The Theories of Personality Motivation - Coursework Example

Organisational Behaviour Motivation Motivation is among the most important factors influencing success in business, education, work and other aspects in life. It can be explained as an internal or external process which can instigate, direct and terminate certain behaviour Miner, 2012:30). Involuntary activities involve reflexes while voluntary responses involve motivation. It is the driving force behind the behaviour towards the achievement of a certain objective. Thus it is an internal condition that pushes the individual to take action. There are three major aspects in motivation: the force that affects the behaviour of the individual, the behaviour affected by this state and the objective which the behaviour is aimed at. Motivation is inferred from an individual’s behaviour and cannot be observed directly. Rather, we infer their presence from peoples’ actions towards the achievement of certain goals. It is therefore important to study motivation as concept that affects most activities in daily lives by using relevant theories and real life examples. Several theories can be used to explain the reason behind what motivates individuals such as Maslow’s motivation theory and Frederick Herzberg’s theory. Both theories mainly focus on the psychological workers’ needs (Riley, 2012). According to Maslow there are five classes of needs that employees need to have fulfilled. Once a lower need has been satisfied in the hierarchy, an employee is motivated to move to the next stage. For example, an employee who lacks basic needs is more concerned about making a basic wage rather than securing a job contract. Organisations should therefore offer incentives to the workers to enable them move up the ladder in the hierarchy of needs. These may be different for various workers. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Riley, 2012) Fredrick’s Herzberg two factor theory of motivation is closely related to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory (Riley, 2012). He stated that there are certain factors that if introduced in a work place would encourage the employees to work harder. Herzberg argued that the true motivating issues in a work environment include: advancement, achievement, responsibility and recognition. He addressed the idea of pay increment as one of the key contributing factor to motivation. He observed that lowly paid workers had negative attitudes towards their job and low levels of motivation. In general, money is a major motivating factor in the work place and has a huge impact on job satisfaction. Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 – 1917) proposed a theory that employees are mainly motivated through pay (Riley, 2012). He argued that employees do not naturally enjoy work hence should work under close supervision. He added that workers should be paid based on the number of units produced. Consequently, workers are encouraged to work hard to maximise their productivity. This model was used widely by organisations to minimise productivity cost per unit and increase productivity levels. However, Taylor’s model was viewed as being highly autocratic and left all the decisions to the management. Employees disliked it as work became boring and repetitive. This resulted to strikes and other forms of industrial action. Distinction between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation There are numerous theories as to what motivates people in the workplace. In reality, employees are motivated by internal and external factors as there are various reasons as to why people act in a given way (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010:15). Personality and self perception determine whether an individual is internally or externally motivated. Therefore, it is important to understand the personality of the individual workers so as to establish what motivates them. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are two sides of a coin. Intrinsic motivation is driven by internal reinforcements (Chapman, 2010). If an individual is intrinsically motivated, they will undertake an activity and thoroughly enjoy it. Extrinsic motivation is the opposite. It entails factors external to the individual that are related or otherwise to the task that they are performing. Examples of motivating factors in the workplace include: a pay rise, recognition, advancement and promotion. Fredrick Taylor is described as being the founder of scientific management (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010:23). His theory was purely based on motivating workers by use of extrinsic motivation. He explained that if employees were handsomely compensated, they would work to their best. He simply stated that the employees just need to show up for up for work and do their duty and left out the role of management. Scientific management could be used as form of intrinsic motivation by reducing pay or taking away incentives. This led to divide between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation at this point in the business circles and has been this way to date. Now that the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation is clear there is need to look at practical examples in the real world. Intrinsic motivation When an employee is intrinsically motivated they enjoy their work and look for ways and means of improving their personal skills and accomplishments. An example of an intrinsically motivated worker is one who works efficiently under minimal supervision, completes their work on time and does their best to boost their performance regardless of the pay (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010:25). This is rare to find in the current capitalistic and competitive world where individuals work to maximise utility and work for their own self interest. Where this occurs the individual is said to be intrinsically motivated since there are no external forces affecting the individuals’ action. Their behaviour is simply driven by their passion and their inward struggle to be better in their work. Intrinsically motivated employees are a true gem to an entity and the management should further motivate them through external motivation factors such as a pay rise, training and recognition for their exemplary performance. Extrinsic motivation This type of motivation arises from external factors and affects their behaviour (Chapman, 2010). This is applied in different areas in society such as at school or in a work environment. When employees in a company are extrinsically motivated they work to achieve the desired outcome rather than doing it for fun or for personal development (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010:27). As earlier explained, Herzberg found that the true external motivating factors include the work itself, achievement, recognition, career advancement and payment rates. These are important aspects that the management should take into consideration when choosing the methods of motivation. In conclusion, the current work environment is becoming increasingly complicated and the management in various entities should not solely rely on extrinsic motivation to improve employee performance (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010:25). The disparity between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation