Theories of Motivation

1) Contribution of Robert Owen :

Though Owen is considered to be paternalistic in his view, his contribution is of a

considerable significance in the theories of Motivation. During the early years of the
nineteenth century, Owen’s textile mill at New Lanark in Scotland was the scene of some
novel ways of treating people. His view was that people were similar to machines. A machine
that is looked after properly, cared for and maintained well, performs efficiently, reliably and
lastingly, similarly people are likely to be more efficient if they are taken care of. Robert
Owen practiced what he preached and introduced such things as employee housing and
company shop. His ideas on this and other matters were considered to be too revolutionary for
that time.

2) Jeremy Bentham’s “The Carrot and the Stick Approach” :

Possibly the essence of the traditional view of people at work can be best appreciated by a
brief look at the work of this English philosopher, whose ideas were also developed in the
early years of the Industrial Revolution, around 1800. Bentham’s view was that all people are
self-interested and are motivated by the desire to avoid pain and find pleasure. Any worker
will work only if the reward is big enough, or the punishment sufficiently unpleasant. This
view - the ‘carrot and stick’ approach - was built into the philosophies of the age and is still to
be found, especially in the older, more traditional sectors of industry.

The various leading theories of motivation and motivators seldom make reference to the
carrot and the stick. This metaphor relates, of course, to the use of rewards and penalties in
order to induce desired behavior. It comes from the old story that to make a donkey move, one
must put a carrot in front of him or dab him with a stick from behind. Despite all the research
on the theories of motivation, reward and punishment are still considered strong motivators.
For centuries, however, they were too often thought of as the only forces that could motivate
people.

At the same time, in all theories of motivation, the inducements of some kind of ‘carrot’ are
recognized. Often this is money in the form of pay or bonuses. Even though money is not the
only motivating force, it has been and will continue to be an important one. The trouble with
the money ‘carrot’ approach is that too often everyone gets a carrot, regardless of
performance through such practices as salary increase and promotion by seniority, automatic
‘merit’ increases, and executive bonuses not based on individual manager performance. It is
as simple as this : If a person put a donkey in a pen full of carrots and then stood outside with
a carrot, would the donkey be encouraged to come out of the pen ?

The ‘stick’, in the form of fear–fear of loss of job, loss of income, reduction of bonus,
demotion, or some other penalty–has been and continues to be a strong motivator. Yet it is
admittedly not the best kind. It often gives rise to defensive or retaliatory behavior, such as
union organization, poor-quality work, executive indifference, failure of a manager to take
any risks in decision making or even dishonesty. But fear of penalty cannot be overlooked.
Whether managers are first-level supervisors or chief executives, the power of their position
to give or with hold rewards or impose penalties of various kinds gives them an ability to
control, to a very great extent, the economic and social well-being of their subordinates.

3) Abraham Maslow’s “Need Hierarchy Theory” :

One of the most widely mentioned theories of motivation is the hierarchy of needs theory put
forth by psychologist Abraham Maslow. Maslow saw human needs in the form of a hierarchy,
ascending from the lowest to the highest, and he concluded that when one set of needs is
satisfied, this kind of need ceases to be a motivator.

As per his theory this needs are :

(i) Physiological needs :

These are important needs for sustaining the human life. Food, water, warmth, shelter, sleep,
medicine and education are the basic physiological needs which fall in the primary list of need
satisfaction. Maslow was of an opinion that until these needs were satisfied to a degree to
maintain life, no other motivating factors can work.

(ii) Security or Safety needs :

These are the needs to be free of physical danger and of the fear of losing a job, property, food
or shelter. It also includes protection against any emotional harm.

(iii) Social needs :

Since people are social beings, they need to belong and be accepted by others. People try to
satisfy their need for affection, acceptance and friendship.

(iv) Esteem needs :

According to Maslow, once people begin to satisfy their need to belong, they tend to want to
be held in esteem both by themselves and by others. This kind of need produces such
satisfaction as power, prestige status and self-confidence. It includes both internal esteem
factors like self-respect, autonomy and achievements and external esteem factors such as
states, recognition and attention.

(v) Need for self-actualization :

Maslow regards this as the highest need in his hierarchy. It is the drive to become what one is
capable of becoming, it includes growth, achieving one’s potential and self-fulfillment. It is to
maximize one’s potential and to accomplish something.
As each of these needs are substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant. From the
standpoint of motivation, the theory would say that although no need is ever fully gratified, a
substantially satisfied need no longer motivates. So if you want to motivate someone, you
need to understand what level of the hierarchy that person is on and focus on satisfying those
needs or needs above that level.

Maslow’s need theory has received wide recognition, particularly among practicing managers.
This can be attributed to the theory’s intuitive logic and ease of understanding. However,
research does not validate these theory. Maslow provided no empirical evidence and other
several studies that sought to validate the theory found no support for it.

