23 MOTIVATION

S. Alamelu Mangai

1. INTRODUCTION

The ‘core of management’ is motivation. An effective instrument of managers to inspire the workforce is motivation. “Motivation” refers to goal – directed behaviour. This module will deal with definition, objective, elements and theories of motivation.

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The learner will be enabled to understand the need for motivating the workers .And also will understand the process and nature of motivation.

3.    MEANING, PROCESS AND ELEMENTS OF MOTIVATION 3.1 Meaning and definition

Derived from the words ‘motive’ motivation means any idea, need or emotion that prompts a person into action. The Encyclopaedia of management refers as ‘ to the degree of readiness of an organism to pursue some designated goal, and implies the determination of the nature and locus of the forces, including the degree of readiness.’

Dalton.E.Mc.Farland opines “Motivation refers to the way in which urges, drives, desires, aspirations, and strivings or needs direct control or explain the behaviour of human beings. ’When a person is having unsatisfied needs, the motivation process will help to develop certain ways to reach the goals for himself. After successful attainment he might emerge in setting a new goal, and the process keeps continuing.

3.2 Process of motivation

‘Motive’ and ‘need’ are commutable in the management parlance. Needs represents the lack, or absence or deficit of something within the system which may be inside an individual but may not necessarily lead to action. This needs to be activated and becomes active when an individual has motive .

Need create tensions which are modified by one’s culture to cause certain wants .And these are interpreted in terms of positive and negative incentives in order to produce a certain response or action.

To illustrate, need for food produces a tension of hunger, since culture affects hunger, a man will require wheat or rice accordingly, for a man, perhaps incentive is provided by his wife’s promise to prepare a food in his favourite way. The figure 1 gives the simple model of motivation.

3.3 Elements of Motivation

In any motivational system these three elements play a vital role.

3.3.1 The individual who is being motivated

3.3.2 The job

3.3.3 The work situation

3.3.1 The individual

Every individual is a unique being whether he is a person in the top level of management or a low –level of management. Workers differ among themselves due to age, sex, education, intelligence, personality, physical characteristics experience, heredity and social and cultural background .And accordingly the needs and attitudes of the individual is determined. And also these determine how each will react to motivational devices such as monetary and non – monetary incentives.

3.3.2 The job

In an organisational setup different requirements are prescribed for different level works that attracts each worker. Routine works may lead to monotony and dullness. For a few even challenging jobs may not hold attraction .Rarely there will be a job for each everyone which is regarded as a source of enjoyment and pride.

3.3.3The work situation

Motivation is created based on the working environment too. The environment may be as follows and in figure 2.

(a) The organisational goals and values which help to identify desired outcomes or results, and the nature of behaviour that will help to achieve them.

(b) The structural relationships and the type of technology that together determine how work is to be divided and integrated.

(c) The style of leadership in terms of participation in decision making and

(d) The rewards such as salary, perquisites, benefits, promotional prospects, status etc.

4. CHARACTERISTICS OR NATURE OF MOTIVATION

The features of motivation are:

4.1 A Psychological Concept

Motivation deals with inner feeling and can’t be observed directly from an individual. When effectively motivated even the workers with lesser ability will perform a desired job and render effective performance Thus performance = Abilities x Opportunity x Motivation.

4.1.2 Motivation is total, not piece meal

The urges and aspirations of a worker should be taken into account and should be treated as an indivisible unit for successful motivation. Some motivational device which promises fulfilment of certain needs of workers and not others ,will fall short of its objectives of evoking total commitment of workers.

4.1.3Motivation is determined by human needs.

A worker might carry out the desired activity only as long as he sees his action as means of continued fulfilment of his strongly – felt needs. He loses his interest in the activity that gives him satisfaction of the said need.

4.1.4 Motivation may be financial or non-financial

Depending on the needs, emotions and sentiments of workers the motivation is provided. Financial motivation seeks to satisfy physiological and security needs and non-financial motivation seeks to satisfy social, recognition and creative needs.

