Motivation

Definition

Berelson and Steiner “an inner state that energises activates or moves and directs or channels the
behaviour goals”

Lillis – It is the stimulation of any emotion or desire operating upon one’s will and promoting or
driving it to action.

Dubbin – Motivation is a complex of forces starting and keeping a person at work in organization

Encyclopaedia of Management - Motivation refers to the degree of readiness of organism to pursue

some designated goals and implies the determination of the nature and locus of the forces including
the degree of readiness.

Nature of Motivation

 Motivation is inner feeling, energizes a person to work more

 Emotions or desires of a person prompt him for doing particular job
 There are unsatisfied needs which disturb a person’s equilibrium
 A person moves to fulfil his unsatisfied need by conditioning his energies
 There are dormant energies in a person which are activated by channelizing them to actions

Characteristic of Motivation

 Motivation is a psychological phenomenon

 Motivation is continuous process
 Motivation is caused due to anticipated perceived value of action
 Motivation varies from person to person and time to time
 An individual is motivated by positive and negative motivation

Importance of Motivation

 Higher level of performance

 Low employee absenteeism and turn over
 Acceptance of organizational change
 Organizational Image

Components of Motivation

 Direction what a person is trying to do

 Effort how hard a person is trying
 Persistence how long a person keeps on trying

Concepts of Motivation

 Needs A need is condition of lack or deficit of something required by the person

 Motives Motive is defined as an inner state that energises activates and directs the
behaviour towards the goals.
Types of Motivation

Positive Motivation is an incentive motivation based on reward. The workers are offered incentives
for achieving the goals. Positive motivation is achieved by cooperating of employees and they have
feeling of happiness.

Negative Motivation is based on fear or force. Fear causes employee to act in a certain way and acts
as push mechanism. Employees do not willingly cooperate but do so for fear of punishment. In spite
of draw backs this is commonly used to achieve desired goals.

Intrinsic motivation arises from the self-generated factors that influence people behaviour. It is not
created by external incentives. It can take the form of work itself, when it provides degree of
freedom, opportunities to achieve and scope of use of skills and develop their talents

Extrinsic motivation occurs when things are done to people or for people to motivate them, Ex
rewards, incentives, pay rise, promotion, praise, punishment or disciplinary action. It can have
powerful and immediate effect but does not last long.

Theories of Motivation There are two types of motivational theories - content theories and process
theories (cognitive theories). While content theories explain what motivates and what does not
motivate, the process theories how the motivation occurs. It examines the variables that go into the
motivational process taking place within an individual.

Content theories

 Mc GREGOR’S Participation Model

 Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory
 HERZBERG’S Two Factor theory of Motivation
 David Mc Cleland’s Three Need Model

Process Theory

 Vroom Expectancy theory

 Adam’s equity theory
 Reinforcement theory

Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory

Abraham Maslow has propounded this need hierarchy theory as early as in 1943. Maslow points out
that human beings have divergent needs and they strive to fulfil those needs. The behaviour of an
individual is determined by such needs. These needs range from biological needs at lower level to
psychological needs at the highest level. Further, these needs arise in an order of hierarchy or priority
such that lower-level needs must be satisfied before higher level needs become important for
motivation. Maslow postulates five basic needs arranged in a hierarchical fashion as follows
 Maslow’s Hierarchy Needs

The first three levels of needs at the bottom are known as (Deficiency needs) lower order needs as
they are related to one’s existence and security. The top two levels of needs are called (Growth
Needs) higher order needs as they are concerned with personal development and realization of one’s
potential. The needs are explained below.

Physiological Needs The physiological needs are the basic needs having the highest strength in terms
of motivation. These are the needs arising out of biological tensions created as a result of deprivation
of food, water, shelter, rest, sex etc. If these basic needs are gratified, then the next level needs
become important and act as motivators.

Safety and Security Needs Once the physiological needs are fulfilled, safety and security needs
become predominant. These needs include security, stability, freedom from anxiety and a structured
and ordered environment. An individual seeks economic or social protection against future threats
and dangers that he is exposed to. If once these needs are gratified individual moves on to the next
level needs and strives for their fulfilment.

Social Needs: An individual cannot live an isolated life. A sense of affiliation becomes important for a
meaningful life. These needs include the need for love, affection, companionship and social
interaction. We know very well that at home the child needs the love of parents and at school he
needs the friendship of his classmates.

Esteem Needs: This is to attain recognition from others which would induce a feeling of self-worth
and self-confidence in the individual. It is an urge for status, prestige and power. Self-respect is the
internal recognition while respect from others is the external recognition. People who are able to
fulfil this need feel that they are useful and have positive influence on their surrounding
environment.

