Motivation And Theories Of Motivation – Part I

Motivation And Theories Of Motivation

Motivation may be defined as the complex of forces inspiring a person at work, to intensify his willingness to use his capacities for the achievement of certain objectives. Motivation is something that drives a person into action and continues to a great extent. To quote Dalton Mc. Farland “Motivation refers to how urges, drives, desires, aspirations, striving or needs. direct control or explain the behaviour of human beings. Technically the term “Motivation’ can be traced to the Latin word ‘mover, which means ‘to move. This meaning is evident in the following comprehensive definition. A motive is an inner state that energies, activates, or moves (hence motivation) and that directs or channels behaviour towards goals.

Motivation is an effective instrument in the hands of the administration in inspiring the workforce. It is the major task of every manager to motivate his subordinates or to create the ‘will to work’ among the subordinates. Unfortunately, motivation is not a simple concept. It involves a complex combination of individual needs, drives, tensions, discomfort and expectations. Thus understanding individual motivation requires continual updating to reflect the most current mix of goals.

Characteristic Features Of Motivation

The process of motivation is characterized by the following:

1. Motivation is an internal feeling

Motivation points to energetic forces within individuals that drive them to behave in certain ways and to environmental forces that trigger these drives.

2. Motivation produces goal-directed behaviour

Motivation has got a profound influence on human behaviour, it harnesses human energy to organizational requirements. There is the notion of goal orientation on the part of individuals, their behaviour is directed towards something.

3. Motivation contains systems orientation

It considers those forces in the individuals and in their surrounding environments that direct the individuals either to reinforce the intensity of their drive and the direction of this energy or to dissuade them from their cause of action and redirect their efforts.

4. Motivation can be either positive or negative

Positive motivation or the carrot approach, offers something precious to the persons in the form of additional pay, incentives, praise etc., for satisfactory performance. Negative motivation or stick approach emphasizes penalties while controlling performance (reprimands, threat of demotion).

5. Motivation means bargaining

Behaviour is what people ‘DO’. Motivation is ‘WHY’ they do it? Barnard explained motivation in the form of inducements contribution’ theory. It focuses on workers and organizations endeavouring to find what ‘returns (inducements) to workers in exchange, for what degree of cooperation (contributions) from workers will be satisfactory to both parties. The problem of motivation then becomes one of arriving at a “return’ to workers that will coax them the output that is required.

6. Motivation is a complete process

Five reasons can be provided in support of this statement :

1. Motive is a hypothetical construct.
2. It cannot be seen.
3. Often we observe individuals putting a great deal of overtime.
4. We cannot definitely state whether they are doing it because of the additional income they receive or simply because they enjoy their work. 
5. Individuals may have a host of needs that are continuously changing, and sometimes, in conflict with each other.

As a result, it becomes exceedingly difficult to observe or measure motivation with certainty. People satisfy their needs in many different ways. A salesman may work hard to earn money; a second salesman may be spurred by his achievement motive and so on. By simply observing salespersons in action it is not easy to differentiate between these groups. Promoting an employee to a new and more challenging task may intensity the drive to work harder in anticipation of the next promotion. Thus, the Brancation of a particular need may gradually lead to an increase in its intensity. Finally, goal-directed behaviour does not always lead to need satisfaction.

7. Motivation and satisfaction are related but not synonymous concepts

Motivation is the drive to satisfy a want or goal. It is concerned with goal-directed behaviour. Satisfaction refers to the contentment experienced when a want is satisfied. The term satisfaction’ is used to analyse outcomes already experienced by an employee. Satisfaction is a consequence of rewards and punishments associated with experience…!

Significance of Motivation

Rensis Likert called motivation the core of management. Motivation is an effective instrument in the hands of the management in inspiring the workforce. It is the major task of every manager to motivate his subordinates or to create the will to work among the subordinates. It should also be remembered that a worker may be immensely capable of doing some work, nothing can be achieved if he is not willing to work. The creation of a will to work is motivation in the simple but true sense of the term.

