Historical Perspective on Motivation - Term Paper Example

? Historical Perspective on Motivation School Table of Contents Heading Page Number 3 Introduction 4 Characteristics of AgrarianSocieties 4 Characteristics of Industrial Revolution 5 Change in Motivational Perspective with War 5 F. W. Taylor’s Scientific Management Theory 6 Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management 7 Robert Session Woodworth’s Motivational Psychology 8 William McDougall’s Intrinsic Motivation Theory 8 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory 9 Theoretical Analysis of Lack of Motivation in Students 10 Conclusion 13 References 15 Abstract Motivation is the driving force that causes people to pursue certain goals because of certain reasons. Several theories of motivation have been proposed in the history. The history of world encapsulates several important times and changes that had a revolutionary impact on the perspective of motivation. This events and changes laid the basis of the understanding of motivation in different contexts in the present age. This paper explores the historical perspective of motivation and discusses ways in which students’ motivation can be enhanced in light of the various theories of motivation discussed in the paper. The paper elaborates the role of teachers and parents in motivating the students so that they can display best results in the academics. Historical Perspective on Motivation Introduction There are numerous benefits of motivation. “Motivation helps explain why behavior changes over time” (Bernstein, 2011, p. 299). Motivation of individuals is a pre-requisite of their optimal engagement and involvement in tasks in all kinds of settings as well as for their maximal productivity in all kinds of settings. Motivation provides people with a reason to struggle for the goals and objectives. In an organizational setting, higher motivation levels of the employees leads to increased productivity and accordingly, higher profits. Motivation of employees also plays a key role in making them happy and satisfied so that they can utilize all their skills, competencies, and capabilities in the best possible way. In the contemporary age, where a lot of tasks in the workplace are team-based, motivation of employees increases cohesion in the team so that all team members can work in mutual harmony to achieve their common objectives. In any activity, the importance of motivation cannot be overemphasized. There are a whole range of historical factors that have a great influence on the study of motivation in the workplace. This paper provides a historical perspective of the motivational behavior in human psychology, and discusses how teachers can enhance the motivation levels of the students to help them improve their academic performance in light of the theories of motivation. Characteristics of Agrarian Societies The history of food production has been greatly influenced by the land cultivation by means of plough. People made use of animals to increase their land productivity as the animals helped them bring the soil’s nutrients to the top. The yield of crops was particularly increased by combining the techniques of irrigation with plough. “The invention of the plow, about 6,000 years ago, was an event so significant that many still speak of it as the “agricultural revolution”” (Elwell, n.d.). This also enabled people to make the fallow land cultivatable. The agricultural societies increased in size as the burden of people busy in other activities was reduced. These societies led to the establishment of political institutions such as the formalized bureaucracy and played an important role in the evolution of different socioeconomic classes in the society; particularly into a class that owned the land and another class whose people worked on the lands of others as farmers. Factors characterizing the Agrarian societies included but were not limited to family businesses, stability, and use of simple tools for agricultural purposes. Since the agrarian societies have always played the main role in bringing economic stability and prosperity in the world, advancement of their agricultural productivity is obligatory so that the growing demand of food production can be met (Ozor, 2008, p. 322). Characteristics of Industrial Revolution In the modern history, the industrial revolution caused the transformation of the society from the agrarian and handicraft economy to an economy controlled, led, and governed by machinery and industry. Industrial revolution commenced in the 18th century in England and spread far and wide in the subsequent centuries. Industrial revolution marked the beginning of the modern age. Some of the factors that characterized the industrial revolution included the invention of steam engine, rapid urbanization of people in search of better opportunities of employment, and mass production. Change in Motivational Perspective with War A major shift in the perspective of motivation occurred as a consequence of the World War II. The war brought a revolutionary change in the perspectives of combat motivation. “Out went previous doctrines that men fought for moral reasons (patriotism, esprit de corps, pride and leadership, and so on), and in came the core role of small-group psychology. Specific motivations - those located in time and place, such as patriotism, religion and ideology - were replaced by more general explanation” (Wessely, 2006, p. 275). F. W. Taylor’s Scientific Management Theory Frederick Winslow Taylor who is known as the father of management of science identified certain patterns of inefficiency. These patterns of inefficiency included but were not limited to conformity of people to the group norms, availability