Motivation

Motivation is a process that starts with a physiological or psychological deficiency or need that
activates behavior or a drive that aimed at a goal or an incentive.
"The only way to get people to like working hard is to motivate them. Today, people must understand
why they're working hard. Every individual in an organization is motivated by something different." Rick Pitino
Employee motivation is a reflection of the level of energy, commitment, and creativity that a company's
workers bring to their jobs.
"Psychological forces that determine the direction of a person's behavior in an organization, a person's
level of effort and a person's level of persistence."- G. Jones and J. George from the book "Contemporary
Management."

Employee Motivation

An issue which usually generates a great deal of attention from most managers, administrators
and those involved in Human Resources Management is the issue of how to successfully
motivate employee. While it is true that aspects like staff recruitment, controlling, managing,
leading, and many more are of great importance to the success of an organization, Employee
Motivation is generally considered a core element in running a successful business.
In the organizational setting the word Motivation is used to describe the drive that impels an
individual to work. A truly motivated person is one who wants to work .Both employees and
employers are interested in understanding motivation if employees know what strengthens and
what weakens their motivation, they can often perform more effectively to find more satisfaction
in their job. Employers want to know what motivates their employees so that they can get them
to work harder. The concept of motivation implies that people choose the path of action they
follow. When behavioral scientists use the word motivation, they think of its something steaming
from within the person technically, the term motivation has its origin in the Latin word mover
which means to move. Thus the word motivation stands for movement. If a manager truly
understands his subordinates motivation, he can channel their inner state towards command
goals, i.e., goals, shared by both the individual and the organization. It is a well known fact that
human beings have great potential but they do not use it fully, when motivation is absent.

Motivation factor are those which make people give more than a fair days work and that is
usually only about sixty-five percent of a persons capacity .Obviously , every manager should
be releasing hundred percent of an individuals to maximize performance for achieving
organizational goals and at the same to enable the individual to develop his potential and gain
satisfaction. Thus every manager should have both interest and concern about how to enable
people to perform task willingly and to the best of their ability. At one time, employees were
considered just another input into the production of goods and services. What perhaps changed
this way of thinking about employees was research, referred to as the Hawthorne Studies,
conducted by Elton Mayo from1924 to 1932 This study found employees are not motivated
solely by money and employee behavior is linked to their attitudes.
The Hawthorne Studies began the human relations approach to management, whereby the needs
and motivation of employees becomes the primary focus of managers.
Models of Motivations

Abraham Maslow (hierarchy of needs),

Frederick Herzberg (two factor motivation hygiene theory,)
Alderfer E-R-G Model
Goal Setting
Victor Vroom (Expectancy Theory)
The Equity Model

Maslows needs hierarchy

The first item in the integrated model is needs, since motivation starts with needs. This theory
was proposed by Abraham Maslow and is based on the assumption that people are motivated by
a series of five universal needs. These needs are ranked, according to the order in which they
influence human behavior, in hierarchical fashion

Physiological needs
Physiological needs are deemed to be the lowest- level needs. These needs include the needs
such as food & water.

So long as physiological needs are unsatisfied, they exist as a driving or motivating force in a
person's life. A hungry person has a felt need. This felt need sets up both psychological and
physical tensions that manifest themselves in overt behaviors directed at reducing those tensions
(getting something to eat). Once the hunger is sated, the tension is reduced, and the need for food
ceases to motivate. At this point (assuming that other physiological requirements are also
satisfied) the next higher order need becomes the motivating need. Thus, safety needs -- the
needs for shelter and security -- become the motivators of human behavior.

Safety needs
Safety needs include a desire for security, stability, dependency, protection, freedom from fear
and anxiety, and a need for structure, order, and law. In the workplace this needs translates into a
need for at least a minimal degree of employment security; the knowledge that we cannot be
fired on a whim and that appropriate levels of effort and productivity will ensure continued
employment.

Social needs
Social needs include the need for belongingness and love. Generally, as gregarious creatures,
human have a need to belong. In the workplace, this need may be satisfied by an ability to
interact with one's coworkers and perhaps to be able to work collaboratively with these
colleagues. After social needs have been satisfied, ego and esteem needs become the motivating
needs.

Self-Esteem needs
Esteem needs include the desire for self-respect, self-esteem, and the esteem of others. When
focused externally, these needs also include the desire for reputation, prestige, status, fame,
glory, dominance, recognition, attention, importance, and appreciation.