4) “Theory X and Theory Y” of Douglas McGregor :

McGregor, in his book “The Human side of Enterprise” states that people inside the
organization can be managed in two ways. The first is basically negative, which falls under
the category X and the other is basically positive, which falls under the category Y. After
viewing the way in which the manager dealt with employees, McGregor concluded that a
manager’s view of the nature of human beings is based on a certain grouping of assumptions
and that he or she tends to mold his or her behavior towards subordinates according to these
assumptions.

Under the assumptions of theory X :

• Employees inherently do not like work and whenever possible, will attempt to avoid
it.
• Because employees dislike work, they have to be forced, coerced or threatened with
punishment to achieve goals.
• Employees avoid responsibilities and do not work fill formal directions are issued.
• Most workers place a greater importance on security over all other factors and display
little ambition.

In contrast under the assumptions of theory Y :

• Physical and mental effort at work is as natural as rest or play.

• People do exercise self-control and self-direction and if they are committed to those
goals.
 • Average human beings are willing to take responsibility and exercise imagination,
ingenuity and creativity in solving the problems of the organization.
• That the way the things are organized, the average human being’s brainpower is only
partly used.

On analysis of the assumptions it can be detected that theory X assumes that lower-order
needs dominate individuals and theory Y assumes that higher-order needs dominate
individuals. An organization that is run on Theory X lines tends to be authoritarian in nature,
the word “authoritarian” suggests such ideas as the “power to enforce obedience” and the
“right to command.” In contrast Theory Y organizations can be described as “participative”,
where the aims of the organization and of the individuals in it are integrated; individuals can
achieve their own goals best by directing their efforts towards the success of the organization.

However, this theory has been criticized widely for generalization of work and human
behavior.

5) Contribution of Rensis Likert :

Likert developed a refined classification, breaking down organizations into four management
systems.

1st System – Primitive authoritarian

2nd System – Benevolent authoritarian
3rd System – Consultative
4th System – Participative

As per the opinion of Likert, the 4th system is the best, not only for profit organizations, but
also for non-profit firms.

6) Frederick Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory :

Frederick has tried to modify Maslow’s need Hierarchy theory. His theory is also known as
two-factor theory or Hygiene theory. He stated that there are certain satisfiers and dissatisfiers
for employees at work. In- trinsic factors are related to job satisfaction, while extrinsic factors
are associated with dissatisfaction. He devised his theory on the question : “What do people
want from their jobs ?” He asked people to describe in detail, such situations when they felt
exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. From the responses that he received, he concluded
that opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction. Removing dissatisfying characteristics from
a job does not necessarily make the job satisfying. He states that presence of certain factors in
the organization is natural and the presence of the same does not lead to motivation. However,
their nonpresence leads to demotivation. In similar manner there are certain factors, the
absence of which causes no dissatisfaction, but their presence has motivational impact.
Examples of Hygiene factors are :

Security, status, relationship with subordinates, personal life, salary, work conditions,
relationship with supervisor and company policy and administration.

Examples of Motivational factors are :

Growth prospectus job advancement, responsibility, challenges, recognition and

achievements.

7) Contributions of Elton Mayo :

The work of Elton Mayo is famously known as “Hawthorne Experiments.” He conducted

behavioral experiments at the Hawthorne Works of the American Western Electric Company
in Chicago. He made some illumination experiments, introduced breaks in between the work
performance and also introduced refreshments during the pause’s. On the basis of this he drew
the conclusions that motivation was a very complex subject. It was not only about pay, work
condition and morale but also included psychological and social factors. Although this
research has been criticized from many angles, the central conclusions drawn were :

• People are motivated by more than pay and conditions.

• The need for recognition and a sense of belonging are very important.

• Attitudes towards work are strongly influenced by the group.

8) Vroom’s Valence x Expectancy theory :

The most widely accepted explanations of motivation has been propounded by Victor Vroom.
His theory is commonly known as expectancy theory. The theory argues that the strength of a
tendency to act in a specific way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be
followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual to
make this simple, expectancy theory says that an employee can be motivated to perform better
when their is a belief that the better performance will lead to good performance appraisal and
that this shall result into realization of personal goal in form of some reward. Therefore an
employee is :

Motivation = Valence x Expectancy.

The theory focuses on three things :

• Efforts and performance relationship

• Performance and reward relationship
• Rewards and personal goal relationship

This leads us to a conclusion that :

9) The Porter and Lawler Model :

Lyman W. Porter and Edward E. Lawler developed a more complete version of motivation
depending upon expectancy theory.
Actual performance in a job is primarily determined by the effort spent. But it is also affected
by the person’s ability to do the job and also by individual’s perception of what the required
task is. So performance is the responsible factor that leads to intrinsic as well as extrinsic
rewards. These rewards, along with the equity of individual leads to satisfaction. Hence,
satisfaction of the individual depends upon the fairness of the reward.