Self-actualization Needs At the highest level is the need to develop and realize one’s capacities and
potentialities to the fullest extent possible. At this level, the person wants to excel in the skills and
abilities that he is endowed with. As a result, he seeks challenging work assignments that require
creativity and talent. This need is inner-oriented and the motivation is intrinsic in nature. A self-
actualizing person is creative, independent, content, and spontaneous and has a good perception of
reality.

Appraisal of Need Hierarchy Model

The need priority model may not apply at all times in all places. Surveys in European countries and
Japan have shown that the model does not apply very well to their managers. Their degree of
satisfaction of needs does not vary according to the need priority model.

For example, workers in Spain and Belgium felt that their esteem needs are better satisfied than their
security and social needs. Apparently, cultural differences are an important cause of these
differences. Thus, need hierarchy may not follow the sequence postulated by Maslow. Another
important proposition that one need is satisfied at one time is also a doubtful validity.

Man’s behaviour at any time mostly guided by multiplicity of motives. However, one or two motives
in any situation may be more dominant, while others may be of secondary importance. There are
always some people in whom, for instance, need for self-esteem seems to be more prominent than
that of love. There are also creative people in whom the drive for creativeness seems to be more
important.

For instance, a person who has experienced chronic unemployment may continue to be satisfied for
the rest of his life if only he can get enough food.

HERZBERG’S Two Factor theory of Motivation

Research was conducted by Herzberg and his associates based on the interview of 200 engineers and
accountants who worked for eleven different firms in Pittsburgh area. These men were asked to
recall specific incidents in their experience which made them feel particularly bad about jobs and
exceptionally good about the job. The findings of the research led to draw a distinction between
what are called as ‘motivators’ and ‘hygiene factors.

To this group of engineers and accountants, the real motivators were opportunities to gain expertise
and to handle more demanding assignments. Hygiene factors provide no motivation to the
employees, but the absence of these factors serves as dissatisfies.

Some job conditions operate primarily to dissatisfy employees. Many of these factors are
traditionally perceived by management as motivators, but the factors are really more potent as
dissatisfiers. Their absence proves to be strong dissatisfiers. They are also known as ‘dissatisfiers’ or
‘hygienic factors’ because they support employees’ mental health.

Another set of job conditions operates primarily to build strong motivation and high job satisfaction
among the employees. These conditions are ‘Motivational Factors’. Herzberg’s maintenance and
motivational factors have been shown in the table given below

Herzberg’s Maintenance and Motivational Factors

Hygienic factors include such things as wages, fringe benefits, Physical conditions and overall
company policy and administration. The presence of these factors at a satisfactory level prevents job
dissatisfaction, but they do not provide motivation to the employees. So, they are not considered as
motivational factors, on the other hand, are essential for increasing the productivity of the
employees. They are also known as satisfiers and include such factors as recognition, feeling of
accomplishment and achievement, opportunity of advancement and potential for personal growth,
responsibility and sense of job and individual importance, new experience and challenging work etc.

Comparison of Herzberg and Maslow Models

Maslow’s Physiological, security and social needs come under Herzberg’s maintenance factors
whereas self-fulfilment comes under motivating factors. It may further be noted that a part of
esteem need comes under maintenance factor and another under motivational factors.

The esteem needs are divided because there are some distinct differences between status per se and
recognition. Status or position may be gained through family ties or social pressures. Recognition is
gained through competence and achievement. That is why status is classified with physiological,
safety and social needs as a hygiene factor, while recognition is classified with esteem as a motivator.

David Mc Cleland’s Three Need Model

David Mc Cleland gave a model of motivation which is based on three types of needs achievement,
power and affiliation. They are stated below:

 Need for achievement (n Ach): a drive to excel, advance and grow

 Need for power (n Pow): a drive to influence others and situations
  Need for affiliation (n Aff): a drive for friendly and close interpersonal relationships

Achievement Motivation

 Some people have a compelling drive to succeed and they strive for personal achievement
rather than the rewards of success. This drive is called the need for achievement (n ach).
 McClelland found that high achievers differentiate themselves from others by their desire to
do things better. They seek situations where they can attain personal responsibility for
finding solutions to problems, where they can receive rapid feedback on their performance
so they can set moderately challenging goals.
 High achievers prefer the challenge of working at a problem and accepting the personal
responsibility for success or failure, rather than leaving the outcome to chance or the actions
of others.