4.1.5 Motivation is a constant process

Motivation is a continuous process that produces goal directed behaviour. It is not a time – bound process and also not a touch –and –go affair. In order to satisfy the unlimited needs, of the workers, they must be kept engaged in planned activities continuously and should be kept in continued animated tension by means of unfolding before them ever new avenues.

5. THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

Every person has a variety of needs which he seeks to satisfy. He cannot direct his action toward satisfaction of all his needs at one and the same time as his number of needs is large .When a person’s need with the greatest strength has been satisfied it ceases to determine his behaviour and then he directs himself toward satisfaction of another need which acquires the greatest strength.

But the question, as to which need will have the greatest strength at a given moment, remains. Different experts have advanced different theories as to the nature of human needs as also the order in which he seeks to satisfy them. The theories that explain human behaviour in terms of human needs are known as ‘content theories’ and the theories that explain how motivation occurs are known as ‘process theories’.

Important content theories are

(i)The need hierarchy theory or Abraham Maslow’s theory (ii)Two –factor or Herzberg’s theory

(iii)Achievement Motivation or McClelland’s three need theory.

Chief process theories are:

(i)The path –goal or v rooms valence expectancy theory.

(ii)The Porter – Lawler model.

5.1 Need Hierarchy theory or Abraham Maslow Theory.

The most popular and widely cited theories of motivation has been propounded by Abraham Maslow, who developed a conceptual framework for human motivation .He defined a person’s effectiveness as a function of matching man’s opportunity with the appropriate position of hierarchy of needs . The process of motivation begins with an assumption that behaviour, at least in part, is directed towards the achievement of satisfaction of needs. Maslow proposed that human needs can be arranged in particular order from the lower to the higher, that includes five types of needs which induce any man to action. The need hierarchy is as shown in figure 3.

    5.1.1 Physiological Needs

The primary needs such as food, clothing, shelter, air, water, and other bodily needs are taken as the starting point for motivation theory. Maslow ranks this need as the most strong, craving for satisfaction when all other needs or unsatisfied. Until these needs are satisfied to a degree that the body is in a condition sufficiently to operate, all activities of a person will only be at this level , and any other needs will provide little motivation for him.

5.1.2 Safety and Security needs:

Once physiological needs are satisfied, people want the assurance of maintaining a given economic level. This need is felt by people who feel threatened, either by fear or physical danger, or deprivation of basic physiological needs .They point to the need for self-preservation – like job security, personal bodily security, security of source of income, insurance against risk etc not only here and now but also in future.

5.1.3 Social needs

Man is a social being, is therefore interested in conversation, sociability, exchange of feelings and grievances, companionship, recognition, belongingness etc. This need point to a man’s urge to have meaningful companionships with fellow-beings and or concerned with the mental health of the organisms.

5.1.4 Ego or Esteem Needs

Satisfaction of esteem embrace a feeling of self – confidence, independence, achievement, competence, knowledge and success. These are also known as egoistic needs, as they are concerned with prestige and status of the individuals. They are confined with acquiring a feeling of superiority and recognition that is deserved and not just unwarranted praise. When a person fails to win recognition through constructive behaviour, he may even take destructive tactics to take recourse such as arguments over trivial issues, strikes and so on. In fact, quite a few of the problems at the social level may be traced to the fact that persons responsible for the social upheaval may not have been accorded the recognition which they consider to be their legitimate due.

5.1.5 Self actualisation needs

The final step under the need priority model is the need for self –fulfillment .It involves realising one’s potentialities for continued self –development. When all other needs are fulfilled the man has a desire for personal achievement. This gives him sense of satisfaction.

    5.2 Herzberg’s Theory of needs

This theory is also known as Two Factor theory. According to Frederick Herzberg’s man’s two dimensions and the needs which will drive him to action are Adam and Abraham. Adam or the animal nature in which the aim of human is to avoid the pain of adjustment to the environment. Abraham is one which prompts him to achieve and add to his existence.

