PSY4112

The topic that we will be discussing on is the issue of Motivation of employees that generally is
of great in the success of an organization and that every managers, administrator are engaged in
to a great extend. We will be dealing with the definition of Motivation, its importance, the kinds
of motivation, and various theories that evolved and most importantly from these theories; we
will extract different ways of motivating employees and contributing to the success of an
organization. The most basic step is to understand the term motivation. According to Pinder
motivation can be defined as a set of energetic force that originates both within as well as beyond
an individual’s being, to initiate work-related behavior, and to determine its form, direction,
intensity, and duration (John P. Meyer, 2004). According to an article written by Moorhead and
Griffin, performance of a job depends on three important factors which are mainly Motivation,
Ability and Environment. An employee will be able to perform well only when he is motivated
to utilize his or her abilities in a favorable supportive environment (Employee Motivation
Theories and Types , 2009). Motivation is extremely important in an organization since it allows
appropriate utilization of human resources, increases productivity, efficiency, helps to achieve
goals of an organization, encourages co-operation and co-ordination, results in satisfaction, gain
benefits, leads to stability at work place, promotes creativity and adaptability, optimistic attitude
and adds purpose to oneself (Importance of Motivation). There are various types of motivation
such as Achievement Motivation that consist in working towards a goal set by one self and it is
intrinsic in nature. People working with affiliation kind of motivation work for social recognition
and appraise. Some people seek pleasure in solving problem creatively for self pride and possess
mastery. These possess Competence motivation. People with power motivation have will power
to take risk and make an impact on the organization. There are individuals who have attitude
motivation and that are how they behave and think. The reward driven people are Incentive
motivated and they work on the bases of rewards offered to them. Lastly some of them are
motivated by fear which gets them on feet and forces them to do the work (Shah). We also need
to have a complete understanding of motivation from various theorists’ point of view. Being
influenced by the situation and trend at that point, these theorists developed their own thinking
and understanding regarding motivation and act as a critic to the previous exiting ones. We will
discuss different theories of motivation and try to bring out productive ways of motivating the
employees in a positive way favorable to the individual and to the organization on the whole.

Douglas McGregor and Schein proposed the Theory X, Theory Y in an article called 'The
Human Side of Enterprise'. 'Theory X' is traditional approach to management while 'Theory Y' as
a professional approach to management. His theory was based on his perception of human nature
and behavior. These were assumptions made on the behavior of different individuals or same
individual in different context and time. The traditional assumptions of Theory X were that
human by nature is self-centered, gullible, lazy, not very bright, and lacks creativity, desire to
work or work as little as possible. Man avoids work, responsibilities and any kind of change
specially the ones that endanger their comfort zone. They are not at all ambitious and the only
way to handle them is by persuasion, punishment or rewards. They need to be under constant
supervision and pressure. Where else on the other hand the modern assumptions of Theory Y are
more on a positive side of human nature. According to this theory humans have the full ability
and intensions to work towards their progress and their company if provided with encouraging
environment, required resources and opportunity. They are required to be sufficiently motivated
to direct themselves towards creativity and face challenges. Instead of External control and
threats of punishment, Self-control and self discipline works better for the organization. Humans
become sensitive to the needs of the organization through experience and also accepts the
responsibly to fulfill them. Through McGregor’s theories, the management can learn to integrate
individual goals of employees with those of the organization. Managers become aware of the
individual differences and that all individuals are not similar and work with different attitude.
Managers should keep these differences in mind and encourage employees accordingly. They
can be controlling at one point and be encouraging at the other judging the need of the situation
and nature of employee involved. But the assumptions of these theories are very extreme and
opposite. They are very rigid, pessimistic and unreal. In reality we cannot apply these
assumptions since such extremes are rare and they have disregarded the moderate path. Hence
integration of these two theories will be more appropriate (Akrani, 2010), (Management Training
& Development Ltd).

