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Motivation Assignment

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 Motivation Assignment
Andria Biggs 50027930
MGT 585-01W

Being a more mature student, I have had plenty of opportunities to witness many

different types of motivation in my career. I have received and rewarded many different types of
motivators, throughout a myriad of situations. I have found that, much like leadership styles,

there is not necessarily a “right” or “wrong” motivational theory. Rather there are many

different motivation techniques and tools whose use and effectiveness are highly situational.

The effectiveness of motivation techniques can be dependent on many factors such as the

type of organization or job purpose, what goal the motivation technique intends to accomplish,

the person who is receiving the motivator, and the person who is offering it. Other

administrative factors, such as budget, equity, and human resources can also have a bearing on

the types of motivators used in an organization.

So let’s look closer at some of the different motivation theories, examples, why, and

under what circumstances they are effective. First, we’ll start with one of the forefathers of

motivation theory, Abraham Maslow and his Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow 1943). While

Maslow’s Need Theory contains broad categories and assumes the fulfillment of one need at a

time, it nonetheless still bears out in its basic theory even today.

Maslow’s first need is Physiological, the need for food, water, and shelter. People are

motivated because they have to survive. They go to work to pay their bills. The very basis of

this need could be addressed by ensuring the organization pays a living wage. There isn’t a need

for an excessively high wage at this stage as the need is only concerned with providing basic

living conditions. There are, however, other ways to utilize Maslow’s first need motivation other

than money. For example, one motivator that I have learned is very valuable to help sustain this

lower order need, is food. Think, when the company has a luncheon, snacks, donuts in the break

room, employees always show up and usually in a good mood. Food is such a primary

sustainability need, that the receiving of it brings a sense of comfort and happiness to the

receiver.
 While Maslow doesn’t allow for concurrent need fulfillment, you can see how this simple

act can also provide some measure of Maslow’s middle-order fulfillment, Safety, as well. Yes,

food can also represent safety. Sadly, we are all familiar with the term “food insecurity”. When

an employee knows that if they forgot their breakfast, or cannot afford one, that they will be able

to fulfill that primary need at the workplace, it makes them feel safe in that environment.

Let’s also look at how this same simple motivator can even go a step higher to Maslow’s

third order of need, Love. In the organizational setting, it can better be described as socialization

and acceptance. When employees gather for a luncheon, celebration, or event they are able to

interact in a more relaxed environment and enjoy socialization. While food is not the answer to

everything, it will not, for example, fulfill Maslow’s higher-order needs of Esteem or

Actualization, it is amazing how such a small motivator can sometimes accomplish so much.

In fact, we can also illustrate food as a motivator in Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

(Herzberg 1959). Herzberg opined that job motivation theory can be sorted into one of two

different categories; Hygiene and Motivation (Herzberg 1959). Hygiene factors cover the basic

needs of employment; salary, job security, benefits, and working conditions. Motivation factors

cover the higher-order needs; achievement, opportunity, recognition. Similar to our Maslow

comparison, food does not fulfill any higher-order need, but it can contribute to several lower-

order Hygiene factors such as working conditions and even perceived benefits.

In the case of food as a motivator, we see a variable-ratio reward, meaning it is random.

Its also not focused on performance, but rather quality of life. Most of us can agree that,

particularly in today’s business environment, work-life balance is becoming an increasingly

important factor with workers. This simple, and fairly inexpensive, perk can contribute to that

feeling of well-being and balance.

 Now, let’s take a look at another kind of motivational reward, yearly bonuses. This

motivator in most cases is a fixed-interval reward and is often based on performance measures.

What theory of motivation would this fall under? Well, the obvious choice might be Vroom’s

Expectancy Theory (Vroom 1964). Employees believe that their effort will lead to higher

performance, that their performance will lead to rewards, and that the reward is desirable.

While a motivator such as we’ve discussed is firmly rooted in Expectancy Theory, there are

ways to incorporate other motivational techniques that will increase even broader program

effectiveness.

For example, an organization can demonstrate an equity-based structure that ensures

employees are aware of the bonus percentages each position is paid and that all levels of

employee bonuses from line-floor employees to executives, seem equitable to the referent

(Adams 1963). We can even take the idea of equity a step further and introduce a tool of the

theory of Procedural Justice (Rawls 1971). The organization can ensure the decision-making

process for performance evaluation is fair by ensuring that the auditors of the performance

(usually the employees’ direct supervisor) are fair-minded and by negating some of the inherent

bias using formal performance grading methods and tools, such as numerically awarded

performance surveys.

Last, let’s take a closer look at positive behavior and how to reinforce it. Ivan Pavlov, the

forefather of reinforcement theory and his dogs were the first to illustrate that positive

reinforcement would trigger a conditioned response, giving rise to the notion of Behavioral

Conditioning (Pavlov 1902). Later, B.F. Skinner would further develop this idea into the four

types of Operant Conditioning (Skinner 1938). We have used some fairly simple and basic types

of motivational examples throughout this discussion, so let’s continue in that vein. Take for
instance, how an employee may react if when they submit a stellar report for the organization,

they were given ten or twenty dollars right there on the spot.

I have personally seen spot bonuses have an immediate effect on an employee’s need for

self-esteem and self-actualization (Maslow 1943). The employee feels valued for both the

recognition and for their own creativity and problem-solving skills. And while the reinforcement

of this motivator is a variable rate, both unexpected and unpredictable, it is effective in that

employees would often present more consistent excellence in their work in hopes of receiving

the “surprise” bonus. Let’s also note here, however, that the type of “spot bonus” matters. It is

not necessarily a good idea to walk around on the production floor or office handing twenty

dollar bills out to employees, and in fact, using cash can actually have a less effective impact.

A better system of rewards for this type of small, sporadic motivator, might be the use of

gift cards or gift certificates. For example, using gift cards to restaurants, coffee houses,

relaxation spas, or book stores instead of cash is still monetarily linked but has the advantage of

introducing a personal aspect to the positive reinforcement (Skinner 1938). This has the added

advantage of allowing an organization to predict the costs of a spontaneous rewards system. If

let’s say, they give each manager five twenty dollar gift cards a month to distribute as spot

bonuses, then they can predict the cost of the spontaneous rewards system at one hundred dollars

a month per manager.

In closing, while theories of motivation might be set in timeless unchanging ideas,

motivation in practice can take on many forms and multiple uses. The motivators exampled in

this discussion are fairly simple and inexpensive, but the motivators can range widely in

complexity, type, and expense. The most important measurements of a motivational technique or
tool are its effectiveness with the audience it intends to motivate, its equity, and its fulfillment of

its purpose.

References:

J. Stacy Adams Equity Theory

Adams, J. S. (1963) Toward an understanding of inequity. Journal of Abnormal and Social

Psychology, 67, 422-436.

Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. (1959). The motivation to work (2nd ed.). Oxford,
England: John Wiley.
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370-396.

doi: 10.1037/h0054346

Rawls Theory of Justice

Rawls, John, 1921-2002. (1971). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, Mass. :Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press,

Pavlov, I. (1902)

Rehman I, Mahabadi N, Rehman CI. Classical Conditioning. [Updated 2019 Jun 18]. In:
StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2019 Jan-. Available from:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470326/
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the United States National
Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Skinner, B.F. Operant Conditioning

Skinner, B. F. "The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis", 1938 New York:

Appleton-Century-Crofts

Vroom’s Expectancy Theory

Vroom, Victor H. "Towards a Stochastic Model of Managerial Careers". Administrative Science

Quarterly. 13 (1): 26–46. doi:10.2307/2391260. JSTOR 2391260.

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