2.5 motivation
What is motivation?
• Motivation refers to the desire, internal need,
effort and passion to achieve something. In
organization, motivation refers to getting
someone to do something.
Benefits of increased motivation of
workers
• Motivation is important in an organization as:
• The more motivated an employee is, the more
productive he is, leading to increased revenue
• It improves corporate image helping to attract
customers and employees
• It brings better relationship between
management and employees
• It results in lower absenteeism and turnover of
staff
Poor motivation can result in:
• High rate of absenteeism and labor turnover
• Low productivity and low quality of output
• Increased number of disciplinary problems
and levels of conflict
Intrinsic / extrinsic motivation
• Intrinsic motivation occurs when a person
engages into an activity out of his own desire
because he finds the activity challenging or
satisfying for the person.
• Extrinsic motivation occurs when a person
participates in an activity because of the
benefits associated with the activity. These
rewards can be tangible (high salaries) or
intangible such as recognition or praise.
Extrinsic motivation can also come in the form
of threats such as avoiding punishment.
Theories of motivation
• Motivation theories can be classified as:
• content (needs) theories or
• process theories.
Content theories
• Content theories of motivation explain the factors
that motivate people. They answer the question:
What makes people to behave in a certain way?
The theories include:
• Maslow Hierarchy of Needs
• McGregor Theory X and Theory Y
• Herzberg Two Factor Theory
• Taylor’s scientific Management theory
• Mayo ‘s human Relations theory(HL)
• McClelland Needs theory(HL)
Process Theories
• Process theories explain the thinking
processes that influence behavior. They
answer the question: why people behave in a
certain way?
• They include:
• Vroom’ Expectancy Theory (HL)
• Adam’s Equity Theory (HL)
MASLOW HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
• Abraham Maslow, in 1943, put forward the
theory that people are motivated by certain
needs. These needs consist of five types and
levels which he calls the hierarchy of needs.
• Maslow argued that people tend to satisfy
their needs systematically, i.e. higher level
needs cannot be address before lower level
needs are satisfied.
illustration
• Physiological needs refer to the basic needs
for survival such as food, clothing and shelter.
At work, it refers to the amount of money a
person earns to meet these basic needs.
• Security or safety needs refer to the feeling of
safety, order and freedom from threats. In a
work situation, these needs will refer to job
security, such as contract of work, sick leave,
maternity leave , pension and protection from
arbitrary actions.
• Social needs also known as love and belonging
needs refer to the human need to be accepted
by others, e.g. as part of a social group or
family. At work, these needs include
opportunities for interaction, teamwork,
absence of discrimination, a sense of
belonging to the organization, social events,
etc.
• Esteem needs refer to the desires for
recognition or esteem from others and self
respect leading to a feeling of confidence. At
organization level, employees have a need to
have their efforts recognized. Promotion, job
title (Head of department), training and
development, opportunities to participate in
decision making are ways to satisfy these
needs.
• Self actualization is the highest level of
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It refers to the
needs for fulfillment of personal potential, i.e.
the best of oneself. Businesses can encourage
this by providing opportunities for personal
development.
The theory is important to managers
because
• Firstly, it helps managers to clearly identify, in
a simple context, the variety of workers needs
that must be satisfied if employees are to be
motivated;
• Secondly, workers would not be motivated by
higher level needs if lower ones are not
satisfied. If a worker paid starvation wages is
unlikely to be motivated by praise from
managers.
Critics of Maslow’ theory
• Levels of needs are difficult to measure
• It is not a consistent form of behavior
especially for many people. Freelance artist,
professionals like doctors, self employed do
not fit this model of hierarchy.
• There is no explanation of what motivates
people once they have achieved selfrealization.
Assignment
• Hall
(a) i: What is meant by lack of
motivation
• An employee with a lack of motivation means
that he does not have the _______ to
contribute as fully as he could or does not
fulfill his ________ at work
(a) ii: What is meant by physiological
needs
• According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs,
physiological needs refer to the needs of ______,
________, and ______ of a person. At work, they
refer to ………..
