The word motivation has many variant forms definitions.

It is vital to choose the best

meaning which is relevant and related to the workplace of any organisation. Understanding
exactly what motivation is beneficial to leaders as it helps them to decide what course of actions
that could be taken up in order to achieve the highest satisfaction that one could lead to in the
achievement of an organisation and thus leading to higher employee retention. Without any
further ado, let me give you a brief meaning of the word motivation. The meaning of motivation
begins with its root word which is motive. According to Jeffrey S. Nevid, a professor of
psychology, he defined “motivation” as factors that activate, direct, and sustain foal directed
behaviour … Motives are the ‘whys’ of behaviour – the needs or wants that drive behaviour
and explain what we do. We don’t actually observe a motive; rather, we infer that one exists
based on the behaviour we observe.” (Nevid 2013).

According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, it simply means the feeling of wanting
to do something, especially something that involves hard work and effort. With relation to the
workplace, Ray Williams, who writes for Psychology Today, define motivation as,
“predisposition to behave in a purposeful manner to achieve specific, unmet needs and the will
to achieve, and the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal organizational
goals”. To sum up, motivation drives a person to act or achieve a certain goal even if it may
involve many hard work.

I will discuss Abraham Harold Maslow’s theory pertaining to increasing motivation in

a workplace. Maslow proposed a theory that outlined five hierarchical needs which could also
be applied to an organization and its employees’ performance (Gordon, 1965). The different
levels of needs as proposed by Maslow are psychological needs, safety needs, needs for love
and affection, needs for self-esteem as well as self-actualization needs. (Maslow, 1970).
Maslow (1965 & 1971) also pointed out that the need for self-actualization could never be
satisfied; rather, once the four lower order needs are satisfied, the need for self-actualization
increases as it is fulfilled.

We are going to look closely at each of the five basic needs proposed by Maslow, as I
believe that the motivation is the core value that helps workers to realise their full potential. In
other words, the performance of an individual is closely related to motivation. Many scholars
agreed that motivation at work is considered as a necessary drive as it helps workers to generate
efforts and actions towards work-related tasks. When employees are motivated, they portray
strong determination and enthusiasm to implement and accomplish the assigned work (Moran,
2013). Thus, employees with high motivation are thought to have better work performance,
overall resulting in a productive and effective performance. Furthermore, this theory is very
useful to understand the different needs of human at work. Understanding these different
aspects of needs are fundamental in helping us to comprehend our employees in a better way
and thus helping them to achieve their personal self-actualization.

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, an individual’s needs are arranged

in a hierarchy from the lower-level physiological needs to the higher-level needs for self-
actualization. The physiological needs are the highest priority because until they are reasonably
satisfied other higher level needs will not emerge to motivate behaviour. Physiological needs,
it is generally agreed that the basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter are our first concern.
These physiological needs should be taken into account of our employees by providing
comfortable working conditions, reasonable work hours and the necessary breaks for food.

Once these basic needs are satisfied to a reasonable degree, the individual then becomes
aware of higher-level needs - safety needs. It includes those needs that provide a person with a
sense of security and well-being. Personal security, financial security, good health and
protection from accidents, harm are categorised under safety needs. In an organization, these
needs may be satisfied by job security, insurance and retirement plans, and safe and healthy
working conditions.

Social needs is also known as love and belonging. These needs reflect an individual’s
desire for love, affiliation, and acceptance in relationship with other people. Instilling the spirit
of teamwork among workers is crucially vital too. Workers need to be accept every unique
individual and see them as their teammates so as to gear them to be motivated in achieving a
great success in the work place. Maslow's theory suggested that working in teams can bring
impact on members’ love and belongingness, as they promote co-operation and socialisation
of the workforce. Employees should work under a good rapport environment where they learn
to socialise and work as a team. Within teams, members have shared objectives in relation to
their work; have to interact with each other to achieve shared objectives; have more or less well
defined roles; have an organisational identity; and their performance; affects others inside or
outside the organisation (Borrill & West, 2002).

Esteem needs refer to the need for self-esteem and respect. The esteem or ego needs
relate to the need for achievement, recognition, and status. Individuals seek approval and
recognition from others. Job title and responsibilities, praise, and competent management are
all important factors in satisfying the esteem needs. As a leader, we can account for the esteem
needs of our employees by offering praise and recognition when the employee does well, and
offering promotions and additional responsibility to reflect your belief that they are a valued
employee. Research has proven that employees who get recognized tend to have higher
self-esteem, confidence and willingness to take on new challenges and more eagerness to be
innovative. Reward system is an important tool that management can use to channel
employee motivation in desired ways. In other words, reward systems seek to attract people
to join the organization to keep them coming to work, and motivate them to perform to high
levels. It is evident from the study conducted by Baskar (2014) that there is a direct and positive
relationship between rewards, recognition and motivation. Hence, if rewards and recognition
offered to employees were to be altered, then there would be a corresponding change in work
motivation and satisfaction.

Self-actualization needs describe the needs to realise one’s capacities and potentialities
by achieving specific goals. The need to become what one is capable of is something that is
highly personal. While I might have the need to be a good parent, you might have the need to
hold an executive-level position within your organization. Because this need is individualized,
as a manager, you can account for this need by providing challenging work, inviting employees
to participate in decision-making and giving them flexibility and autonomy in their jobs.

When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then and only then are the needs for self-
actualization. This theory suggests how leaders could lead their employees or subordinates to
become self-actualized. It reflects the five needs which are paramount and if implemented in
an organisation, performances would be boosted up. Therefore, it offers a glimpse to leaders
of some of the course of actions that can be taken to help each individual with their different
needs so as to help every potential individual to realise their self-actualization.

. A study was carried out in 1988 and it showed that eighty-six percent of organisations
struggled with attracting new employees and fifty-eight percent of those organizations
expressed challenges with regards to retaining current employees. This effect can be undone
by instilling proper motivation among workers because motivation is the act that causes
someone to get into action (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2007). Therefore, if performance and
productivity are required within an organization, it is absolutely necessary for the labour force
to be externally motivated. In summary, motivation is the way leaders act to promote a variety
of motives in order for the employees to realize the objectives of the organizations. It is very
important to take advantage of theories of motivation in order to increase the efficiency within
the organization and employees’ adaptation by analysing the psychology of employees.

Reference List

Baskar (2014). A Study on the Impact of Rewards and Recognition on Employee Motivation,
International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) 4(11):1644.

Buchbinder & N.H. Shanks, “Introduction to Health Care Management,” 1st edition, Sudbury,
Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2007.

Gordon, G.G (1965). The relationship of satisfiers and dissatisfiers to productivity, turnover
and morale, American Psychologist. 20, 499-502

Maslow, A.H. Motivation and Personality. (2nd ed.) Harper and Row Publishers, 1970.

Maslow, A.H. Eupsychian Management - A Journal. Homewood, I11.: Irwin-Dorsey, 1965.

Maslow, A.H. On eupsychian management. In A.H. Maslow (Ed.). The Farther Reaches of
Human Nature. Pelican Books, 1971.

Moran, B. B. 2013. Library and Information Center Management. Santa Barbara,

CA. Libraries Unlimited.

Nevid, J. S. 2013. Psychology: Concepts and Applications. Belmont, CA.

Wadsworth Cengage Learning.