Motivation as a Decision-Making Process - Essay Example

MOTIVATION “Motivation is a decision-making process, through which the individual chooses the desired outcomes and sets in motion the behaviour appropriate to them.” (Huczynski & Buchanan, 1991:64). Motivation helps in achieving many things in life. To acquire good grades is itself a great part of my motivation to work hard and prove myself. The sponsorship I was given first plays an important role to motivate me to work hard. My father and my family members have also been very supportive in this matter. They have encouraged me to come to England to continue my further studies. Sending girls abroad to study is not very common in my culture. A reflective account of my experience of the client project based on Perfectly Clear is also on Motivation. Perfectly Clear was the first flavoured water brand in the UK launched nearly 20 years ago. Over the years the brand owner ran into difficulties and investment did not keep pace with market growth. So Perfectly Clear must now develop a strategy for the future involving product development. Therefore students of MMU were selected to work as consultants for Perfectly Clear. However, this report will reflect on what have learnt on the importance of motivation and communication throughout the time of my project. It will also reflect on how motivation has influenced my life. We, the students, worked as a group consultant for Perfectly Clear from October, 2013 to February, 2014. As a group we worked together, assigned different tasks and responsibilities among group members. I was told by my teacher to collect information about the company. I researched information about the company and as the tasks became more and more complicated, I became more motivated as I began to develop and improve as a new person. A motivated employee is someone who works hard because they feel fulfilled when they do so (Hiam, 2003:78). Motivation is an important area of business research and over the years there have been many motivational theories. One of the best-known theories of motivation is based on Abraham Maslows hierarchy of needs. Maslow argued that individuals have a hierarchy of needs. True motivation is achieved by fulfilling higher order needs (The Times 100, No Date). The group members were class fellows who I was not close to. It was at first difficult to communicate since we were not very close. After we had a meeting, we assigned different tasks. I was a bit nervous and thought that I would not be able to complete my tasks assigned. But since everyone was friendly, we all felt responsible for our tasks. I felt motivated when I saw my fellow members working hard and I was determined to complete my tasks also. The tasks were assigned by the group leader and we had to help each other to complete the tasks. If the people we were working with were not friendly, this could have influenced the way I worked. The friendly group members gave me confidence and I was sure I was doing the things in the right way Abraham Maslow’s research was actually focused on human personality, and he suggested that people differ because they differ in their needs and motivation. Self-actualization Needs: These needs are originated in those persons whose four needs are satisfied. These include the request to become what you are accomplished of becoming. Satisfaction generated by learning new skills, taking experiments, social service, acquisition of more knowledge, being aesthetic are some of self-actualization needs (Hiam, 2003:79). I was motivated as I acquired more knowledge and skills during my period of study. Through the knowledge I gained, I can now work with people I am not used to. Before this class, I was shy and I could not feel free when I was in a new environment. I have been motivated by this class and my confidence has improved. Self Esteem Needs: These needs relate to recognition of one’s accomplishments, self-respect, power, confidence, capability, status, consideration, achievement and freedom. As I began to get better feedback, my confidence developed and I felt more capable to perform my tasks (Management Study HQ, No Date). Positive feedback on everything I did motivated me to work harder on the next tasks that I was given. This could have been completely different in case I got negative feedback. This is because it could kill my morale. Social Needs: Man is a social animal. He needs love affection, and feeling of belongingness from his family and friends, membership of groups and unions to achieve his social needs (Management Study HQ, No Date). My family members appreciated my hard work and this was a great source of motivation for me. When I passed my exams, they gave me some presents and promised to give me more if I improved in the next exams. This made me work harder in my next exams. Safety Needs: After psychological needs, comes a safety need which includes job security, financial security, physical security, and health security, family security and safety driven by insurance etc. (Management Study HQ, No Date). The support of my teachers was a great source of security for me. Every time I was helped, I felt safe and motivated. Physiological Needs: This includes basic needs of an individual like food, shelter, clothes, air, water which a person needs to live in this world. With all the facilities available, my course work became easier and I felt more motivated to work harder. However, this theory has its limitations also. The theory assumes that all people experience these needs in the same order, failing to recognize cultural and individual differences. In collectivist societies, for example, social needs may be considered more important than physiological needs. I faced problem also and I felt weak when the results of my presentations were not as effective as my group members. Some students had more confidence than I had and because they were native speakers they were able to express themselves better than I could. Maslow’s description of self-actualization and how self-actualized people felt and behaved, was based on writing and talking to selectively chosen people rather than rigorous sampling (Fuller & Taylor, 2008:132). Maslow restricted the number of self-actualized people in his theory. At one time, he wrote that less than two per cent of the total population is made of self-actualizers (Management Study HQ, No Date). If I had better communication skills and if I had communicated more with people, I am sure I would have done as well as the other students also. Therefore, my poor communication skills affected the way I worked hard in my studies. In Self-Determination Theory, intrinsic motivation refers to doing something because it is characteristically interesting or entertaining, and extrinsic motivation refers to doing something because it leads to a separable outcome (Ryan and Deci, 2000). According to White (1959) The occurrence of intrinsic motivation was first recognized within experimental studies of animal behaviour, where it was discovered that many organisms engage in exploratory, playful, and curiosity-driven behaviours even in the absence of reinforcement or reward (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Similarly, as a student I personally believed that my course work was valuable for my chosen career and so I was extrinsically motivated because I too was doing it for its instrumental value rather than because I found it interesting. Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET) was presented by Deci and Ryan (1985) to specify the factors in social contexts that produce variability in intrinsic motivation (Anstiss & Passmore, 2012:339). CET, which is considered a sub theory of self-determination theory, argues that interpersonal events and structures (e.g., rewards, communications, and feedback) that conduce toward feelings of competence during action can improve intrinsic motivation for that action because they allow satisfaction of the basic psychological need for ability. During my course work, as I began to get good feedback, I began to enjoy my coursework that I once found boring. Every time I was rewarded, I began to be more motivated to work harder to achieve a better grade. Feelings Appannaiah et al states states that in McClellands view, all motives are learned. As people develop, they learn to associate positive and negative feelings with certain things that happen around them. These situations allow people to achieve success through their own efforts which they find more satisfying. My speaking skills began to improve during my course work and this motivated me to work harder. According to McClelland motivation theory of needs is based also on affiliation and power. Tasks involving friendly relationship, cooperation with people also motivate a person (Miner, 2007:36). As we did our group tasks, I communicated more with people and this many times resulted in winning several discussions. Working with responsibility, coordinating tasks also motivated me to work harder as I felt I was beginning to get a status among my friends. This status built up my morale since I never felt shy anymore. I became more confident due to the status. After we researched on our tasks, we submitted our assignment to our teacher who was very friendly. It was easier to communicate with her and she helped us to solve lots of problems which we were doubtful about. Herzberg showed that to truly motivate an employee you need to create conditions that make them feel fulfilled in the workplace. According to Herzberg if you want to motivate employees you need to create a series of satisfiers which are quite different from high pay. Herzbergs satisfiers included: Recognition of effort and performance, and the nature of the job itself on how it provides the employee with the appropriate degree of challenge and enjoyment. It also included sense of achievement and responsibility (The Times 100, No Date). My effort and performance was appreciated by my teacher, my client and friends. This feedback really motivated me to work harder. I now began to feel like an expert consultant having a bit of experience already, it was very challenging for me. Overall I enjoyed as it helped me to communicate with different people. When I had errors in my work, my friends and my teacher corrected me. This motivated me further to improve my tasks. A motivated workforce can be a sign of a successful organisation. If we understand our motives, we can influence our behaviour (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010). Since this was a demanding work, I spent long hours working on it, talking to people and writing different types of questions. The long hours of work motivated me and I felt happy and satisfied since I felt that I was doing a very responsible job. Some of us are motivated by the extreme job including long hours and travelling at different places. This is because I got the chance to see how things happen in other places that I was not used to. Spending long hours of work and travelling was a new experience for me. I met people with different backgrounds and experiences. This gave me a feeling of professionalism. My communication skills improved and I became very confident in public dealing. As I indulged in more tasks, I became more and more motivated to involve myself with people, tasks and I was motivated to travel and explore new and better ideas and routes. According to Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce (2006), people involved in extreme jobs enjoy their work and feel satisfied by it as it gives them status, power and recognition (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010). A meeting was conducted with the client and we submitted our questionnaire to him. Some of my questions were accepted by the group but some questions were not accepted. I felt disappointed at that time. I was disappointed because I felt that I had not done the work in a correct way. I felt all those long hours of hard work that I had spent were a waste of time. Despite the disappointment, I was motivated also to work harder to ensure I do the best next time. But when I saw some questions of my group members were also not accepted then this calmed me down. I then felt I was learning also from my weaknesses and thought that next time I would write questions related to the tasks assigned. Analysis Alderfer’s Motivation Theory, Existence, Relatedness and Growth theory is ordered. - Existence needs have the highest significance over relatedness needs which are at second level. Relatedness needs have priority over growth. The need for being an important member in my group always motivated me to work harder (Theories and Matrix, 2011). ERG theory counters Maslow’s theory by noting that when a higher- order need level is unfulfilled the individual’s wish to increase a lower- level need takes place. Incapability to please a need for social interaction, for instance, might increase the desire for more money or better functioning conditions. So frustration can lead to a regression to a lower need (Theories and Matrix, 2011). When I felt that I was not getting the results I wanted, I felt demotivated. This specially resulted in my lack of English language skills. My lack of English language skills affects the way I communicate with others who have good English language skills. I hesitate to talk with other students who are fluent in English. Therefore, carrying out my project is greatly affected by my lack of English skills. What I learnt from the weakness was that it is very important to first have English language skills before carrying out project. This is because it will help in collecting the information required for the project. It was decided to hold a meeting with the client and our teacher. Unfortunately, our client and teacher could not arrange to come