MOTIVATION:

Increasing Productivity

WHAT IS MOTIVATION

Motivation is the willingness to make an effort toward accomplishment

To be truly motivated is to feel a need to do what ever is necessary to reach a goal or purpose.  High motivation also makes people able to do whatever is necessary.

The organizational climate is the emotional weather within an organization that reflects the norms and attitudes of the organization's culture, and affects worker morale, attitudes stress levels, and communication.

Morale is the overall mood an individual or group, based on attitudes and satisfaction

The Motivational Cycle describes how individuals go about satisfying a felt need.

A.  Sufficiently Strong need

B.  Build up of Tension

C.  Focused Activities

D.  Achieved your goal

E.  Reduce tension

THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

Theories X and Y  

by Douglas McGregor

Theory X uses extrinsic rewards to motivate people

Extrinsic rewards are the external factors related to the value of work, including salary.

e.g Money, Power, Gifts, Vacations..

Theory Y uses intrinsic rewards to motivate people

Intrinsic rewards are the internal factors related to the value to work.

e.g Creativity allowed, degree of responsibility, and satisfaction of helping others.

Intrinsic rewards are the internal feelings of satisfaction you get from your job.  These often provide more powerful motives than the extrinsic factors do.

Intrinsic rewards include:

1.  A work ethic  People with a a strong work ethic believe that not working is somewhat immoral and lazy

2.  A sense of self-identity  Professional or occupational identity is so strong that is becomes a part if a people's self-identity

3.  A sense of self-fulfillment  Many people choose their jobs or occupations based on their interests and abilities

4.  A sense of self worth  Self esteem

5. The social value of work  People meet others and make social contacts at work

6.  Social and community roles  Every community has an understanding of the roles that are filled by people in specific occupations

NEEDS-BASED THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

Many psychologists agree that people are motivated by their needs.

Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

This theory shows that people tend to satisfy their needs in a certain order: first, physiological needs, then safety and security, belongingness and love, esteem, and finally, self-actualization.

1.  Physiological need include necessities for life such as air, food, warmth, and water. Needs that are often called the primary assets of life.

2.  Safety and Security include physical safety from harm and the elements , as well as financial safety

3.  Love and Belongingness include acceptance from family or friends

4.  Esteem include recognition from peers and colleagues

5.  Self -Actualization means of reaching one's full potential

Maslow's Theory makes these assumptions.

1.  Needs that are not yet satisfied will motivate or influence a person's behavior

2.  When a need has been satisfied, it will no longer motivate the person's behavior.

3.  Needs are arranged by order of importance

4.  A need in the hierarchy will not be a motivator until those below it are already satisfied.

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR SELF-ACTUALIZATION

A. Experience life fully:  Be alive and absorbed with what you are doing at the  moment.

B.  Learn to trust your own judgment and feelings in making life choices, such as marriage and career.

C.  Be honest with yourself and take responsibility for what you do.

D.  Recognize your defenses and illusions, then work to give them up.

E. Even though peak experiences are transient, keep the aspiration of these moments of self-actualization alive in your everyday thoughts and actions.

F.  Remember that self-actualization is a continual process; it is never fully achieved.

G.  Commit yourself to concerns and causes outside yourself, because self-actualization comes more as a byproduct of developing your full capacities than by the egocentric pursuit of growth itself.

According to this theory, a hungry person might willingly give up the need for self-respect just to stay alive.  However, once a person's basic needs have been met, that person is likely to look to higher needs.  The higher needs will motivate him to achieve the next level, and so on.

In needs theory, people are more interested in the internal or intrinsic factors that make someone perform well.

McClelland's Manifest Needs of Theory

McClelland found that through years or research that all people have 3 basic coexisting needs: power, affiliation, and achievement.  Each person has all 3 needs, but everyone has them in different and combinations

Power needs are desired by individuals who want to control and influence other people.  A manager without a need for power will generally be less effective than one with a strong power need.  This person is also competitive and wants to win.  this type if person also usually like conflict--even confronting others and being confronted.

Affiliation needs are found in people who have an intense desire to be accepted and like by other people.  they usually like parties and other social activities, and tend to join clubs and other groups.  McCelland feels that someone with a  strong affiliation need will generally not make the best manager.