10) Clayton Alderfer’s ERG Theory :

Alderfer has tried to rebuild the hierarchy of needs of Maslow into another model named ERG
i.e. Existence – Relatedness – Growth. According to him there are 3 groups of core needs as
mentioned above. The existence group is concerned mainly with providing basic material
existence. The second group is the individuals need to maintain interpersonal relationship
with other members in the group. The final group is the intrinsic desire to grow and develop
personally. The major conclusions of this theory are :

1. In an individual, more than one need may be operative at the same time.
2. If a higher need goes unsatisfied than the desire to satisfy a lower need intensifies.
3. It also contains the frustration-regression dimension.

11) McClelland’s Theory of Needs :

David McClelland has developed a theory on three types of motivating needs :

1. Need for Power

2. Need for Affiliation
3. Need for Achievement

Basically people for high need for power are inclined towards influence and control. They like
to be at the center and are good orators. They are demanding in nature, forceful in manners
and ambitious in life. They can be motivated to perform if they are given key positions or
power positions.
In the second category are the people who are social in nature. They try to affiliate themselves
with individuals and groups. They are driven by love and faith. They like to build a friendly
environment around themselves. Social recognition and affiliation with others provides them
motivation.

People in the third area are driven by the challenge of success and the fear of failure. Their
need for achievement is moderate and they set for themselves moderately difficult tasks. They
are analytical in nature and take calculated risks. Such people are motivated to perform when
they see atleast some chances of success.

McClelland observed that with the advancement in hierarchy the need for power and
achievement increased rather than Affiliation. He also observed that people who were at the
top, later ceased to be motivated by this drives.

12 ) Equity Theory :

As per the equity theory of J. Stacey Adams, people are motivated by their beliefs about the
reward structure as being fair or unfair, relative to the inputs. People have a tendency to use
subjective judgment to balance the outcomes and inputs in the relationship for comparisons
between different individuals. Accordingly :
If people feel that they are not equally rewarded they either reduce the quantity or quality of
work or migrate to some other organization. However, if people perceive that they are
rewarded higher, they may be motivated to work harder.

13) Reinforcement Theory :

B.F. Skinner, who propounded the reinforcement theory, holds that by designing the
environment properly, individuals can be motivated. Instead of considering internal factors
like impressions, feelings, attitudes and other cognitive behavior, individuals are directed by
what happens in the environment external to them. Skinner states that work environment
should be made suitable to the individuals and that punishments actually leads to frustration
and de-motivation. Hence, the only way to motivate is to keep on making positive changes in
the external environment of the organization.

14) Goal Setting Theory of Edwin Locke :

Instead of giving vague tasks to people, specific and pronounced objectives, help in achieving
them faster. As the clearity is high, a goal orientation also avoids any misunderstandings in
the work of the employees. The goal setting theory states that when the goals to be achieved
are set at a higher standard than in that case employees are motivated to perform better and
put in maximum effort. It revolves around the concept of “Self-efficacy” i.e. individual’s
belief that he or she is capable of performing a hard task.

15) Cognitive Evaluation Theory :

As per these theory a shift from external rewards to internal rewards results into motivation. It
believes that even after the stoppage of external stimulus, internal stimulus survives. It relates
to the pay structure in the organization. Instead of treating external factors like pay,
incentives, promotion etc and internal factors like interests, drives, responsibility etc,
separately, they should be treated as contemporary to each other. The cognition is to be such
that even when external motivators are not there the internal motivation continues. However,
practically extrinsic rewards are given much more weightage.

TASK TO BE PERFORMED :

DEBATE :

LIST 10 STRONG POINTS OF YOUR

PERSONALITY
LIST 10 NEGATIVE POINTS OF YOUR
PERSONALITY
ARE THIS 20 POINTS DEBATABLE ?
TRY CHANGE THE NEGATIVE TO POSITIVE

“Ask yourself :

1. What sort of manager would you like to be managed by ?

2. Are you that sort of person ?
This are two basic questions conducive to a healthy management style.”

TYPES OF MOTIVATION

(1) Achievement Motivation

It is the drive to pursue and attain goals. An individual with achievement motivation wishes to
achieve objectives and advance up on the ladder of success. Here, accomplishment is
important for its own shake and not for the rewards that accompany it. It is similar to ‘Kaizen’
approach of Japanese Management.

(2) Affiliation Motivation

It is a drive to relate to people on a social basis. Persons with affiliation motivation perform
work better when they are complimented for their favorable attitudes and co-operation.

(3) Competence Motivation

It is the drive to be good at something, allowing the individual to perform high quality work.
Competence motivated people seek job mastery, take pride in developing and using their
problem-solving skills and strive to be creative when confronted with obstacles. They learn
from their experience.

