Theories of Motivation

Subject- Organizational Behaviour

(MHA Sem I)

Presented by-
- Aatmaram Bansode
- Babita Mitra
- Smita Disale
 Employee motivation:
Employee motivation is defined as the enthusiasm, energy
level, commitment and the amount of creativity that an
employee brings to the organization.

 Motivation theories:
These are theories of understanding what drives a person
to work towards a particular goal or outcome in business
and management.
We can use employee motivation theories to increase
productivity of employees.

• Herzberg’s theory
• Reinforcement theory
 Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory:

• Frederick Herzberg developed motivation-hygiene theory to understand the

factors affecting satisfaction or dissatisfaction in a work environment.
• It is one of the Content theories as it emphasizes on the idea that motivation
depends upon the individual needs.
• Factors affecting employees have been classified as motivators and hygiene
factors.

Hygiene Factors:
• These are also known as extrinsic factors, and these are the basic factors in a
job
• Although, they may not provide positive satisfaction, but absence of these
factors lead to dissatisfaction.
• Examples- job security, salary, fair organization policies, good compensation
and fringe benefits
Motivators:
• These factors are internal to the jobs that provide satisfaction.
• These are called intrinsic factors.
• Absence of these factors may not to yield to dissatisfaction but them
presence in a job give a sense of satisfaction.
Examples of motivators are job challenge, advancement, autonomy,
responsibility, rewards, recognition, etc.
Application of Herzberg's theory:
• Employees should be promoted after completing certain stages of their
career
• They should receive recognition for special achievements when they
produce exceptional results in their subject areas
• They should also be given responsibility to determine how to handle tasks
that relate to their jobs
• Here, there are Four states organization can find themselves in:
• High hygiene and high motivation
• High hygiene and low motivation
• Low hygiene and high motivation
• Low hygiene and low motivation
Limitation of the Herzberg’s theory:
• It fails to distinguish between physical and psychological
aspects and to precisely explain what motivators are and how
they differ from hygiene factors
• It also fails to express the degrees of satisfaction and
dissatisfaction as a measure instead of using numbers.
• Another criticism leveled against it is that it makes
assumptions that every individual will react in the same way
in the similar situation.
• There is no objective way to measure employee satisfaction within
the theory.
• Two Factor Theory is subject to bias. For example, when an
employee is satisfied, they will give themselves credit for that
satisfaction. Conversely, when they are dissatisfied, they will blame
external factors.
• Despite these limitations, Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory is
acceptable broadly.
 Reinforcement Theory:
• The Reinforcement Theory of Motivation was developed by B. F.
Skinner, an American psychologist
• Reinforcement Theory tries to explain what motivates good and bad
behavior in the workplace.
• It also gives us a mechanism to influence the behavior of our team using
what the theory refers to as reinforcement, punishment or extinction.
• The theory is based upon “law of effect” which means an individual
tends to repeat behaviour which is rewarded while the behaviour which
gives punishment is not repeated.
• They learn from the past and thus develop patterns of behaviour to
regulate the future consequences.
Application of Reinforcement Theory:
• The managers focus on positive rewards to elicit desirable behaviour
• There can be four factors that can be used as reinforcements.
1.Positive reinforcement
2.Negative reinforcement.
3.Punishment.
4.Extinction.

1. Positive reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is a reward you give to an employee when they
exhibit desirable behavior.
2. Negative reinforcement
Here, an employee is rewarded for desirable behavior by having
something unpleasant removed.
3. Punishment
Punishment happens when you use negative consequences
in the workplace to deter or stop team members from
undesirable behavior.
4. Extinction
Extinction refers to stopping someone’s learned behavior.
Limitations of Reinforcement Theory:

• Ignores workers individual problems-

The biggest disadvantage of reinforcement theory of motivation is that it
does not consider the worker’s reasons for their positive or negative
behavior rather it focuses only on the factors.
• Curbs creativity of employees-
Workers will be concentrating more on achieving the positive consequences
and avoiding negative consequences, it can curb their creativity.
• Forced motivation-
It can lead to forceful motivation of workers rather than creating that
environment where workers feel self-motivated to work efficiently and
effectively
References:

• International Journal of Innovation and Economic Development

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.18775/ijied.1849-7551-7020.2015.33.2004
Volume 3- Theories of Motivation and Their Application in
Organizations: A Risk Analysis

• Hospital Administration- DC Joshi, Mamta Joshi

• CBSE XII Business Studies, Unit 5- Motivation

Thank you!