UNIT – 4

MC & OB

Motivation:
Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is what
causes you to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain
knowledge.

Motivation involves the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces that activate behavior.
In everyday usage, the term "motivation" is frequently used to describe why a person does
something. It is the driving force behind human actions.

Types of Motivation
Different types of motivation are frequently described as being either extrinsic or intrinsic:

 Extrinsic motivations are those that arise from outside of the individual and often
involve rewards such as trophies, money, social recognition, or praise.
 Intrinsic motivations are those that arise from within the individual, such as doing a
complicated crossword puzzle purely for the personal gratification of solving a problem.

Uses
There are many different uses for motivation. It serves as a guiding force for all human behavior,
but understanding how it works and the factors that may impact it can be important in a number
of ways.

Understanding motivation can:

 Help improve the efficiency of people as they work toward goals

 Help people take action
 Encourage people to engage in health-oriented behaviors
 Help people avoid unhealthy or maladaptive behaviors such as risk-taking and addiction
 Help people feel more in control of their lives
 Improve overall well-being and happiness
Impact
There are three major components of motivation: activation, persistence, and intensity.3

 Activation involves the decision to initiate a behavior, such as enrolling in a

psychology class.
 Persistence is the continued effort toward a goal even though obstacles may exist. An
example of persistence would be taking more psychology courses in order to earn a
degree although it requires a significant investment of time, energy, and resources.
 Intensity can be seen in the concentration and vigor that goes into pursuing a goal.4 For
example, one student might coast by without much effort, while another student will
study regularly, participate in discussions, and take advantage of research opportunities
outside of class. The first student lacks intensity, while the second pursues their
educational goals with greater intensity.

Theory of Motivation:
Maslow’s Theory of Motivation:
Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper "A Theory of
Human Motivation" and his subsequent book Motivation and Personality. This hierarchy
suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other, more
advanced needs.
Physiological Needs
The basic physiological needs are probably fairly apparent—these include the things that are
vital to our survival. Some examples of physiological needs include:

 Food
 Water
 Breathing
 Homeostasis

In addition to the basic requirements of nutrition, air and temperature regulation, the
physiological needs also include such things as shelter and clothing. Maslow also included
sexual reproduction in this level of the hierarchy of needs since it is essential to the survival and
propagation of the species.

Security and Safety Needs

As we move up to the second level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the requirements start to
become a bit more complex. At this level, the needs for security and safety become primary.

People want control and order in their lives. So, this need for safety and security contributes
largely to behaviors at this level. Some of the basic security and safety needs include:

 Financial security
 Health and wellness
 Safety against accidents and injury

Finding a job, obtaining health insurance and health care, contributing money to a savings
account, and moving into a safer neighborhood are all examples of actions motivated by the
security and safety needs.

Together, the safety and physiological levels of the hierarchy make up what is often referred to
as the basic needs.

Social Needs
The social needs in Maslow’s hierarchy include such things as love, acceptance, and belonging.
At this level, the need for emotional relationships drives human behavior. Some of the things that
satisfy this need include:

 Friendships
 Romantic attachments
 Family
  Social groups
 Community groups
 Churches and religious organizations

In order to avoid problems such as loneliness, depression, and anxiety, it is important for people
to feel loved and accepted by other people. Personal relationships with friends, family, and
lovers play an important role, as does involvement in other groups that might include religious
groups, sports teams, book clubs, and other group activities.

Esteem Needs
At the fourth level in Maslow’s hierarchy is the need for appreciation and respect. When the
needs at the bottom three levels have been satisfied, the esteem needs begin to play a more
prominent role in motivating behavior.

At this point, it becomes increasingly important to gain the respect and appreciation of others.
People have a need to accomplish things and then have their efforts recognized. In addition to the
need for feelings of accomplishment and prestige, esteem needs include such things as self-
esteem and personal worth.

People need to sense that they are valued and by others and feel that they are making a
contribution to the world.

Participation in professional activities, academic accomplishments, athletic or team participation,

and personal hobbies can all play a role in fulfilling the esteem needs. People who are able to
satisfy the esteem needs by achieving good self-esteem and the recognition of others tend to feel
confident in their abilities.

Those who lack self-esteem and the respect of others can develop feelings of inferiority.
Together, the esteem and social levels make up what is known as the psychological needs of the
hierarchy.

Self-Actualization Needs
At the very peak of Maslow’s hierarchy are the self-actualization needs. "What a man can be, he
must be," Maslow explained, referring to the need people have to achieve their full potential as
human beings.

