TOPIC Seven:
Motivation and Motivation Theory
SIKAWALA MUSONDA
Motivation and Motivation Theory
Motivation can be broadly defined as the forces acting on or within a
person that cause the arousal, direction, and persistence of goaldirected, voluntary effort.
Motivation is a state-of-mind, filled with energy and enthusiasm, which
drives a person to work in a certain way to achieve desired goals.
Motivation is a force which pushes a person to work with high level of
commitment and focus even if things are against him. Motivation
translates into a certain kind of human behaviour.
Types of Motivation

Intrinsic motivation means that the individual's motivational stimuli
are coming from within. The individual has the desire to perform a
specific task, because its results are in accordance with his belief
system or fulfills a desire and therefore importance is attached to it.

Our deep-rooted desires have the highest motivational power. Below
are some examples:

Acceptance: We all need to feel that we, as well as our decisions, are
accepted by our co-workers.

Curiosity: We all have the desire to be in the know.

Honor: We all need to respect the rules and to be ethical.

Independence: We all need to feel we are unique.

Order: We all need to be organized.

Power: We all have the desire to be able to have influence.

Social contact: We all need to have some social interactions.

Social Status: We all have the desire to feel important.
 Extrinsic
motivation
means
that
the
individual's
motivational stimuli are coming from outside. In other
words, our desires to perform a task are controlled by an
outside source. Note that even though the stimuli are
coming from outside, the result of performing the task
will still be rewarding for the individual performing the
task.
 Extrinsic motivation is external in nature. The most well-
known and the most debated motivation is money. Below are
some other examples:
 Employee of the month award
 Benefit package
 Bonuses
 Organized activities
Motivation Theories
 Motivation theory is concerned with the processes that
explain why and how human behavior is activated.
 From the very beginning, when the human organisations
were established, various thinkers have tried to find out
the answer to what motivates people to work. Different
approaches applied by them have resulted in a number of
theories concerning motivation.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is based on the human
needs

Maslow identified five levels in his need hierarchy
 he believed that once a given level of need is satisfied, it
no longer serves to motivate man. Then, the next higher
level of need has to be activated in order to motivate the
man.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
The ERG theory
 The ERG theory is an extension of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
Alderfer suggested that needs could be classified into three
categories, rather than five. These three types of needs are
existence, relatedness, and growth.
 Existence
needs are similar to Maslow's physiological and
safety need categories.
 Relatedness needs involve interpersonal relationships and are
comparable to aspects of Maslow's belongingness and esteem
needs.
The ERG theory

Growth needs are those related to the attainment of one's
potential and are associated with Maslow's esteem and selfactualization needs.

The ERG theory differs from the hierarchy of needs in that it does
not suggest that lower-level needs must be completely satisfied
before upper-level needs become motivational. ERG theory also
suggests that if an individual is continually unable to meet upperlevel needs that the person will regress and lower-level needs
become the major determinants of their motivation.
Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory
 The
two-factor theory (also known as Herzberg's
motivation-hygiene
theory
and
dual-factor
theory)
states that there are certain factors in the workplace that
cause job satisfaction while a separate set of factors
cause dissatisfaction, all of which act independently of
each other. It was developed by psychologist Frederick
Herzberg.
Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory
 Two-factor theory distinguishes between:
 Motivators
(e.g. challenging work, recognition for one's
achievement, responsibility, opportunity to do something
meaningful, involvement in decision making, sense of
importance
to
an
organization)
that
give
positive
satisfaction, arising from intrinsic conditions of the job
itself, such as recognition, achievement, or personal growth.
Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory
 Hygiene
factors (e.g. status, job security, salary, fringe
benefits, work conditions, good pay, paid insurance,
vacations) that do not give positive satisfaction or lead to
higher motivation, though dissatisfaction results from their
absence. The term "hygiene" is used in the sense that these
are maintenance factors. These are extrinsic to the work
itself, and include aspects such as company policies,
supervisory practices, or wages/salary.
Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory
 According to Herzberg, hygiene factors are what causes
dissatisfaction among employees in the workplace.