(4) Power Motivation

It is the drive to influence people and change situations. Power motivated people wish to
create an impact on their organization and are willing to take risks to do so.

(5) Attitude Motivation

Attitude motivation is how people think and feel. It is their self confidence, their belief in
themselves, their attitude to life. It is how they feel about the future and how they react to the
past.

(6) Incentive Motivation

It is where a person or a team reaps a reward from an activity. It is “You do this and you get
that”, attitude. It is the types of awards and prizes that drive people to work a little harder.

(7) Fear Motivation

Fear motivation coercions a person to act against will. It is instantaneous and gets the job
done quickly. It is helpful in the short run.

REQUISITES TO MOTIVATE

• We have to be Motivated to Motivate

• Motivation requires a goal
• Motivation once established, does not last if
not repeated
• Motivation requires Recognition
• Participation has motivating effect
• Seeing ourselves progressing Motivates us
• Challenge only motivates if you can win
• Everybody has a motivational fuse i.e.
everybody can be motivated

• Group belonging motivates

MOTIVATING DIFFERENT PEOPLE IN DIFFERENT WAYS

Motivation is not only in a single direction i.e. downwards. In the present scenario, where the
workforce is more informed, more aware, more educated and more goal oriented, the role of
motivation has left the boundries of the hierarchy of management. Apart from superior
motivating a subordinate, encouragement and support to colleague as well as helpful
suggestions on the right time, even to the superior, brings about a rapport at various work
levels. Besides, where workforce is self motivated, just the acknowledgement of the same
makes people feel important and wanted.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MOTIVATION, SATISFACTION, INSPIRATION AND

MANIPULATION

Motivation refers to the drive and efforts to satisfy a want or goal, whereas satisfaction refers
to the contentment experienced when a want is satisfied. In contrast, inspiration is bringing
about a change in the thinking pattern. On the other hand Manipulation is getting the things
done from others in a predetermined manner.
Hence, manipulation or external stimulus as well as inspiration or internal stimulus acts as
carriers of either demotivation or motivation which in turn either results into dissatisfaction or
satisfaction

BEING A MOTIVATING MANAGER

(1) Treat staff well :

Subordinates have to be treated with diligence. The manager has to stay friendly as well as
maintain a level of distance with his staff. It’s a tricky ground to tread. The staff looks up on
the manager as their leader. They expect maturity, rationality and understanding from their
superiors. Simple things like calling people by their first name, chatting about their families
for a while or even a general inquiry about their well-being, brings in a feeling of
belongingness. Small gestures of this type help in building up of a cordial relationship.

(2) Think like a winner :

A manager has to handle two situations, “The Winning” and “The loosing”. The crux is to
think like a winner even when all the odds seem against you. It is necessary to equip yourself
with all the tools of a winner. Always remember that winning and loosing rotate in a cycle. If
you have been loosing from a long time you are very near the winning edge.

(3) Recognize the differences :

All the employees in the organization vibrate to a different pace. A treatment that motivates
one may demotivation the other. Understanding the difference in temperament in between the
individuals is important.

4) Set realistic goals :

Set moderate goals. Setting too high a task creates a feeling of non-achievement, right from
the beginning itself. The goals set should be such which seem feasible to the employees to be
achieved. A slightly higher target than expected provides a challenge.

(5) Prevent Demotivation :

A job of the manager is to motivate people. His task requires him to punish and penalize
people. This might create resentment in the mind of the staff members, which may affect the
productivity of the workforce. Henceforth, care should be taken, that punishment and
penalties are used as a controlling technique and that they do not demotivation.

(6) Job-financial enrichment and small job changes are handy :

To make job more effective and to break the monotonous routine, small task additions and
minor changes are always welcome. Even small suggestions of the manager seem valuable to
the employees. A few challenges in the same job can enrich it.
(7) Non-financial rewards :

Monetary rewards have always had a high motivational capacity. But non-monetary rewards
are equally helpful. A thank you note, a letter of appreciation or even few words of praise can
help smoothen the creases between the different levels of management.

QUOTATIONS

1. The enemy of the ‘best’ is the ‘good’

2. Think Win – Win
3. You have be very clever to do simple things
4. There is always a better way
5. The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything
6. Allow yourself the permission to make mistakes
7. The best are optimists having vision
8. Never promise more than you can perform
9. No pain no gain
10. Get organized
11. In action, be primitive; in foresight, a strategist
12. All easy problems ha e already been solved
13. Include the success of others in your dreams or your own success
14. To be a winner, all you need to give is all you have
15. Success means winning the war, not every battle
16. Daring ideas are like chessman, moved forward, they may be beaten but they may start
a winning a game
17. A man is not paid for having a head and hands, but for using them
18. Work half day but don’t care if it’s the first 12 hours or the second 12 hours