THE CONCEPT OF MOTIVATION

All organizations want to be successful, even in current environment which is highly

competitive. Therefore, companies irrespective of size and market, strive to motivate their best
employees, acknowledging their important role and influence on organizational effectiveness. In
order to encourage performance, companies should create a strong and positive relationship with
its employees and direct them towards task fulfilment. Hence, an organization needs to
motivated its employees.

Motivation is an internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need and to achieve a certain goal. It is
also a procedure that begins through a physiological or psychological need that stimulates a
performance set by an objective. Motivation as the act of providing motive that causes someone
to act. Motivation is an internal drive, hence, psychological. A motivated staff tends to be a
productive staff in an organization. Motivation is a complex force in building and maintaining a
person to enjoy being in an organization.

Motivation refers to the force that stimulates, controls and maintains behaviour inside and
outside the individual. Motivation can be seen as the psychological characteristics of a person
that contribute to the determination to achieve a goal. It contains several elements that cause,
control and maintain specific human behaviour. The reasons for exhibiting certain behaviour are
related to motivation. Motivation is seen as elements that stimulate, force or propel a person to
act or not to act. Motivation can also be described as a person's willingness to expend energy to
achieve set goals. Motivation is believed to refer to an individual's passion for specific
tendencies or behaviours. It is a known fact that someone’s attitude, and behaviour can be
influenced, controlled and regulated by his goals, needs and desires.

Work motivation
According to Herzberg (1959) work motivation is a psychological process arising from
the excitement, direction, and perseverance of employees to achieve individual and
organizational goals. Work motivation is the voluntary, desire, and effort to work that helps
employees achieve personal goals, thereby obtaining the organizational objectives. Work
motivation is an internal impulse based on an individual’s basic conscious (or unconscious)
needs that lead them to work towards the goals. Work motivation is an assemblage of internal

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and external powerful energies of an individual to perform work-related behaviours and
determine the direction, intensity, and duration of work.
.
Work motivation can be divided into two categories. These are extrinsic motivation intrinsic
motivation.
Extrinsic Motivation
This capitalises on external incentive system. To achieve better results and high employee
productivity, there must be an effective external incentive system. Although declared employee
loyalty depends on remuneration and incentives for them. Social incentives help employees build
trust to achieve company goals, it is believed that employees are driven by external incentives
and gain high productivity from them. Extrinsic motivation is an incentive to achieve a desired
goal or other external reward, such as money or rewards. It comprises of external motivation,
such as salary increases, awards, and promotions, as a way to fulfil indirect desires or something
else offers as recognition of a job well done. External motivation focuses on goal-driven factors,
such as the incentives or rewards gained in completing a task.
Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic incentives are used to inspire employees to be more productive. The effectiveness of
organizations depends on how motivated their employees are. In nature, the inner rewards are
elusive. We can't touch them with our fingertips, but we can only feel them, such as gratitude,
employer attitudes and job rotation. Internal rewards are rewards within the work itself, such as
satisfaction with the performance of the task, the appreciation of the. Because one has to feel
competence and pride in something, an inner motivation can be created.

THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

There are various theories of motivation as propounded by various scholars. However, for the
purpose of this course, we shall limit ourselves to the following:

(i) Abraham Maslow’s theory of Hierarchy of Needs

(ii) Mc Gregory’s Hygiene Theories X and Y
(iii) The ERG Theory of motivation
(iv) The Acquired Need Theory
(v) Vroom’s Expectancy Theory

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 i. The Maslow’s theory of Hierarchy of Needs:
Abraham Maslow developed a need based theory of motivation. It argued that people are
extraordinary complex creatures with many motives for behaviours on and off the job. Maslow
(1954) identified and analyzed five basic needs which he believed underlay all human
behaviours, these needs relate to physiology (the needs for food water, air, shelter, clothing and
sex) security (safety, the absence of illness), society or affiliation (friendship, interaction, love)
esteem (respect and recognition), and self actualization (the ability to reach one’s potentials).
These are perceptions for higher performance and productivity of individuals.
Before Maslow, most managers assumed that money primarily motivated people. With Maslow’s
work, managers can evaluate their own actions, their companies conduct and their individual
philosophies about people. Maslow’s needs theory presented a workable motivation framework
for managers.

• The deficit principle holds that a relatively well-satisfied need is not a strong motivator of
behaviour.
• The progression principle holds that, once a need is fairly-well satisfied, behaviour is
dominated by the next level in the need hierarchy.

Abraham Maslow Hierachy of Needs

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1) Physiological Needs: This category includes those needs which a man needs to satisfy first of
all in order to remain alive. It includes food to eat, house to live in, clothes to wear and sleep for
rest. e.g. Most basic of all human needs: need for biological maintenance; food, water etc.