The theory has two classes of motives, the Adam aspect of man has hygiene needs which are satisfied through salary , proper working conditions, perquisites , policies of the enterprise, supervision and so on , which is termed as extrinsic factors. The Abraham aspect of man ,called motivators corresponds to Maslow’s higher order social, ego and self –actualization needs.This is very complex needs which are concerned with his psychological growth in the organization, such as achievement , recognition, extra responsibility and opportunities for self –advancement. Herzberg terms this as intrinsic factors.

According to Herzberg, the needs are categorized as follows:

5.2.1 Extrinsic , hygiene, maintenance or job context factors are:

(i)   Company policy and administration

(ii)   Technical aspects of supervision

(iii)   Interpersonal aspects of supervision

(iv)     Interpersonal relations with peers and subordinators.

(v)   Working conditions

(vi)   Pay

(vii)   Status

(viii)   Job security

(ix)   Personal life

5.2.2 Intrinsic, job content or motivation factors are:

(i)   Achievement

(ii)   Recognition

(iii)   Responsibility

(iv)   Advancement

(v)   Growth

(vi)   Work itself

Hygienic factors such as wages, fringe benefits, physical conditions and overall company policy and administration, when at satisfactory levels prevent job dissatisfaction. Motivational factors are essential for increasing the productivity of the employees. They are also known as satisfiers and include factors as recognition, feeling of accomplishment and potential for personal growth ,responsibility and sense of job and individual importance , new experience and challenging work, etc.

Herzberg further puts forth that managers have hitherto been very much concerned with hygienic factors. This results in seeking to pay higher attention to the motivational factors in order to increase the motivation of employees. He also said that today’s motivators are tomorrow’s hygiene’s of persons when they get them. One’s hygiene may be the motivators of another.

5.3 McClelland’s three need model or achievement motivational theory

The chief proponent of the achievement motivation theory is David McClelland. This theory has its origins in clinical psychology and personality theory; its applications have also been primarily in the areas of economic development and management. This theory has identified three major relevant motives or needs that lead an individual to work.

5.3.1 The need for achievement – the desire to excel,to achieve in relation to a set of standards , and to strive in succeed.

5.3.2 The need for affiliation – the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.

5.3.3. The need for power- the desire to make others behave in a way that they would not have behaved otherwise.

5.3.1 Achievement Need

McClelland identified the following characteristics of people with a high need for achievement.

a. Moderate goals -Achievement –motivated people only tend to achieve moderately difficult, though relatively achievable goals. They do not work for impossible goals or the one that can’t be achieved too easily.

b. Indifference to reward –People who posses high achievement need are not concerned with the reward of success, instead they get satisfied with solving a problem or achieving a goal. This gives enables them to measure their performance with that of others.

c. Feedback -People who are achievement’ motivated are keen in receiving authentic information about their performance at a given task .They seek feedback as to how well they have performed the task, rather than about their personal attributes.

d.  Task- orientation-People with high achievement need have a habitual involvement with the tasks in hand. They spend their time thinking of ways and means to accomplish their jobs better

5.3.2 Affiliation need

People with need for affiliation derive satisfaction from friendship, love and belongingness. They enjoy interaction with others, seek and lend psychological support and find satisfaction in developing understanding and intimacy with others.

Need for affiliation is the root cause of informal groups in a formal structured organisation .thus ,people having common beliefs, feelings and emotions tend to get together to escape monotony , or a feeling of lack of competence.

5.3.3 Power need

Power is defined as an ability of a person to secure compliance from others , or to influence the thinking or actions or others. People with high need for power possess great desire for control and influence, and even manipulate others .It is now believed that managers have as much need for power as for achievement because they are responsible for the work of others. In the view of French and Raven, there are five bases of power

i.Reward power based on ability to reward others

ii. Coercive power – ability to punish others for non – compliance or failure

iii.Legitimate power- rational –legal authority to prescribe behaviour for others

iv. Referent power based on identification with the person exercising power and

v.Expert power based on possession of special knowledge or expertise.

