MOTIVATION

Motivation is the driving force that causes the flux from desire to will in life. For example,
hunger is a motivation that elicits a desire to eat.

Motivation has been shown to have roots in physiological, behavioral, cognitive, and social
areas. Motivation may be rooted in a basic impulse to optimize well-being, minimize physical
pain and maximize pleasure. It can also originate from specific physical needs such as eating,
sleeping or resting. Motivation is an inner drive to behave or act in a certain manner. These inner
conditions such as wishes, desires and goals, activate to move in a particular direction in
behavior.

The ability to motivate people is considered to be a prime task of management. Managers,

increasingly, have to act as coaches and guides in order to align the strategic goals of the
organisation with the demands and needs of individual employees. At the core of this aligning
process is the managers skill to understand what does motivate an individual to reliably and
consistently commit their energy and talent to the organisational goal. Motivation theories are
routinely drawn on to understand what makes people tick and to then be able to successfully
manage and control individual behaviour.

MODEL OF MOTIVATION

Although a few spontaneous human activities occur without motivation, nearly all conscious
behaviour is motivated or caused. The role of motivation in performance is summarized in the
model of motivation. Internal needs and drives create tensions that are affected by ones
environment.
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

Content theories of motivation place the emphasis on what motivates. They have become part
and parcel of every training programme, of every syllabus and every leadership seminar devised
and conducted for the improvement of management practice. Mainly, when talking to
participants afterwards, what they seem to remember is a particular set of theories, which can be
summarised under the heading of content theories of motivation, which reveal the motives, i.e.
the content, in our mental make-up. Perhaps most famously is the theory of Abraham Harold
Maslow (1908- 1970), an American psychologist, who developed a theory called the hierarchy
of needs. Briefly, it assumes that there are nine human needs (ranging from biological
requirements at the bottom to self-actualization needs at the top). Each of the lower needs has to
be fully satisfied, before the next need becomes a motivating force. Thus, for example, we need
to satisfy our biological requirements, before we care for affiliation needs or become interested
in improving our knowledge and understanding. We need to feel appreciated and loved -
(affiliation needs before we endeavour to satisfy our sense of beauty and truth need for
aesthetics).

A similarly famous theory of motivation was developed by Herzberg (1974) and is called the
two-factor theory of motivation. There are a set of factors which, if absent, cause dissatisfaction.
They are related to job context, job environment and extrinsic to the job itself (Hygiene or
maintenance factors). The other set of factors serve, if present, to stimulate the individual to
superior effort and performance (motivators or growth factors). The two-factor theory does not
deny the importance of the hygiene factors, but stresses their importance to maintain a healthy
work environment. If absent, even strong growth factors would not compensate for their lack.

However, these content theories of motivation have been criticised as being more of a social
philosophy, reflecting white American middle-class values; and as being too vague to explain -
let alone predict - all human behaviour. How, for example, could one explain within the
parameters of this theory the actions of people who risk their lives in the pursuit of their aims,
thus violating any needs for safety and security? How could one explain that people forgo
esteem needs for the sake of transcendence needs? I do not wish to claim that these theories or
other theories of motivation for that matter are redundant for understanding workplace
behaviour. Indeed, they continue to exert influence over management practice in areas such as
job enrichment, TQM, rewards policies, self-managing teams and so on. However, I do wish to
make a case for considering other approaches that have been developed to understand workplace
behaviour and how to manage it.

I. PROCESS THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

A different set of theories of motivation can be summed up under the heading of process
theories, such as expectancy, equity or goal-setting theories. They attempt to capture the
dynamic of making choices with respect to desired goals. Unlike content theories of motivation,
they see the individual not as predetermined and blindly struggling its way upward the hierarchy
of needs or being satisfied with or motivated by a different set of factors, but as an active
decision-maker. They emphasis the actual process (or method) of motivation.

Expectancy theory (cf. Vroom, 1964), for example, shows how work behaviour is influenced by
the particular wants and expectations with particular employees, in particular circumstances
bring to the organisation and how and to what extent the employer meets them. Equity Theory of
motivation (Adams, 1965) is related to the potential rewards that are promised to an individual.
Adams gave the name equity theory to the simple assertion that members of any workforce
wish to be treated fairly that is to say equitably in relation to others and to avoid inequality. Thus
individual employees are in a constant process of comparing themselves, i.e. their pay package,
their terms and conditions to those of colleagues or even similar groups outside the
organisation. Should they feel themselves to be treated unfairly, effort and contribution will be
affected negatively.

Thus, process theories of motivation offer an opportunity to understand and reflect on the
dynamic contextual and individual factors, which constitute the bundle of expectations, which
in turn influences workplace behaviour.

II. THE CONTENT THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

In a historical perspective, the content theories tend to be the earliest theories of motivation or
later modifications of early theories. Within the work environment they have had the greatest
impact on management practice and policy, whilst within academic circles they are the least
accepted.

