Theories of Motivation

PRESENTATION ON
1
Theories of Motivation
By
Wajahat Ali Ghulam

The Nature of Motivation
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Motivation is the set of forces that cause people to behave in
certain ways.
Individual performance is generally determined by three things:
motivation – the desire to do the
job
ability – the capability to do the job
work environment – the resources
needed to do the job

The Motivational Framework
3
Need or
deficiency
Search for ways
to satisfy needs
Choice of
behavior to
satisfy need
Determination of
future needs and
search/choice for
satisfaction
Evaluation of
need satisfaction

4
The Nature of Motivation. . . [continued]
If an employee lacks ability, the manager can
provide training.
If there is a resource problem, the manager can
correct it.
If motivation is the problem, the task of the
manager is more challenging.

5
The Nature of Motivation
Perspectives to Motivation
considered:
Historical Perspectives
Content Perspectives
Process Perspectives
Reinforcement Perspectives

Historical Perspectives on Motivation
The Traditional Approach – [Frederick W Taylor]
Assumptions of this approach:
Economic gain is the primary thing that motivates
everyone.
Work is inherently unpleasant for most people.
The money people earn is more important to
employees than the nature of the job they are
performing; so, people could be expected to perform
any kind of job if they were paid enough.

The Human Relations Approach
Employees want to feel useful and important.
Employees have strong social needs and these needs
are more important than money in motivating them.
Advises managers to make workers feel important and
allow them a degree of self-direction and self-control in
carrying out routine activities.

The Human Resource
Approach
Assumes that people want to contribute and are able to make
genuine contributions.
Management’s task is to encourage participation and to create a
work environment that makes full use of the HR’s available.
[use of work teams to solve problems]

9
Content Perspectives on Motivation
Content Perspectives Approach to motivation
tries to answer the question:
‘What factor or factors motivate people?’
Content Perspectives include:
The Needs Hierarchy Approach
The ERG Theory
The Two-Factor Theory

The Needs Hierarchy Approach [Abraham Maslow]
Individuals will concentrate on satisfying physiological
level needs to the exclusion of the other levels.
When each level’s needs are satisfied, the individuals
‘move up’ the hierarchy and the next level’s needs
will become their primary motivating force.

ERG Theory of Motivation
 Theory suggests that people’s needs are grouped into three possibly
overlapping categories:
Existence [physiological and security]
Relatedness [belongingness and esteem of others]
Growth [self-esteem and self-actualization]

ERG Theory of Motivation:
Theory disagrees with Maslow’s five levels.
Believes that these five levels are not always
present and that the order of the levels is not
always the same.
Believes that people from different cultures are
likely to have different need categories and
hierarchies.

ERG Theory of Motivation:
Theory suggests that more than one level of need can
cause motivation at the same time. [people can be
motivated by money, friendship and the opportunity to
learn new skills all at once]
Theory has a ‘frustration-regression’ element. If needs are
not met, the individual will become frustrated, regress to a
lower level and begin to pursue those needs again. [worker
receives a salary increase to meet ‘existence’ needs,
attempts unsuccessfully to make new friends at work to
satisfy ‘relatedness’ needs, and regresses to being
motivated by earning more money again.]

The Two-Factor Theory: [Frederick Herzberg]
Theory suggests that people’s
satisfaction and dissatisfaction
are influenced by two
independent sets of factors –
motivation factors and hygiene
factors.

The Two-Factor Theory:
A person might identify ‘low pay’ as causing
dissatisfaction but would not necessarily
mention ‘high pay’ as a cause of satisfaction.
Job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not at
opposite ends of a continuum.

The Two-Factor Theory of Motivation

The Two-Factor Theory:
Motivation factors are related
specifically to the work content.
Hygiene factors are related to the
work environment.
Both sets of factors must be
addressed if managers are to
motivate employees and create a
high level of job satisfaction.

Individual Human Needs
The three most important individual
needs that are important to
organizations are:
The need for achievement
The need for affiliation
The need for power

The Need for Achievement: [David C McClelland]
The desire to accomplish a goal or task more
effectively than in the past.
People in this category have a high need to assume
personal responsibility, a tendency to set
moderately difficult goals, a desire for specific and
immediate feedback and a preoccupation with
their task. [10% in the US, 25% in Japan]

The Need for Affiliation:
The desire for human companionship
and acceptance.
People in this category are likely to
prefer a job that requires a lot of social
interaction and offers opportunities to
make friends.

22
The Need for Power:
The desire to be influential in a group
and to control one’s environment.
People in this category are likely to be
superior performers, have good
attendance records and occupy
supervisory positions.

Content Perspectives – A Review
The Need for Affiliation:
The desire for human companionship
and acceptance.
People in this category are likely to
prefer a job that requires a lot of social
interaction and offers opportunities to
make friends.

