What is a motivation theory
Motivation theory is the study of learning and understanding that inspires a person to pursue a specific result.
This theory has many uses, including in psychology and sociology, but it’s also important for businesses, especially in relation to management.
By studying this, you can learn what actions can motivate people to work harder or care more about something, whether through a reward or another factor.
In management, professionals use motivation theories to increase production, profits, employee retention rates, and employee satisfaction levels.
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As a manager, you may aim to increase employee motivation to help your company achieve its business goals.
Using motivation theories can include offering incentives, addressing needs or providing rewards to motivate your team to meet a specific goal.
Motivation theories: the basics
There are numerous branches of motivation theory but at its simplest, it boils down to two factors:
Extrinsic factors. people are motivated by external factors such as a bonus for hard work or a sanction if targets are not met.
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Intrinsic factors. people are motivated by a desire to satisfy human needs. These might include a desire to please their boss or to achieve certain professional or personal goals.
Most people are motivated by a combination of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation factors.
As a manager, you must understand what that combination is.
�Motivation Theories�
Motivation is a state of mind, filled with energy and enthusiasm, which drives a person to work in a certain way to achieve desired goals.
Motivation is a force that pushes people to work with a high level of commitment and focus, even if things are going against them.
Motivation translates into a certain kind of human behavior.
In short, motivation is the driving force behind human actions.
There are many different forces that guide and direct our motivations.
It is important to ensure that every team member in an organization is motivated and meets the best project management course bottom line.
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Various psychologists have studied human behavior and have formalized their findings in the form of various motivational theories.
These motivational theories provide insights into the way people behave and what motivates them.
Motivation theory is a way of looking at the motivation of a person and how this influences their behavior, whether for personal or professional reasons.
It's important to every aspect of society but is especially relevant to business and management.
Motivation is the key to more profitable employees, as a motivated employee is more productive.
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Psychologists have proposed many different theories of motivation.
Some of the most famous motivational theories include the following:
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow postulated that a person will be motivated when all his needs are fulfilled.
People do not work for security or money, but they work to contribute and to use their skills.
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He demonstrated this by creating a pyramid to show how people are motivated and mentioned that ONE CANNOT ASCEND TO THE NEXT LEVEL UNLESS LOWER-LEVEL NEEDS ARE FULFILLED
The lowest level needs in the pyramid are basic needs and unless these lower-level needs are satisfied people do not look at working toward satisfying the upper-level needs.
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The leader will have to understand at what level the team members are currently, seek out help to satisfy those specific needs and accordingly work to help fulfill those needs.
This will help the team members perform better and move ahead with the project.
Also, as their needs get fulfilled, the team members will start performing, till the time they start thinking of fulfilling the next upper level of need as mentioned in the pyramid.
ii. McClelland's three Needs theory
American psychologist David McClelland developed his theory of needs, also called the Achievement Theory of Motivation, in the 1960s.
This theory is still popular in the world of psychology and academia, but it’s also useful for business leaders and managers.
The more you know about the psychology of human motivation, the better prepared you are to effectively motivate your employees.
McClelland’s theory says that everyone is driven by one of three needs — achievement, affiliation, or power.
Different people are motivated by different drivers, so understanding what specifically motivates a person to complete a task can vastly improve the likelihood that they’ll complete the assignment, and do it well.
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His theory of needs is based on Abraham Maslow’s Theory of Human Motivation and his accompanying Hierarchy of Needs.
Maslow’s hierarchy is most commonly depicted as a pyramid. To reach the top of the pyramid, or self-actualization, people must have their basic needs met first.
The base of the pyramid refers to physiological needs like food, water and shelter. Above that is safety needs like health and employment.
On top of that is love and belonging needs like family and friendship. Next comes esteem needs like respect, status and freedom.
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The top of the pyramid is self-actualization, in which the individual has the ability to reach their highest potential since they’ve already had all their other, baser, needs met.
McClelland’s theory takes Maslow’s theory and delves deeper into the specific motivations that help us reach self-actualization.
According to the theory, everyone has a primary need that drives their motivation for self-actualization.
Achievement
The need for achievement means you’re motivated by completing tasks you set out for yourself or that someone else sets out for you.
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Achievement-motivated people often seek out situations and projects that highlight their skills and are neither too simple nor too complex.
Tasks that don’t present any challenge at all won’t garner the recognition they desire while tasks that are outside of their comfort zone pose too much of a risk.
Affiliation
The need for affiliation means you’re motivated by your connections with others.
Affiliation motivates interpersonal relationships and emotional connections.
Often, they prefer working in groups rather than working independently in order to build those relationships.
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Affiliation-driven individuals tend to avoid situations in which they may face rejection or uncomfortable boundaries within their relationships.
Power
The need for power means you’re motivated by authority and control.
People motivated by power seek positions and relationships in which they can demonstrate their leadership and be the primary decision-maker.
Many people who are power-motivated enjoy competition and debate.
Unlike those motivated by achievement and affiliation, those motivated by power do not avoid high-risk situations. Instead, they seek them out to show their superiority.
How to use McClelland’s Theory of Needs to motivate employees
Follow these steps to use the theory to identify your employees’ primary drivers and increase your employees’ motivation:
1. Determine the driver
First, establish what drives each of your employees. You can do this in three ways:
Observe your employees
Provide a questionnaire
Have a conversation
If you decide to have a conversation with your employees or offer them a questionnaire, consider asking them questions like these to help you determine their primary driver:
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The answers you receive will help you determine which driver motivates your employees.
Establish motivators
After learning your employee’s primary driver, you can come up with effective ways to motivate them:
Achievement: Ensure you regularly give achievement-motivated individuals new, challenging assignments to keep them happy.
Affiliation: For affiliation-motivated employees, ensure they have plenty of opportunities to work with other people and build meaningful relationships at work.
Power: Give power-motivated employees opportunities to lead others and delegate to team members.
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3. Implement the process
Take what you’ve learned about your employees and implement new practices that directly support their motivational driver.
For example, try giving an achievement-motivated person a new research project or presentation to prepare.
For affiliation-motivated employees, make sure they have plenty of opportunities to work with others. Even if their job responsibilities are primarily independent, place them in an area of the office where they can interact with others.
Finally, for power-motivated employees, put them in leadership or spokesperson positions
�Herzberg�
Frederick Herzberg (1923-) had close links with Maslow and believed in a two-factor theory of motivation.
He argued that there were certain factors that a business could introduce that would directly motivate employees to work harder (Motivators).
However, there were also factors that would de-motivate an employee if not present but would not in themselves actually motivate employees to work harder (Hygiene factors).
Motivators are more concerned with the actual job itself. For instance how interesting the work is and how much opportunity it gives for extra responsibility, recognition, and promotion.
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Hygiene factors are factors that 'surround the job' rather than the job itself.
Hygiene factors are those which are necessary for people to work, not those that actually motivate people to work harder.
Examples of hygiene factors are status, job security, salary, fringe benefits, work conditions, good pay, paid insurance, and vacations) are factors that do not give positive satisfaction or lead to higher motivation, and their absence will lead to dissatisfaction.
Herzberg believed that businesses should motivate employees by adopting a democratic approach to management and by improving the nature and content of the actual job through certain methods.
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Some of the methods managers could use to achieve this are:
Job enlargement – workers being given a greater variety of tasks to perform (not necessarily more challenging) which should make the work more interesting.
Job enrichment - involves workers being given a wider range of more complex, interesting, and challenging tasks surrounding a complete unit of work. This should give a greater sense of achievement.
Empowerment means delegating more power to employees to make their own decisions over areas of their working life.
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