Assignment 4.1: Motivation and Motivation Strategies Motivation and Motivation Strategies OBJECTIVES Describe the theories and perspectives on motivation Identify the different types of motivation and their nature ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW This reaction and response assignment explores theories, perspectives, and types of motivation. DELIVERABLES A one-page (12-point font) paper Step 1 Review the major theories of motivation. Review the major theories of motivation in this lesson and in at least two articles. For example, you might read these articles: Theories of Human Motivation Employee Motivation Step 2 Answer the questions. Answer the following questions: What is motivating you to attend school? What motivates you generally? Consider the arousal, incentive, and self-determination theories. Where do you fall in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs? What strategies do you use to motivate yourself? Step 3 Report your findings. Theories of Human Motivation Created Sep 13, 2004 | Updated Oct 4, 2010 3 Conversations For years, managers, psychologists and academics have been interested in theories about motivation - why we get out of bed and go to work every morning; why some people are willing to do a great job despite being faced with huge challenges on a daily basis; why others can't do even the simplest thing without making mistakes; and why seemingly small things such as the removal of a water-cooler in the canteen can have hugely detrimental effects on work performance. A large body of research has been written attempting to tackle these issues - some of which have gained considerable currency inside businesses as they try to get the most from their workforce. This article introduces a few of the more established and popular theories. Money as a Motivator This theory states that all workers are motivated primarily by the need for money; so if you want to get the most out of your workforce, you pay them more. This has particular effectiveness in areas where payment is directly linked to the accomplishment of objectives. This theory is prevalent in many businesses in the form of performance-related pay, incentives, bonuses and promotion schemes. While few would argue that it does not have some validity (indeed it is the driver behind most sales forces the world over), it is not an all-encompassing theory. It doesn't really address the sometimes complex reasons why people are motivated by money. It excludes people who are not driven primarily for money. It does not, for example, apply to voluntary organisations. In addition, it may not work if meeting the financial objectives might threaten other entitlements, creature-comforts or rights, such as an employee's location, network of friends, employment conditions or current level of job satisfaction. The Hierarchy of Needs This theory is probably the best-known motivation theory. It was coined by Abraham Maslow during the 1940s and 1950s. In essence, it states that our mo ...

1. Assignment 4.1: Motivation and Motivation Strategies
Motivation and Motivation Strategies
OBJECTIVES
Describe the theories and perspectives on motivation
Identify the different types of motivation and their nature
ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW
This reaction and response assignment explores theories,
perspectives, and types of motivation.
DELIVERABLES
A one-page (12-point font) paper
Step 1
Review the major theories of motivation.
Review the major theories of motivation in this lesson and in at
least two articles. For example, you might read these articles:
Theories of Human Motivation
Employee Motivation

2. Step 2
Answer the questions.
Answer the following questions:
What is motivating you to attend school?
What motivates you generally? Consider the arousal, incentive,
and self-determination theories.
Where do you fall in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs?
What strategies do you use to motivate yourself?
Step 3
Report your findings.
Theories of Human Motivation
Created Sep 13, 2004 | Updated Oct 4, 2010
3 Conversations
For years, managers, psychologists and academics have been
interested in theories about motivation - why we get out of bed
and go to work every morning; why some people are willing to
do a great job despite being faced with huge challenges on a
daily basis; why others can't do even the simplest thing without
making mistakes; and why seemingly small things such as the
removal of a water-cooler in the canteen can have hugely

3. detrimental effects on work performance. A large body of
research has been written attempting to tackle these issues -
some of which have gained considerable currency inside
businesses as they try to get the most from their workforce. This
article introduces a few of the more established and popular
theories.
Money as a Motivator
This theory states that all workers are motivated primarily by
the need for money; so if you want to get the most out of your
workforce, you pay them more. This has particular effectiveness
in areas where payment is directly linked to the accomplishment
of objectives. This theory is prevalent in many businesses in the
form of performance-related pay, incentives, bonuses and
promotion schemes. While few would argue that it does not
have some validity (indeed it is the driver behind most sales
forces the world over), it is not an all-encompassing theory. It
doesn't really address the sometimes complex reasons why
people are motivated by money. It excludes people who are not
driven primarily for money. It does not, for example, apply to
voluntary organisations. In addition, it may not work if meeting
the financial objectives might threaten other entitlements,
creature-comforts or rights, such as an employee's location,
network of friends, employment conditions or current level of
job satisfaction.
The Hierarchy of Needs
This theory is probably the best-known motivation theory. It
was coined by Abraham Maslow during the 1940s and 1950s. In
essence, it states that our motivations are dictated primarily by
the circumstances we find ourselves in, and that certain 'lower'
needs need to be satisfied before we are motivated towards
'higher' accomplishments. Let's take an extreme case: if we were
stranded in a high mountain range after a plane crash, all our