In order to remove dissatisfaction in a work environment,
these hygiene factors must be eliminated. by paying
reasonable wages, ensuring employees job security, and
creating a positive culture in the workplace..
Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory
 Eliminating dissatisfaction is only one half of the task of
the two factor theory.
 The other half would be to increase satisfaction in the
workplace. This can be done by improving on motivating
factors.
Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory
 According
to the Two-Factor Theory, there are four
possible combinations:
 High Hygiene + High Motivation: The ideal situation where
employees are highly motivated and have few complaints.
 High
Hygiene + Low Motivation: Employees have few
complaints but are not highly motivated. The job is
viewed as a paycheck.
Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory
 Low Hygiene + High Motivation: Employees are motivated
but have a lot of complaints. A situation where the job is
exciting and challenging but salaries and work conditions
are not up to par.
 Low Hygiene + Low Motivation: This is the worst situation
where employees are not motivated and have many
complaints.
McClelland’s theory of needs
 Psychologist
David McClelland advocated Need theory,
also popular as Three Needs Theory. This motivational
theory states that the needs for achievement, power,
and affiliation significantly influence the behavior of an
individual,
which
managerial context.
is
useful
to
understand
from
a
McClelland’s theory of needs

Need for Achievement:

This is the drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standard,
and to strive to succeed. In other words, need for achievement is a
behaviour directed toward competition with a standard of excellence.
McClelland found that people with a high need for achievement
perform better than those with a moderate or low need for
achievement,
and
noted
achievement motivation.
regional
/
national
differences
in
McClelland’s theory of needs
Through his research, McClelland identified the following
three characteristics of high-need achievers:

High-need achievers have a strong desire to assume
personal responsibility for performing a task for finding a
solution to a problem.
 High-need achievers tend to set moderately difficult goals
and take calculated risks.
 High-need achievers have a strong desire for performance
feedback.
McClelland’s theory of needs
Need for Power:
 The need for power is concerned with making an impact
on others, the desire to influence others, the urge to
change people, and the desire to make a difference in
life. People with a high need for power are people who
like to be in control of people and events. This results in
ultimate satisfaction to man.
McClelland’s theory of needs
People who have a high need for power are characterized
by:
 A desire to influence and direct somebody else.
 A desire to exercise control over others.
 A concern for maintaining leader-follower relations.
McClelland’s theory of needs
Need for Affiliation:
 The need for affiliation is defined as a desire to establish
and maintain friendly and warm relations with other
people’. The need for affiliation, in many ways, is similar
to Maslow’s social needs.
McClelland’s theory of needs
The people with high need for affiliation have these
characteristics:
 They have a strong desire for acceptance and approval from
others.
 They tend to conform to the wishes of those people whose
friendship and companionship they value.
 They value the feelings of others.
McGregor’s Participation Theory
Douglas McGregor formulated two distinct views of human
being based on participation of workers. The first basically
negative, labeled Theory X, and the other basically positive,
labeled Theory Y.
Theory X is based on the following assumptions:
 People are by nature indolent. That is, they like to work
as little as possible.
 People lack ambition, dislike responsibility, and prefer to
be directed by others.
 People
are inherently self-centered and indifferent to
organisational needs and goals.
 People
bright.
are generally gullible and not very sharp and
Theory Y assumes that:
 People
are
not
by
nature
passive
or
resistant
organisational goals.
 They want to assume responsibility.
 They want their organisation to succeed.
 People are capable of directing their own behaviour.
 They have need for achievement.
to

What McGregor tried to dramatise through his theory X and Y is to
outline the extremes to draw the fencing within which the
organisational man is usually seen to behave.

The fact remains that no organisational man would actually belong
either to theory X or theory Y. In reality, he/she shares the traits of
both.

What actually happens is that man swings from one set or properties
to the other with changes in his mood and motives in changing
.environment.
Victor Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
 The theory is founded on the basic notions that people
will be motivated to exert a high level of effort when they
believe there are relationships between the effort they
put forth, the performance they achieve, and the
outcomes/ rewards they receive.
 Expectancy is the idea that increasing the amount of effort will
increase performance (if I work harder then I will perform
better.) This is affected by:
 Having the right resources available (e.g. raw materials, time)
 Having the right skills to do the job
 Having
the necessary support to get the job done (e.g.
supervisor support, or correct information on the job)

Instrumentality is the idea that if you perform better, then the
outcome will be achieved. (If I perform well, there I will achieve the
desired outcome.) This is affected by:

Clear understanding of the relationship between performance and
outcomes – e.g. the rules of the reward 'game'

Trust in the people who will take the decisions on who gets what
outcome

Transparency of the process that decides who gets what outcome
 Valence
is the perceived value the employee puts on the
outcome. For the valence to be positive, the person must
prefer attaining the outcome than not attaining it. (If someone
is mainly motivated by money, he or she might not value offers
of additional time off)
 Vroom's expectancy theory works on perceptions, so even if a
motivation tactic works with most people in the organisation, it
doesn't mean that it will work for everybody.
 Basically, Vroom suggested that individuals choose work
behaviors that they believe lead to outcomes they value.

