Motivation

There are many books about motivation, therefore there are a lot of theories referring to how to apply them to motivate employees to work more efficiently. The ability to motivate is the core feature of effective managers and leaders. However it still remains one of the most difficult parts of their work. The basic area of motivation, in which a manager may succeed most, is the mutual communication based on respect and appreciation to the other person. Motivation is nothing different than building a vision for the future, countenancing a team in order to make a group cooperate, so that they can achieve a common goal.

The word “motivation” is derived from the Latin word movere, which means “to move”. In the context of organizational behaviour, motivation is what “energizes, directs, and sustains human behaviour”. Thus, motivation has three basic characteristics. The first characteristic is the amount of energy or effort individuals are willing to exert; those who exert more effort are more highly motivated. The second characteristic is that their effort must be goal directed. The activity should focus on achieving some objective, because motivation is more than just being busy. The third characteristic is that people persist in sustained activity. Highly motivated people will continue in goal-directed efforts for an extended period of time. (Cherrington, 1994, p.92)

There are a lot of motivational theories, which have been worked out throughout last century. Some of them, the most popular ones, will be discussed below.

A hierarchy of needs was introduced by Maslow in 1971. He named and put into a hierarchy five basic human needs, where the ones in the bottom of the pyramid (the usual way of representing his theory) are the needs, which a human being has to fulfil before satisfying the needs being higher in the hierarchy. According to Maslow, a person will not want to satisfy “higher needs”, until all of the needs “below” them have been fully satisfied.

Maslow’s theory was very popular amongst economists and managers at the beginning.

Unfortunately, Maslow did not take into consideration some aspects, which impair his theory. Every person is different, thus every person needs different reward for the work done, as every person falls into a different category. The money seems to be a reward accepted by everybody. It makes possible to satisfy all of the material and physiological needs, regardless of where in the hierarchy of needs you are supposed to be. Even though Maslow’s theory is not very accurate “the classification of needs is useful as a framework for considering possible sources of motivation, and it is likely that people’s needs are organized on an hierarchical basis. What has to be recognized is that this hierarchy will vary from person to person.” (Makin and Cox, 2004, p.15)

Clayton Alderfer formulated a theory similar to Maslow’s. His work is based on three major groups of needs: existence, relatedness, and growth, hence the name ERG theory. The first group of needs- existence- covers Maslow’s physiological and safety needs. Relatedness overlaps Maslow’s self-esteem needs and includes social needs category in it. As the last group of needs, Alderfer introduces the growth needs, which imply a pursuit of self-development. The main difference between ERG and hierarchy of needs theory is that, according to Alderfer, people endeavor to satisfy the needs of different levels at the same time. If the desires, which are considered the higher ones, are satisfied, people tend to satisfy minor needs more than they did when major needs were not satisfied. (Robbins, 2001, p. 161)

Another interesting motivational theory is Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory, which says, that good working conditions and the money do not motivate people to engage into work, however they are necessary in order to prevent employees from being unhappy. These are called hygiene factors. The factors, which do motivate, while being the source of satisfaction, are achievements and respect (motivators). (Mullins, 1999, pp. 420-421)

In 1963 Adam’s equity theory was first developed. It focuses on how people perceive their position and treatment by managerial staff at work. Employees seek the equilibrium, a social justice, between inputs of efforts they put into work and the contribution they get in comparison to other people’s efforts and awards. (Mullins, 1999, p. 431)

It is essential for the managers to have an experience as well as they have to be conscious about managerial issues and theories. Knowledge about theories described above, and many other motivational theories is a very useful tool, which could help to get through a number of obstacles met by managers every single day.

An efficient application of these theories is the key for winning people’s acceptance and respect. They are necessary to subordinate the employees and to introduce a healthy and friendly atmosphere at work.

However, the managers need to be aware, that the motivational theories are just the tools in their hands, that have to be used correctly and they cannot rely on what they learnt. Every person requires a different approach. Sometimes an award is not a goal or a target for an employee. The Hawthorne effect reflects it very well.

The “Hawthorne effect” originated in work done in the USA in the 1920s and 1930s at the Hawthorne works of the Western Electric company. Initially, the researchers were trying to establish the relationship between various physical conditions, such as temperature and lighting, and their effects on productivity. What they found was that there were no consistent relationships. Productivity increased both in the experimental group and in a control group. The level of lighting remained constant for the control group, but was varied in the experimental group. At one point, the level of lighting for the latter was equivalent to that of moonlight. Despite this, productivity did not drop. The researchers eventually concluded that psychological, rather than physical, factors were at work.(…) The researchers concluded that the increase in