MOTIVATION-THEORIES AND

IMPORTANCE.....
MOTIVATION: Motivation is the process that
accounts for an individual’s intensity,direction,and
persistence of effort towards the attainment of
goal.
The key elements of motivation are:
1.) Intensity:severity of efforts.
2.) Direction:focus/orientation.
3.) Persistance;sustainability.
Motivated individuals stay with a task long
enough to achieve their goal.
About motivation G.B.SHAW said :”Set me
anything to do as a task and it is inconceivale
the desire i have to do something else.”
DWIGHT D.EISENHOWER once mentioned
that:”Motivation is getting people to do what you
want them to do because they want to do it.”

Nature of motivation:
It was motivation which made John
Roebling,Washington and Mrs.Washington
 accomplish a near impossible task-
constructing Brooklyn Bridge.
Every organisation must-
1.) Attract competent people and reatain them
with it,
2.) Allow people to perform tasks for which they
were hired,and
3.) Stimulate people to go beyond routine
performance and overreach themselves in
their work.
Thus,if the oraganisation were to be effective it
must address the motivational challenges
involved in arousing people’s desires to e
productive members of the oraganisation.
A basic principle is that the performance of an
individual depends on his or her ability backed br
motivation.Stated algebraically,the principle is:
Performance=f(ability*motivation)
Ability refers to skill and competence the person to
complete a given task.However,ability alone is not
enough.the person’s desire to accomplish the task
is also necessary.Organisations become
successful when employees have abilities and
desire to accomplish given tasks.Motivation in
simple terms may be understood as the set of
forces that cause people to behave in certain
ways.the framework shown below helps us to
understand the nature of motivation better:

1.)identifies needs.-2.)sEarches for

ways to satisfy needs.-3.)engages in
goal directed behaviour.-
4.)performs.-5.)receives either
rewards or punishments.-
6.)reassesses needs deficiencies.
The framework comprises of six steps. Motivation
process,as shown in the framework above begins
with the individual’s needs(step1).Needs are felt
deprivations which the individual experiences at a
given time and act as energisers.these needs may
be psychological(e.g,the need for
recognition),physiological(e.g,the need for
water,air,or food.),or social(e.g,the need for
friendship).These deprivations fore the individual
to search for ways to reduce or eliminate
them(step2).
Motivation is goal directed(step3).A goal is a
specific result that the individual wants to
achieve.An employee’s goals are often driving
forces and accomplishing those goals can
significantly reduce needs.For example,some
employees have strong drives for advancement
and expectations that working long hours on
visible projects will lead to promotions,and greater
influence.Such needs and expectations often
create uncomfortable tension within these
individuals.Believing that certain specific
behaviours can overcome this tension,these
employees act to reduce order to gain visibility and
influence with senior managers(step4).Promotions
and raises are two of the ways that oraganisation
seek to maintain desirable behaviours.They are
signals (feedback) to employees that their needs
for advancement and recognition and their
behaviours are appropriate(step5).Once the
employees have received either rewards or
punishments,they reassess their needs(step6).
Some definations on motivation are worth citing in
this context:
1.)”Motivation is the result of
processes,internal or external to the
individual,that arouse enthusiasm and
persistence to pursue a certain course of
action.”
2.)”...how behaviour gets started,is
energised,is sustained,is directed,is stopped
and what kind of subjective reaction is present
in the organisation while all this is going on.”
 Theories of motivation......
1.) Maslow’ Need Hierarchy Theory:The
need hierarchy model of motivation
pronounced by Abraham Harold Maslow
in undoubtedly the simplest and most
widely discussed theory of
motivation.The essence of the theory
may be summarised thus:
1.) People are wanting beings whose
needs can influence their
behaviour.Only unsatisfied needs
can influence behaviour,satisfied
needs do act as motivators.
 2.) Since needs are many,they are
arranged in an order of
importance,or hierarchy(hence the
nomenclature need-hierarchy theory
of motivation),from the basic to the
complex.
3.) The person advances to the next
level of hierarchy ,or from the basic
to the complex,only when the lower
level need is atleast minimally
satisfied.
4.) Further up the hierarchy the person
is able to go,the more
individuality,humanness and
psychological health he will display.
2.) The Needs:Maslow’s need hierarchy
divides human needs into five levels as
shown below.each level represents a
group of needs-not one need for each
level.
The needs are from low to high-
a) Physiological needs,
b) Safety needs(security),
 c) Social needs(affiliation),
d) Esteem needs(recognition),and
e) Self-Actualisation needs.
Individuals cannot move to the next higher
level until all needs at the
current(lower)level are satisfied.
2.)Herzberg’s hygienes and
motivators theory:Theory asserts
that-
a.) Intrinsic factors:These are related to
job satisfaction-motivating
factors(challenging work,recognition
for one’s
achievement,responsibility,opportunity
to do something meaningful,and
involvement in decision making).
b.) Extrinsic factors:These are
associated with dissatisfaction-hygiene
factors(status,job security,salary,fringe
benefits,work conditions,goodpay,and
vacations).
 According to Herzberg,satisfaction and
dissatisfaction are not opposite poles of
one dimension,they are two separate
dimensions.Satisfaction is affected by
motivators and dissatisfaction by hygiene
factors.This is the key idea of Hrzberg and
it has important implications for managers.
To achieve motivation,managers should
cope with both satisfiers and
dissatisfiers.Improve hygiene factors-
dissatisfaction is removed from the minds of
employees.A favourable frame of mind is not
created for motivation.Provide
satisfiers,motivation will then take
place.Managers should be realistic not to
expect motivation by only improving the
‘hygiene’ work environment.
This the Crux of the two-factor theory of
motivation.
1.)Hygiene:job disatisfaction
a.) Company policy and administration.
b.) Supervision.
 c.) Interpersonal relations.
d.) Working conditions.
e.) Salary.
f.) Status.
g.) Security.