Two additional bases of power have also been identified: (i) inter- nationalization where an individual accepts a directive from another person merely because its content is congruent with his own values and (ii) Positive Transference based on general deference to authority.Power need is the strongest in the people who have a feeling of real or imagined inadequacy to win respect or recognition of others .these people may often do unusual things to seek other’s attention , by way of compensation for their inferiority complex .

5.4 The path goal or Vroom’s valence or Expectancy theory

Vroom offered an expectancy approach to understand motivation. According to him a person’s motivation towards an action at any time would be determined by his anticipated values of all the outcomes of the action multiplied by the strength of that person’s expectancy that the outcomes would yield the desired goal. Hence it is expressed by

Force = Valence x expectancy

Here force is the strength of a person’s motivation, valence is the strength of an individual’s preference for an outcome or goal, and expectancy is the probability that a particular action will lead to desired outcome. This theory is based on the following assumptions:

• Individual’s make conscious decisions in a work –situation to behave in certain ways and not by others.
• Outcomes desired by different individuals are determined by their value-systems.
• Different individuals have different expectations as regards the amount of effort which is required to achieve particular outcomes.
• There are also different expectations among them as regards the probability of success in achieving desired outcomes.

The key elements of the expectancy model are effort , performance and outcome.

Effort : If a person is motivated to expend effort and if he believes that there will be reasonable likelihood that his effort would produce desired outcome, and when such outcome results in extrinsic or intrinsic rewards, he gets satisfied with his felt needs. This successwill induce him to engage similar efforts in future.

Performance: The ability or knowledge and skill and perception determines the relationship between a person’s effort and his performance with all effort , if a person do not have the ability to accomplish a task , he will not be able to perform. Similarly a wrong perception might result in misdirected effort.

( For example , in a situation where only improved team work can accomplish a task, even extraordinary effort on the part of a lone individual may not be not be any avail and it is more likely to go unrewarded)

Outcome: It signifies the desired result of one’s effort. It may lead to extrinsic rewards such as wages, appreciation and recognition by others, or intrinsic rewards such as, increased responsibility, more enjoyable and/ or challenging work. The nature of reward will directly affect satisfaction and will also determine whether it will motivate the person concerned to engage in similar effort in future.

5.5 Porter and Lawler’s Model

This model is an improvement over the valence –expectancy model porter and lawler applied their model to the study of the behaviour of managers and concluded that there exists a complex relationship between job attitudes and job performance. This model encounters some of the simplistic traditional assumptions about the positive relationship between satisfaction and performance.

Satisfaction is the function of outcomes (rewards) actually received and perceived equity of rewards. Rewards are of two types:

i.Intrinsic rewards such as challenge, recognition, accomplishment ,etc.,and

ii.Extrinsic rewards such as money, status, prestige, etc. Perceived equity of rewards is determined by what a person feels he should receive considering how much his “referent” others are receiving for doing similar kind of work.

Performance and satisfaction in turn provide feedback and affect effort and performance. The Porter –Lawler model depicts the process of motivation, performance and satisfaction, and their inter-relationships. For practicing managers it means that goals of subordinates should be of moderate difficulty and related to their abilities and skills, and reward system should be related to their dominant needs

6. MOTIVATING MANAGERS

Lot of attention has been paid to worker motivation to neglect of managerial motivation.

Arch Palton has identified motivators which are especially relevant to managers. They are:

1. Challenging work: Executives have rather strong need to utilize and develop their abilities. Their duties , responsibilities and authority should be provided continuous feedback on how well they are doing.

2. Status: It includes designations, symbols such as size of the office, furniture and fixtures, private secretary, etc .

3. The urge to Achieve leadership: This need to become a leader among one’s peers

4.Competition : this is the need for healthy competition for organizational rewards, especially promotion, status and recognition.

5. Money : This is a motivator so far as it perceived as a measure of recognition of superior performance status ,position, power, achievement, etc.

7.   SUMMARY

Due to individual differences in need patterns of the employees and because of their changing need patterns, motivating employees becomes a tricky problem. Hence managers in food service should adopt contingency approach to motivate employees. Since employee needs are to be integrated with organizational needs, the managerial approach should be situational.

REFERENCES

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