4. energies would initially go into finding food, shelter, defence
and possibly, medical assistance. Only after these needs were
satisfied would we seek other objectives such as respect,
friendship, care of others and sexual fulfilment. If all these
goals were answered then we would be free to seek purer goals
such as enlightenment, wisdom, great works and perpetual
remembrance. Maslow divided these objectives into five distinct
stages, starting at physiological needs and ending at self-
actualisation needs. In practice, the theory has its appli cation in
ensuring that the workforce have sufficiently comfortable
surroundings and working conditions in order for them to be
free to do their best for their company. If your technical writers
are stuffed four people per desk into a Portakabin with no
windows which fluctuates between -10 degrees in the Winter
and +50 degrees in summer, you should not expect them to write
Shakespeare
1
.
Theory X and Theory Y
In 1960, Douglas McGregor advanced the idea that managers
had a major part in motivating staff. He essentially divided
managers into two categories – Theory X managers who believe
that their staff are lazy and will do as little as they can get away
with; and Theory Y managers who believe that their people
really want to do their best in their work. Theory X managers
believe that staff will do things if they are given explicit
instructions with no wiggle room, and plenty of stick if they
don't do what they are supposed to do. Theory Y managers
believe their people work their best when empowered to make
appropriate decisions. Theory Y
2
has begun to replace Theory X as the dominant management
philosophy in many organisations (except your workplace, of
course).

5. AAP Theory
This theory was developed by DC McClelland and DG Winteer
in 1969. Essentially it groups people's needs into three different
categories – the need for achievement, the need for affiliation
and the need for power. Taking a less hierarchical approach
than Maslow, it acknowledges that different strokes are required
for different folks. Some people will have strong motivations in
some or all of the categories, while others will have little or
none. So, in order to get the most out of people you must make
the goals and objectives fit with each individual's needs. Don’t
expect someone with high affiliation needs to be a great parking
warden or sports referee!
Dual Factor Theory
Another theory to gain prominence at this time was Frederick
Hertzberg's Dual Factor theory. He identified two separate
groups of factors that had a strong bearing on motivation. He
called the first group 'hygiene factors,' because they strongly
influenced feelings of dissatisfaction amongst employees.
Hygiene factors include working conditions, pay, and job
security. According to Hertzberg, they don't motivate employees
as such, but if they are not there, they can adversely affect job
performance. He referred to the other group as 'motivation
factors' because they had a role in positively influencing
performance - such as achievement, career progression and
learning. Hertzberg went on to state that you can forget about
workforce motivation if you don't get the hygiene factors right
first of all. Fixing the downstairs toilets is not normally a recipe
for a 50% productivity improvement.
Equity Theory
John Stacy Adams posited another theory in 1965, looking at

6. how motivation was affected by the degree of fairness within an
organisation, particularly within a group of peers. Consider the
situation where nine sales representatives are given a company
Mercedes, but one of them is given a Toyota, even though that
person believes he did just as good a job as his colleagues. How
would that last sales representative feel? Now there’s nothing
wrong with a Toyota, but by comparing one's own
circumstances to the treatment of others in a similar situation,
very intense feelings can be experienced. These feelings could
lead to intense positive or negative motivations. It's completely
relative, and could apply to a peer group of millionaires should
they compare one another's yachts, or hair transplants. In
practice, managers need to be careful in singling out an
individual for special treatment within a group of peers because
of the emotions this can engender.
Expectancy Theory
Victor Vroom in 1964 put forward the notion that people ar e
driven by the likelihood of genuine success in achieving
particular objectives. Three barriers need to be jumped by
managers if they want to motivate their people to succeed. First
of all, they need to connect the task to be performed to the
likelihood of better results. Secondly they need to set
expectations that there are positive benefits to the employee in
achieving those results, and thirdly they need to ensure that
these benefits are of value to the employee. For instance, there
is no point asking your engineers to be happy about coming in a
half-hour early in future if you can't properly explain how this
will lead to eventual real benefits for the engineers themselves.
Telling them that it will increase senior management's bonuses
doesn't tend to work so well.
To sum up
All the popular motivation theories have their flaws and

7. detractors, but they do give us an insight into some of the
mechanisms at work in day-to-day organisational life. A number
of key messages ring true: firstly, people are not automatons
and their reasons for behaving in a certain way are more
complex than just money or laziness. Secondly, different people
are motivated differently – there is no such thing as a simple,
all-encompassing solution. Thirdly, it's important to get the
work environment right if you want to get the most from people;
and finally, managing perceptions and expectations is very
important if you want to help people get the most from their
work.
1
On the other hand, the 17th Century conditions in which
Shakespeare wrote his plays may have been even worse than
this; and if your technical writers are writing plays and sonnets
when they are meant to be working on something else, then you
might advise them to change careers before
your
boss finds out.
2
Since McGregor, Theory Z has been advanced by William
Ouchi. This is Theory Y on steroids, and states that employees
crave responsibility and opportunities for growth all the time. It
is strongly influenced by Japanese management styles. There is
also a Theory W (Boehm and Ross), which encourages managers
to focus on win-win outcomes for all stakeholders
Write a one-page report on your motivators based on the major
theories of motivation.