2) Safety Needs: After having satisfied the physical needs a man thinks of his safety. Safety
needs mean physical, economic and psychological safety. Physical safety means saving him from
accidents, diseases and other unforeseen situations. Economic safety means security of
employment and making provision for old age. Psychological safety means maintaining his
prestige. e.g. Need for security, protection and stability in the physical and interpersonal events
of dayto-day life

3) Social Needs: Man is a social being and wants to live in society with honour. It is, therefore,
necessary that he should have friends and relatives with whom he can share his joys and sorrows.
e.g. Need for love, affection, sense of belongingness in one’s relationships with other persons

4) Esteem and Status Needs: They are called ego needs of man. It means everybody wants to
get a high status which may increase his power and authority. Need for esteem of others:
respect, prestige, recognition, need for self esteem, personal sense of competence, mastery

5) Self Actualization Needs: Last of all man tries to satisfy his self-actualization need. It means
that a man should become what he is capable of. For example- a musician wants to be proficient
in the art of music, an artist wants to gain proficiency in creating works of art and similarly, a
poet wants to be an expert in the art of writing poems. It is the highest need level: need to fulfill
one’s self; to grow and use abilities to fullest and most creative extent.

ii. Mc Gregory’s Hygiene Theories X and Y

An unmet need can frustrate an employee and make him unproductive. Douglas McGregor
published the human side of enterprise in 1960. In it, he explained that managers operate from
one or two basic assumptions about human bahaviour.
Theory X and Y
The first theory, the view traditionally held about employees, portrayed workers in organization
as being lazy and needing to be coerced, controlled and directed. The second described people as
McGregor thought them to be:, responsible, willing to learn and given the proper incentives
inherently motivated to exercised ingenuity and creativity Mc Gregory holds the view that the

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traditional way of treating people regarding them as unthinking, uncertain robots – must changes.
Indeed, McGregor stressed that only changing these assumptions could managers tap workers or
labourer’s vast talents. He emphasized that what matters was how people were treated and
valued in their work setting. He went further by advising managers to give employees a chance
to contribute, take control and responsibility. Familiarity with theories of motivation allows a
manager an educated view point from which to consider how to develop workers, captive
commitment and develop a positive work environment.
The cores of theories X and Y is that a management philosophy influences the type of
work climate the manager endeavours to create and ultimately, how the managers treat people.
iii. The ERG Theory of Motivation:
The ERG theory of motivation propounded by Clayton Alderfer is indeed a reaction of Maslow’s
theory. He argued that there are three core needs which he classified as:
E = Existence needs
R= Relatedness needs
G= Growth needs
Alderfer’s Existence needs has to do with the satisfaction of our basic material requirement such
as food, water, pay and working conditions, they can be classified as physical and safety needs.
The relatedness needs is similar to the social role needs of Maslow’s theory and this includes
social and interpersonal relationship. Finally, the growth need is intrinsic desire for personal
development or making creative productive contribution. Alderfer argued that if the gratification
of a higher level order need is stifled, the desire to satisfy a lower level need increases. Alderfer
also suggests that people can have the desire to fulfil the three needs at a time and pursue them
simultaneously.
iv. The Acquired Need theory:
This was made popular by David McClelland and states that some needs are acquired as a result
of life experiences. He identifies need for achievement, need for affiliation and need for power to
control others.
The Need for Achievement: This is the need/desire to set challenging goals, work to achieve the
goals or the desire to excel in relation to set standard. The need for achievement is defined by the
following desire to accomplish something difficult: to master, manipulate or organize physical

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objectives human being or ideas. To rival and suppress others to increase self regards by the
successful exercise of talents.
The Need for Affiliation: This is the need to be like and accepted by others. People with the
need strive for friendship, prefer co-operative situation rather than competitive situations and
desire relationship involving a high degree of mutual understanding. People with higher need for
affiliation prefer to spend more time maintaining social relationship joining groups, etc
individual with a high degree of need are not effective managers or leaders because they will find
it difficult to make decisions without worrying about the feeding of others or being dislike by
others.
The Need for Power: This is the dislike to have impact, to be influenced and to control others.
They also have the desire to coach, teach or encourage others to achieve, they love to work and
are concerned with discipline and self respect. The need for power has both negative and positive
aspects. The negative side is manifested in a winner’s take all mentality e.g. “if I win you u lose”
The positive side is focused on accomplishing group goals and helping others obtain the feeling
of competence.
v. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, This Brought Quantitative into Motivation
Theory.
It brought together many of the elements of the previous theories. It combines perceptual aspects
of equity theory with the behavioural aspects of the other theories; it gives the equation M = E x
IxV
Where: M = MOTIVATION
E = EXPECTANCY
I = INSTRUMENTALITY
V = VALENCE
This shows that motivational force is related to expectancy, instrumentality and valence
in a multiplicative manner. The summary is that people tend to sustain behaviour that results in
the satisfaction of their needs.