of zero-sum labor, sustenance of patterns that existed in the pre-industrial age, and lack of incentive for the workers to increase their output. Taylor emphasized on the need for a worker to listen to his/her manager in these words, “A high-priced man has to do exactly as he’s told from morning till night … You will do exactly as this man tells you … When he tells you to pick up a [piece of pig iron] and walk, you pick it up and you walk, and when he tells you to sit down and rest, you sit down…. And what’s more, no back talk” (Taylor cited in Aspray and Kitcher, 1988, p. 335). In the past, lack of ambition was thought of as a virtue rather than backwardness. Accordingly, if somebody tried to make an effort to rise above the crowd, such moves were referred to as social treason. Leaders who tried to make such moves encountered immense social pressure to cause them to get back to their previous status within the social setting. In response to these problems, Taylor devised a scientific management theory. Taylor and his associates carried out a scientific study of the work process for the first time and commenced a scientific management movement. They conducted a thorough investigation of the ways in which the work was performed, and its impact on the productivity of the workers. The fundamental philosophy of Taylor was that optimizing the way of doing work is more efficient as compared to making people work their hardest. Taylor published “The Principles of Scientific Management” in the year 1909 in which, he proposed a way to enhance the productivity of workers with the optimization and simplification of jobs. Taylor also emphasized upon the need of cooperation and collaboration between the workers and managers. This was a new philosophy unlike the one that was traditionally followed in businesses until then. “A factory manager at that time had very little contact with the workers, and he left them on their own to produce the necessary product. There was no standardization, and a worker's main motivation was often continued employment, so there was no incentive to work as quickly or as efficiently as possible” (Mind Tools, 2012). Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management After a comprehensive study and analysis of the issues, Taylor proposed four principles of scientific management, which are as follows: 1. Working should be replaced by common sense, habit, or rule of thumb and scientific method should be used to study the work and find out the most efficient method of performing particular activities. 2. Workers should be assigned jobs depending upon their individualistic capabilities and motivation rather than assigning them to any kind of job. Moreover, workers should be trained so that they display their optimal efficiency in work. 3. Workers’ performance should be monitored and workers should be provided with supervision and instructions to help them utilize the most efficient ways in work. 4. Work should be allocated between workers and managers in such a way that the managers can spend time in planning and training so that the workers can be enabled to efficiently perform their duties. Robert Session Woodworth’s Motivational Psychology Robert Session Woodworth was an American psychologist who spent a major part of his academic career at Columbia University from where he had done his PhD in 1899. Woodworth’s introductory text Psychology got him a lot of popularity that was published for the first time in the year 1921 and five editions were published subsequently. “Woodworth presented a systematic position in psychology in his book Dynamic Psychology, published in 1918 and later revised as the Dynamics of Behavior in 1958” (Lundin, 2010). Woodworth introduced a functionalist approach to psychology through popularization of the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) expression and emphasized upon the difference of this approach with the approach of Stimulus-Response (S-R) that was frequently adopted by the behaviorists till the early 20th century. Woodworth said that the stimulus brings out a unique response with respect to the organism’s state in his modified S-O-R formula. In his formula, the O stands for organism and mediates the link between the response of the organism to the stimulus. Woodworth asserted upon the need to develop a technical vocabulary for the psychology instead of having to depend upon the subjective operational definitions, though the community generally ignored his theory. Woodworth overlooks the fact of being at various influential positions at different points in time and mentions only his participation that shows his modesty. William McDougall’s Intrinsic Motivation Theory William McDougall proposed a theory of motivation in which he asserted that there are certain inherited instincts that motivate people. People may not be able to consciously perceive the action of these inherited instincts and accordingly, there is possibility that people might not always realize the goals they have. McDougall believed that the fundamental drivers of human activity were instincts and he identified a total of 18 instincts that included but were not limited to parental instinct, escape, self-assertion, curiosity, pugnacity, reproduction, gregariousness, and self-assertion (Leal, 2004, p. 56). The idea of McDougall had a strong influence on several renowned theorists like Konrad Lorenz, though many never acknowledged this. “McDougall was right when he suggested that universal goals are the key for understanding human behavior. But psychologists have not understood the general properties of universal motives, so they have misunderstood them” (Reiss, 2012). Psychologists gave a wide acceptance to the instinct theory for the first two to three decades of that century, but the contemporary psychologists have replaced this idea with modern theories on the basis of the perception that human behavior is too unpredictable and variant to allow room for such generalizations. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory Abraham Maslow proposed the hierarchy of needs theory around the middle of the 20th century. His theory asserts that the needs for people have been prioritized and everybody tends to achieve the basic needs first before moving over to the needs at higher levels. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are arranged in a pattern of hierarchical levels in the form of pyramid in which the needs range from basic to opportunistic as one moves from the base towards the top of the pyramid. The needs identified by Maslow from the base to top of the pyramid include physiological needs, safety needs, love and belongingness needs, self-esteem needs, and the need to self-actualize. The physiological needs are the most basic among all and constitute such elements that are necessary for the fundamental survival of human beings. These needs include air and water etcetera. The safety needs are higher than the physiological needs and include every type of safety both in personal and professional life. Job security is an example of safety need at the workplace. Love and belongingness needs include interaction with friends and family. Such needs may not be met when an individual works at a place away from his/her family. Self-esteem needs include honor, respect, and feelings of accomplishment. Maslow asserts that only when an individual’s these basic needs have been met can he/she self-actualize and optimize on his/her potential to deliver the best performance at the workplace. For managers, the implications of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are that they need to provide their workforce with everything to ensure that their basic needs are met so that they can cooperate with the managers in performing their best. Theoretical Analysis of Lack of Motivation in Students Taylor’s scientific management theory in general and his four principles of scientific management provide a lot of guidance to the teachers serving in all kinds of educational institutions ranging from kindergarten to colleges and universities. By saying that working should be replaced by common sense and scientific method, Taylor’s principles of scientific management imply that teachers should use objective methods of assessment rather than requiring the students to produce extensive literary essays. The exams should be designed in such a way that students’ common sense and critical analysis skills are judged rather than their ability to cram and reproduce things in a short span of time. In group tasks in which students are required to work as a team, teachers can motivate them by gaining their perceptions and opinions on which roles within the group would allow them best to explore their hidden talents. “Motivation is probably the most important factor that educators can target in order to improve learning” (Williams and Williams, n.d., p. 1). Moreover, it is extremely important that every student is placed in the course that he/she deems is right for him/her. Choices of the students vary and may not necessarily be consistent with the choices of the parents. Parents should not compel a child to seek a degree in engineering when he/she personally wants to be a doctor. Likewise, a student who finds interest in arts should not be made to join the course of politics. Taylor’s third principle requires the teachers and parents to monitor the students’ performance and guide them as they proceed in their tasks and activities to boost their morale and help them reveal their strengths. Taylor’s fourth principle of scientific management has implications for the parents because it requires the parents to try to do most of their domestic works themselves rather than calling for the assistance of the children because this is how the children can be granted more time to study. McDougall’s intrinsic motivation theory suggests that there are certain instincts that drive motivation including the parental instinct, curiosity, escape, pugnacity, self-assertion, and gregariousness. A vast majority of these instincts happen to be the personality traits of students and there is very limited intervention that teachers can make to alter the personality traits of the students for better particularly when each class consists of several students. However, there are certain measures that teachers can take to trigger certain behaviors in the students that in turn can stimulate the good personality traits in the students and suppress their negative personality traits. To identify the optimal teaching strategies that work for a vast majority of students, a teacher should try different teaching styles alternately. “At the beginning of their undergraduate studies students do not have a clear representation of the content and methods used in the teacher training courses” (Peklaj and Levpuscek, n.d., p. 148). However, there are certain features that are commonly appreciated by a lot of students. For example, students commonly appreciate gaining instructions through moving image rather than the traditional presentation style. In addition to that, students in the present age are commonly attracted by getting the knowledge of softwares to equip themselves with the necessary skills to perform in the contemporary technology driven workplace. A teacher should incorporate such elements into the teaching so that their style caters for the interests of most of the students. Likewise, Woodworth’s motivational