Is Motivation Significant To Effective Workplace Management - Essay Example

An expectation is primarily concerned with promises to be fulfilled while a motive is an intention of acting in a certain way or doing something. Lastly, a drive is a push factor that pushes someone to act in a particular manner. All these factors play a pivotal role in motivating people hence effective managers must understand their employees and what motivates them. In order to understand what motivates an employee, the manager must find out what that employee’s needs are and what goals they have set for themselves.

There are two distinct categories of theories of motivation and these are content and process theories. According to Finchman & Rhodes (25), content theories of motivation focus on what motivates an individual. They are typically concerned with determining the specific needs that motivate people. On the other hand, process theories attempt to describe and analyze how people are motivated, that is, how behavior is aroused, directed and sustained (Schultz, 54). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is probably the most recognized theory of motivation.

The hierarchy comprises of five levels of needs namely physiological, security, social, self-esteem and self-actualization needs (Schultz, 54). The seeds develop from the bottom to the top and in as far as organizational performance is concerned, there is the need for managers to identify the needs and goals of the employees in order to be better positioned to satisfy them. There are two assumptions underlying the needs theory.