18 Motivation: Content theories
Dr. Pooja Mehta
- Learning Outcome
- Introduction
- Meaning and Definitions of Motivation
- Importance of Motivation
- Classification of theories of Motivation
- Content theories
- Summary
1. Learning Outcome:
- After completing this module the students will be able to: Understand the concept of motivation.
- Describe the importance of motivation in an organisational context. Comprehend the content theories of motivation.
- Critically evaluate advantages and disadvantages of content theories of motivation
2. Introduction
Performance of every individual depends upon hisr ability to do work and level of motivation. In other words we can say that both of these factors largely influence efficiency of individuals. Without motivation, performance of even a highly competent employee will be very low. It also means that motivation is an utmost important factor that encourages individuals to give their best efforts and reach to their personal as well as organisational goals. A strong positive motivation will always facilitate an employee to increase his abilities, performance and output, whereas a negative motivation will lead to decreased level of performance. Therefore, in order to optimally utilise human resources of the organisation and to retain the same in an organisation, management should make all possible efforts to motivate its employees. The motivated employees always prove an invaluable asset to the organisation as motivated employees always tend to maximise their contribution in achievement of organisational goals and perform beyond their role profile.
3. Meaning and Definitions of Motivation
The word motivation is derived from the Latin word which means ‘to move’. Motivation is a psychological phenomenon which generates within an individual an urge to act in a certain manner. If an individual has some unfulfilled need, he will always be motivated to work more in order to satisfy the same. The behaviour of such individual will always be directed towards achievement of his needs. The process of motivation has three key elements viz: Intensity, direction and persistence. An individual’s motivation towards his goal is explained by his intensity, direction and persistence of efforts towards his goal. The following equation can describe this phenomenon.
Motivation=Intensity*Direction*Persistence of efforts
Intensity is how strongly we put efforts to achieve our goal.
Direction in which efforts of an individual are directed determine how well an individual will perform. Efforts of an individual should always be directed in a direction which is beneficial.
Persistence is for how long an individual keep on working hard to achieve his goals.
The above discussion explains that the process of motivation starts with a need deficiency, which activates behaviour of an individual towards achievement of the goal or need. Following definitions of motivation will further elaborate the process of motivation:
According to Dublin, “Motivation is the complex of forces starting and keeping a person at work in an organisation.”
According to Berelson and Steiner, “A Motivation is an inner state that energizes, activates or moves and directs or channels behaviour goals”.
From the above definitions, following inferences about the motivation can be drawn:
Motivation is inner feeling which energizes a person to work more.
Unfulfilled needs or desires of an individual prompt him to do a particular task. A person always strives to fulfil his unsatisfied needs.
4. Importance of Motivation
The importance of the concept of motivation in an organisational context is explained by following points:
a) Motivated employees always search for better and novel ways of doing their tasks. When employees seek new ways of doings the things, they usually find them.
b) Motivated employees are more conscious for quality of their work. Such employees contribute a lot in building image of the company amongst the customers as well as society.
c) Motivated employees are more productive than others.
d) All organisations need human resources in addition to non human resources in order to achieve their goals. The concept of motivation is catching attention because it not only motivates the employees perform better and go beyond their profile, but also help in retaining them.
e) Motivation is a highly complex phenomenon which is affected by and affects multiple factors in an organisational context. In order to understand why people behave in a certain manner in an organisation, understanding the concept of motivation is very necessary.
5. Classification of Theories of Motivation
From the very initial stages, when organisations were established, various psychologists had tried to search out the answer to one question: What motivates the people? F.W. Taylor in his concept of Scientific Management advocated that individuals were primarily concerned with satisfaction of their basic needs viz. need for food, shelter, water and air. Therefore, their prime focus was on economic gains to satisfy their basic needs. Theorists of scientific management linked performance of individuals with monetary rewards and incentive gains. Thus, this theory focused on external motivation and pointed out that external motivation is sufficient to encourage an individual to satisfy their basic needs. But, this theory did not take into account the work climate, job situation and other factors related to the job of an individual. Since then, many researchers and academicians have been trying to find out what motivates the people? An in depth examination of theories will help us understand the concept of motivation in better way. All theories of motivation can be classified into two broad categories:
a) Content theories
b) Process theories
In this module we will study content theories of motivation in the following section
6. Content Theories of Motivation
Content theories attempt to describe the basic needs and drives that motivate an individual to work more and better. These theories explain the linkage between human needs and their work related behaviours. The content theories postulate that:
The above figure elaborates that unsatisfied individual needs creates urge in the individuals to perform better to fulfil their needs. Theorists of content theories suggest that unsatisfied needs activate behaviour towards achievement of goals. Monetary rewards and incentive schemes can be used in organisation as a motivational tool to activate individual needs and to motivate the employees. Maslow’s need hierarchy theory, Herzberg’s two factor theory, Alderfer’s ERG theory, McClelland’s achievement theory are classified as content theories.