According to Maslow’s definition of self-actualization, "It may be loosely described as the full
use and exploitation of talents, capabilities, potentialities, etc. Such people seem to be fulfilling
themselves and to be doing the best that they are capable of doing. They are people who have
developed or are developing to the full stature of which they capable."

Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth, less concerned with
the opinions of others, and interested in fulfilling their potential.
Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation:

In 1959, Frederick Herzberg, a behavioural scientist proposed a two-factor theory or the

motivator-hygiene theory. According to Herzberg, there are some job factors that result in
satisfaction while there are other job factors that prevent dissatisfaction. According to
Herzberg, the opposite of “Satisfaction” is “No satisfaction” and the opposite of
“Dissatisfaction” is “No Dissatisfaction”.

FIGURE:

Herzberg’s view of satisfaction and

dissatisfaction

Herzberg classified these job factors into two categories-

a. Hygiene factors- Hygiene factors are those job factors which are essential for existence
of motivation at workplace. These do not lead to positive satisfaction for long-term. But
if these factors are absent / if these factors are non-existant at workplace, then they lead
to dissatisfaction. In other words, hygiene factors are those factors which when
adequate/reasonable in a job, pacify the employees and do not make them dissatisfied.
These factors are extrinsic to work. Hygiene factors are also called as dissatisfiers or
maintenance factors as they are required to avoid dissatisfaction. These factors describe
the job environment/scenario. The hygiene factors symbolized the physiological needs
which the individuals wanted and expected to be fulfilled. Hygiene factors include:
  Pay - The pay or salary structure should be
appropriate and reasonable. It must be equal
and competitive to those in the same industry
in the same domain.
 Company Policies and administrative
policies - The company policies should not be
too rigid. They should be fair and clear. It
should include flexible working hours, dress
code, breaks, vacation, etc.
 Fringe benefits - The employees should be
offered health care plans (mediclaim),
benefits for the family members, employee
help programmes, etc.
 Physical Working conditions - The working
conditions should be safe, clean and hygienic.
The work equipments should be updated and
well-maintained.
 Status - The employees’ status within the
organization should be familiar and retained.
 Interpersonal relations - The relationship of
the employees with his peers, superiors and
subordinates should be appropriate and
acceptable. There should be no conflict or
humiliation element present.
 Job Security - The organization must provide
job security to the employees.

b. Motivational factors- According to Herzberg, the hygiene factors cannot be regarded as

motivators. The motivational factors yield positive satisfaction. These factors are inherent
to work. These factors motivate the employees for a superior performance. These factors
are called satisfiers. These are factors involved in performing the job. Employees find
these factors intrinsically rewarding. The motivators symbolized the psychological needs
that were perceived as an additional benefit. Motivational factors include:

Recognition - The employees should be praised and recognized for their accomplishments by
the managers.

 Sense of achievement - The employees must have a sense of achievement. This

depends on the job. There must be a fruit of some sort in the job.
 Growth and promotional opportunities - There must be growth and
advancement opportunities in an organization to motivate the employees to
perform well.
 Responsibility - The employees must hold themselves responsible for the work.
The managers should give them ownership of the work. They should minimize
control but retain accountability.
  Meaningfulness of the work - The work itself should be meaningful, interesting
and challenging for the employee to perform and to get motivated.

Limitations of Two-Factor Theory:

The two factor theory is not free from limitations:

1. The two-factor theory overlooks situational variables.

2. Herzberg assumed a correlation between satisfaction and productivity. But the research
conducted by Herzberg stressed upon satisfaction and ignored productivity.
3. The theory’s reliability is uncertain. Analysis has to be made by the raters. The raters may
spoil the findings by analyzing same response in different manner.
4. No comprehensive measure of satisfaction was used. An employee may find his job
acceptable despite the fact that he may hate/object part of his job.
5. The two factor theory is not free from bias as it is based on the natural reaction of
employees when they are enquired the sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction at work.
They will blame dissatisfaction on the external factors such as salary structure, company
policies and peer relationship. Also, the employees will give credit to themselves for the
satisfaction factor at work.
6. The theory ignores blue-collar workers. Despite these limitations, Herzberg’s Two-Factor
theory is acceptable broadly.
McClelland Theory of Motivation
Definition: McClelland’s Needs Theory was proposed by a psychologist David McClelland,
who believed that the specific needs of the individual are acquired over a period of time and gets
molded with one’s experience of the life. McClelland’s Needs Theory is sometimes referred to
as Three Need theory or Learned Needs Theory.