Self-actualization
The highest need in Maslow's hierarchy is that of self-actualization; the need for self-realization,
continuous self-development, and the process of becoming all that a person is capable of
becoming.

Application of Maslows theory

The key to Maslows theory is that once a particular level of need is satisfied, it then stops being
a motivating force. The person then seeks a higher level of need satisfaction. The theory also
indicates that moneys power to motivate a person is limited.
Maslows theory can be a useful tool for managers in determining the kinds of rewards that could
be effective in motivating employees. The key is to recognize every employee as an individual
and also to remember that employees needs differ from time to time. Therefore it is the
managers duty to regularly reassess the employees
Herzberg Theory

Herzberg's Two Factor Theory, also known as the Motivation-Hygiene Theory, was derived
from a study designed to test the concept that people have two sets of needs:
1. Satisfaction
2. Dissatisfaction

Satisfaction (Motivation):

Five factors stood out as strong determiners of job satisfaction:

Achievement
Recognition
Work Itself
Responsibility
Advancement

The last three factors were found to be most important for bringing about lasting changes of
attitude. It should be noted, that recognition refers to recognition for achievement as opposed to
recognition in the human relations sense.

Dissatisfaction (Hygiene):

The determinants of job dissatisfaction were found to be:

Company Policy
Administrative Policies
Supervision
Salary
Interpersonal Relations
Working Conditions

From the results Herzberg concluded that the replies people gave when they felt good about their
jobs were significantly different from the replies given when they felt bad. Certain characteristics
tend to be consistently related to job satisfaction and others to job dissatisfaction. Intrinsic
factors, such as work itself, responsibility and achievement seem to be related to job satisfaction.
Respondents who felt good about their work tended to attribute these factors to themselves. On
the other dissatisfied respondents tended to cite extrinsic factors such as supervision, pay,
company policies and working condition. Herzberg proposed that his findings indicated the
existence of a dual continuum: the opposite of satisfaction is No satisfaction and the
opposite of Dissatisfaction is No Dissatisfaction.
According to Herzberg, the factors leading to Job satisfaction are separate and distinct form
those that lead to job dissatisfaction. Therefore, managers who seek to eliminate factors that can
create job dissatisfaction may bring about peace but not necessarily motivation. They will be
placating their workforce rather than motivating them. As a result, conditions surrounding the
job such as quality of supervision, pay , company policies, physical working conditions relations
with others and job security were characterized by Herzberg as hygiene factors, when theyre
adequate, people will not be dissatisfied ; neither will they be satisfied. If we want to motivate
people on their jobs, Herzberg suggested emphasizing factors associated with the work itself or
to outcomes directly derived form it, such as promotional opportunities, opportunities for
personal growth, recognition, responsibility and achievement. These are the characteristics that
people find intrinsically rewarding.

Alderfers ERG theory

Alderfers classifies needs into three categories, also ordered hierarchically:
Existence needs (physical well-being)
Relatedness needs (satisfactory relations with others)
Growth needs (development of competence and realization of potential)

Existence needs: This need combine physiological and security factors. Pay, Physical working
conditions, job security, and fringe benefits can all address these needs.

Relatedness needs: This is the next level and these involve being understood and accepted by
people above, below, and around the employee at work and away from it.
Growth needs: This needs are the third category, these involve the desire for both self-esteem
and self- actualization.
Alderfer believed that as you start satisfying higher needs, they become more intense (e.g., the
power you get the more you want power), like an addiction.

Goal Setting
Goal theory also affects ones choice of goals. Goal-setting theory is probably the theory of
motivation that has been most useful to psychologists. The principles of the theory have been
widely used in organizations.
Locke suggests that the intentions people have play an important role in formulating their
behavioral patterns. The basic idea of goal-setting theory is thus that peoples behavior is
motivated by their intentions, objectives and goals. According to the theory, a goal is what an
individual wants to achieve or attain goals are a major source of motivation, so goal setting is an
important part of most motivational programmes and managerial methods of motivating
employees. Goals can be specific or general, difficult or easy. Specific goals lead to better

