MOTIVATION

ENGR. YOSHIKI B. KURATA, CIE, AAE, MSc.IE, CLSSGB

Course Instructor
Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, students are expected to answer:

▪ What is motivation?
▪ Compare and contrast the:
▪ Early theories of motivation
▪ Contemporary theories of motivation
▪ Discuss current issues in motivation.
▪ Some suggestions for motivating employees.
What is Motivation?
- The processes that account for an individual’s willingness to exert high
levels of effort to reach organizational goals, conditioned by the effort’s
ability to satisfy some individual need.

- Refers to the process by which a person’s efforts are energized,

directed, and sustained toward attaining a goal.

- Motivation works best when individual needs are compatible with

organizational goals.
What is Motivation?
Three (3) elements in the definition:

▪ Effort: a measure of intensity or drive

▪ Direction: toward organizational goals
▪ Need: personalized reason to exert effort
(persistence – putting forth effort to achieve the goals)
Motivation
The Motivation Process
Early Theories of Motivation

Early Theories of Motivation:

1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

2. McGregor’s Theory X & Theory Y
3. Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
4. Three-Needs Theory
Early Theories of Motivation
I. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
- is probably the best known theory of motivation.
- Within every person, needs were categorized
into five levels.
● Individuals must satisfy lower-order needs before
they can satisfy higher order needs
● Satisfied needs will no longer motivate
● Motivating a person depends on knowing at
what level that person is on the hierarchy
- Hierarchy of needs as follows:
● Lower-order (external): physiological, safety
●Higher-order (internal): social, esteem, self-actualization
Early Theories of Motivation

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

Source: Abraham H. Maslow, Robert D. Frager, Robert D., and James Fadiman, Motivation and
Personality, 3rd Edition, © 1987. Adapted by permission of
Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Early Theories of Motivation
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Five Human Needs:

1. Physiological - food, drink, shelter, sex, and other physical

requirements
2. Safety - security & protection from physical and emotional
harm, as well as assurance that physical needs will continue
to be met
3. Social - affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship.
4. Esteem – internal esteem factors such as self-respect,
autonomy, achievement & external esteem factors such as sta
tus, recognition, & attention.
5. Self-actualization - growth, achieving one’s potential,
self-fulfillment; the drive to become what one is capable of
becoming.
Early Theories of Motivation
II. McGregor’s Theory X & Theory Y
- Douglas McGregor is best known for proposing two
assumptions about human nature:
Theory X - is a negative view of people that assumes
employees have little ambition, dislike work, avoid
responsibility, and needs close supervision to work
effectively.
Theory Y - is a positive view that assumes employees
enjoy work, seek out and accept responsibility, and
exercise self-direction.
- Motivation is maximized by participative decision making,
interesting jobs, & good group relations
Early Theories of Motivation
II. McGregor’s Theory X & Theory Y
- There are 2 types of motivators:
● extrinsic motivators – factors that are external to the
individual
● intrinsic motivators – factors that are internal
- Another way of looking at the X and Y theories:
● Theory X assumes that lower-order needs (Maslow’s)
dominate individuals
● Theory Y assumes that higher order needs dominate.
Early Theories of Motivation

III. Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

- also called motivation-hygiene theory
- Job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are created
by different factors:
● Hygiene factors: extrinsic (environmental) factors that create
job dissatisfaction
● Motivators: intrinsic (psychological) factors that create job
satisfaction
- Attempted to explain why job satisfaction does not
result in increased performance
● No satisfaction - opposite of satisfaction (not dissatisfaction)
● It suggests that intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction
and motivation, and extrinsic factors are associated with
job dissatisfaction
Early Theories of Motivation
Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

Source: Based on F. Herzberg, B. Mausner, and B. B. Snyderman, The Motivation to Work

(New York: John Wiley, 1959).
Early Theories of Motivation
IV. Three-Needs Theory

- David McClelland and his associates proposed the

three-needs theory, which says there are three acquired
(not innate) needs that are major motives in work:
● need for achievement (nAch) - which is the drive to
succeed and excel in relation to a set of standards.
● need for power (nPow) - which is the need to make
others behave in a way that they would not have behaved
otherwise.
● need for affiliation (nAff) - which is the desire for
friendly & close interpersonal relationships
Contemporary Theories