• It is suggested that they are the most basic needs
of employees which must be satisfied before
other higher needs such as ______ in order to
motivate them to contribute fully to the
organization.
C: Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs,
examine reasons …….
• Using Maslow’s Hierachy of needs, it may be
possible to _______ Lee’s needs which are not
satisfied leading to his _______
• Firstly, it appears that his ________ needs are
being met. Lee is not complaining about
______. It can also be suggested that his
_______ needs are met as there are no
physical threats at work.
• However, it might be argued that his real
difficulties lie on meeting his ______,
_______and _______ needs. For example, Lee
talked about ….
HERZBERG’S TWO FACTOR THEORY
• According to Frederick Herzberg’s theory
(1959), there are two groups of factors which
are important to workers’motivation:
• hygiene factors and
• motivating factors.
Hygiene factors (mainly physical
aspects)
• Hygiene or maintenance factors contribute very little to
motivate workers but prevent dissatisfaction. Workers
can be de-motivated, if hygiene factors are absent or
inadequate. These include:
• Adequate salary
• Security such as job contracts, pension, leaves
• Safe working conditions
• Proper policies and procedures
• Quality of supervision
• Relations with colleagues, subordinates and
supervisors
• They are the basic requisites for the workers
to work but more of these factors would not
make them work any harder.
• For example, higher wages may not lead to
higher performance but workers’
performance would deteriorate if they feel
that they are underpaid.
• The above can be compared to hygienic food.
It is the food that promotes good health and
hygiene alone does not, but the absence of
hygiene can lead to ill-health
Motivators (mainly psychological
aspects)
• Motivating factors or satisfiers encourage
personal development and pride. When they
exist, motivating factors create job satisfaction
and high performance. They include:
• Challenging work
• Responsibility
• Opportunities for promotion and
advancement
• Recognition for good work
• Sense of achievement
• Motivators, therefore, increase job satisfaction
and motivate workers to higher performance.
They are concerned with improving the nature
and content of the job.
Importance of Herzberg’s theory
• Herzberg’s theory allows managers to see
clearly two simple categories of factors. They
can, thus, motivate workers by making the
work rewarding and also ensure that hygiene
factors are present so that workers are not demotivated.
Assignment
• QA : M08 S2 Q3
Mc Gregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
• Douglas Mc Gregor (1960) outlined two
opposing management attitudes towards
workers and their effect these have on their
motivation. He referred to managers as either
Theory X or Theory Y managers.
Theory X managers assume that
workers:
• are lazy and will try to avoid work as far as
possible
• lack ambition, dislike responsibility and prefer
to be led
• want security above all and would work
mainly for money
• must be forced, controlled and threatened
with punishment to get them to work
effectively
• A theory X manager is basically authoritarian
and sees his job as to direct and control the
workers
Theory Y managers assume that
worker:
• Enjoy work and in fact consider work as
natural as play
• Are ambitious ,will not only accept but also
seek responsibility (if motivated)
• Can gain job satisfaction and would work not
just for money
• Are capable of working independently (no
need of control) and are capable of
imagination to solve problems
• A Theory Y manager sees his functions as to
organize work and to create the right
conditions so that all workers can achieve
their goals and organization’s goals.
• McGgregor also suggest that there are
possible behaviors between the two extremes.
Assignment
• Case Study handout
• To what extent does Mr Hayward subscribe to
a Theory X or Theory Y approach to
management?
Answer
• Theory X managers think that ……...
• It can be argued that, to a certain extent, Mr
Hayward is a Theory X manager. He promised to
operate the subsidiaries in a more _______
management style. He said that the subsidiaries
must be commanded and ________ from above.
He also said that the subsidiaries will ____
operate as completely independent functional
units, meaning that there will be a lot of
c_______ on them.
• However, Theory Y managers are of the view that
…..
• It can also be suggested that Mr Hayward is
also a Theory Y manager. ……
• Overall, we can say that Mr Hayward is more
…
Taylor’s Scientific Management Theory