Theories of Motivation

Theories of Motivation

Individual performances make organizations what they are, individual performance in any organization is determined by three complementary factors:

1) His knowledge of the job

2) His skill in performing the job

3) His attitude towards the job.

The organization's training procedures can influence an employees resolve of the first two factors,while the last one is as a result of the focus of motivation in the organization.

Motivation may be defined as a goal seeking behaviour,the driving force within a person or group of persons that drive them to evolve actions that would result in the achievement of desired objectives. It usually involves needs, expectations, personalities and perception.

THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

Some of the theories of motivation include:

1) Abraham Maslow Hierarchy of needs

Maslow in his theory saw needs as occurring in hierarchial order,the first being:

Physiological needs: These concern the basic needs of human existence e.g. food,clothing,shelter,sex.

Safety and security needs: These are needs that focus primarily on the protection of individuals from harm in his environment.

Social or love needs: These are needs or desires to associate with others within a group and being accepted for desired relationship.

Esteem needs: These are needs for reputation,recognition or self worth,respect and admiration.

Self actualization needs: These are needs to realise personal goals a person would deem important to give a feeling of pride and achievement.

2)Fredrick Herzberg two factor theory:

The theory was proposed in 1959 by Frederick Herzberg. He grouped needs into two. One group contains company policy and administration,supervision and working conditions,interpersonal relations,salary, security,personal life and status. He called these factors dissatisfiers, maintenance or hygiene factors which are not motivators. It is believed that their existence in the work place does not motivate, but their absence would definitely create dissatisfaction.

The second group comprises satisfiers and motivators including: Factors of achievement,recognition,challenging work,advancement and growth on the job. These are job content factors whose existence in the workplace will motivate and will not be effective tools if the hygiene factors are absent.

3) Douglas McGregor Theory X and Y

Douglas McGregor explained two opposing behaviours of the managers towards the subordinates. The first set of assumption called theory X assumed that :

The average human being has inherent dislike for work and would want to avoid it if possible.

The average human being avoid responsibilities where possible,generally unambitious and prefers to be directed.

Workers must be coerced,controlled,directed and punished in order to get them to put in their best

These assumptions encourage managers to recommend "carrot and stick" style as a means of ruling the workers. Ie. to control strictly and reward the work where necessary.

Theory Y sees man in a more favourable manner,managers regard employees as human beings. Theory Y's assumptions are:

The expenditure of physical and mental efforts in work is as natural as play or rest.

External control and the threat of punishment are not only means for bringing about effort towards organizational objectives. People will excercise self direction and self control in the service of objectives to which they are committed.

Commitment of objectives is a function of the rewards associated with their achievement.

Under proper conditions average human beings learn not only to accept but to seek responsibility.

The capacity to exercise a relatively high degree of imagination,ingenuity and creativity in the solution of organizational problems is widely and not narrowly distributed in the population

Under the conditions of modern industrial life, the intellectual potentialities of the average human being are only partially utilized.

4) David Mc-Clealand Theory of needs.

He identified three types of basic motivating needs which are

Need for power

Need for affiliation

Need for achievement

According to this theory, people with high need for power usually seek position of leadership in order to influence and control. They are mainly people who are forceful,outspoken,hard headed and demanding,who enjoy teaching and public speaking

Those with high need for affiliation are usually concerned with maintaining good personal relationship,enjoy a sense of intimacy and understanding,have preparedness to console and help others who are in need and most of all enjoy friendly interaction with others.

People with the need for achievement are known for strong desires for success coupled with fear of failure. They usually wang personal responsibility,moderate difficult goals and acceptable realistic levels of risk taking .

Reinforcement Theory (Operant Conditioning)

This theory was developed by a psychologist .F Skinner.

Reinforcement theory explains a behaviouristic approach which focuses on the fact that reinforcement conditions behaviour. An event is said to be reinforcing if the occurrence of the event following some behaviour makes the behaviour more likely to be repeated. For example, if an employee is paid a percentage of his weekly wage extra each time he meets a particular target set by his superior,he would always want to meet this target. In this way, the extra pay has acted as a reinforcer. Events become reinforced if they are tried overtime and the consequences recorded.

There are four different kinds of situations involved in the reinforcement theory which are positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement,punishment and extinction.

a) Positive Reinforcement: It is a reinforcement in which a desirable event is given to someone as a reward for following a specific behaviour,such desirable events may include bonus,higher pay.

Negative Reinforcement: A negative reinforcement refers to a situation where a behaviour results in removal or withdrawal of undesirable or unpleasant event. An example may be issuance of queries on lateness to work by an employee, then the employee might change durle to the queries. In this case,consistent queries acted as a negative reinforcer.

Punishment: It is a situation whereby an undesirable effect occurs as a result of a bebaviour less likely to be repeated. If a manager suspends a subordinate from duty for one week with loss of pay,he does this with the hope that this will deter the subordinate from similar behaviour in future.

Extinction: Sometimes when the pleasant or desirable event is removed,it results in occurrence that may not be repeated. For example if a worker is paid overtime each time he or she stays behind after closing hours to do some jobs,he or she sees as urgent and important,when the managers stops paying this overtime,he or she may stop going this extra mile.

From the above,we can conclude that positive reinforcement is likely to be the most effective one that managers can use to influence behaviour. One great advantage and characteristic of positive reinforcement is that it heightens the occurrence of effective job behaviour on the part of subordinates.

Punishment and extinction are less effective because they only reduce the frequency of ineffective performance by employees. They hardly teach employees what to do.

Negative reinforcement has a lot of disadvantage as it has some undesirable side effects on the employee. The employee may grow angry or feel frustrated when subjected to the necessary unpleasant situations.