6.1 Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory
Abraham Maslow’s Need Hierarchy theory of motivation is the most common and simplest theory of motivation. Maslow in his theory summarised that:
a) Every human being has a different set of needs and unsatisfied needs act as strong motivators.
b) As every individual has many needs, they are arranged in the order of their importance starting from most basic need to most complex needs.
c) The individual moves to the advanced level need only when the basic need is satisfied. If basics needs are not satisfied, the higher level needs will be postponed.
d) There are five basic needs and human beings tend to satisfy them in the order of their hierarchy.
e) A satisfied need does not act as a motivator, only unsatisfied need continue to motivate a human being.
f) Physiological and safety needs are finite in nature but higher level needs are infinite in nature.
g) Various levels of needs are overlapping.
Hierarchy of Maslow’s needs is shown in the following figure:
1) Physiological needs: These needs include the most basic and obvious needs for survival of human beings. These are the most powerful needs which motivate an individual till they are satisfied. The need for food, water, oxygen, sleep, shelter, air etc may be categorised as physiological needs. This category of needs represent the need for basic necessities of life which are indispensible for the biological maintenance of a human being. If any of these physiological needs is unsatisfied, the individual will primarily strive to satisfy that particular need and will forget about other higher level needs. For example, a hungry person will never seek any luxury of life or dream of building a new world until his need for food is fulfilled. In the organisational context, employees’ need for salary and basic working conditions represent his physiological needs.
2) Safety needs: Safety needs are next in the hierarchy of needs given by Abraham maslow. Once the basic needs of an individual are satisfied, he will strive for fulfilment of second level of needs which are popularly known as safety or security needs. Safety needs here emphasise upon an assurance of continuity of job, security of source of income, provision for old age, insurance, prediction of environmental factors surrounding an individual etc. In an organisational context, safety needs are represented by job security, salary hike, safe working conditions and unionisation etc.
3) Social needs: Social needs are at the third level of need hierarchy. When physiological and safety needs of a human being are met, he starts putting efforts to satisfy his social needs. These needs represent the need for love, affection, friendship, membership in groups, social acceptance etc. In an organisational context, social needs are fulfilled by participation in a work group, team and friendly supervision etc.
4) Self-esteem needs: Fourth level of need hierarchy is called self esteem needs. These needs are concerned with self respect, self confidence, recognition, appreciation, prestige, power etc. These needs give a sense of self worth and ego satisfaction. In an organisational context, esteem needs are satisfied by job title, recognition by leader, challenging work, responsibility, performance feedback and participation in decision making etc.
5) Self-actualisation needs: At the top of the hierarchy of needs is need for self actualisation. These needs represent the need to be what a person is capable of becoming. This need constitute an individuals’ mission of his life. An individual who has satisfied all levels of his needs tries to fully utilise his talent, potential, skills and capacities. This need signifies a person’s desire of personal achievement. The sense of personal achievement leads to sense of psychological satisfaction. In an organisational context, self actualisation needs are categorised as need to excel in one’s job and career, successfully managing a unit etc.
6.1.1 Critical analysis of Maslow’s theory:
Maslow’s need hierarchy theory was widely accepted on following grounds:
a) This theory is very simple and easy to understand.
b) It helps the managers in understanding how to motivate their employees. This model helps the managers to identify varied needs of employees, recognising the fact that the every individual has different needs and thereby offering rewards to satisfy particular needs.
c) This theory helps in explaining inter personal and intra personal variations in human behaviour. The theory suggests that human behaviour changes with change of needs.
d) This model postulates that motivation is a completely dynamic phenomenon, changing from one level of needs to another level.