Contemporary Theories of Motivation:

1. Goal-setting theory
2. Reinforcement theory
3. Job design theory
4. Equity theory
5. Expectancy theory
Contemporary Theories
I. Goal Setting Theory:
- Says that specific goals increase performance and that
difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher
performance than do easy goals.
● working toward a goal is a major source of job
motivation, studies on goal setting have demonstrated that
specific and challenging goals are superior motivating
forces.
● goal-setting theory says that motivation is maximized
by difficult goals, whereas achievement motivation is
stimulated by moderately challenging goals.
Contemporary Theories
Goal Setting Theory:
Contemporary Theories
V. Expectancy Theory
- states that an individual tends to act in a certain way
based on the expectation that the act will be followed by
a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that
outcome to the individual.
- Key to the theory is understanding & managing employee
goals and the linkages among and between effort,
performance, and rewards
● Effort: employee abilities and training/development
● Performance: valid appraisal systems
● Rewards (goals): understanding employee needs
Contemporary Issues
Simplified Expectancy Model:
Contemporary Issues

Expectancy Variables or Relationships:

1. Expectancy (effort-performance linkage)

- the perceived probability that an individual’s effort will
result in a certain level of performance.
2. Instrumentality
- the perception that a particular level of performance will
result in attaining a desired outcome (reward).
3. Valence
- the attractiveness/importance of the performance reward
(outcome) to the individual.
Contemporary Issues
Increasing Motivation:
Current Issues in Motivation

1. Cross-cultural Challenges
- Motivational programs are most applicable in cultures
where individualism and quality of life are cultural
characteristics.
▪ Uncertainty avoidance of some cultures inverts
Maslow’s needs hierarchy.
▪ The need for achievement (nAch) is lacking in other
cultures.
▪ Collectivist cultures view rewards as “entitlements”
to be distributed based on individual needs, not
individual performance.
Current Issues in Motivation

2. Cross-cultural Consistencies
- Interesting work is widely desired, as is growth,
achievement, and responsibility.

3. Motivating Unique Groups of Workers

- Motivating a diverse workforce through flexibility.
● Men desire more autonomy than do women
● Women desire learning opportunities, flexible work schedules,
and good interpersonal relations
Current Issues in Motivation
Snapshots of Cultural Differences in Motivation
(According to Studies):
Current Issues in Motivation
5. Motivating Professionals

. - Characteristics of professionals
● Strong and long-term commitment to their field of
expertise.
● Loyalty is to their profession, not to the employer.
● Have the need to regularly update their knowledge.
● Don’t define their workweek as 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.

- Motivators for professionals

● Job challenge
● Organizational support of their work
From Theory to Practice
Suggestions for Motivating Employees:
● Recognize individual differences in terms of needs,
attitudes, personality, and other important
individual factors.
● Match people to jobs by identifying what needs
are important to individuals and trying to
provide jobs that allow them to fulfill those
needs.
● Individualize rewards. Because employees have
different needs, what is a reward and
reinforcer to one may not work for another.
From Theory to Practice
Suggestions for Motivating Employees:
● Link rewards to performance by making rewards
contingent on desired levels of performance.
● Check the system for equity. Employees should
perceive that the rewards or outcomes are
equal to the inputs given.
● Use recognition. Using recognition is a powerful,
yet low-cost means to reward employees.
● Don’t ignore money. The allocation of
performance-based increases, piecework
bonuses, and other pay incentives is
important in determining employee
motivation.
From Theory to Practice
Suggestions for Motivating Employees:
From Theory to Practice
Basic Principles to Remember in Motivation:
● Motivating employees starts with motivating
yourself
● Always work to align goals of the organization with
goals of employees
● Key to supporting the motivation of your employees
is understanding what motivates each of them
● Recognize that supporting employee motivation
is a process, not a task
● Support employee motivation by using
organizational systems (for example, policies
and procedures) -- don't just count on good
intentions