Content theories are also called needs theories, because they are generally associated with a view
that concentrates on the importance of determining 'what' motivates us. In other words they try to
identify what our 'needs' are and relate motivation to the fulfilling of these needs.

Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

"Management Assumptions" (Theory X and Theory Y)

ERG Theory

McClellands Need for Achievement, Affiliation and Power

Herzbergs' Two Factor Theory

CONTENT THEORIES

1. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

This is the most widely known theory of motivation and was hypothesised by American
psychologist Abraham Maslow in the 1940s and 1950s. Maslow put forward the idea that there
existed a hierarchy of needs consisting of five levels in the hierarchy. These needs progressed
from lower order needs through to higher level needs.

The basic premise of the theory is that we all have these five levels of needs and that starting at
the lowest level we are motivated to satisfy each level in ascending order. As each level is
sufficiently satisfied we are then motivated to satisfy the next level in the hierarchy. The five
different levels were further sub-categorised into two main groups, these being:

Deficiency needs - Maslow considered these the very basic needs required for survival and
security. These needs include:

physiological needs

safety needs

social needs

Growth needs - These are needs associated with personal growth and fulfilment of personal
potential.

esteem needs

self-actualisation needs

The basic requirements build upon the first step in the pyramid: physiology. If there are deficits
on this level, all behavior will be oriented to satisfy this deficit. Essentially, if you have not slept
or eaten adequately, you won't be interested in your self-esteem desires. Subsequently we have
the second level, which awakens a need for security. After securing those two levels, the motives
shift to the social sphere, the third level. Psychological requirements comprise the fourth level,
while the top of the hierarchy consists of self-realization and self-actualization.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory can be summarized as follows:

Human beings have wants and desires which influence their behavior. Only unsatisfied
needs influence behavior, satisfied needs do not.
Needs are arranged in order of importance to human life, from the basic to the complex.
The person advances to the next level of needs only after the lower level need is at least
minimally satisfied.
The further the progress up the hierarchy, the more individuality, humanness and
psychological health a person will show.

In Maslow's theory we can never run out of motivation because the very top level, self-
actualisation, which relates to the achievement of our full potential, can never be fully met.

2. Herzberg's two-factor theory

Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory, a.k.a. intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, concludes that

certain factors in the workplace result in job satisfaction, but if absent, they don't lead to
dissatisfaction but no satisfaction. The factors that motivate people can change over their
lifetime, but "respect for me as a person" is one of the top motivating factors at any stage of
life.He distinguished between:

Motivators; (e.g. challenging work, recognition, responsibility) which give positive

satisfaction, and

Hygiene factors; (e.g. status, job security, salary and fringe benefits) that do not motivate
if present, but, if absent, result in demotivation.
The name hygiene factors is used because, like hygiene, the presence will not improve health,
but absence can cause health deterioration.
Herzberg's theory has found application in such occupational fields as information systems and
in studies of user satisfaction such as computer user satisfaction.

3. "Management Assumptions" (Theory X and Theory Y)

Douglas McGregor further developed the needs concept of Maslow and specifically applied it to
the workplace. McGregor maintained that every manager made assumptions about their
employees and adopted a management approach based upon these assumptions. He maintained
there were two main categories and that managers adopted one or the other.

The first category, which he termed Theory X, he maintained was the dominant management
approach and assumed:

the average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if possible,

because of this most people needed to be coerced, controlled, directed and threatened
with punishment to get them to put adequate effort into the achievement of organisational
objectives, and

the average person prefers to be directed, wishes to avoid responsibility, has very little
ambition and wants security above all else.

McGregor maintains that the application of this approach, as well as misunderstanding the real
needs of employees, creates a self-fulfilling outcome because it forces people to become like
thisthey have no alternative.

McGregor proposed an alternative set of assumptions which he called Theory Y. The

assumptions here are virtually the opposite to Theory X. They are :

Work is as natural as play or rest.

External control and threat of punishment are not the only means of bringing about effort
towards organisational objectives. People will exercise self-direction and self-control
towards the achievement of objectives they are committed to.

Commitment to objectives is a function of the rewards associated with their achievement.

The average person learns under proper conditions to not only accept responsibility but
also seek it.

The ability to seek and develop innovative problem solving approaches is widely, not
narrowly distributed across the whole population.

In most work organisations the abilities of most employees is only partially utilised.
McGregor advocated that the application of Theory Y, would not only meet the needs of the
organisation but also those of the employee. He believed that Theory X at best only met
Maslows Deficiency needs, whilst Theory Y also met the Growth Needs. You would thus have
more motivated employees if you adopted Theory Y.

