07-08-2012, 04:20 PM
MEANING OF MOTIVATION
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INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC
MEANING OF MOTIVATION
The term motivation has been derived from the word ‘motive’. Motive may be defined as an inner state of or mind that activates and directs our behavior. It makes us move to act. It is always internal to us and is externalized via our behavior. Motivation is one’s willingness to exert efforts towards the accomplishment of an individual’s goal.
DEFINITION OF MOTIVATION
Fred Luthans: “A process that starts with a physiological or psychological deficiency or need that activates behavior or a drive that is aimed at a goal or incentive.”
Stephen P. Robbins: “Motivation is the willingness to exert high levels of efforts toward organizational goals, conditioned by the effort ability to satisfy some individual need.”
Gray and Starke: “Motivation is the result of process, internal or external to the individual that arouses enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a certain course of action.
MOTIVATION CYCLE OR PROCESS
Motivation is a process or cycle aimed at accomplishing some goals. The basic elements included in the process are motives, goals and behavior.
Herzberg’s Motivation Hygiene Theory
The psychologist Frederic Herzberg extended the work of Maslow and proposed a new motivation theory popularly known as Herzberg’s Motivation Hygiene [Two Factors] Theory. Herzberg conducted a widely reported motivational study on 200 accountants and engineers employed by firms in and around Western Pennsylvania. He asked these people to describe two important incidents at their jobs: [1] When did you feel particularly good about your job and [2] when did you feel exceptionally bad about your job? He used the critical incident method of obtaining data.
The responses when analyzed were found quite interesting and fairly consistent. The replies respondents gave when they felt good about their jobs were significantly different from the replies given when they felt bad. Reported good feelings were generally associated with job satisfaction, whereas bad feeling with job dissatisfaction. Herzberg labeled the job satisfiers motivators, and he called job dissatisfies hygiene or maintenance factors. Taken together, the motivators and hygiene factors have become known as Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation.
McClelland Need Theory
McClelland developed his theory based on Henry Murray’s developed long list of motives and manifest needs used in his early studies of personality. McClelland’s need-theory is closely associated with learning theory, because he believed that needs are learned or acquired by the kinds of events people experienced in their environment and culture. He found that people who acquire a particular need behave differently from those who do not have. His theory focuses on Murray’s three needs; achievement, power and affiliation.
a. Need for Achievement: This is the drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standard, and to strive to succeed. In other words, need for achievement is a behavior directed towards competition with a standard of excellence. McClelland found that people with a high need for achievement perform better than those with a moderate or low need for achievement, and noted regional/ national differences in achievement motivation.