Motivation Theories

1. SIMARAN SHAHEEN
(ASSISTANT PROFESSOR)
A.B.R.PG.COLLEGE, ANPARA, SONEBHADRA, U.P

2.  There are several Theories of
Motivation who totally elaborate the
concept of “Motivation” word derived from
the word 'motive' which means needs,
desires, wants or drives within the
individuals. It is the process of stimulating
people to actions to accomplish the goals.
 Dalton E. McFarland (1974) stated that:
 “Motivation refers to the way in which urges,
drives, desires, aspirations, and strivings or
needs direct, control or explain the behavior
of human beings.”

3.  One of the earliest and best-known content theories
is needs hierarchy theory. Psychologist Abraham
Maslow (1954) focused on motivating forces in
individuals and established a "hierarchy of needs."
According to Maslow, individuals would move to satisfy
their needs in a hierarchical manner.
 Physiological needs - these are biological requirements
for human survival, e.g. air, food, drink, shelter,
clothing, warmth, sex, sleep.
 If these needs are not satisfied the human body cannot
function optimally. Maslow considered physiological
needs the most important as all the other needs
become secondary until these needs are met.

4.  Safety needs - protection from elements,
security, order, law, stability, freedom from
fear.

5. Social needs - after physiological and safety
needs have been fulfilled, the third level of human
needs is social and involves feelings of belongingness.
The need for interpersonal relationships motivates
behavior
 Examples include friendship, intimacy, trust, and
acceptance, receiving and giving affection and love.
Affiliating, being part of a group (family, friends, work).
 Esteem needs - which Maslow classified into
two categories: (i) esteem for oneself (dignity,
achievement, mastery, independence) and (ii) the
desire for reputation or respect from others (e.g.,
status, prestige).
 Maslow indicated that the need for respect or
reputation is most important for children and
adolescents and precedes real self-esteem or dignity

6.  Self-actualization needs - realizing personal
potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal
growth and peak experiences. Self-actualized
people tend to have needs such as truth,
justice, wisdom, and meaning.

7.  The motivation-hygiene theory was proposed by
psychologist Frederick Herzberg. In the belief that an
individual's relation to his or her work is a basic one and
that his or her attitude toward this work can very well
determine the individual's success or failure. Herzberg
(1966) proposed that job satisfaction and dissatisfaction
are not opposite ends of a continuum, but rather represent
two distinct variables. Intrinsic motivational factors (called
"satisfiers") included achievement, recognition, and
responsibility. Extrinsic factors (called "hygiene factors")
consisted of things like pay, status, job security, and
management style. Herzberg theorized that lack of
satisfiers would not cause dissatisfaction. The presence of
hygiene factors would not cause satisfaction, but their
absence would cause dissatisfaction.

9.  Hygiene or Dissatisfiers:
 Working conditions
 Policies and administrative practices
 Salary and Benefits
 Supervision
 Status
 Job security
 Co-workers
 Personal life

10.  Motivators or Satisfiers:
 Recognition
 Achievement
 Advancement
 Growth
 Responsibility
 Job challenge
 Hygiene factors must be present in the job before
motivators can be used to stimulate that person. That
is, one cannot use motivators until all the hygiene
factors are met. Herzberg's needs are specifically job
related and reflect some of the distinct things that
people want from their work as opposed to Maslow's
Hierarchy of Needs which reflect all the needs in a
person’s life.

11.  McClelland’s Needs Theory was proposed by a
psychologist David McClelland, who believed that
the specific needs of the individual are acquired
over a period of time and gets molded with one’s
experience of the life. McClelland’s Needs
Theory is sometimes referred to as Three Need
theory or Learned Needs Theory. McClelland
has identified three basic motivating needs, Viz.
Need for Power, Need for Affiliation and Need for
Achievement and, along with his associates
performed a considerable research work on
these basic needs.

13.  Need for Power (n-pow): What is Power? Power
is the ability to induce or influence the behavior
of others. The people with high power needs
seek high-level positions in the organization, so
as to exercise influence and control over others.
 Need for Affiliation (n-affil): People with high
need for affiliation derives pleasure from being
loved by all and tend to avoid the pain of being
rejected. Since, the human beings are social
animals, they like to interact and be with others
where they feel, people accept them. Thus,
people with these needs like to maintain the
pleasant social relationships, enjoy the sense of
intimacy and like to help and console others at
the time of trouble.