Next theory that we will discuss on is Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation. According to
Maslow, humans are motivated by their unsatisfied needs, and also that only after fulfilling lower
needs one can progress to satisfy higher ones. Thus he comes up with hierarchical structure of
needs know as 'Maslow's Needs Pyramid' where one need acts as a motivator and after its
fulfillment, the next need after that takes place of motivator. First come the Physiological needs
that include food, water, sleep and other basis need that are important to sustain life. Than
follows safety needs in form of shelter, medication, security of job, financial and emotional
security. Once these are gratified man moves to the higher needs. Social needs of friendship,
receiving and giving of love, feeling of belonging to a group are all needs that involve interaction
with others. This will also promote future needs of confidence, self esteem, feeling of
accomplishment, self respect which are internally motivating. Externally motivating includes
recognition and reputation. It will also involve the need for knowledge and aesthetics. The last
level of the pyramid is self-actualization which acts as an ultimate requirement of an individual.
The need for actualization continues to grow and one cannot get complete satisfaction like from
other lower needs. Truth, wisdom, justice and such other moral virtues act as motivators
energizing individual with happiness, calmness and harmony. We can implement the principles
of this theory in the work place through management by constructing the order of benefits
offered to the employees parallel to the flow of the pyramid. We can provide ample breaks for
lunch and recreation in order to balance the load of stress. Offer job security, an environment
which is conducive for work and also provides safety; promote team work where one
experiences the feeling of belonging. Give appraisals, recognition for the positive work behavior,
assigning important projects and provide status to the employee o make them feel that they are
valued etc. get them involved in challenging task which will put their creativity, innovation,
imagination at best use. Like the previous theory, Maslow’s theory also faces few limitations. It
is very rigid and strict. In present times we cannot impose Maslow’s pyramid. The arrangement
of the need is very fix but in reality it is not necessary that one is followed by the next as
arranged in the pyramid. For example a starving poet continues to compost poems manage to
fulfill his aesthetic needs before securing basic physiological needs. It cannot predict when a
particular need gains importance in a given time. It does not take into consideration, the ability of
the individual to construct their own perception of needs and obtain them (Maslow's Theory of
Motivation - Hierarchy of Needs, 2012). Clayton Alderfer reworked on Maslow's Need
Hierarchy and called it as ERG theory that is existence, relatedness, and growth. Existence refers
to the basic physiological and safety needs similar in Maslow’s pyramid. Relatedness is the
desire to maintain and promote interpersonal relations similarly mentioned as need for love and
esteem in Hierarchy of needs. Finally growth refers to intrinsic growth or self actualization. All
the needs mentioned in Alderfer's ERG theory is similar to Maslow’s theory but there are certain
dissimilarities. More than one need can operate at the same time and not necessary that one has
to be first satisfied to move on to next need. Alderfer also mentions frustration-regression which
means that if an individual finds a higher order need hard to achieve and frustrating than he or
she will increase the satisfaction gained from the lower order need. In organizational settings the
managers can resolve the problem of frustration by assigning a particular job to an individual
keeping in mind the capability of that individual that is giving a right job to a right person which
will require implementing assessment tools. Furthermore, the frustration-regression principle
provides additional insight on motivation in the workplace. When an employee is not given right
recognition and credit for the job, he or she might regress to fulfill relatedness needs by
increasing socialization compensating working hours. Thus it is very important for a manager to
recognize the need of the employee and take needful actions on the right time (ERG Theory of
Motivation - Clayton P. Alderfer, 2012).

Frederick Herzberg proposed a two-factor theory that is the motivator-hygiene theory. The two
factors were hygiene and motivation. Hygiene factors are factors that in the absence of which the
employee us dissatisfied hence they are also called as dissatisfiers. These factors symbolize
physiological needs. They are in form of appropriate pay or salary, fringe benefits, favorable
company policies, healthy physical work environment, job security, job status, interpersonal
relations. Motivational factors are factors involved with work and are inherent to work. These
factors symbolize psychological needs. These include sense of achievement, recognition,
responsibility, promotion, increments, feeling of worth and importance. The management in an
organization must utilize these factors for the satisfaction of the employees and to keep them
stimulated to bring out the best performance from them. They should be sensitive to the
physiological and psychological needs of the workers. The Two-Factor Theory has certain
limitations since it lacks reliability. It also does not provide any measure for satisfaction. They
have not taken blue-collar workers in to consideration and it is subjected to biases (Herzberg’s
Two-Factor Theory of Motivation, 2008 - 2012 ). In contrast to this theory, Vroom came up with
expectancy motivation theory. He states that effort, performance and motivation are all together
linked to each other when we are discussing motion. His theory involves three elements or
variables - Expectancy, Instrumentality and Valence. Expectancy is a belief every individual
posses. The belief that if a well capable individual is provide with appropriate opportunity, to
work in an environment with all the necessary resources with all the support than hard work will
be fruitful. Instrumentality consists in the faith that if proper amount of work is put in than the
outcome will be positive based on the principle of cause and effect. There should be a clear
understanding of performance and outcome relation. In addition to this there also involves trust
in the decision taking body. Lastly Valence is the element that the employee gives importance to
achieve the positive outcome. Thus, Vroom's expectancy theory of motivation is not based up on
the self-interest in rewards but about the associations people make between the expected
outcomes and the contribution they feel they have made towards those outcomes. This theory is
promoting self motivation. If the employees believe that the hard work will be paid off well at
the end, they will put in their all efforts. In such a organization with the employees possessing
such a beliefe, the management should be careful in selection of rewards or incentive for the
employees. The rewards and the outcomes of the hardwork should be closely related. Managers
can get their employees best training so that they can optimistically use their potential since they
are ready to give their best (Vroom expectancy motivation theory, 2010 ). The last theory for
discussion is Edwin Locke’s Goal-setting theory of motivation. He has given more importance
to the goal. According to him if the goal is specific and challenging and along with that if
appropriate feedback is followed than high performance can be obtained. Thus depending up on
the type of goal the employees have, the feedback and support should be provided accordingly.
There should be a willingness of the employee to work towards a goal which is clear, realistic
but can be challenging, followed by appropriate feedback. Goal setting theory is a technique can
be used thus get the work done quickly and effectively. It can lead to high or better performance
since the goals are set by the employees and are provide with feedback (Goal Setting Theory of
Motivation, 2008 - 2012 ).

All the theories that have been formed have some or the other limitations. Hence it is important
to integrate the positive elements of the theories. All the theories have something to offer to the
organization in order to bring out high performance from the employees.
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