equated to Maslow’s physiological and safety needs.
Relatedness needs – it can be matched to belongingness and the esteem of others.
Growth needs – it is equivalent to self-esteem and self-actualisation.

ERG theory like Maslow’s theory, assumes that motivated behaviour follows a hierarchy, but it has two important differences:

ERG theory suggests that more than one level of needs can cause motivation at the same time;
ERG theory has a frustration regression element that suggests that if needs remain unsatisfied at some high level, the individual will become frustrated, regress to a lower level, and begin to pursue lower level needs again.

Process Theories

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Rather than examine innate traits, process theories aim to link several variables that make up motivation. They tend to be more complex than content theories because of the multiple perspectives used. Job design approach is based on the notion.

Job design

Job design is the identification and arrangement of tasks which together form a job. It is clear that boring jobs carried out under harsh conditions are demotivating. At the other extreme, job that have too much variety, uncertainty and challenge can also demotivate if they make inequitable demands on the people who are expected to do them. Good job design seeks the happy medium. When job are designed with those things in mind, employees are motivated to reach their full productive capability. Let’s take a closer look at how managers can design motivating jobs.pp490

Job Characteristic Model

Hackman and Oldham searched for general factors within job tasks that would lead to high motivation. Their model links core job characteristics through critical psychological states to results, as shown in the following picture. The job characteristics model (JCM) does offer such a framework. It identifies five primary job characteristics, their interrelationships, and their impact on employee productivity, motivation and satisfaction.

According to the JCM, any job can be described in terms of five core dimensions, defined as follows:

Skill variety: the range of skills in use can be increased. For example, planning leading, communicating, recording and monitoring can be developed within the context of manual jobs.

Task identity: enabling a person to complete a whole task with a meaningful outcome. This could range from a compete assembly to looking after all the requirements of a customer instead of referring queries to specialists.

Task significance: designing the job so that its outputs are important to the work of others. Encouraging staff to see colleagues as customers is an important message in quality management.

Autonomy: allowing discretion over job pace, sequence, checking and so on. This is related to the notion of empowerment. There are operational limits to the possibilities for individual discretion. Many modern employers, however, have developed the idea of group autonomy where a few people share control over the work.

Feedback from job: providing information on how well a person is doing.

Critical Psychological States

From a motivational standpoint, the JCM suggests that intrinsic (internal) rewards are obtained when an employee learns (knowledge of result through feedback) that he or she personally (experienced responsibility through autonomy of work) has performed well on a task that he or she cares about (experienced meaningfulness through skill variety, task identity, or/and task significance). The more these three conditions characterize a job, the greater the employee’s motivation, performance and satisfaction and the low his or her absenteeism and likelihood of resigning. As the model shows, the links between the job dimensions and the outcomes are moderated by the strength of the individual’s growth need (the person’s desire for self-esteem and self-actualization). This means that individuals with a high growth need are more likely to experience the psychological states and respond positively when their jobs include the core dimensions than are low-growth need individuals.

“Reinforcement Theory

The reinforcement approach to employee motivation sidesteps the issues of employee needs and thinking processes described in the content and process theories. Reinforcement theory simply looks at the relationship between behaviours and its consequence. It focuses on changing or modifying the employee’s on the job behaviour through the appropriate use of immediate rewards and punishments.

It is suggested to use a positive reinforcement for good performance staff. P382 Positive reinforcement increases the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated by using rewards to create a pleasant consequence. Any reward that encourages an individual to repeat a behavior can be classified as a positive reinforcer.

Intrinsic rewards

(1) the sense of feeling personally responsible for a meaningful part of the work; (2) work outcomes that constitute a highly visible cycle of operations, lead to completion of some process, and allow the individual to use a variety of highly developed and valued skills and abilities; (3) the opportunity to engine in a number of different meaningful activities while carrying out the job; and (4) the provision of information regarding the amount and quality of work from a creditable source.

Extrinsic rewards

Financial reward

The wage or salary paid to the individual.

Professional and peer recognition

Satisfying a need to e respected for one’s achievements by colleagues in the field.

Supervision

Rewards in the form of compliments, friendship and leadership offered by a superior.

Commissions

Commissions are the payment of a percentage of the proceeds of a sale, and are typically provided to sale staff. For example, automobile sales personnel are typically paid by commission; the more they sell, the more money they will make.

Cost Reduction Incentives

Cost reduction incentives are used to reward employees who come up with ways to reduce costs for the company. The savings should be used to fund the incentive amounts.

Bonuses

Bonuses are provided to employees who meet a certain standards or quota, or to those who have completed a project. For example, a customer call-centre representation who answers more than 200 phone calls in a month might receive a cash bonus.

Profit sharing and incentive plans

Plans that encourage participation and performance among employees by having them share in the profits of the enterprise. In some cases, the incentive formula is directly based on work output, such as a piece-rate payment plan that pays $2.00 for each unit completed. In other cases, profit-sharing formulas have been developed that create a pool of retained income to be distributed among employees and entire division or operation among employees. Gain-sharing plan use regular cash bonuses linked to performance. Other approaches include employee stock ownership plans(ESOP).

Conclusion

In review of paragraph, a number of important ideas about motivation of people in organizations. Motivation combines with competence to deliver work performance. Many believe that people devote effort for a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and satisfaction. Yet the links are complex with many theories explaining the patterns. Content theories look to the satisfaction of needs as the staring point. People work better if the work is satisfying. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Alderfer’s ERG theory all suggest that people are motivate to meet a range of needs. Process Theories examine the way people go about selecting rewards with which to meet needs. The application of motivation ideas is illustrated in job design and other motivational programs. Managers can change the structure of work to meet employee’s high-level needs. In all of these, the person’s perception is central. How they are meaning to the results of their work is the key to explaining their motivation. Reinforcement Theory takes this a little further, adding in the notion of learning.