Content Perspectives – A Review
Content perspectives provide useful
insights into factors that cause motivation.
However, they do not explain the ‘process’
of motivation – they do not explain why
people might be motivated by one factor
rather than another at a given level or how
people might go about trying to satisfy the
different needs.
24

Process Perspectives on Motivation
Process Perspectives approach to
motivation is to focus on why people
choose certain behavioral options to
fulfill their needs and how they
evaluate their satisfaction after they
have attained these goals.
25

Process perspectives on motivation
include:
Expectancy theory
Equity theory
26

Equity Theory suggests that people are motivated
to seek social equity in the rewards they receive
for performance.
It states that after needs have stimulated the
motivation process and the individual has chosen an
action that is expected to satisfy those needs, the
individual assesses the fairness, or equity, of the
resulting outcome.
27

Expectancy Theory suggests that
motivation depends on two things:
(1) how much we want something
and
(2) how likely we think we are to get it.
[Graduation first job – VP, cleaner, management trainee]
28

Expectancy theory is based on four basic
assumptions:
1. Behavior is determined by a combination of forces
in the individual and in the environment.
2. People make decisions about their behavior in
organizations.
3. Different people have different types of needs,
desires and goals.
4. People make choices from among alternative plans
of behavior based on their perception of the extent
to which a given behavior will lead to desired
outcomes.
29

Effort-to-Performance Expectancy is the
individual’s perception of the probability
that effort will lead to high performance.
If employee believes effort will lead to high
performance, expectancy will be quite strong –
[close to 1.00].
If employee believes effort and performance are
unrelated, the effort-to-performance expectancy
will be very weak [close to 0.00].
30

Performance-to-Outcome
Expectancy is the individual’s
perception that performance will
lead to a specific outcome.
If the employee believes that high performance will lead to
an increase in salary or a promotion, the performance-to-
outcome expectancy is high [approaching 1.00]
The employee who believes that performance has no
relationship to rewards has a low performance-to-outcome
expectancy [close to 0.00]
31

Outcomes are consequences of
behaviors in an organizational
setting, usually rewards.
Valence is an index of how much an
individual desires a particular
outcome; the attractiveness of the
outcome to the individual.
32

The Expectancy Model of Motivation
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In Expectancy Theory, for motivated behavior
to occur, three conditions must be met:
Effort-to-performance must be greater than 0.00 – the
employee must believe that if effort is put forth, high
performance will result.
Performance-to-outcome expectancy must be greater
than 0.00 – the individual must believe that if high
performance is achieved, certain outcomes will follow.
The sum of the valences for the outcomes must be
greater than 0.00 – one or more outcomes may have
negative valences but they are offset by positive
valences.
34

Equity is an individual’s belief that the
treatment he or she is receiving is fair relative
to the treatment received by others.
Outcomes (self) Outcomes (others)
Inputs (self) = Inputs (others)
Both the formulation of the ratios, and
comparisons between them, are very subjective
and based on individual perceptions.
35

As a result of the comparisons, three conditions
may result:
The individual may feel equitably rewarded
[secondary vs college education or work experience]
The individual may feel under-rewarded [ask for
raise, get other person to change inputs, leave
situation] or
The individual may feel over-rewarded [decrease
output, help others to increase their output]
36

Equity Theory Example
An excellent example of equity theory occurs
at the beginning of each new football season.
Top draft choices sign big contracts, and
disgruntled veterans almost immediately start
calling for their own contracts to be
renegotiated
37

Reinforcement Perspectives on
Motivation
Reinforcement theory argues that behavior
that results in rewarding consequences is
likely to be repeated, whereas behavior that
results in punishing consequences is less
likely to be repeated.
38

Motivation
Kinds of reinforcement used in organizations may
include:
Positive reinforcement
Avoidance
Punishment
Extinction
39

Motivation
Kinds of reinforcement used in organizations may
include:
Positive reinforcement
Avoidance
Punishment
Extinction
40

Motivation
Positive reinforcement is a method of strengthening
behavior with rewards or positive outcomes after a
desired behavior is performed.
Avoidance is used to strengthen behavior by
avoiding unpleasant consequences that would result
if the behavior were not performed.
41

Motivation
Punishment is used to weaken undesired behaviors
by using negative outcomes or unpleasant
consequences when the behavior is performed.
Extinction is used to weaken undesired behaviors
by simply ignoring or not reinforcing them.
42

Motivation
Fixed-interval schedule provides
reinforcement at fixed intervals of time,
regardless of behavior. [regular pay
cheques]
provides least incentive for good work because
employee knows he/she will be paid regularly
regardless of effort.
43

Motivation
Variable-interval schedule provides reinforcement at
varying intervals of time. [occasional visits by
supervisor]
Appropriate for praise or other rewards based on visits or
inspections.
Because employees do not know when supervisor’s visit may occur,
they maintain a reasonably high level of effort all the time.
44

Motivation
Fixed-ratio schedule provides reinforcement
after a fixed number of behaviors regardless of
the time interval involved. [bonus received
after every fifth sale]
Motivation is high because each new application approved gets
the employee closer to the next bonus.
45

Motivation
Variable-ratio schedule provides reinforcement after
varying numbers of behaviors are performed.
[supervisor complements performance on an
irregular basis]
Employee is motivated to increase the frequency of the desired
behavior because each performance increases the probability of
receiving a reward.
46

Theories of Motivation

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