McClelland has identified three basic motivating needs, Viz. Need for Power, Need for
Affiliation and Need for Achievement and, along with his associates performed a considerable
research work on these basic needs.
 Need for Power (n-pow): What is Power? Power is the ability to induce or influence the
behavior of others. The people with high power needs seek high-level positions in the
organization, so as to exercise influence and control over others. Generally, they are outspoken,
forceful, demanding, practical/realistic-not sentimental, and like to get involved in the
conversations.

Need for Affiliation (n-affil): People with high need for affiliation derives pleasure from
being loved by all and tend to avoid the pain of being rejected. Since, the human beings are
social animals, they like to interact and be with others where they feel, people accept them. Thus,
people with these needs like to maintain the pleasant social relationships, enjoy the sense of
intimacy and like to help and console others at the time of trouble.

Need for Achievement (n-ach): McClelland found that some people have an intense desire
to achieve. He has identified the following characteristics of high achievers:

 High achievers take the moderate risks, i.e. a calculated risk while performing the activities in
the management context. This is opposite to the belief that high achievers take high risk.
 High achievers seek to obtain the immediate feedback for the work done by them, so as to know
their progress towards the goal.
 Once the goal is set, the high achiever puts himself completely into the job, until it gets
completed successfully. He will not be satisfied until he has given his 100% in the task assigned
to him.
 A person with a high need for achievement accomplishes the task that is intrinsically satisfying
and is not necessarily accompanied by the material rewards. Though he wants to earn money, but
satisfaction in the accomplishment of work itself gives him more pleasure than merely the cash
reward.
Hence, McClelland’s Needs Theory posits that the person’s level of effectiveness and motivation
is greatly influenced by these three basic needs.
Contemporary theories of Motivation:

Self Determination Theory

Self-determination theory suggests that people are motivated to grow and change by three innate
and universal psychological needs.

This theory suggests that people are able to become self-determined when their needs for
competence, connection, and autonomy are fulfilled.

The concept of intrinsic motivation, or engaging in activities for the inherent rewards of the
behavior itself, plays an important role in self-determination theory.

Self-determination theory grew out of the work of psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan,
who first introduced their ideas in their 1985 book Self-Determination and Intrinsic Motivation
in Human Behavior. They developed a theory of motivation which suggested that people tend to
be driven by a need to grow and gain fulfillment.

The need for growth drives behavior. The first assumption of self-determination theory is that
people are actively directed toward growth. Gaining mastery over challenges and taking in new
experiences are essential for developing a cohesive sense of self.

Autonomous motivation is important. While people are often motivated to act by external
rewards such as money, prizes, and acclaim (known as extrinsic motivation), self-determination
theory focuses primarily on internal sources of motivation such as a need to gain knowledge or
independence (known as intrinsic motivation).
Differences Between Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation
According to self-determination theory, people need to feel the following in order to achieve
psychological growth:

 Autonomy: People need to feel in control of their own behaviors and goals. This sense
of being able to take direct action that will result in real change plays a major part in
helping people feel self-determined.
 Competence: People need to gain mastery of tasks and learn different skills. When
people feel that they have the skills needed for success, they are more likely to take
actions that will help them achieve their goals.
 Connection or relatedness: People need to experience a sense of belonging
and attachment to other people.

Imagine a person who fails to complete an important project at work. If this person is high in
self-determination, they will admit their fault, believe that they can do something to fix the
problem and take action to correct the mistake.
If that same person was low in self-determination, they might instead look for other things that
they can blame. They might make excuses, assign blame, or refuse to admit that their own role.
Most importantly, perhaps, is that this person won't feel motivated to fix the mistake. Instead,
they might feel helpless to control the situation and believe that nothing that they do will have
any real effect.

Self Efficacy Theory:

Background
Albert Bandura developed the Self-Efficacy Theory of Motivation. Bandura, born 1925, is a
Canadian psychologist who described self-efficacy in detail in his 1997 book, Self-Efficacy:
The Exercise of Control.

Self-Efficacy is the belief that you are capable of achieving a specific goal or performing a
particular task.

Self-efficacy is task-specific. For example, if your boss asked you to manage a simple project,
then you might feel confident in your ability to complete this task.