Power Motivation

 The need for power (n pow) is a drive to have impact, to be influential and to control others.
 Individuals high in n pow enjoy being “in charge”, strive for influence over others, prefer to
be placed into competitive and status-oriented situations, and tend to be more concerned
with gaining influence over others than with effective performance.
 Power-motivated people wish to create an impact on their organisations and are willing to
take risks to do so.

Affiliation Motivation

 Affiliation need (nAff) can be viewed as the desire to be liked and accepted by others. It is
the drive to relate to people on a social basis.
 Individuals with a high affiliation motive strive for friendship, prefer cooperative situations
rather than competitive ones, and desire relationship involving a high degree of mutual
understanding.

Individuals with a high need for achievement thrive on jobs and projects that tax their skills and
abilities. Such individuals are goal-oriented in their activities, seek challenge and want task relevant
feedback.

Individuals with high power seek to dominate, influence or have control over others. McClelland’s
research revealed that managers generally score high on the need for achievement. In other words,
motivating forces for managers lie in the challenge and potential of the job.

Mc GREGOR’S Participation Model

McGregor who set forth – at opposite extremes – two pairs of assumptions about human beings
which he thought were implied by the actions of autocratic and permissive managers. First set of
assumptions are known as “Theory X” and the second set of assumption are known as “Theory Y”. It
is important to note that these sets of assumptions are not based on any empirical research. They,
according to McGregor, are intuitive deductions.

Theory X Managers with Theory X orientation make the following assumptions about people:

 Average human being has an inherent dislike for work and will avoid it, if he can.
 Is lazy and avoids responsibility.
 Is indifferent to organisational goals.
 Prefers to be directed, has relatively little ambition and wants security.
According to McGregor, this is a traditional theory where workers have to be persuaded and pushed
into performance. Management can offer rewards to a worker who shows higher productivity and
can punish him if performance is below standard. This is also called ‘carrot and stick’ approach to
motivation. It suggests that threats of punishments and strict control are ways to control the people.

Theory Y Managers with Theory Y orientation make the following assumptions about people:

 Does not inherently dislike work.

 Depending on controllable conditions, work may be a source of satisfaction or a source of
punishment.
 Exercise self-direction and self-control to objectives he is committed.
 Commitment is a function of the rewards associated with their achievement.
 Learns under proper conditions, not only to accept, but also to seek responsibility.
 The capacity to exercise a high degree of imagination, ingenuity and creativity in the solution
of organisational problems is widely distributed in the population.

Worker’s commitment is directly related to the satisfaction to their needs. Thus, this theory places
great emphasis on satisfaction of the needs, particularly the higher ones of the employees. It does
not rely heavily on the use of authority as an instrument of command and control.

Application of Theory X and Theory Y

Theory X and Theory Y are important tools in understanding the behaviour of human beings and in
designing the incentive schemes to motivate the employees. It appears that Theory X is more
applicable to unskilled and uneducated lower-level workers who work for the satisfaction of their
basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. Theory Y appears to be more applicable to educated, skilled
and professional employees who understand their responsibility and are self-controlled.

However, there can be exceptions. A lower-level employee may be more responsible and mature
than a well-qualified higher-level employee. The examples of employees at higher levels in modern
organisations shirking responsibility are not uncommon. Therefore, management should use an
amalgamation of both the theories to motivate different types of employees.

Alderfer’s Existence-Relatedness – Growth (ERG) Model

Serious doubts have been expressed about the existence of the five distinct need categories which
Maslow hypothesized. There seems to be some over-lapping between the security, social and
physiological need. Also, the lines between esteem, social and self-actualization needs are not
entirely clear. With these points in mind, Clayton Alderfer condensed Maslow’s need categories into
three sets: -

Existence needs: include all forms of materials and physiological and safety needs, i.e., Maslow’s first
two levels of needs.

Relatedness needs include all needs that involve relationships with other people we care about. In
other words, Maslow’s social needs and that of esteem needs which are derived from other people.
The examples include anger and hostility as well as friendship.

Growth needs – These needs involve persons making creative efforts to achieve full potential in the
existing environment. It is like Maslow’s highest-level need of self-actualization.

Alderfer also revised Maslow’s theory in three other ways:

  He argued that the three need categories form a hierarchy only in the sense of decreasing
concretions. That is, as we move from a focus on the existence to relatedness to growth
needs, the ways we can satisfy those needs become increasingly abstract.
 He recognized that rise in the level of satisfaction of our existence and relatedness needs
may result in decrease in their importance to us. Growth needs become more important as
we successfully satisfy them. That is, as we are able to be productive and creative, we look to
higher goals and, in so doing, are again dissatisfied.
 He reasoned that we are likely to try to first satisfy the most concrete needs and then to
move on to more abstract needs. In this sense, Alderfer sounds somewhat like Maslow,
suggesting a pattern of satisfaction progression- that is, as one need is satisfied, we progress
to next higher need.

