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5 Motivational Theories
Project Manager Must
Know!
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Motivation is a psychological
feature that makes a living
being strive towards achieving
a goal, and controls its
behavior in this respect.
Motivating self and team is a
primary need of a project
manager to successfully
manage the project.

Even best of the team members

need constant motivation to work
towards achieving project
objectives.
There are 5 motivational theories
applicable in general to all, and in
specific to project management.
Getting a good understanding of
these give useful insights to you
as a project manager to manage

1- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow proposed a

psychological theory in 1943,
which he subsequently
extended to apply to human
developmental psychology,
and published in his book in
1954. It came to be known as
"Maslow's hierarchy of needs".

Maslow's theory is represented as a pyramid

with layers of needs - basic needs at the
bottom, and the subsequent layers above
representing 'evolved' needs that motivate
an individual.
Bottom four levels of the pyramid are
termed as 'deficiency needs' - which
means that their absence will make an
individual tense and stressed.
The top layer goes beyond the needs of
these four layers, and is driven by the
constant need to become a better individual.

Tesy: Wi

Image courtesy:
Wikipedia

Maslows Layer 1: Psychological

Needs such as food, water and

sleep form core and basic
needs of human beings. Only
after these needs are fulfilled
do man's actions get
motivated by higher needs.

Maslows Layer 2: Safety

These are security of body,

employment, health and
family - which are a level
higher than man's
psychological needs.

Maslows Layer 3: Love and

belonging

This represents interpersonal

needs of a man - love and
belongingness with fellow
human beings. Friendship,
family, intimacy maintain
man's emotional stability.

Maslows Layer 4: Esteem

Humans have the innate need to feel
respected, valued and wanted. The
activities a man gets involved with
(such as a profession, hobbies) give
him a sense of contribution. Maslow
identified 'lower' and 'higher' needs lower needs are expectation of
respect from others, and higher
needs include respect for self.
People with imbalance in these needs

Maslows Layer 5: Selfactualization

This need stems from the adage "what a
man can be, he must be". This refers to
the realization of one's potential. This is a
perceived need, in the sense that man
needs to strive to achieve whatever he
considers to be the ideal state of being.
And this ideal state may differ between
individuals. For one this may be becoming
a selfless altruist, and for someone else
this could be being a top notch athlete.

2: McGregor's Theory X and

Theory Y
Douglas McGregor developed this
theory in the 1960s. He was a
management professor at MIT Sloan
School of Management and also
taught at the Indian Institute of
Management Calcutta. Theory X and
Theory Y refers to the perception
manager has of his employees.

Theory X
Theory X states that a manager
sees his employees as
fundamentally lazy, and that they
always are on the lookout to escape
work. This belief makes managers to
micromanage their employees, and
results in mistrust and restrictive
supervision. Theory X manager tends to
blame others for everything.

Theory Y
Theory Y type of manager believes
that every employee is selfmotivated and can be trusted. And
that they can think for themselves,
accept responsibility, and, given right
environment they can perform well.
This type of thinking builds positive
work environment. There will be open
communication, lesser hierarchy and
collaborative decision making in such

3: Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene
Theory

Frederick Herzberg proposed

Motivation-Hygiene theory in 1968,
which states that content of a
person's job is the primary
source of motivation. This
opposes the popular belief that
money alone is the primary
motivation for people to work.

Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene
Theory
'hygiene factors' such as pay, job
security, working conditions,
fringe benefits, job-policies will
only reduce dissatisfaction, and by
themselves do not motivate people.
Other factors such as levels of
challenge, work, recognition,
advancement, autonomy and
opportunity for creativity are
termed as 'motivational factors'

4: McClelland's Need Theory

David McClelland was American psychological
theorist, proposed that people are
motivated by achievements, affiliation and
power.
People who are motivated by achievements
prefer to master a job or situation, prefer to
work on task that are moderately difficult, and
prefer work where success is based on effort
(and not factor of luck), and that they would
like to get feedback on their work.

McClelland's Need
Theory
People who are motivated by affiliation prefer to
work with people in power and love to establish
relationship with them, be part of such elite group
where their work is accepted and respected.
People who are motivated by power prefer to work
in positions of power (military, police and heads of
departments) and they intrinsically want to
influence, teach and encourage people. They place
high value on discipline. They have zero-sum goals
where for one to win, someone else has to lose.

5: Expectancy Theory
This was proposed by Victor Vroom of Yale School of
Management in 1964. This is based on the
assumption that people choose a specific
behavior based on their expectation of the
intended result. He introduced three variables Expectancy (E) : Expectation leads to desired
Performance
Instrumentality (I) : Performance leads to
favorable Outcome (rewards such as promotion,
salary increase)
Valence (V) : This is the importance one places
on rewards, based on their needs, goals and
sources of motivation

Thank you!
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