Project Management Skills Development

- Foundations of Motivation

In this section, we shall be broadly looking at:

1. Motivation Theories.
2. Maslow, Alderfer and McClelland’s need theories.
3. Vroom’s expectancy theory.
4. Five lessons from goal-setting research.

For 'Motivation Theories' on how a human being is motivated,

the "Content or Need theory" focuses on 'WHAT' motivates
people and it is concerned with the individual needs and goals,
while the "Process theory" focus on 'HOW' motivation occurs in
human being!!

"Content or Need Theory"

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Content or Need theory are categorized as:

1. Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs - starts with the basic

as 'Physiological Need', 'Safety Need', 'Social Need', 'Esteem
Need' and 'Self-Actualization Need'.

2. ERG (existence, relatedness, growth) theory - Clayton

Alderfer developed the ERG theory, which is basically a
modification of Maslow’s hierarchy of need. According to ERG
theory, there is NO particular rank order in needs rather it
explicitly recognizes that more than one need may operate at any
given time.

3. Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory - he has a completely

different approach for motivation. He coined the factors causing
dissatisfaction of workers as “hygiene”, Hygiene factors are
generally taken for granted that includes:

a. Company policies,
b. Supervision and relationship,
c. Working conditions,
d. Salary and ...
e. Safety and job security.

and

Motivators include:

a. Achievement,
b. Recognition,
c. Interesting work,
d. Increased responsibilities,
e. Advancement and
f. Growth Opportunity

4. David McClelland's acquired-needs theory - he used a very

unique method called the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) to
assess need.

a. Need for Achievement - leads to a strong need to be

successful.
 b. Need for Affiliation - induce the desire in human being to
be liked and accepted by others.
c. Need for Power - conjures a desire to influence others' need
and control their environment.

"Process-Based Theory"
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Process-based theory of motivation is a rational process. The
Process theories actually attempt to explain the thought
processes of individuals people who demonstrate motivated
behaviour accordingly.

1. Equity Theory - it deals with outcome fairness, so it is also

considered to be the 'Distributive Justice Theory'.

2. Expectancy Theory - Victor Vroom’s Expectancy theory has

3 Concepts:
a. Expectancy - when a person believes that high levels of
effort will lead to performance or success.
b. Instrumentality - when a person believes that performance is
related to subsequent outcomes and rewards.
c. Valence - it is an anticipated satisfaction derived by a
person when s/he is concerned about the value of the rewards
based on performance.

3. Goal setting / Reinforcement Theory - Reinforcement theory

is based on behavioural conditioning that was experimented by
Ivan Pavlov and subsequently by B. F. Skinner on operant
conditioning.
Thanks, Suman

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