psychology emphasizes upon the need to modify the instructional strategies in such a way that they are customized according to the needs of the students. In light of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, there can be myriad of reasons behind students’ lack of participation in the lectures. Although physiological needs of the students are satisfied because it is quite evident that a person can survive only when he/she has uninterrupted supply of fundamental essentials of life like air and water, yet their safety needs, love and belongingness needs, and self-esteem needs may not necessarily be met. For example, students who live away from their homes and have to arrange accommodation for themselves near the colleges and have to take care of their things themselves might feel that their safety needs are not met. These students’ love and belongingness needs might as well not be satisfied because they are living away from their family. Children of immigrants or minorities might feel that they are not granted equal rights as the children of the majority even if the school administration least wants such discrepancies to exist. This in turn can leave their self-esteem needs unmet. As a consequence of such factors causing troubles in having the needs of the students fulfilled, many students cannot self-actualize and accordingly, cannot achieve good grades at school. Consideration of the matter from the lens of the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory suggests that there are limits to which a teacher can motivate the students as there are many factors that are beyond the control of the teachers. For instance, although a teacher may provide the students with love and affection using his/her spiritual parenting bond with the students, yet there is hardly anything that a teacher can do to address the students’ needs arising from lack of safety or their self-esteem needs. Conclusion Motivation is a human behavior that causes them to move toward the achievement of a certain goal or objective. It is a driving force that enables people to utilize their talents and potential to deliver their best in any kind of setting. In every kind of institution, motivation of the individuals is a pre-requisite. In a school, a student needs to be motivated to achieve good grades. In an office, employees need to be motivated to show good performance. In the society, the individuals need to be motivated to cast vote and make a positive change in the future of the country. Various theories of motivation have been proposed throughout the history that include but are not limited to Winslow Taylor’s scientific management theory, Robert Session Woodworth’s motivational psychology, William McDougall’s intrinsic motivation theory, and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. All of these theorists have proposed their own ways in which people can be motivated. Their theories differ depending upon their emphasis on intrinsic or extrinsic or both as motivational factors. Application of the theories on the matter of raising the motivation level of the students in educational settings has many implications for the teachers as well as the parents of the students in addition to the students themselves. It is unjustifiable as well as unreasonable to place the responsibility of motivating the students to work hard in studies entirely upon the shoulders of the teachers because there are a lot of things at all times that are far beyond the control of even the parents of students, let alone the teachers. Despite that, both teachers and parents can learn how to make themselves more effective remaining within their limitations. The main role in the academic achievement is of nobody but the students themselves. The conclusion of this paper is that students, teachers, and parents need to understand their individualistic and collective roles in enhancing the behavior of the students so that they feel an urge to work hard and excel in their studies. This is essentially a teamwork and the whole load cannot be shifted only on the shoulders of one of these parties. References: Aspray, W., and Kitcher, P. (1988). History and Philosophy of Modern Mathematics. USA: University of Minnesota Press. Bernstein, D. A. (2011). Essentials of Psychology. USA: Wadsworth. Elwell, F. (n.d.). Agrarian Society. Retrieved from http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Ecology/PDFs/Agrarian.pdf. Leal, L. (2004). Essentials of Psychology 2. USA: Research and Education Association. Lundin, R. W. (2010). Woodworth, Robert Sessions (1869–1962). Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy1043/abstract. Mind Tools. (2012). Frederick Taylor and Scientific Management. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMM_Taylor.htm. Ozor, N. (2008, Jan. 2). Challenges and impacts of agricultural biotechnology on developing societies. African Journal of Biotechnology. 7(4): 322-330. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/who-we-are/201201/two-models-intrinsic-motivation. Peklaj, C., and Levpuscek, M. P. (n.d.). Students’ motivation and academic success in relation to the quality of individual and collaborative work during a course in educational psychology. 31st Annual ATEE Conference. Association of Teacher Education in Europe. Retrieved from http://www.pef.uni-lj.si/atee/978-961-6637-06-0/147-161.pdf. Wessely, S. (2006). Twentieth-Century Theories on Combat Motivation and Breakdown. Journal of Contemporary History. 41(2): 269-286. Williams, K. C., and Williams, C. C. (n.d.). Five key ingredients for improving student motivation. Research in Higher Education Journal. Retrieved from http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/11834.pdf. Read More