MODULE-II

MOTIVATION:

Motivation refers to the internal process that initiates, directs, and sustains goal-directed
behavior. It explains why individuals act in a certain way to satisfy their needs and desires.

A motive is the specific reason or driving force behind a person’s behavior, such as hunger,
achievement, or affiliation.

Motivation is the broader concept that encompasses both the motives and the psychological
processes (like drive, need, and desire) that lead to action. It can be intrinsic (arising from
within) or extrinsic (influenced by external rewards). Motivation plays a key role in
performance, learning, productivity, and overall behavior.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory (1954) proposes that humans are motivated by multiple
needs and that these needs exist in a hierarchical order. Maslow identified five general types of
motivating needs:

• Physiological needs: These are the most basic human physical needs, including food, water,
and other conditions necessary for survival. In the organisational setting, these are reflected in
the needs for pleasant working conditions and salary.

• Safety needs: These are the needs for a safe and secure physical and emotional environment
and freedom from threats and emotional distress. In an organisational workplace, safety needs
reflect the needs for safe jobs, fringe benefits and job security.

• Social needs: These needs reflect the desire to be accepted by one’s peers, have friendships, be
loved, and be part of a group. In the organisation, these needs influence the desire for good
relationships with coworkers and supervisors and participation in a work group.

• Esteem needs: These needs relate to the desire for a positive self-image and to receive
attention, recognition, and appreciation from others. Within an organisation, esteem needs reflect
a motivation for recognition, an increase in responsibility, high status, and credit for
contributions to the organisation.

• Self-actualisation needs: These represent the need for self-fulfillment, which is the highest need
category. They concern developing one’s full potential, increasing one’s competence, and
becoming a better person. Selfactualisation needs can be met in the organisation by providing
people with opportunities for growth, creativity, advancement and achievement.

Herzberg’s Motivator-Hygiene Theory

On the basis of research with engineers and accountants, Frederick Herzberg (1966) developed
the motivator-hygiene theory. He asked his subjects to think about the times they felt especially
good or bad about their jobs. Tabulating the reported good and bad feelings, Herzberg concluded
that there are two sets of needs: the hygiene needs, which produce job dissatisfaction and the
motivator needs, which produce job satisfaction. Taken together, the hygiene factors and
motivators are known as Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation.

Hygiene factors (lower needs) are factors which ‘surround the job’ rather than the job itself; they
are related to job context. These involve features of the work environment such as company
policy, supervision, interpersonal relations, working conditions and salary and benefits. The
hygiene factors dissatisfy employees when they are absent. However, their presence brings
employees only to a neutral state and by themselves, they are not strongly motivating. For
example, a worker will only turn up to work if a business has provided a reasonable level of pay
and safe working conditions but these factors will not make him work harder at his job once he is
there.

The motivator needs (higher needs) motivate employees to high job performance and promote
satisfaction. These needs are internal to the work itself; they are allied to job content, and include
factors such as achievement, responsibility, recognition, growth, advancement and recognition.
The motivator factors operate to build motivation, but their absence is not strongly dissatisfying.
These are the characteristics that people find intrinsically rewarding and serve as strongly
motivating factors.

Although Herzberg’s theory is a popular explanation of work motivation, it has been criticized
on the following grounds:

1) It is not universally applicable, because it was based on and applies best to managerial,
professional and upper-level white-collar employees.

2) The model appears to reduce the motivational importance of pay, status and relations with
others, since these are maintenance factors.

3) The model is limited by its self-report methodology. The appearance of two factors could very
well be an outcome of people’s tendencies to take credit themselves when things are going well
and to blame the extrinsic environment for failure.

4) The model makes no absolute distinction between the effects of the two major factors but
outlines only general tendencies. This has limited applicability and no significant predictive
outcomes for productivity.

Regardless of the criticisms, Herzberg has contributed substantially to the study of work
motivation. He extended Maslow’s need hierarchy concept and made it more applicable to work
motivation. He also drew attention to the importance of job content factors in work motivation,
which previously had been neglected and often overlooked. The job design technique of job
enrichment is also one of Herzberg’s contributions. Overall, Herzberg added much to the better
understanding of job content factors, but fell short of a comprehensive theory of work
motivation.