is getting wider as the younger generation are opting for intrinsic motivators over intrinsic motivators. It is therefore important for the management to work hand in hand with their employees to determine what motivates them and to attain the balance between the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Circumstances under Which a Pay Increase May Serve To Motivate Employees Over the years, money has being the primary motivating factor among employees. This is common in a work environment where payment is purely based on performance. People have been observed to show little or no enthusiasm at all simply because they are poorly paid (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010:23). Firms constantly review their remuneration systems as a way keep employees motivated at all times. Fredrick Herzberg’s motivational theory pointed out the massive role played by salary towards employee motivation (Chapman, 2010). In his research he discovered that highly paid workers were more motivated and carried out their duties diligently. Conversely, lowly paid workers were de- motivated and termed the wage system within the entity as being extremely unfair. This has not changed since there are incidences of such occurrences to date. Some of the situations where pay rise is an incentive in piece rate incentives systems. The means of payment is based on salary increment or bonuses for any extra effort displayed by the employee (Miner, 2012:23). In the recent past, popularity for this system has dramatically declined this is because the management has discovered that such a system results to resistance among the employees, decreasing standards and low cooperation. Additionally, there are issues arising with regards to the bonuses awarded to the top management. In the meantime organisation based incentive programs are becoming increasingly popular as they have been observed to promote cooperation among workers and increase productivity and innovation. Companies need to review their payment systems so as to address the issues arising with regards to the level of employee motivation. An alternative method that is applied by companies in the modern world is individual pay for performance (Miner, 2012:34). This requires an analysis of the task carried out by the individual and deal with the following concerns. Is there a considerable link between effort and performance? Does the worker have control over the outcome being measured? Regrettably, most payment systems fail to meet this requirement. In most cases employees may not have control over performance outcomes such as sales and profits. This is because these aspects are affected by competitive forces and economic cycles that are beyond their control. Certainly, there are many outcomes in complex organisations that are dependent on other external factors other than individuals’ performance. Finding an ideal payment system on which to base bonuses and other forms of remuneration on is difficult (Miner, 2012:15). This is because a given task may have different facets such as sales revenue or cost of units produce. Failure to include the payment system may lead to negative outcomes. For example, sale people who are paid according to the number of units sold may push customers to buy products thus damaging customer relationships. Furthermore, they more take orders that cannot be met by the production. The setback of such a system is that the employees do not have control over profits. The management is advised to promote team work and cooperation among workers thereby improving motivation in the entity. Most businesses are highly commercialised and believe that the workers are satisfied with their basic salary. Nonetheless, failure to observe imperative motivation factors such as pay rises, promotion and recognition can lead to decreased efficiency in the entity. Strengths and Weaknesses The ‘Big Personality Quiz’ was used to evaluate my strength and weaknesses. STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Hard worker Impulsive Strong leadership skills Perfectionist Peoples’ person Dynamic Effective communication skills John Holland’s Vocational Personality Types This theory forms the basis of modern counselling and is founded on the premise that people will look for jobs that are in line with their likes and interests. This basic belief is the groundwork of the globally recognised work environment and vocational personality theory (Sears et al. 2012:45). The theory can be explained by for four important declarations. First, in the contemporary society most people belong to one of the six personality types which are: realistic, social, intellectual, conventional, enterprising and artistic. Second, there are six types of environments corresponding with these personalities. Third, individuals will work in the environment that allows them to express their strengths, talents and skills. Finally, a person’s actions are determined by the environment and the personality pattern. Holland states that there are six occupational personalities that are composed of a combination of self concepts, goals, behaviour, aptitudes, attitudes and intelligence. He explains that any individual’s personality has a similarity to each personality types (Sears et al. 2012:45). Nevertheless, most people have overlapping personalities and may fall in more than one category. In such a case an individual’s personality is defined by the dominating category. Holland’s vocational personalities are discussed below: Realistic These persons can be explained as being masculine, stable and active. They enjoy manual or hands on activities such as athletics, building, mechanics and machinery. These individuals enjoy working alone or working with others who share similar interest. People in this category like to work outdoors with animals and plants. They face a major challenge when working in an environment that needs interpersonal relations among people (Sears et al. 2012:45). They communicate in a brief and frank style and are known to value material things. They prefer the practical form of learning rather than theoretical learning. The best work environment for them is one that allows for the production of tangible results and promotes technical skills. These individuals have been observed to have the lowest education levels in the six categories. Realistic careers include: military, electrician, engineer and veterinarian. Investigative These individuals are highly analytical, observant and intellectual and excel in scientific and mathematical activities. They have persuasive speech and developed problem solving skills. They enjoy logical thinking to solve abstract and complex problems. In most cases they avoid emotional and stressful environments are known to ignore social relationships. To them, science and learning are invaluable and have strong mathematical and scientific abilities. They have been observed to be lacking leadership and negotiation skills. They have the highest education levels among the six personalities. They are likely to work in fields that require vast educational knowledge (Sears et al. 2012:45). Their careers include: doctors, scientists, technicians, biologists and chemists. Additionally, they have been noted to have the highest need for prestige. Artistic Artistic people can be described as being imaginative, original and