Achievement needs occur in people who are very goal-oriented and who want to take a personal responsibility for achievements.  This type of person tends to be attracted to careers such as sales and business ownership, and likes to have some type of concrete feedback on how much he or she is achieving.  If work doesn't contain enough challenges, he or she will find a challenge elsewhere.

People with high need for achievement usually set goals that are moderately challenging. These goals are not so difficult that they are impossible, and not so easy that they do not present a challenge.  Both high-risk and no-risk situations are seen as a waste of time.

High achievers are more likely to credit their successors to their hard work, ability, talent, and persistence.  When they fail, they do not place blame on others, on bad luck, or on fate; they look at their own behavior for an explanation.  on the other hand, people with low achievement needs seem to be motivated more by a fear of failure than expectation if success.  They set impossible high goals or very low goals. They blame their failures in their own lack of ability, on bad luck , or on fate.

According to McClelland, these needs are not factors that people are born with. They are developed through life experiences.

BEHAVIOR-BASED THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

Expectancy Theory

Expectancy Theory brings several ideas together, and different versions of it have become quite popular in the past few years.  In the 1960's Victor Vroom originally developed expectancy theory to explain human behavior in terms of people's goals and choices and the expectation that goals can be reached.  It's 3 main concepts are expectancy, instrumentality, and valence.

Expectancy describes the likelihood that if a person tries to perform better, that will really be the results

Instrumentality refers to the likelihood good (or bad) will come from an increase in effort.

Valence is the value a person places on a reward. Valence has a great deal to do with each person's values

In the late 1970's, expectancy theory was revised.  In this new revision, Barry Straw showed that both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards are relates to all 3 areas of this theory, but especially to valence.  The value , or valence, of an expected outcome will be both intrinsic and extrinsic. 

REINFORCEMENT THEORY AND BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION

Ideas that this theory is based on come from the work of psychologist B.F. Skinner.

Reinforcement theory  explains human behavior in terms of the results--bout good and bad--that have occurred under similar conditions in the past.  Behavior that is rewarded enough times will be repeated, while behavior that repeated it receives no reward will probably discontinue.

This process of changing behavior because of a reward, or a lack of a rewards, is called behavior modification.

Skinner believed that you can help shape and mold people without making their freedom and dignity are threatened.  this method consists of positive reinforcement: Reward the behavior that you like, and ignore the behavior that you don't like.  Punishment can be very effective in changing someone's behaviors, but this theory teaches that punishment has so many negative side effects that it will usually backfire on the manager.  Positive reinforcement can be just as effective as negative reinforcement, and it has fewer unwanted side-effects.

Reinforces are incentives such as awards, bonuses, promotions, and gifts.

Goal Setting

To make reinforces or incentives more effective, the employees involved should have the opportunity for goals setting. Telling people to do their best is not as effective in reaching high performance levels as setting specific goals that are moderately difficult.

Goal Setting techniques in an Organization

1.  Have employees participate in the goal setting process

2.  Make goals difficult but attainable, specific, and attractive

3.  Provide feedback on how employees are doing in meeting the goals.

4.  Reward employees for reaching their goals.

Reinforcement and Values

Self-esteem is basic to the success of a behavioral modification program of any kind.

Choosing the right type of reward is important, too.  Just as valence is important in expectancy theory, reinforcement theory requires giving rewards that are valuable to the person getting them.  As in some of the other theories, there must be a direct cause and effect between the reward and the action it is rewarding for that value to be effective

MOTIVATION AND SELF-ESTEEM

As studies of motivational theories show, the desire to feel better about yourself is a main motivator in the workplace.  In the same way, you are also motivated not to perform tasks that threaten your self-esteem

Self-Esteem and Job Performance

First, if the job calls for creativity in decision-making, low self-esteem may keep am individual from making risky decisions.  Mediocre decisions might be made instead of exciting challenging ones.  Second, a person with low self-esteem may perform at exactly the level where others expect performance to be, so as not to threaten others' values.

High self-esteem is the greatest motivator of all

No single theory explains motivation completely, but all of them together can help you learn how to motivate yourself and those who work for you.

1.  Change a behavior or bad habit

2. Take small steps to reach your goal

3.  Find small rewards to motivate you

4.  Reward yourself to reinforce the desired behavior

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