THE PROCESS THEORIES

Vroom's expectancy theory
Assumes that behavior results from conscious choices among alternatives whose purpose it is to
maximize pleasure and minimize pain. Together with Edward Lawler and Lyman Porter, Victor
Vroom suggested that the relationship between people's behavior at work and their goals was not
as simple as was first imagined by other scientists. Vroom realized that an employee's
performance is based on individuals factors such as personality, skills, knowledge, experience
and abilities.
The theory suggests that although individuals may have different sets of goals, they can be
motivated if they believe that:

 There is a positive correlation between efforts and performance,

 Favorable performance will result in a desirable reward,
 The rewardwill satisfy an important need,
 The desire to satisfy the need is strong enough to make the effort worthwhile.

The theory is based upon the following beliefs:

Valence
Valence refers to the emotional orientations people hold with respect to outcomes [rewards]. The
depth of the want of an employee for extrinsic [money, promotion, time-off, benefits] or intrinsic
[satisfaction] rewards). Management must discover what employees value.

Expectancy
Employees have different expectations and levels of confidence about what they are capable of
doing. Management must discover what resources, training, or supervision employees need.

Instrumentality
The perception of employees as to whether they will actually get what they desire even if it has
been promised by a manager. Management must ensure that promises of rewards are fulfilled
and that employees are aware of that.
Vroom suggests that an employee's beliefs about Expectancy, Instrumentality, and Valence
interact psychologically to create a motivational force such that the employee acts in ways that
bring pleasure and avoid pain.

Porter and Lawler Model (1968)

Porter and Lawler built on Vroom’s Expectancy Theory by offering a more detailed and realistic
model of motivation. They argued that the relationship between effort and performance is not
always direct and is influenced by other variables such as individual ability and role clarity.

Key Components:

1. Effort:
The amount of energy an individual puts into a task, influenced by the perceived value of
the reward and the perceived likelihood that effort will lead to performance.
2. Abilities and Traits:
These determine whether effort can actually translate into good performance. For
example, someone might work hard but lack the necessary skills.
3. Role Perception:
Understanding what is expected in a role is essential. If someone misunderstands their job
duties, their effort may be misdirected.
4. Performance:
Actual performance is a result of both effort and the above moderating variables (ability
and role clarity).
 5. Rewards:
Two types of rewards follow performance:
o Intrinsic rewards (e.g., satisfaction, sense of achievement),
o Extrinsic rewards (e.g., pay, promotion, recognition).
6. Perceived Fairness (Equity):
The model introduces the concept of equity theory, suggesting that if individuals
perceive rewards as fair, they will be satisfied. Satisfaction does not directly result from
performance, but from the perceived fairness of the rewards.
7. Job Satisfaction:
Job satisfaction is influenced by whether the perceived rewards match expectations. This
satisfaction can then impact future levels of motivation.

Contemporary Theories of Motivation

Contemporary theories of motivation are those that provide insights into how motivation
operates in the modern workplace and other contexts. Unlike traditional theories, these theories
consider more complex and dynamic factors, such as fairness, personal needs, goals, and
intrinsic motivation. Key contemporary theories include Equity Theory, Self-Determination
Theory (SDT), and Goal-Setting Theory, which offer a deeper understanding of what drives
human behavior in professional and personal settings.

Equity Theory (Adams, 1963):

Equity Theory suggests that employees are motivated by fairness in the workplace. They
compare their inputs (e.g., effort, time, skills) and outcomes (e.g., salary, recognition) with those
of others. Motivation is affected when employees perceive inequity, which leads to emotional
responses like anger or dissatisfaction.

Key Concepts:

 Inputs: What an individual contributes (e.g., time, effort, education).

 Outcomes: The rewards or recognition received (e.g., pay, promotion, benefits).
 Equity/Equality: When an employee perceives their input-output ratio as equal to that of
others.
 Inequity: When there is a perceived imbalance in input-outcome ratios (underpayment or
overpayment inequity).