Motivation Theories

Prepared by
S.David Blessley AP/Mechanical Engg.,
Kamaraj College of Engineering & Technology,
Virudhunagar.
 Motivation

• Motivation is the process of inspiring and actuating the workers to

accomplish the objectives of an organization.
• In other words, it is defined as those forces acting within the
individual employee or subordinate which impel him to act or not to
act in certain ways
 Mcgregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
• Theory X and Y are two sets of assumptions about human behaviour
• Theory X assumptions
• Employees are fundamentally lazy
• They dislike work and whenever possible will try to avoid it
• They lack ambition and dislike responsibility
• They must be controlled, directed or threatened with punishment to achieve
objectives
• They are resistant to change and not bright
• This negative view is termed theory X and is pessimistic.
• It shows the management should be hard and strong and close supervision
and tight control over individuals
• Theory Y assumptions
• Employees like work and view work as play or rest
• Employees need not be controlled or threatened as they are committed to their
goals
• Under proper conditions, employees will accept and seek responsibility
• Employees are able to exercise imagination and creativity in the solution of
organizational problems
• The degree of commitment to objectives is in proportion to the size of the rewards
associated with their achievement
• Theory Y is optimistic, dynamic and flexible
• It also provides participative management, decentralization, delegation of
authority, self responsibility, self discipline and emphasis on satisfaction of
higher level needs
 Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs theory
The basic human needs stated by Maslow in an ascending order of
importance
• Physiological or basic needs : These are basic needs for sustaining human
life itself such as food, water, dress, shelter and sleep. Maslow was of the
opinion that until these needs are satisfied or fulfilled to the degree
needed to maintain life other needs will not motivate people.
• Security or safety needs : People want to be free of physical danger and
of the fear of losing a job, property, accidents, fire etc., People want to
keep the basic needs to get continuously without any interruption , this
aspect is considered as safety or security needs
social needs : it represents the need to love and to be loved. It includes affection,
friendship, affiliation and status within a group. When employees psychological and social
needs are satifisfied, social needs become important
Esteem needs : Once people begin to satisfy their need to belong, they tend to want to be
held esteem both by themselves and by others. This kind of need produces such
satisfaction as power, prestige, status.
Need for self actualization : This is the highest need in hierarchy. This is the need for self
fulfillment. It involves realizing one’s own potentials for continued self development and
self fulfillment. It is a personal achievement and provides more satisfaction to a person
 Hertzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory
• Hertzberg in his research, asked 200 engineers and accountants to recall what they had
experienced satisfactory and unsatisfactory feelings about their jobs.
• His team come to a conclusion that certain factors tend to lead job satisfaction,
whereas others lead to dissatisfaction. The factors giving rise to satisfaction were called
motivators and those give rise to dissatisfaction were called hygiene factors
• The most common motivators are
• Achievement • Personal growth
• Recognition • Challenging work
• Advancement
• The most common hygiene factors or dissatisfiers are
• Salary • Job security
• Working conditions • Status
• Company policy and administration • Impersonal relations-supervision
According to Hertzberg, when motivation factors are present, it causes satisfaction and when
they are not Present people feel no satisfaction but not dissatisfaction. When hygeine factors
are present, it leads dissatisfaction. But if it is not present people feel no dissatisfaction.
 Mccleland’s Needs theory of motivation
• Mccleland classified motivating needs into three basic needs. They are
• Need for power
• Need for affiliation
• Need for achievement
• Need for power
• People with a high need for power have a great concern and exercising influence and control
over others
• Such people have the desire to dominate others, responsible for others and to hold authority
over them.
• Generally they like leadership, they are good conversationalist, argumentative, force ful,
outspoken etc.,
• Need for affiliation
• People with high affiliation give importance to interpersonal relationships and they have the
desire to maintain warm relationships with others
• They want to be loved by others and they tend to avoid the pain of being rejected by a social
group
• They respect the feelings of others and are ready to help others in trouble and enjoy friendly
interactions with others
• Need for achievement
• People with high need for achievement have an intense desire for success and an
equally intense fear of failure. They have the desire to accomplish difficult tasks, to
solve difficult problems, to do things more efficiently
• Such people are goal oriented, seek a challenge and desire feedback in their
performance. They tend to be restless like to work long hours and tend to like to run
their own shows.
 Vroom’s Expectancy theory of motivation
• According to Vroom, people will be motivated to do things to reach a goal if they believe in
the worth of the goal.
• Expectancy: it is the perception that a particular action will produce a particular outcome
• Instrumentality: it is the perception that an individual receives desired rewards for an
effective performance
• Valence: it is the perception that attractive rewards are potentially available eg. Salary
• According to Vroom, the three factors Expectancy, Instrumentality and Valence combine
together to create a driving force which make an individual to put effort to achieve their
goal and to obtain reward
• Motivation force = Expectancy x valence
• Rewards may be put into two categories (i) Intrinsic (ii) Extrinsic
• Intrinsic rewards are those gained from higher level needs like self esteem and personal
growth. Extrinsic needs are provided by the organization such as pay, promotion and
working conditions
 Equity theory
• People make comparison between themselves and others in terms of what they invest
and what they earn
• Input factors are effort, experience and education. Outcomes are rewards
• According to equity theory,
ℎ
=
ℎ
• This theory states that when people are inequally rewarded, they experience
dissatisfaction. As a result, they change their inputs, perception, or quit the job
• If people are equally judged, their motivation level will not be affected
• It people perceive that the rewards are greater then equitable, then they are motivated to
do work
 Skinner’s Behaviouralist-Reinforcement model
• Skinner’s theory explains the distinction between reinforcement and
punishment. Reinforcement may be positive or negative
• Positive reinforcement means rewarding the desired behaviour like pay,
promotion etc., and the negative reinforcement means removal of
unpleasant situation in the work place thereby getting the desired
behaviour
• Punishment on the other hand, produces negative results. Manager must
avoid punishing in order to attain desired performance
• This theory is not concerned with motivation but it concentrates with the
control of behaviour.
 Alderfer’s ERG theory
(Satisfaction-progression & Frustration-Regression)
• The need in ERG theory is of three types
• Existence needs
• Relatedness needs
• Growth needs
• Existence needs
• These are the desires for food, shelter, pay, working environment etc., this is similar to maslow’s
physiological and safety needs
• Relatedness needs
• These are the desires to establish interpersonal relationships with friends, supervisors, subordinates
and co-workers. This is similar to Maslow’s social needs
• Growth needs
• They are the desires to be creative, to make important contributions and to have opportunities for
personal development. They are similar to maslow’s esteem and self actualization needs
• This theory states that employees are frustrated because the job does not provide a
creative outlet and regret to pursue activities that satisfy his relatedness needs. When a
employee is given a opportunity to develop new creative skills, he will be satisfied and
progress towards higher level needs
 Motivation Techniques
• Incentives
• Non monetary incentives
• Participation in management
• Quality of working life
• Modified work schedule
• Job enrichment