Alderfer conceived ERG needs along a continuum which avoids the implication that the higher up an
individual is in the hierarchy the better it is.

Different types of needs can operate simultaneously. If a particular path towards the satisfaction is
blocked, the individual will both persist along that path and at the same time regress towards more
easily satisfied needs.

In this way, Alderfer distinguishes between chronic needs which persist over a period of time and the
episode needs which are situational and can change according to the environment.

Process Models
Adam’s Equity Theory

The core of equity theory is the principle of balance and equity. An individual’s motivation is
corelated to his perception of equity, fairness and justice practised by management. Higher the
individual perception greater is the motivation and vice versa.

The theory points out that people are motivated to maintain fair relationships with others and will
try to rectify unfair relationships by making them fair. This theory is based on two assumptions about
human behaviour:

Individuals make contributions (inputs) for which they expect certain outcomes (rewards). Inputs
include such things as the person's past training, skills and experience, special knowledge, personal
characteristics, etc. Outcomes include pay recognition, promotion, prestige, fringe benefits, etc.

Individuals decide whether or not a particular exchange is satisfactory, by comparing their inputs
and outcomes to those of others in the form of a ratio. Equity exists when an individual concludes
that his/her own outcome/input ratio is equal to that of others.

Ratio Comparison Perception

O/I A < O/I B Under-rewarded (Equity
Tension)
O/I A = O/I B Equity
O/I A < O/I B Over-rewarded (Equity
tension)
Negative Tension state The theory argues that the perception of inequity creates a tension in us. This
is referred as negative tension state by Stacy Adams.

Referents the four comparisons that employee can make is termed as referent by Goodman,
  Self-inside an employee experience in a different position in the same organization
 Self-outside an employee experience in situation outside the current organization
 Other-inside Another employee or employee’s experience in a different position in the same
organization
 Other-outside Another employee or employee’s experience in a different position in the
same organization

The tension motivates us to eliminate or reduce inequality. The greater the perceived inequity, the
stronger the tension and the greater our motivation to reduce it. An individual is likely to try a
number of alternatives, some of which are:

 The person may increase or decrease inputs or outcomes relative to those of the
other;
 The person may subjectively distort perceptions of her own or the other's inputs or
outcomes;
 The person may change to a different comparison 'other';
 The person may leave the situation.

Vroom Yetton Theory

Victor H Vroom's expectancy theory of motivation focuses on personal perceptions. His theory is
founded on the basic notions that people desire certain outcomes of behaviour, which may be
thought of as rewards or consequences of behaviour, and that they believe there is a relationship
between the efforts they put forth, the performance they achieve, and the outcomes they receive

This theory is based on self interest where in each individual seeks to maximize his expected
satisfaction. It is a cognitive model and based on conscious thoughts about the situation.

The key constructs in the expectancy theory of motivation are:

1. Expectancy is the belief that effort leads to performance, for example, "If I try harder, I can
do better". Expectancy refers to the perceived relationship between a given level of effort
and a given level of performance.
People attach various expectancies to an outcome. Competent and secure individuals tend to
perceive expectancy more positively than incompetent and pessimistic individuals.
2. Instrumentality is the belief that performance is related to the rewards. For example, "If I
perform better, I will get more pay". Instrumentality ranges from – 1 to + 1, belief that one
desired outcome is attainable only with the other.
Zero (belief that there is no relationship between the two outcomes) to + 1 (belief that the
first outcome is necessary and sufficient for the second outcome to occur)
3. Valence is the value or importance one places on a particular reward. The valance of an
outcome is positive when the individual desires it and negative when he or she wishes to
avoid it; valances are therefore scaled over a wide range of positive and negative values.

Force = Valence * Expectancy

Performance = Attractiveness * Efforts

Motivation = V * E * I (Valence, expectancy, instrumentality)

Reinforcement Theory

Reinforcement theory is based on the concepts of operant conditioning developed initially by the
well-known psychologist B.F. Skinner. Reinforcement theory argues that the behaviour of people is
largely determined by its consequences. Actions that tend to have positive or pleasant consequences
tend to be repeated more often in the future, while those actions that tend to have negative or
unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated again.