Despite of its simplicity and other advantages, maslow’s theory was criticised on following grounds:
a) Some researchers have proved that there is no hierarchy of needs as suggested by Maslow. Some people may be deprived of lower level needs but may be motivated for higher level needs. Mahatma Gandhi is a renowned example of this. Likewise, the people who are motivated for higher order needs cannot forget about their need for food.
b) Assuming that the hierarchy of needs exists, the hierarchy is different in different countries. Not only in different countries, but the hierarchy is different amongst the people with in a country itself.
c) Need and satisfaction of need is purely a psychological phenomenon and some people especially illiterate people may not be aware about their needs.
d) The theory is also criticised on the grounds that managers will never find enough time to leisurely diagnose the level of need of every employee of their organisations.
6.2 Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory
Fredrick Herzberg established the motivation-hygiene theory which is popularly known as two factor theory of motivation. In late 1950s and early 1960s Herzberg and his associates conducted a survey of 200 engineers and accountants. Critical incident method was used for collecting the data. The respondents were asked two questions: 1) when did you feel good about your job 2) when did you feel bad about your job. The responses revealed that factors which made employees feel good were entirely different from the factors which made the employees feel bad. Herzberg concluded that there are certain factors which tend to provide satisfaction to the employees and on the other hand there are certain factors which are related to job dissatisfaction. He categorised these factors into two categories:
a) Maintenance or Hygiene factors
b) Motivational factors
These factors are shown in the following figure:
a) Hygiene factors: Hygiene factors or maintenance factors do not motivate people, they just prevent job dissatisfaction. If these factors are not there on the job, they will lead to the sense of dissatisfaction amongst the employees, but on the other hand their presence will not satisfy them. In other words, it can be said as these factors don’t act as a motivator. They don’t provide any motivation to the employees but eliminate dissatisfaction. These factors are also known as dissatisfiers, maintenance factors, job context factors or extrinsic factors.
b) Motivational factors: These factors are intrinsic factors. These factors are related to job satisfaction and are known as motivators, satisfiers, intrinsic factors, job content factors. These factors provide a sense of satisfaction among the employees and increase the level of performance by motivating them. Any increase in these factors lead to increase in the level of satisfaction and motivation among the employees.
According to Herzberg, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not opposite poles of same dimensions but they are two separate dimensions. Satisfaction is the result of motivators and dissatisfaction is the result of hygiene factors. To motivate the employees, managers must take into account both hygiene and motivational factors. Hygiene factors will reduce the sense of dissatisfaction amongst the employees and motivational factors will provide the sense of satisfaction to the employees. The following figure presents the contrasting views of satisfaction and dissatisfaction as explained by Herzberg.
6.2.1 Critical analysis of Herzberg’s theory:
This theory was appreciated on the grounds that this theory draws attention towards the job factors which are usually overlooked when it comes to motivate the employees. However, the theory was criticised on the following grounds:
a) The methodology followed by Herzberg for carrying out survey was limited to engineers and accountants only.
b) Moreover, respondents were asked to narrate the factors which they like about the job and which they dislike about the job, and it is a common practice that when things go well people take credit of it and on the other hand they put blame on extrinsic factors for their failure.
c) The theory largely provides the explanation of the job satisfaction. It is not really a theory of motivation.
d) This theory did not take into consideration the impact of situational variables.
e) The two factors given by Herzberg: hygiene and motivational factors are not actually distinct. They both contribute to job satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
Comparison between Maslow’s and Herzberg’s theories of motivation
6.3 Alderfer’s ERG Theory
On the lines of Maslow’s need hierarchy theory, Clayton Alderfer gave ERG theory of motivation. Alderfer’s theory was revised version of Malsow’s theory, as he condensed the five needs given by Maslow into three needs. The E, R and G of ERG theory stand for existence, relatedness and growth. These are the three sets of needs defined by Alderfer.
a) Existence needs: These needs represent the basic needs of human beings for their existence and survival. This set of needs combine the physiological and safety needs of Maslow’s hierarchy model.
b) Relatedness needs: Relatedness needs are comprised of social and self-esteem needs of Malsow’s hierarchy model. These needs represent the desire of human beings to maintain interpersonal relations and social interactions.
c) Growth needs: These needs are similar to Malsow’s self-actualisation needs. These needs represent an individual’s intrinsic desire for personal development, achievement and utilising one’s full potential in the existing work environment.