2.)Motivators:job satisfaction
a.) Achievement.
b.) Recognition of achievement.
c.) Work itself.
d.) Responsibility.
e.) Advancement.
f.) Growth.
g.) Salary(also included in the hygiene
factors).
 Difference Between Maslow’s And
Herzberg’s Motivational Theories
1.)Maslow’s theory is a descriptive type of
theory whereas Herzberg’s theory is of
prescriptive type.
2.)Accordind to Maslow unsatisfied needs
energise behaviour,this behaviour causes
performance whereas according to
Herzberg needs cause performance.
3.)According to Malow a satisfied need is
not a motivator(except self-actualisation)
whereas accordind to Herzberg a
satisfied(hygiene) is not a motivator,other
satisfied needs are motivators.
4.)Accordind to Maslow,there is a hierarchy
of needs whereas accordind to Herzberg
there is no such hierarchy.
5.)According to Maslow all needs are
motivators at various times whereas
according to Herzberg,only some needs are
motivators.
3.)ERG theory by CLAYTON
ALDERFER:There are three groups of
core needs:existence,relatedness,and
growth.
a.) Existence:Basic material
existence
requirements.Physiological+safety
needs of Maslow’s hierarchy.
 b.) Relatedness:The desire for
maintaining importan interpersonal
relationships.Social+External
factor of Esteem
need(status,recognition and
attention).
c.) Growth:An intrinsic desire for
personal development.Intrinsic
component of esteem(Self-
respect,autonomy,achievement)
self-actualisation.
 ERG Theory demonstrates:
a.) ERG theory reoresents a more
valid of Maslow’s need hierarchy
model.
b.) On a work level,managers must
recognize his employee’s multiple
simultaneous needs.Focusing
exclusively on one need at a time
will not motivate your people.More
than one need may be operative at
the same time.
 c.) If the fulfilment of a higher-level
need is subdued,there is an
increase in desire for satisfying a
lower-level need.
d.) The frustration-regression principle
impacts workplace motivation.For
example,if growth opportunities are
not provided to employees,they
may regress to relatedness
needs,and socialize more with
co-workers.
 Relationships between Alderfer’s
ERG theory concepts:There are three
relationships among the different
categories in Alderfer’s ERG theory-
1.)satisfaction progression:moving up
to higher-order needs based on satisfied
needs..
2.)frustration-regression:if a higher
level need remains unfulfilled,a person
may regress to lower level needs that
apper easier to satisfy.
 3.)satisfaction-
strengthening:iteratively strengthening
a current level of satisfied needs.

 IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION.....
Motivation coupled with ability leads to
performance.Not only are employees
motivated to perform alloted tasks,they look
for better ways to do a job.This statement can
apply for corporate strategies,and to
production workers who are looking better
ways to do a job.When people actively seek
new ways of doing things,they usually find
them.It is the responsibility of managers to
make employeeslook for better ways of doing
jobs .An undrstanding of the nature of
motivation is helpful in this context.
Second,a motivated person generally is
more-quality oriented.
Third,highly motivated workers are more
productive than apathetic workers.
Fourth,every organisation requires
human resources,in addition to the need
for financial and physical resources for it
to function.For an organisation to be
effective,it must come to grips with the
motivational problems of stimulating
both the decision to participate and the
decision to produce at work.
Fifth,motivation as a concept represents
a highly complex phenomena that
affects,and is affected by a multitude of
factors in the organisational milieu.An
understanding of the topic motivation is
thus essential in order to comprehend
more fully the effects of variations in
other reactions (such as leadership
style,job realisation and salary
systems)as they relate to
performance,satisfaction and so forth.
Sixth,yet another reason why increasing
attention is paid towards motivation can
be found in the present and future
technology required for production.As
technlogy increase in
complexity,machines tend to become
 necessary yet insufficient vehicles of
effective operations.
THEREFORE,MOTIVATION IS
EVERYTHING.....SO BE MOTIVATED.