What is Motivation?

•Is motivation a personal trait that some

posses and others don’t?
•All employees who are not motivated are
lazy.
•A person may be highly motivated, but
just not motivated in the direction as you
and me, hence the question is not
whether they are motivated or not, but
what are they motivated by?
 What is Motivation?

• Motivation is thus the interaction of the

individual and the situation.
• Change in motivation is driven by the
situation.
• Thus motivation varies both between
individuals and within individuals at
different times.
 Definition
• Motivation is defined as a process that accounts
for an individuals intensity, direction and
persistence of effort toward any goal
(organizational goal).
• Intensity – is concerned with how hard a person
tries.
• Direction – high effort should be channeled
towards the benefit of the organization
• Persistence – is about how long a person can
maintain effort. Motivated individuals stay with a
task long enough to achieve their goals.
 Hierarchy of Needs Theory
• Abraham Maslow hypothesized that within every
individual their exists a hierarchy of five needs.
• Physiological – hunger, thirst, shelter etc
• Safety – protection from physical and emotional
harm.
• Social – affection, belongingness, acceptance
and friendship.
• Esteem – internal factors like self respect,
autonomy and achievement. External factors like
status, recognition, and attention.
• Self-actualization – drive to become what one is
capable of becoming, includes growth, achieving
one’s potential and self-fulfillment.
 Hierarchy of Needs Theory
• As each need gets satisfied, the next need
becomes dominant.
• Though no need is ever fully gratified, a
substantially satisfied need no longer
motivates.
• So to motivate someone one needs to
understand what level of hierarchy the
person is currently in and focus on
satisfying the needs at or above that level.
 Hierarchy of Needs Theory
• Lower order needs – physiological and safety
• Higher order needs – social, esteem and self-
actualization.
• Higher order needs are satisfied internally and
lower order are satisfied externally.
• Advantages – wide recognition among
managers, intuitive logic and ease of
understanding.
• Limitation – no empirical support, studies could
not validate the theory.
 ERG Theory
• Alderfer reworked on Maslow’s theory.
• Three groups of core needs
• Existence – similar to Maslow’s
physiological and safety needs
• Relatedness – similar to social and status
needs.
• Growth – similar to esteem and self-
actualization
 ERG Theory
• ERG theory does not assume existence of
a rigid hierarchy, in which a lower need
must be gratified before moving on.
• Growth needs can be active even though
existence or relatedness needs are
unsatisfied.
• All three needs can be focused on
simultaneously by an individual.
• Frustration in satisfying a higher need can
lead to regression to a lower need.
 Theory X and Theory Y
• Douglas McGregor proposed two distinct
views of human beings.
• Negatively labeled one is Theory X, and
other positively labeled as Theory Y.
• Managers view of the nature of human
beings is based on certain assumptions
and their behavior is molded according to
those assumptions.
 Theory X and Theory Y
• Under Theory X, the four assumptions held by
managers are –
• Employees inherently dislike work and,
whenever possible, will attempt to avoid it.
• They must be coerced, controlled, or threatened
with punishment to achieve goals.
• They will avoid responsibility and seek formal
direction.
• Most workers place security above all other
factors associated with work and will display less
ambition.
 Theory X and Theory Y
• Under Theory Y, the four positive assumptions
held by managers are:
• Employees can view work as being as natural as
work or play.
• People will exercise self-direction and self-
control if they are committed to the objectives.
• Average person can learn to accept and even
seek responsibility
• Ability to make innovative decisions is dispersed
throughout the population and is not necessarily
the sole province of those in management
positions.
 Motivational Implications
• Based on Maslow’s framework, theory X
assumes that lower-order needs dominate
individuals and Theory Y assumes that higher
order needs dominate the individuals.
• McGregor himself validated the assumptions of
Theory Y than Theory X, hence he proposed
ideas as participative decision making,
responsible and challenging jobs and good
group relations as approaches that would
maximize employee’s job motivation.
• However there is no evidence that would
validate either set of assumptions, no empirical
support.
 Two-Factor Theory
• Also called motivation-hygiene theory was proposed by
Fredrick Herzberg.
• He asked people to describe in detail, situations when
they felt exceptionally good or bad about their jobs.