In order to motivate workers to work for the organisational goals, the manager must determine the motives or needs of the workers and provide an environment in which appropriate incentives are available for their need satisfaction. If the management is successful in doing so, it will also be successful in increasing the willingness of the workers to work. This will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation. There will be better utilisation of resources and worker’s abilities and capacities.

Higher motivation leads to job satisfaction of the workers which can reduce absenteeism turnover and labour unrest. This will create better industrial relations in the enterprise Since there are opportunities in the organisation for the need satisfaction of the workers will be more committed to the organisation and a better workforce will be willing to join the organisation. Motivation will also foster team spirit among the workers and increase their loyalty to the workgroup.

Theories Of Motivation

Organisational effectiveness becomes to a certain degree the question of the management’s ability to motivate its employees, viz., to direct at least a reasonable effort towards the goals of the organisation. Motivation is a highly complex activity that affects and is affected by a host of fontora in the organisation. This complexity has led Administrative Thinkers’ to view motivation from different angles. These interpretations have been classified in the form of “Theories of Motivation’:.

Some of the prominent theories of Motivation are :

1. The Monistic Theory
2. The Expectancy Theory
3. The Equity Theory
4. The Need Hierarchy
5. Theory The Two Factor Theory.

The Monistic Theory

The monistic theory of motivation is based upon the notion that man is essentially economic. Individuals are assumed to be highly responsive to monetary rewards. People feel highly motivated when rewarded with more money. This theory seeks a single cause of behaviour viz. – monetary aspect of remuneration or reward. People repeat their behaviour if it leads to rewarding.

The theories in the Classical school, display strong overtones of the monistic theory of motivation. However, later theories like the Human relations theory and the Behavioural theory have postulated that man is not motivated by money alone, but he is “multi motivated”.

The Expectancy Theory

Victor H. Vroom in his work and Motivation (1964) has developed the Expectancy. Theory of Motivation. The theory state that motivation is an outcome of the interaction of the values one seeks and one’s estimate of the probability of certain action leading to those values. Among others, the two key variables in his model are, therefore, Expectancies and Valences and the relationship is expressed as follows :

Motivation = Valence x Expectancy

Valence is the strength of a persons preference for a particular outcome. Obviously, for certain things, a person valence will be positive and for certain others, negative. If he is indifferent to an outcome, then valence is zero. Thus, valences could be regarded to range from +1 to – 1. 

Expectancy is the perceived belief concerning the likelihood that a particular behavioural act will be followed by a particular outcome. It is the estimate of the probability of an outcome from an action. Most of the time it is based on previous experience. It is obvious that this probability would range from zero to one.

Expectancy and Valence combine to determine one’s motivation. In an organizational situation, on the basis of their experience, people learn what things they value more highly than others and what probability exists to attain the same action. . Accordingly, on the basis of their calculations, they develop a drive for action called motivation. In order to motivate a person to work, first of all, management should, therefore, know what he prefers, how strongly he prefers it and then, ‘improve the probability of securing that outcome. What an individual prefers is largely within an individuals control, though through information and experience, it is possible to alter preferences and create positive values for certain outcomes. In any case, once valences are known, management can always increase expectancy by strengthening the connection between behaviour and outcome. This could be done through improved communication or by showing to an employee that others have realized similar values. If he behaves in a particular way, he will also have a similar outcome.

Equity Theory

The Equity theory has been propounded by J. Stacy Adams. This theory of work motivation is based on the social exchange process. The theory points out that people are motivated to maintain a fair relationship between their performance and reward in comparison to others. There are two assumptions on which the theory works :

• Individuals make contributions ( inputs ) for which they expect certain rewards recognition.
• Security Personal development Benefits
• Friendship opportunity

The exchange relationship between a person’s inputs/outcomes in relation to those of other persons may be of three types: overpaid inequity, underpaid inequity, and equity.

Implications of the Theory

Equity theory has a number of implications for managers. First, the theory makes managers release that the equity motive tends to be one of the most important motives of the people in the organisation. Therefore, the equity concept should be given adequate considerations in designing a motivation system. The equal pay for Equal work principle is based on this theory. Second, feelings or perceptions in the work setting are important factors in the work setting. Therefore, management should take their aspect into consideration and attempts should be made to develop the perceptual skills of the people.