performance; difficult goals, when accepted, will lead to even better performance. In this theory,
the specificity of the goal acts as an internal stimulus. However, it is difficult for goals to direct
employees behavior unless they receive feedback. Feedback regarding goals will result in higher
performance than when the feedback is absent. In other words, employees do best when they
receive feedback on how well they are heading towards their goals. Feedback shows employees
the difference between what they have done and what they want to achieve. Self-generated
feedback, where employees monitor their own progress, has proven to be a more powerful
motivator than externally generated feedback.
On the other hand, some evidence shows that the more difficult the goal, the greater the sense of
accomplishment and achievement the employee feels when the goal is achieved.
Thus employees might tend to be more motivated to achieve difficult goals than easy ones, even
if the probability of achievement is low. In this case, the manager should direct the employee in
the right direction for achieving the difficult goal in order to prevent cheating, unethical behavior
or the falsification of performance measures.
Goal-setting studies point out that goals motivate employees for several reasons. Firstly, a goal
directs an employees attention to a specific target, so the employee exerts efforts in a specific
direction toward achieving that specific target. Secondly, a challenge goal, which requires
repeated effort, encourages persistence. Lastly, because the goal creates a gap between the reality
and the desired, it fosters the creation of strategies and courses of action.
Although researchers have proved that goal-setting theory can be effective, some researchers
have begun to notice its limitations. Yearta et al. point out that most goal- setting studies involve
single goals, and that when goals are more than one and are more complex or difficult,
performance is poorer.

Victor Vroom (Expectancy Theory)

This theory is meant to bring together many of the elements of previous theories. It combines the
perceptual aspects of equity theory with the behavioral aspects of the other theories. Basically, it
comes down to this "equation":
M = E*I*V
Or
Motivation = expectancy * instrumentality * valence

M (motivation) is the amount a person will be motivated by the situation they find themselves in.
It is a function of the following.

E (expectancy) = the person's perception that effort will result in performance. In other words,
the person's assessment of the degree to which effort actually correlates with performance.

I (instrumentality) = the person's perception that performance will be rewarded/punished. I.e., the
person's assessment of how well the amount of reward correlates with the quality of
performance. (Note here that the model is phrased in terms of extrinsic motivation, in that it asks
'what are the chances I'm going to get rewarded if I do good job?'. But for intrinsic situations, we
can think of this as asking 'how good will I feel if I can pull this off?').

V (valence) = the perceived strength of the reward or punishment that will result from the
performance. If the reward is small, the motivation will be small, even if expectancy and
instrumentality are both perfect (high).
Three major elements that determine a persons motivation are: valence, which is defined as the
measure of the value of the outcome of work expectancy, which is ones belief about the
possibility of a particular outcome; and instrumentality, the probability belief linking one
outcome to another.
Expectancy theory explains that an employee is willing to perform with a high level of effort
when he or she believes that this will lead to desired rewards.

This theory is well accepted for two main reasons. Firstly, it is logical to think that employees
will not be motivated by things they do not wish to have. Secondly, this theory works in
conjunction with the other motivational theories.

Equity Theory

Suppose employee A gets a 20% raise and employee B gets a 10% raise. Will both be motivated
as a result? Will A be twice as motivated? Will be B be negatively motivated?
Equity theory says that it is not the actual reward that motivates, but the perception, and the
perception is based not on the reward in isolation, but in comparison with the efforts that went
into getting it, and the rewards and efforts of others. If everyone got a 5% raise, B is likely to feel
quite pleased with her raise, even if she worked harder than everyone else. But if a got an even
higher raise, B perceives that she worked just as hard as A, she will be unhappy.
In other words, people's motivation results from a ratio of ratios: a person compares the ratio of
reward to effort with the comparable ratio of reward to effort that they think others are getting.
Of course, in terms of actually predicting how a person will react to a given motivator, this will
get pretty complicated:
People do not have complete information about how others are rewarded. So they are
going on perceptions, rumors, and inferences.
Some people are more sensitive to equity issues than others
Some people are willing to ignore short-term inequities as long as they expect things to

work out in the long-term.

CONCLUSION:

A strong team needs individuals who are dedicated to giving their best at work. Highly selfmotivated, committed, ambitious employees give the most to their company and get the most
from their work. But if you are lacking employee motivation in the workplace the effects can be
dramatic. Low team morale, lack of initiative, lack of energy, mistakes and high staff turnover
are just some of the clues that motivation is an issue.