Motivation - Early & contemporary theories of motivation

Motivation - Early & Contemporary
Theory of Motivation
Dr. G C Mohanta, BE, MSc(Engg), MBA, PhD(Mgt)
Professor

Motivation
The processes that account for an individual’s
intensity, direction and persistence of effort
toward attaining a goal.
Intensity – how hard a person tries
Direction – effort that is channeled toward and
consistent with organizational goals
Persistence – how long a person can maintain
effort

Motivation (Contd.)
The processes that account for an
individual’s willingness to exert high levels
of effort to reach organizational goals,
conditioned by the effort’s ability to satisfy
some individual need.
Effort: a measure of intensity or drive.
Direction: toward organizational goals
Need: personalized reason to exert effort

Motivation (Contd.)
Motivation works best when individual
needs are compatible with organizational
goals.
Need
An internal state that makes certain outcomes
appear attractive.
An unsatisfied need creates tension which is
reduced by an individual’s efforts to satisfy the
need.

Early Theories of Motivation
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Alderfer’s ERG Theory
MacGregor’s Theories X and Y
Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Theory
Needs were categorized as five levels of lower-
to higher-order needs.
 Individuals must satisfy lower-order needs before
they can satisfy higher order needs.
 Satisfied needs will no longer motivate.
 Motivating a person depends on knowing at what
level that person is on the hierarchy.
Hierarchy of needs
 Lower-order (external): physiological, safety
 Higher-order (internal): social, esteem, self-
actualization

Self-Self-
actualizationactualization
EsteemEsteem
BelongingnessBelongingness
SecuritySecurity
PhysiologyPhysiologyFoodFood
AchievementAchievement
StatusStatus
FriendshipFriendship
StabilityStability
JobJob
FriendsFriends
PensionPension
BaseBase
NEEDSNEEDS
General ExamplesGeneral Examples Organizational ExamplesOrganizational Examples
jobjobChallengingChallenging
titletitle
at workat work
planplan
salarysalary

Alderfer’s ERG Theory
Existence needs
Physiological
Relatedness needs
How one individual relates to his/her social
environment
Growth needs
Achievement and self actualization

McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
Theory X
 Assumes that workers have little ambition, dislike
work, avoid responsibility and require close
supervision.
Theory Y
 Assumes that workers can exercise self-direction,
desire responsibility and like to work.
Motivation is maximized by participative
decision making, interesting jobs, and good
group relations.

Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene
Theory
Job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are
created by different factors.
 Hygiene factors: extrinsic (environmental) factors
that create job dissatisfaction.
 Motivators: intrinsic (psychological) factors that
create job satisfaction.
Attempted to explain why job satisfaction does
not result in increased performance.
 The opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction, but
rather no satisfaction.

Contemporary Theories of
Motivation
Three-Needs Theory
Goal-Setting Theory
Reinforcement Theory
Job Characteristics Model (JCM)
Equity Theory
Expectancy Theory

McClelland’s Needs Theory
Three-Needs Theory
There are three major acquired needs that are
major motives in work.
Need for achievement (nAch)
The drive to excel and succeed
Need for power (nPow)
The need to influence the behavior of others
Need of affiliation (nAff)
The desire for interpersonal relationships

Goal-Setting Theory
Goal-Setting Theory
Proposes that setting goals that are accepted, specific,
and challenging yet achievable will result in higher
performance than having no or easy goals.
Benefits of Participation in Goal-Setting
Increases the acceptance of goals.
Fosters commitment to difficult, public goals.
Provides for self-feedback (internal locus of control)
that guides behavior and motivates performance (self-
efficacy).

Reinforcement Theory
Assumes that a desired behavior is a
function of its consequences, is externally
caused, and if reinforced, is likely to be
repeated.
Positive reinforcement is preferred for its
long-term effects on performance
Ignoring undesired behavior is better than
punishment which may create additional
dysfunctional behaviors.

Job Characteristics Model (JCM)
A conceptual framework for designing
motivating jobs that create meaningful work
experiences that satisfy employees’ growth
needs.
Five primary job characteristics:
 Skill variety: how many skills and talents are needed?
 Task identity: does the job produced a completed
work?
 Task significance: how important is the job?
 Autonomy: how independence do the jobholder
have?
 Feedback: do workers know how well they are doing?

Job Characteristics Model (Contd.)
Combine tasks (job enlargement) to create
more meaningful work.
Create natural work units to make employees’
work important and whole.
Establish external and internal client
relationships to provide feedback.
Expand jobs vertically (job enrichment) by
giving employees more autonomy.
Open feedback channels to let employees know
how well they are doing.

Equity Theory
 Employees make comparison of their
job inputs and outcomes relative to
those of others:

Equity Theory
Proposes that employees perceive what they
get from a job situation (outcomes) in relation
to what they put in (inputs) and then compare
their inputs-outcomes ratio with the inputs-
outcomes ratios of relevant others.
 If the ratios are perceived as equal then a state of
equity (fairness) exists.
 If the ratios are perceived as unequal, inequity exists
and the person feels under- or over-rewarded.
 When inequities occur, employees will attempt to do
something to rebalance the ratios (seek justice).

Equity Theory (cont’d)
Employee responses to perceived inequities:
 Distort own or others’ ratios.
 Induce others to change their own inputs or outcomes.
 Change own inputs (increase or decrease efforts) or
outcomes (seek greater rewards).
 Choose a different comparison (referent) for other
(person, systems, or self).
 Quit their job.
Employees are concerned with both the absolute
and relative nature of organizational rewards.

Expectancy Theory
States that an individual tends to act in a certain
way based on the expectation that the act will be
followed by a given outcome and on the
attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.
Key to the theory is understanding and
managing employee goals and the linkages
among and between effort, performance and
rewards.
 Effort: employee abilities and training/development
 Performance: valid appraisal systems
 Rewards (goals): understanding employee needs

Expectancy Relationships
Expectancy (effort-performance linkage)
 The perceived probability that an individual’s effort
will result in a certain level of performance.
Instrumentality
 The perception that a particular level of performance
will result in the attaining a desired outcome
(reward).
Valence
 The attractiveness/importance of the performance
reward (outcome) to the individual.

High Effort
Decision to
Exert Effort
Low Effort
Performance
Goal
Performance
Goal
Expectancy
“What are my chances
of reaching my
performance goal
if I work hard?”
Expectancy
of reaching my
performance goal
if I slack off?”
Instrumentality
of getting various
outcomes if I achieve
my performance goal?”
Valence
“How much do I value
these outcomes?”
Outcome 3
Outcome 2
Outcome 1
Outcome 3
Outcome 2
Outcome 1

Motivation - Early & contemporary theories of motivation

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