intuitive and enjoy creative activity such as acting, composing music, painting, drawing and directing stage productions. They are basically known to communicate or express themselves through their emotions, feelings and imaginations (Sears et al. 2012:45). They opt to work in environments that allow them to express their artistic creations and that have minimal rules and regulations. They are highly impulsive and are known to communicate in an open and expressive way. Their education level is the second highest and their behaviour tends to be different from that of other people. They have also been reported to have the highest level of personality disorders. Their typical careers include: interior decorator, poets, musician, reporters and designers. Their motives are not driven by financial gains, but they seek to gain satisfaction in life. Social The social type of people enjoys working with people on a personal basis. They can be described as being idealistic, humanistic and concerned with the well- being of other people (Sears et al. 2012:45). They use their social skills to tackle challenges and carry out duties. They are reliant on social interaction therefore tend to react based on their feelings and emotions. They prefer to use their emotions rather than intellect to handle situations. As they really enjoy working with people, they are known to have strong communication skills and negotiation skills however, they lack mechanical abilities. They derive a great deal of satisfaction by helping the people who are in need of their services. They are known to work well in teams. Their preferred careers include: teachers, nurses, counsellors and social workers. Enterprising These are dominating, energetic, outgoing, adventurous, sociable, self confident and impulsive. They enjoy working with other people but unlike the former category, they wish to dominate and control other individuals (Sears et al. 2012:45). They take up roles that require them to persuade others such as leadership, managers, politicians and sales. They are good at controlling others and directing them to attain set goals and objectives because they are usually at the top of the hierarchy. They prefer working in environments that are not so personal and are focused on achieving tasks through other peoples’ direction. They are often found in organisations that require accountability and in huge business corporations. They have been observed to enjoy being in control of a particular course or project which calls on them to use their knowledge and skills to guide other individuals. Conventional These individuals can be described as being organised, efficient, careful and conscientious. They thrive in working environments that are structured and have n rooted chain of command with an established leadership and rules. They are comfortable working in the office, maintaining data, organising schedules and using office equipment (Sears et al. 2012:45). They seldom seek leadership roles and are thorough in doing their work. However, they are known lack creative abilities and are unimaginative. They prefer to work in environments characterized by organisational competencies such as record keeping and data management. The best careers for them include: accountant, secretary and banker. Holland’s vocational personality theory has been used widely in the modern world to determine the level of vocational interest among individuals (Sears et al. 2012:45). His theory is commonly used in the clinical setting and in the work environment to explain different personalities. In conclusion, the theory explains that people fit in careers that are in line with their personalities. Strengths and Weaknesses PERSONALITY STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Realistic Skill Coordination Genuine Practical Poor human relations Least intelligence level Investigative Analytical Intellectual Persuasive Independent Poor leadership skills Poor communication skills Artistic Imaginative Original intuitive Idealistic Disorderly Emotional Impractical Social Idealistic Humanistic Friendly Cooperative Emotional Lack technical skills Enterprising Energetic Outgoing Adventurous Self confident Dominating Conventional Organised Efficient Careful Conscientious Unimaginative Inflexible Personal Evaluation according to Holland’s Vocational Personality The personality traits that fit my character fall under the social, conventional and investigative categories (Sears et al. 2012:45). These are the personalities that suit my character since I am independent, sociable and self confident. In my working experience, I have stood out as an individual who can negotiate and close the deal. The management is fond of delegating me tasks that involve negotiations since I have persuasive skills. Currently, I am the head of the sales department and since I assumed the leadership position the sales numbers have increased immensely. I am able to work well in a team and motivate other workers in the department. Working in the sales department has been an uphill task for me but I have been persistent over the years and this has enabled me to succeed. At times I tend to be domineering and I overshadow the contribution of other workers during meetings (Sears et al. 2012:45). This is influenced greatly by my self- confidence levels since I believe that I am creative and competent. I am able to approach the management and express my creative ideas. I am able to work hand in hand with leaders from other departments in order to achieve the company’s goals and objectives. There are times when I tend to be emotional especially when working under pressure and have even had heated arguments with some of the workers. I tend to be a perfectionist and put too much pressure on myself and other workers in the department. Over time I have learnt to deal with these weaknesses by being patient and understanding. I can work comfortably in various fields such as: teaching, nursing, counselling and social work. I can also excel in leadership and management. Finally, I can work in the military, engineering and medical areas. Conclusion The above discussion is divided into two parts, the first part concerns worker motivation while the second part entails John Holland’s vocational personality theory. From Herzberg’s motivation theory it is clear that individuals are motivated by money therefore entities should pay their workers well so as to motivate them. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is further used to show the impact of external motivation on employees’ performance. It is clear that money is not the only factor motivating employees. Other aspects include: promotion, recognition and training. Holland’s personality theory is used to explain different personality and the appropriate careers for the personalities. Finally, the theory has been used for my personal evaluation. References Buchanan, D.A. & Huczynski (2010) Organisational behaviour, Pearson Education Limited. Chapman, A. (2010) ‘Fredrick Herzberg Motivational Theory’, viewed 10 May 2013 from . Miner, J.B. (2012) Role motivation theories, Routledge, pp. 10- 35. Riley, J. (2012) ‘Theories of motivation’, viewed 10 May 2013 from . Sears, R., Rudisill, J. & Mason- Sears, C. (2012) Consultation skills for mental health professionals, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 40- 60. Read More