In deciding how much effort to put into a work behavior,
individuals are likely to consider:
 Their
expectancy, meaning the degree to which they
believe that putting forth effort will lead to a given level
of performance.
 Their instrumentality, or the degree to which they believe
that a given level of performance will result in certain
outcomes or rewards.
 Their valence, which is the extent to which the expected
outcomes are attractive or unattractive.
Porter and Lawler’s Expectancy Theory
 They proposed a multi-variate model to explain the complex
relationship
that
exists
between
satisfaction
and
performance.
 What is the main point in Porter and Lawler’s model is that
effort or motivation does not lead directly to performance.

It is intact, mediated by abilities and traits and by role
perceptions. Ultimately, performance leads to satisfaction.
There are three main elements in this model. Let us briefly discuss
these one by one.
Effort:

Effort refers to the amount of energy an employee exerts on a given
task. How much effort an employee will put in a task is determined
by two factors-

(i) Value of reward and

(ii) Perception of effort-reward probability.
Performance:
 One’s effort leads to his/her performance. Both may be
equal or may not be. However the amount of
performance is determined by the amount of labour and
the ability and role perception of the employee. Thus, if
an employee possesses less ability and/or makes wrong
role perception, his/her performance may be low in
spite of his putting in great efforts.
Satisfaction:
 Performance
leads
to
satisfaction.
The
level
of
satisfaction depends upon the amount of rewards one
achieves. If the amount of actual rewards meet or exceed
perceived equitable rewards, the employee will feel
satisfied. On the country, if actual rewards fall short of
perceived ones, he/she will be dissatisfied.
Equity theory
 Rewards
may be of two kinds—intrinsic and extrinsic
rewards. Examples of intrinsic rewards are such as sense of
accomplishment and self-actualisation. As regards extrinsic
rewards, these may include working conditions and status.
 suggests
that individuals engage in social comparison by
comparing their efforts and rewards with those of relevant
others. The perception of individuals about the fairness of
their rewards relative to others influences their level of
motivation.
 Equity exists when individuals perceive that the ratio of
efforts to rewards is the same for them as it is for others
to whom they compare themselves.
 Inequity exists when individuals perceive that the ratio of
efforts to rewards is different (usually negatively so) for
them than it is for others to whom they compare
themselves.

There are two types of inequity—under-reward and over-reward. Underreward occurs when a person believes that she either puts in more efforts
than another, yet receives the same reward, or puts in the same effort as
another for a lesser reward. For instance, if an employee works longer
hours than her coworker, yet they receive the same salary, the employee
would perceive inequity in the form of under-reward. Conversely, with
over-reward, a person will feel that his efforts to rewards ratio is higher
than another person's, such that he is getting more for putting in the same
effort, or getting the same reward even with less effort.
The goal-setting theory
 Goal-setting theory emphasizes the importance of specific
and challenging goals in achieving motivated behavior.
 Empirical
that
are
research supports the proposition that goals
both
specific
and
challenging
are
more
motivational than vague goals or goals that are relatively
easy to achieve.
 Several factors may moderate the relationship between
specific
and
challenging
goals
and
high
levels
of
motivation. The first of these factors is goal commitment,
which simply means that the more dedicated the
individual is to achieving the goal, the more they will be
motivated to exert effort toward goal accomplishment.
 Some research suggests that having employees participate in
goal setting will increase their level of goal commitment.
 A
second factor relevant to goal-setting theory is self-
efficacy, which is the individual's belief that he or she can
successfully complete a particular task.
 If individuals have a high degree of self-efficacy, they are
likely to respond more positively to specific and challenging
goals than if they have a low degree of self-efficacy.
Reinforcement Theory
 This
theory
can
be
traced
to
the
work
of
the
pioneering behaviorist B.F. Skinner.
 It is considered a motivation theory as well as a learning theory.
Reinforcement theory posits that motivated behavior occurs as a
result of reinforcers, which are outcomes resulting from the
behavior that makes it more likely the behavior will occur again.
 This theory suggests that it is not necessary to study needs or
cognitive processes to understand motivation, but that it is only
necessary to examine the consequences of behavior.
 Behavior
that is reinforced is likely to continue, but
behavior that is not rewarded or behavior that is punished
is not likely to be repeated.

Reinforcement theory suggests to managers that they can
improve employees' performance by a process of behavior
modification in which they reinforce desired behaviors and
punish undesired behaviors.
The End