on the same day. In the meeting we could only meet our client and not our teacher since she was not available. This gave a panic to me because I thought I could not meet the client without my teacher. I lost my confidence for a while and I found this meeting very boring and thought it was monotonous and unchallenging. The meeting was boring because the part was to be taken by the teacher was not done. Luckily when we attended the meeting, our client and group members all cooperated and we shared lots of ideas. I analysed that holding repetitive meetings was not boring and I gained my confidence. I was motivated to participate in the group conversation more. When I saw my friends at ease I was also motivated and felt at ease too. The meeting which I thought would be a waste of time gave me lots of ideas and I analysed that I don’t have to depend on my teachers and friends now. Theories of motivation are based on our drives and needs. These are called content theories because the drives and needs are seen as part of our common mental luggage (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010). According to Boris Groysberg and Linda –Eling Lee (2008), emotional needs theory claims that we are driven by four basic and innate hard wired drives: The drive to acquire- to develop social status:. Holding repetitive meetings was no more boring and monotonous. I then began to enjoy the work that was assigned to me. I first felt that I was weak and different from my group members. When I started to get a good feedback, I felt that my social status had changed and I was like the other members and sometimes I felt even more confident with them when I was able to give more ideas to them. The drive to bond – form connections with other people: My group fellows were also closer to me than before and we formed a good bond and connection. The drive to comprehend – satisfy our curiosity and master our environment: Since, I had the confident to ask questions, I was able to satisfy my curiosity. I was able to understand more and more as I put in more efforts of hard work (Aswathappa, 2010:37). The drive to defend – protects against threats and encourages justice. Some group members were not punctual in our meetings. I am happy that I had the courage to stand up and demand justice that we all need to put an effort in our tasks assigned and we needed to be punctual so as to save time. My friends appreciated my courage. This attitude made me even stronger. I now felt that I was actually becoming a good leader also. According to Abraham Harlod Maslow, self-actualisation is the desire for personal fulfilment, to develop one’s potential, to become everything that one is capable of becoming. We have an innate desire to work our way up the hierarchy, pursuing the satisfaction of our higher order needs once our lower order needs are more or less (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010). Unlike content theories, process theories give us a decision making role in choosing our goals and how to pursue them. Individuals are motivated by different outcomes. Culture encourages different patterns of motivation. Equity theory is a process theory of motivation which argues that perception of unfairness leads to tension, which motivates the individual to end that unfairness. This theory argues that the more intense the perceived inequity, the higher the tension, and the stronger the motivation to act (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010). We were given deadlines for all the tasks assigned. When I was slow in the performance of my work, I would get stressed. When my group members finished their work before me, I would get more stressed and this motivated me to work even harder. Sometimes I felt I was doing more work than my fellow group members and I thought it was unfair. This stressed me more. This unfairness motivated me to work harder and to give my friends the best result I could. In my culture if a work is assigned to a person, he must complete it with honesty. My culture motivated me to work hard in spite of the fact that someone was unfair to me. From the motivation I got due to unfairness, I learnt that when someone is a head of you, who will always act as the factor that will make you, work harder to reach that person A motive is an outcome that becomes desirable. The process through which outcomes become desirable is explained by expectancy theory of motivation. According to Tolman, behaviour is directed by the expectation that we have about our behaviour leading to the achievement of desired outcomes (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010). An element of the project was to give an academic presentation in class on group decision making. I was nervous since I felt I didn’t have very good communication skills. I worked hard and practiced for the presentation to avoid any issues that could be brought about by poor communication skills. The outcome of my presentation was appreciated by my friends and teachers because I did my better than I thought in terms of poor communication skills. I was more fluent in speech, more self-assured and full of ideas. The outcome motivated me and I felt like a more confident person. Conclusion From the project, I have developed many skills that help me during my studies. I got motivated by many things that I did during the project time. I got a lot of experiences through the project time. I am now a stronger person and the long hours of hard work, the challenging goals have motivated me to work even harder in future. In the past I was scared if some work was assigned to me, fearing that I might not be able to accomplish the required result. Now I am much more confident. I am ready to take challenging roles leading to higher levels of performance. According to Gary, it is easier to adjust our behaviour when we know precisely what is required of us and a specific goal also avoids confusion. Since I have developed leadership qualities, in the future when a work is assigned to me, I will adapt a better understanding of the work assigned to me. This behaviour will motivate me to give a better result and avoid confusion also. Increasing commitment to those goals also improves performance. I believe that if I had similar tasks assigned again, I would be more committed to my work to achieve my goals. I would accept each role happily as I feel that I am now confident in my communication skills. At every stage I would appreciate to get feedback from my teachers because I now feel feedback is necessary because knowledge of results of past performance is important for effective goal achievement. I am very thankful to my teacher who has greatly helped to build up my communication skills in this project. Her feedback has surely motivated me to become a better person and a good communicator. Bibliography 1. Anstiss, T. and Passmore, J. 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