Management is often described as a social process because managers have to obtain action through other people. What do you consider to be the basic principles of motivation?

People are motivated by many things, some positive others not. Some motivating factors can move people only a short time, like hunger, it will last only until you are fed. Others can drive a person onward for years.

When discussing motivation definitions we need to understand that the term 'motivation definitions' describes the 'emotional force' used to move people towards an action. People can impart these forces on themselves as 'Self-motivation' or on others as motivators. These then are the classical motivation definitions used by sociologists.

Most motivation definitions managers use can be said to fall into one of two categories: fear motivation and reward motivation.

As a tool to motivate people, fear has many disadvantages. Fear based motivation causes resentment, resistance and revenge. It is seen for what it is, an attack. By its very nature, fear is not sustaining or sustainable without negative consequences. People who are motivated by fear will seek ways to extricate themselves from the situation that causes the fear. This will not always be done by fulfilling the desire of the 'motivator'.

Reward motivation could also be called incentive motivation. It is a promise that if something is carried out, there will be a reward paid upon its completion. Buying yourself a new suit for getting your taxes done before the deadline is an example of individual reward. When an individual rewards themselves it is a way of saying "I did a good job", and is in a sense a personal recognition of accomplishment.

In motivating workers, managers need to be aware of 'why people behave as they do.' Practices involved in motivation are divided into two categories, namely the scientific management school and the human relations school.

The application of scientific principles to the practice of management arose from efforts to improve individual worker productivity; now emphasizes on improving organizational performance. Frederick Taylor had a clear idea of what motivated people: money. He considered man as being more of a economic animal than a social animal. He found 'the quickest and best way for workers to perform their jobs' and all workers would have to adopt to that method. In doing so, he ignored the individual differences in people. He was the first to introduce the piece rate system.

The piece rate system was a simple way to tie compensation to performance - pay per unit of output. It made labor costs variable. It was essentially a 'fair day's pay for a fair day's work.'

The human relations school reflects the influence of sociologists and psychologists on the development of management theory. In the Hawthorne Studies, conducted by Elton Mayo, social factors were said to affect productivity as much or more than compensation: making workers feel involved and important encourages productivity and group norms (peer pressure to fit in) can enhance or inhibit productivity. If teamwork is emphasized and informal groups come into existence, workers may be motivated to interact better and thus work better.

The key to real employee motivation is Leadership. Any manager that decides to embark on any kind of training or motivation project must absolutely understand the basics of human desire and motivation in the workplace. People will not follow someone with whom they do not respect in a leadership role.

The job of the manager therefore becomes twofold: To effectively communicate the needs of the company or department to the employees and to discover the means in which employees develop a desire to see the achievement of these needs