4. Alderfer's ERG theory

Alderfer, expanding on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, created the ERG theory. This theory posits
that there are three groups of core needs existence, relatedness, and growth, hence the label:
ERG theory. The existence group is concerned with providing our basic material existence
requirements. They include the items that Maslow considered to be physiological and safety
needs. The second group of needs are those of relatedness- the desire we have for maintaining
important personal relationships. These social and status desires require interaction with others if
they are to be satisfied, and they align with Maslow's social need and the external component of
Maslow's esteem classification. Finally, Alderfer isolates growth needs as an intrinsic desire for
personal development. These include the intrinsic component from Maslow's esteem category
and the characteristics included under self-actualization.

5. McClellands Need for Achievement, Affiliation and Power

McClelland's model argues that all people have these three needs. He further maintains that there
is a direct link between high-performing managers and their need for achievement, and to a
lesser extent their need for power and affiliation. In other words, people with a high drive to
succeed are more likely to be more highly motivated than people with a low drive to succeed. He
also maintains that it is possible to arrange work situations and conditions to gain the high
motivational benefits from those with a high need for achievementstarting by employing
people with a high need for achievement.
Criticism of the content theories

Despite their wide use and impact on the workplace, major criticisms exist of these theories.
Whilst specific criticisms can be levelled at particular theories, the following general criticisms
apply to all of the content theories.

Universality - the theories pertain to be universal theories and apply to everyone. They
take no account of gender, age, culture, religious or other factor differences. Most were
developed in the USA and at best can only represent middle-class Ameri can business
needs and values in the 1940s to 1970s.

Research support and methodology biases - despite many research projects little to no
support has been established for these theories. Many of the theories, such as Maslow's,
weren't based on research at all, but opinion, whilst others researched biased samples
(only males, only accountants and engineers, etc). In some instances where evidence was
found that didn't support the theory, it was re-defined to make it fit.

Work focus - the theories tend to assume that our workplaces are the places (and only
places) where our needs and personal development is met. They ignore the importance of
other aspects of our lives and their impact on our work lives.

Individual differences and stability over time - not only do the theories ignore the
significance of individual differences but they largely fail to recognise that individual
needs are constantly changing, and consequently what may be a motivator one day may
not the next. Their static nature doesn't relate to the real world.

Process simplicity - The theories assume that the connection between needs and
behaviour is non-problematic. They ignore the processes that must be evaluated and
implemented to achieve the desired end result. Overall they are far too simplistic to
account for the complexity of the real world and the complex decision making process
that individual must often make in the motivation process.

Despite these criticisms, these theories have been critical in focusing attention on the area of
motivation and the importance of 'needs'. They have helped managers evaluate their own
perceptions about their employees and themselves. They have also helped to provide a basis for
further study in this area.

III. EQUITY THEORY

Motivation is influenced by how fairly we feel we are treated at work:

i. Benevolent Workers: martyrs. Feel guilt when rewarded

 ii. Equity Workers: Sensitive to fairness. Normal

iii. Entitled Workers

Employees who feel they are being treated inequitably may exhibit the following behaviors:

Put less effort into their jobs

Ask for better treatment and/or rewards
Find ways to make their work seem better by comparison
Transfer or quit their jobs
 IV. GOAL SETTING THEORY

Idea that our primary motivation on the job is defined in terms of our desire to achieve a
particular goal:

a. Research shows that having goals leads to better performance than not having
goals

b. Specific goals are more motivating than general

c. Moderately difficult goals are most motivating

The goalsetting theory, introduced in the late 1960s by Edwin Locke, proposed that intentions to
work toward a goal are a major source of work motivation. Goals, in essence, tell employees
what needs to be done and how much effort should be expanded. In general, the more difficult
the goal, the higher the level of performance expected.

Managers can set the goals for their employees, or employees and managers can develop goals
together. One advantage of employees participating in goal setting is that they may be more
likely to work toward a goal they helped develop.

No matter who sets the goal, however, employees do better when they get feedback on their
progress. In addition to feedback, four other factors influence the goalsperformance
relationship:

The employee must be committed to the goal.

The employee must believe that he is capable of performing the task.
Tasks involved in achieving the goal should be simple, familiar, and independent.
The goalsetting theory is culture bound and is popular in North American cultures.

If the goalsetting theory is followed, managers need to work with their employees in
determining goal objectives in order to provide targets for motivation. In addition, the goals that
are established should be specific rather than general in nature, and managers must provide
feedback on performance.
JOB SATISFACTION

This is the feeling employees have about their job in general (Smith et al. 1975). It is a
multifaceted construct encompassing specific facets of satisfaction related to pay, work,
supervision, professional opportunities, benefits, organizational practices and relationships with
coworkers (Misener et al. 1996). Organizational research shows that employees who experience
job satisfaction are more likely to be productive and stay on the job (McNeese-Smith 1997). The
meta-analytical study by Irvine & Evans (1995) supports this. The result of the analysis
demonstrated a strong negative relationship between job satisfaction and behavioral intentions
and a small negative relationship between job satisfaction and turnover.