Apart from the above discussed similarities between Maslow’s theory and Alderfer’s theory,
Alderfer’s theory was different from Maslow’s theory in following aspects:
a) Instead of five levels of needs, Alderfer gave only three sets of needs.
b) Maslow’s theory advocated the rigid and step by step progression of needs. Whereas Alderfer’s theory assumed that more than one need may be operative at the same time.
c) Maslow assumed that an individual will move to the next level of needs only when the previous needs are fully satisfied. Whereas, Alderfer counters that when a higher level need is frustrated, individual’s desire to increase lower level need takes place. In other words, we can say that if an individual is not able satisfy the higher level of need, he will increase his desire and efforts to increase his previous level need. For example, an individual who is not able to fulfil his social needs will increase his desire for money. This way Alderfer gave a Frustration-Regression dimension.
6.3.1 Critical analysis of Alderfer’s theory:
This theory was appreciated because Alderfer’s theory was consistent with the fact that every individual is different from each other and therefore their needs are also unique. Variables like age, education, family background, cultural context may influence one’s needs and how much importance an individual give to one set of needs. Despite of this appreciation, this theory was criticised on the grounds that this theory does not provide clear cut guidelines and assumed that an individual may satisfy any of the three needs first. Therefore, this theory does not guide about how we will determine that which of the three needs is more important for a person.
6.4 McClelland’s Achievement-Motivation theory
David C. McClelland and his associates gave three sets of needs that motivate human behaviour. McClelland assumed that every individual has all three needs, but the degree to which these needs motivate an individual vary from individual to individual. The three needs are discussed as follows:
a) Need for Achievement (nAch): This set of needs represent the desire to excel, achieve given set of standards and become successful. Employees with a high need for achievement derive maximum satisfaction from the success and goal achievement. McClelland provided that need for achievement can be developed in the employees:
i. By providing them proper feedback about their performance. This will help them in correcting their performance.
ii. By giving them opportunity to pursue challenging tasks and responsibilities. Avoid the tasks which are extremely difficult or easy.
iii. By offering moderate degree of control to the employees, so that they may control their imaginations. They must be trained about how to think realistically and positively regarding goal accomplishment.
b) Need for Power (nPow): This need represent an individual’s desire to for power and mould other’s behaviour as per one’s own wish. The employees who have high need for power derive satisfaction from being in the positions of influence and control.
c) Need for affiliation (nAff): This is the desire to maintain friendly interpersonal relationships. The people who have high need for affiliation gain satisfaction from participating more in social and interpersonal activities.
6.4.1 Critical analysis of McClelland’s theory:
McClelland’s theory was appreciated because it highlighted the importance of matching the individual needs with job variables. Employees with high need for achievement seek the tasks which are challenging, satisfying, stimulating and more complex. Employees with low need for achievement prefer the tasks which offer stability, security and predictability.
7. Summary
Motivation is a psychological phenomenon which generates within an individual an urge to act in a certain manner. If an individual has some unfulfilled need, he/she will always be motivated to work more in order to satisfy the same. The behaviour of such individual will always be directed towards achievement of his needs. Motivation is an important concept of individual behaviour which is receiving considerable attention from academicians, researchers and managers. More attention is paid to motivation because motivated employees are more productive, quality conscious and adopt the any new technology easily and faster. The concept of motivation can be better understood by theories of motivation. Among the content theories most common theories are Malsow’s need hierarchy theory, Herzberg’s two factor theory, Alderfer’s ERG theory and McClelland’s achievement theory. Maslow suggested that there are five sets of needs which are arranged in the order of their importance starting from most basic need to most complex needs. Herzberg categorised factors influencing motivation of an individual into two categories: Maintenance or Hygiene factors and Motivational factors. Alderfer condensed the five needs given by Maslow into three needs: need for existence, relatedness and growth. McClelland gave three sets of needs that motivate human behaviour: need for achievement, need for power and need for affiliation. He highlighted the importance of matching the individual needs with job variables.
Learn More:
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