Report About Motivation

Terms of Reference:

This report, written in the form of a group work report for the academic and professional skills module, revolves around motivation and examples of motivation from the group members' workplace experiences. The report is 2500 words long, followed by a 1000 word long report regarding the effort of the team members. Both reports are due in the 9th week of term. The purpose of this report is to inform the reader about theories of motivation and its importance in the field of modern management. Our group chose this subject because nowadays, it has become a critical necessity for every organisation and company to apply motivational strategies and methods by its managers or leaders in order to improve the company and obtain the premium level of success. Motivation factors could either be personal or public.

Procedure:

The objectives of this report are the following:

1. Defining motivation.

2. Presenting the two different kinds of theories of motivation.

3. Providing examples of motivation from workplace experiences.

4. Illustrate to the reader a good explanation of motivation by means of diagrams.

5. Provide a conclusion at the end of the report to summarise the findings.

The sources used in writing the report were books and websites.

Findings:

3.1 Introduction:

Motivation is the set of processes that inspire a person to achieve his/her goal (Allen, 1998). The study of motivation is concerned with why individuals choose to behave in a particular way as opposed to taking an alternative action; in addition to why individuals continue to perform particular actions in spite of their difficulty and problems (Mullins, 1996). All individuals have a unique set of needs, yet there is enough similarity among many of them to enable people to utilize organizations in order to attain satisfaction. The fundamental concept of motivation is a driving force within people that compels them to accomplish goals in order to fulfil their needs or expectations (Mullins, 1996).

This part of the report seeks to explore the variable nature of the content and process theories of motivation and theories that are relevant to them. Furthermore, the next part of the findings will provide some examples of motivation in workplace experience. The conclusion is in the last part, which is followed by diagrams about the theories of motivation in the appendix.

According to Arnold, Robertson and Cooper (1991), the three components of motivation are the following:

1. Direction; in terms of what a person is trying to do.

2. Effort; with regards to how hard a person is trying

3. Persistence; in terms of how long a person keeps on trying.

The Content Theory:

The Content theory explains specific factors that motivate the individual at work. It stipulates that motivation is essentially about taking action in order to satisfy needs. Furthermore, it identifies the main needs that influence behaviour and emphasizes what motivates people (Mullins, 1996). Major theorists under this heading include:

Ð'* Maslow (hierarchy of needs).

Ð'* Alderfer (modified need hierarchy).

Ð'* Herzberg (tow-factor).

Ð'* McClelland (achievement motivation).

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory:

Maslow put forth his theory of motivation, which is based on a hierarchy of needs that is divided into five levels Appendix A. The hierarchy ranges from the lowest level of need to the highest level as follows:

Ð'* Physiological- the need for oxygen, food, water and sex.

Ð'* Safety- the need for protection against danger and deficiency of physiological needs.

Ð'* Social- the need for love, affection and acceptance.

Ð'* Esteem- the need to have a stable, firmly based, high evaluation of oneself and to have the respect of others.

Ð'* Self-Actualisation- the need to become what one believes one is capable of becoming (Armstrong, 2003).

One of the implications of Maslow's theory is that the higher-order needs for esteem and self-fulfilment provide the greatest momentum towards motivation. They strengthen once they are satisfied, while the lower needs weaken once they are satisfied (Armstrong, 2003). Maslow accepted that some higher-level needs might still emerge following long periods of deprivation of lower-level needs (Mullins, 1996).

Alderfer's Modified Need Hierarchy Model:

Alderfer condensed Maslow's need hierarchy into three levels based on the following:

Ð'* Existence needs; are concerned with sustaining human existence and survival and include physiological and safety needs.

Ð'* Relatedness needs; are concerned with relationships to the social environment and include love or belonging and meaningful interpersonal relationships of a safety or esteem nature.

Ð'* Growth needs (ERG theory); are concerned with the development of potential and include self-esteem and self-actualisation (Mullins, 1996).

The rank of these needs varies from one individual to the next depending on culture, education, family background, and age among other factors. Alderfer proposed three basic proposals of need relationships. These propositions either followed Maslow's theory or reversed it. ERG theory states that an individual is motivated to satisfy a basic set of needs. Hence, if a person's needs at a particular level are blocked, then attention should be focused on the satisfaction of needs at other levels (Mullins, 1996). More than one need may be simultaneously activated, and individuals may progress down the hierarchy since several levels of need can simultaneously motivate people. Furthermore, the results of Alderfer's work suggest that lower-level needs do not have to be fulfilled before a higher-level need emerges as a motivating influence (Mullins, 1996).