• Replies people gave when they felt good about their jobs
was significantly different from the replies when they felt
bad.
• Certain characteristics were related to job satisfaction
and others to job dissatisfaction.
• Intrinsic factors as advancement, recognition,
responsibility and achievement were related to job
satisfaction.
• Respondents who felt good about their jobs tended to
attribute these factors to themselves.
• Dissatisfied employees tended to attribute extrinsic
factors such as supervision, pay, company policies and
working conditions.
 Two-Factor Theory
• Opposite of satisfaction is not
dissatisfaction.
• Removing dissatisfying elements from the
job does not make it satisfying.
• Thus the opposite of Satisfaction is No
Satisfaction, and the opposite of
Dissatisfaction is No Dissatisfaction.
• Managers who want to remove factors
related to job dissatisfaction may bring
about peace, but not necessarily
motivation.
 Two-Factor Theory
• Conditions surrounding the job such as quality of
supervision, pay, company policies, physical
working condition, relation with others, job
security were characterized as Hygiene factors.
• When they're adequate people will not be
dissatisfied; neither will they be satisfied.
• Factors associated with the work itself or to its
outcomes like promotional opportunities,
opportunities for personal growth, recognition,
responsibility and achievement are intrinsically
rewarding for the people and they are called as
Motivators.
 McClelland’s Theory of Needs
• Developed by David McClelland, this
theory focuses on three needs
• Need for achievement – drive to excel, to
achieve in relation to a set of standards, to
drive to succeed.
• Need for power – need to make others
behave in a way that they would not have
behaved otherwise.
• Need for affiliation – desire for friendly and
close interpersonal relationships.
 McClelland’s Theory of Needs
• High acheivers differentiate themselves form
others by their desire to do things better.
• They seek situations in which they can seek
personal responsibility for finding solutions to
problems.
• They avoid what they perceive to be very easy
or very difficult tasks, they prefer tasks of
intermediate difficulty.
• They perform best when they perceive a 50-50
chance of success.
 McClelland’s Theory of Needs
• Need for power is the desire to have an
impact, to be influential and to control
others.
• Individuals high in power enjoy being in
charge, strive for influence over others,
prefer to be placed into competitive and
status oriented situations and are more
concerned with prestige and gaining
influence over others than with effective
performance.
 McClelland’s Theory of Needs
• Individuals with a high affiliation motive strive for
friendship, prefer cooperative situations rather
than competitive ones and desire relationships
that involve a high degree of mutual
understanding.
• People with high achievement needs are
successful in entrepreneurial activities, and
managing a self-contained unit within a large
organization.
• High achievers are interested in how well they
do personally and not in influencing others to do
well, hence a high-nAch sales person does not
necessarily make a good sales manager
 McClelland’s Theory of Needs
• Need for affiliation and power tend to be
closely related to managerial success.
• Best managers are high in need for power
and low in need for affiliation.
• Power need may occur as a result of one’s
level in hierarchy in organization, higher
the individual rises, the greater will be his
power motive.
• Powerful positions would be a stimulus for
high power motive.
 Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
• The strength of a tendency to act in a
certain way depends on the strength of
expectation that the act will be followed by
a given outcome and on the attractiveness
of the outcome to the individual.
• Employees will put high effort if they
believe that the effort will lead to a good
performance appraisal; and that good
appraisal will lead to rewards.
 Vroom’s Expectancy Theory

• Expectancy (E): Belief that effort will

influence performance/outcome
• Instrumentality (I): belief that one will be
rewarded for performance
• Valence (V): the perceived value of
rewards expected.
• Motivation: E * I * V
• Person will be highly motivated if he/she
perceives a strong link between these.
 Adams Equity Theory
• Output-input ratio for oneself and for the referent other
based on perception and social comparison.
Inputs
• Effort
• Experience
• Education
• Competence
Outputs
• Salary
• Raises
• Recognition
 Adams Equity Theory

• Equity gives rise to a sense of fairness.

• Underreward inequity – leads to
resentment
• Overreward inequity – Leads to guilt
 Behavioral response to Inequity
• Change in inputs or outcomes
• Distort perception of self and referent
others.
• Change the referent
• Leave the field