14.  Need for Achievement (n-ach): McClelland found that some
people have an intense desire to achieve. He has identified the
following characteristics of high achievers:
 High achievers take the moderate risks, i.e. a calculated risk
while performing the activities in the management context. This
is opposite to the belief that high achievers take high risk.
 High achievers seek to obtain the immediate feedback for the
work done by them, so as to know their progress towards the
goal.
 Once the goal is set, the high achiever puts himself completely
into the job, until it gets completed successfully. He will not be
satisfied until he has given his 100% in the task assigned to him.
 A person with a high need for achievement accomplishes the task
that is intrinsically satisfying and is not necessarily accompanied
by the material rewards. Though he wants to earn money, but
satisfaction in the accomplishment of work itself gives him more
pleasure than merely the cash reward.

15.  Alderfer’s ERG Theory is the extension of
Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy, wherein the Maslow’s
five needs are categorized into three categories,
Viz. Existence Needs, Relatedness Needs, and
Growth Needs.
 An American psychologist Clayton Paul Alderfer
had proposed this theory and believed that each
need carries some value and hence can be
classified as lower-order needs and higher-order
needs. He also found some level of overlapping
in the physiological, security and social needs
along with an invisible line of demarcation
between the social, esteem and self-
actualization needs.

17.  Existence Needs: The existence needs
comprises of all those needs that relate to
the physiological and safety aspects of
human beings and are a prerequisite for the
survival. Thus, both the physiological and
safety needs of Maslow are grouped into one
category because of their same nature and a
similar impact on the behavior of an
individual.

18.  Relatedness Needs: The relatedness needs refer to
the social needs, that an individual seeks to
establish relationships with those for whom he
cares. These needs cover the Maslow’s social needs
and a part of esteem needs, derived from the
relationship with other people.
 Growth Needs: The growth needs cover Maslow’s
self-actualization needs as well as a part of esteem
needs which are internal to the individual, such as a
feeling of being unique, personnel growth, etc.
Thus, growth needs are those needs that influence
an individual to explore his maximum potential in
the existing environment

19.  It was proposed by Victor. H. Vroom, who believed
that people are motivated to perform activities to
achieve some goal to the extent they expect that
certain actions on their part would help them to
achieve the goal. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory is
based on the assumption that an individual’s
behavior results from the choices made by him with
respect to the alternative course of action, which is
related to the psychological events occurring
simultaneously with the behavior.
 The algebraic representation of Vroom’s Expectancy
theory is:
 Motivation (force) = ∑Valence x Expectancy

21.  Valence: It refers to the value that an individual
places on a particular outcome or a strength of an
individual’s preference for the expected rewards of
the outcome.
 Instrumentality: Another major input into the
valence is the instrumentality of first level outcome
in obtaining the second level outcome, i.e. a
degree to which the first level leads to the second
level outcome.
 Expectancy: Expectancy, another factor that
determines the motivation, refers to the probability
that a particular action will lead to the desired
outcome.

22.  McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y are theories about
human behavior and motivation in the organization that was
published in 1960 by Douglas McGregor. This theory divides workers
and managers in the organization in two typical groups according to
how managers lead their subordinates and respectively how
subordinates behave.
Character of the manager or worker corresponding to the theory X:
 Employee does not like to work and avoids work
 Motivation of employees is based on coercive factors using
external stimuli (punishment, reward)
 The work of employees must be controlled
 Employees avoid responsibility
 Employees will be better managed and guided to avoid having to
take responsibility
 Employees have a reluctance to change

24. Character of the manager or worker corresponding
to the theory Y:
 Work is for the employee as natural an activity as
fun or recreation
 Employee gladly accepts autonomy
and responsibility, and even actively seeks it
 Employee fully agrees with the goals of the
organization and is in accordance with them
 Employee has enough self-discipline and self-
control to the objectives performance of the
organization
 Employee demonstrates an actively creative and
innovative approach to the challenges of
the organization