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Motivation is the psychological process that arouses and directs behavior. There are six important theories that will help us understand the motivation of employees in the workplace:
- Goal-setting theory suggests behavior can be motivated with specific, challenging goals that are obtainable. The key to goal-setting theory is ensuring employees understand what is expected and accept the goals.
- Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s personal ability to do a task. There is a lot to be said about scoring high in this trait. People who are confident about their abilities tend to succeed, whereas those who doubt their abilities tend to fail.
- Intrinsic motivation is the positive satisfaction and contentment from good performance on a challenging interesting task. Extrinsic motivation is linked to external inducements such as pay, bonuses, punishment, or benefits.
- Lawrence and Nohria’s model of motivation consists of four needs, the drive to acquire-to obtain physical and psychological gratification, the drive to bond-to connect with other people individually and in groups, the drive to comprehend- to understand things and gain a sense of mastery, and the drive to defend- to be protected from threats and injustice.
- Manifest Needs Theory which consists of the need for achievement the desire for success and accomplishment with an interest in how work gets done, the need for affiliation the desire to establish and maintain friendly, warm, and pleasant relationships with others, and the need for power characterized by a desire for status, visibility, and having an impact on others.
- Reinforcement theory explains how behavior can be altered by administering positive or negative consequences to the actions of employees. Behavior with positive consequences tends to be repeated, and behavior with negative consequences tends not to be repeated.
Respond to the following:
- Take a moment to think about what it would take to motivate you to achieve your goals at work; which theory would you use and why?
- Reflect on an experience you had with a person at work or with a family or friend that needed to be motivated. How would you motivate them to achieve their goals? Which motivational theory would you use and why?