The higher your self-efficacy, the more you will believe you are capable of achieving a task or
goal. Conversely, the lower your-self-efficacy, the less you will believe you are capable of
performing a task.
Why is this important to motivation? Well, because people are less likely to give a task their full
effort if their self-efficacy is low for that task. Another way to look at this is why would you give
it your maximum effort if you don’t believe you can succeed at it?

How We Determine Our Self-Efficacy

We use four factors to determine our self-efficacy and, in turn, our performance for a task.

1. Experience

Experience refers to your past experience of completing similar tasks. This is the most important
factor in self-efficacy.
If you performed a similar task well in the past, then you are more likely to be confident that you
can complete similar tasks well in the future.

2. Vicarious Experience

You can develop self-efficacy vicariously by watching other people perform a task.

If you watch someone similar to you perform a task and succeed at that task, then your self-
efficacy will increase. Conversely, if you watch someone similar to you perform a task and fail,
this can negatively affect your self-efficacy.

3. Social Persuasion
You can increase your self-efficacy if others give you encouragement that you can perform a
task. Likewise, your self-efficacy will decrease if you receive discouraging or disparaging
remarks about your ability to perform a task.

4. Physiological Feedback
When confronted with a task, you experience a sensation from your body. How you interpret
these signals will impact your self-efficacy.

For example, if you are due to perform a presentation to a large crowd of people, you might
experience butterflies in your stomach.

How do you interpret this feeling? If you interpret this feeling as being excited to get on stage,
this will increase your self-efficacy. If you experience these butterflies as stage-fright or anxiety,
this will decrease your self-efficacy for this and similar tasks.

Using the Self-Efficacy Theory of Motivation

To make use of the Self-Efficacy Theory of Motivation, we need ways to build our self-efficacy.
There are four ways in which you can build self-efficacy.

If you’re a manager, you can also use these approaches to help build a team member’s self-
efficacy, which will boost not only their competence but also their motivation.

Vroom’s Expectancy Theory:

In 1964, Canadian professor of psychology Victor Vroom from the Yale School of Management
developed this theory. In it, he studied people’s motivation and concluded it depends on three
factors: expectancy, instrumentality and valence.

Abraham Maslow and Frederick Herzberg also researched the relation between people’s
needs and the efforts they make.

Vroom distinguishes between the effort people put in, their performance and the final result. His
theory primarily relates to motivation within a work environment. When employees can make
choices in their work, Victor Vroom argues that they will mostly choose that what motivates
them the most.

What are the 3 components of Vroom’s Expectancy Theory : Motivational

force formula
Victor Vroom uses a formula to calculate the motivational force:

Motivational force = Expectancy x Instrumentality x Valence

Expectancy:

This is about what employees expect from their own efforts (expected outcome) and the relation
to good performance and outcomes (performance expectancy). Part of this expectation is the
level of difficulty he experiences, i. e. goal difficulty.

An organisation can respond to that by finding out which factors can motivate the employee to
deliver his best possible performance. It’s about the connection between performance and right
sources of motivation.

Those factors can be facilities, training or support from a supervisor who builds his employees’
confidence. Victor Vroom indicates that, in general, more effort leads to better performance.
Employees can be stimulated to make an effort by offering them a juicy carrot if they complete
their task properly and quickly.

Of course, it’s also important that they have the right resources at their disposal, that the
employees have the necessary skills and that management provides the right level of support.
Instrumentality:

Each employee is a cog in the machine and an instrument that contributes to the business results.
Instrumentality is the belief and from that perspective, instrumentality isn’t difficult to grasp. It’s
about the employee’s performance being good enough to achieve the desired outcome.
An organisation can stimulate this by actually making good on promises of additional rewards
such as bonuses or promotion. The employee has to believe that if he performs well,
appreciation will be shown for the results. Transparency throughout the reward process is an
important condition for instrumentality.

Valence:

The final result that employees achieve is valued differently by each individual. This value is
based on their own basic needs. As such, it’s a good idea for an organization to find out what an
individual employee values and what his personal needs are like sources of motivation. One
might value money, while another values more days off.

Application of Vroom’s Expectancy Theory

According to Vroom’s theory, you can expect employees will increase their efforts at work when
the reward has more personal value to them. They’ll be more aware of the fact that there is a link
between their effort and the results. It means that both the organization and the employee have to
be aware of the following three processes:

1. Increased efforts will improve work performance

2. Increased performance will lead to bigger rewards
3. The offered reward will be appreciated by the employee