The reinforcement theory suggests that managers should try to structure the rewards and
punishments on the job in such a way that the consequences of effective job behaviour are positive
while the consequences of ineffective work behaviour are negative or unpleasant.

Positive Reinforcement: It entails the use of rewards (or other positive consequences) that
stimulates desired behaviour and strengthens the probability of repeating such behaviour in the
future. Positive reinforcers can be money, praise, promotion, recognition, etc.

Negative Reinforcement: It implies the use of unpleasant consequences to condition individuals to

avoid behaving in undesirable ways. By making unpleasant consequences contingent on undesirable
behaviour, individuals learn to systematically change patterns of behaviour. In work environments,
training, safety warnings, orientation sessions and counselling help alert employees against negative
consequences of undesirable behaviour.

Extinction: There is withdrawal of all forms of reinforcement to remove undesirable behaviour. For
instance, a disruptive employee may continue the disruptions because of the attention they bring. By
ignoring or isolating the disruptive employee, attention is withheld and possibly the motivation for
fighting.

Punishment: This tool is used when an unpleasant or undesirable behaviour needs to be reduced or
eliminated. For example, a worker’s wages may be deducted if the quality of goods produced is of
substandard quality.

Financial and Non-Financial Incentives

The term ‘incentives’ means an inducement which arouses or stimulates one to action in a desired
direction. An incentive has a motivational power; it influences the decisions of individuals on putting
in necessary effort towards task performance. In modern organizations, a large variety of incentives
are used to motivate the people. These incentives may be broadly grouped into:

(i) financial or pecuniary incentives, and (ii) non-financial incentives.

The financial incentives may be distinguished from the non-financial incentives on the following
grounds:

1. Financial or monetary incentives are meant to satisfy those which money can buy. The needs for
food, clothing, and shelter can be fully satisfied by money, but the needs for security, social affiliation
and status can be partially satisfied by money. But non-pecuniary incentives are meant for
satisfaction of those needs which can’t be satisfied by money. The examples are higher level needs
such as status, ego, sense of responsibility, career advancement, autonomy.

2. Financial incentives are tangible, i.e. visible and measurable; they have a direct effect on the
organization and the members. But non-financial incentives are intangible and they have an indirect
influence on the organization and the members.

3. Financial incentives are determined by reference to several factors such as job evaluation, cost of
living trends, fringe benefits offered by competitors, agreement between the employers and
employees, etc. Non-financial incentives are based on the nature of jobs, strength of aspirations and
urges of employees and behavioural orientation of management.

4. Financial incentives are generally used to motivate workers and other non-managerial employees.
But non-financial incentives are used to motivate managerial and other higher-level personnel. They
are also used to supplement and support the pecuniary incentives in the organization

Role of Non-Financial Incentives

Financial incentives do not work for ever to motivate the people at work. As a matter of fact, when
the physiological and security needs are fulfilled with the help of money, money ceases to be the
motivating force; it becomes the maintenance factor as said by Herzberg. Therefore, employees do
not always run after money. They have other needs also. The want status and recognition in the
society, they want to satisfy egoistic needs and they want to achieve something in their lives. In order
to motivate the employees having these needs, management can take the help of following non-
financial incentives:

1.Praise: Praise satisfies one’s ego needs. Sometimes, praise is more effective than another incentive.
We have seen that in industry, at home or elsewhere, people respond better to praise. However, this
incentive should be used with greater degree of care because praising an incompetent employee
would create resentment among competent employees. Or course, occasionally, a pat on the back of
an incompetent employee may act as incentive to him for improvement.

2. Competition: Competition is a kind of non-financial incentive. If there is a healthy competition

among the individual employees or groups of employees, it will lead them to achieve their personal
or group goals in a better way.

3. Opportunity for Growth: Opportunity for growth is another kind of incentive. If the employees are
provided opportunities for their advancement and growth and to develop their personality, they feel
very much satisfied and become more committed to the organization and become more committed
to the organizational goals.
4. Feedback: Knowledge of the results/performance leads to employee satisfaction. A worker likes to
know the result of his performance. He gets satisfaction when his superior appreciates the work he
has done.

5. Worker’s participation in Management: Employees participation in management provides an

important incentive to the employees. It gives them psychological satisfaction that their voice is
being heard.

6. Suggestion System: Suggestion system in an incentive which satisfies many needs of the
employees. Many organizations which use the suggestion system make use of cash awards for useful
suggestions.

They, sometimes, publish the worker’s name with his photograph in the company’s inhouse
magazines/reports/brochures. This motivates the employees to be in search for something which
may be of greater use to the organization