Locke and Lathan (1976) give a comprehensive definition of job satisfaction as pleasurable or
positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job or job experience. Job
satisfaction is a result of employee's perception of how well their job provides those things that
are viewed as important. According to (Mitchell and Lasan, 1987), it is generally recognized in
the organizational behaviour field that job satisfaction is the most important and frequently
studied attitude. While Luthan (1998) posited that there are three important dimensions to job
satisfaction:

Job satisfaction is an emotional response to a job situation. As such it cannot be seen,it can only
be inferred.

Job satisfaction is often determined by how well outcome meet or exceed expectations. For
instance, if organization participants feel that they are working much harder than others in the
department but are receiving fewer rewards they will probably have a negative attitudes towards
the work, the boss and or coworkers. On the other hand, if they feel they are being treated very
well and are being paid equitably, they are likely to have positive attitudes towards the job.

Job satisfaction represents several related attitudes which are most important characteristics of
a job about which people have effective response. These to Luthans are: the work itself, pay,
promotion opportunities, supervision and coworkers. Job satisfaction of the librarian naturally
depends on the economically, social and cultural conditions in a given country (Ebru, 1995). A
librarian who can not get a sufficient wage will be faced with the problem of maintaining his or
her family's life. This problem puts the librarian far from being satisfied. Especially the social
facilities (transportation services, and consumer cooperatives cash boxes) are sufficient because
of the economic conditions.

Low wages and lack of status and social security affect motivation. Job satisfaction cannot be
talk of where there is absence of motivation. Job satisfaction of the librarian who has an
important place in the information society will affect the quality of the service he renders. In this
respect, the question of how the material and moral element affect the job satisfaction of the
librarians gains importance (Ebru, 1995).
 Job satisfaction is so important in that its absence often leads to lethargy and reduced
organizational commitment (Levinson, 1997, Moser, 1997). Lack of job satisfaction is a
predictor of quitting a job (Alexander, Litchtenstein and Hellmann, 1997; Jamal, 1997).

Sometimes workers may quit from public to the private sector and vice versa. At the other times
the movement is from one profession to another that is considered a greener pasture.This later is
common in countries grappling with dwindling economy and its concomitant such as poor
conditions of service and late payment of salaries (Nwagwu, 1997). In such countries, people
tend to migrate to better and consistently paying jobs (Fafunwa, 1971). Explaining its nature
some researcher (e.g. Armentor, Forsyth, 1995, Flanegan, Johnson and Berret, 1996;

Kadushin, and Kulys, 1995) tend to agree that job satisfaction is essentially controlled by factors
described in Adeyemo's (2000) perspectives as external to the worker. From this viewpoint
satisfaction on a job might be motivated by the nature of the job, its pervasive social climate and
extent to which workers peculiar needs are met. Working conditions that are similar to local and
international standard (Osagbemi, 2000), and extent to which they resemble work conditions of
other professions in the locality. Other inclusions are the availability of power and status, pay
satisfaction, promotion opportunities, and task clarity (Bolarin, 1993; Gemenxhenandez, Max,
Kosier, Paradiso and Robinson, 1997). Other researchers (e.g. MacDonald, 1996; O'Toole, 1980)
argue in favor of the control of job satisfaction by factors intrinsic to the workers. Their
arguments are based on the idea that workers deliberately decide to find satisfaction in their jobs
and perceive them as worthwhile.

Employee satisfaction is essential to the success of any business. A high rate of employee
contentedness is directly related to a lower turnover rate. Thus, keeping employees satisfied
with their careers should be a major priority for every employer. While this is a well known fact
in management practices, economic downturns like the current one seem to cause employers to
ignore it. There are numerous reasons why employees can become discouraged with their jobs
and resign, including high stress, lack of communication within the company, lack of
recognition, or limited opportunity for growth. Management should actively seek to improve
these factors if they hope to lower their turnover rate. Even in an economic downturn, turnover is
an expense best avoided.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND JOB SATISFACTION

Age: in general, increases with age

Malcontents have stopped working

Older workers have greater chance of fulfillment
Gender: inconclusive results
 Race: whites are happier

Cognitive Ability: slight negative relationship between level of education and satisfaction

Use of Skills

Job Congruence

Personality: less alienation and internal locus of control lead to higher satisfaction

Occupational Level: the higher the status level the greater the satisfaction

LOW SATISFACTION AND JOB BEHAVIOR

Absenteeism: any given day 16-20% of workers miss work. Costs businesses $30 billion
dollars a year

Younger have higher absence rates

Rates are influenced by economic conditions

Turnover: Not always a bad thing!

Functional Turnover: when bad workers leave

Dysfunctional Turnover