Theories of Motivation - Essay Example

?Organizations are considered as social systems. It is necessary for a person to understand how organizations operate if the person wishes to work inorganization. Organizations unite technology and humanity. Desirable results can be produced, only if techniques and qualified people combine simultaneously. It is not predictable how an individual will behave inside and outside the organization. It is more complex to predict human behavior, as it arises out of people’s deep desires, needs, and value systems, though it can be moderately understood in terms of the structure of behavioral science, management and other subjects. There is no real, ideal resolution for the organizational evils. The only thing that one can do is to increase one understands of abilities and skills, so that individual relations at work can be improved. “Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a system approach. That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social system” (Leadership and Organizational Behavior 2011). Organizational Behavior is the field of study that searches the after effect that persons, teams, and formation have on behavior within the company (organization). Organizational behavior deals with the study, and implication of awareness about how individuals act and react within organizations. Organizational behavior is a tool for the employee to work for the benefit of the organization. It is applicable largely to the manners of individuals working in all kinds of organizations including government, business, educational institutions, services, and companies. Organizational behavior is applied to cover three determinants of activities in organizations: individuals, teams and structure. The applied field of OB is concerned with the information gained about persons, and the impacts of structure on behavior so that to make organizations work more successfully. It is better to understand the organization first to study organizational behavior more clearly. Organization is a focused system with some subsystems where persons and actions are organized to attain some particular, predetermined goals and objectives through division of labor, effective utilization of resources, and the coordination of activities. Division of labor means how the works are divided among the staff that is, keeping the right person for the right job. Coordination of work becomes more important, as it can lead to accomplishing the goals of the organization, by integrating the activities of each and every employee in the organization. The word ‘organizing’ is used to denote the aspect of administrative activities needed for an entrepreneur in preparing and setting up the diverse tasks to fulfill or complete the job. The managers in an organization may have to face many challenges and opportunities to use organizational behavior theories to improve the general effectiveness of persons, teams and organization. Based on behavioral science and some additional interdisciplinary matters, the managers can address the following issues with in an organization. Improving People Skills Improving Quality and Productivity Managing Workforce Diversity Empowering People Stimulating Innovation and Change Improving Ethical Behavior It is clear that Studying the field of Organizational Behavior can assist in deepening our understanding of why people in an organizational setting behave in the ways that they do. “The ability to explain people’s behavior is critical to making recommendations for improvement if we make poor explanations, and poor recommendations. In an organizational setting, this can lead to a continuation of poor performance. In contrast, if we make strong and accurate observations, we can make strong recommendations that have a demonstrable impact on people and the business” (Why People Do What They Do n.d.). It can be said that Motivation is the most important factor that works behind inspired employees to perform in an organization as they are supposed to do. Motivation is the working force or the reason behind accomplishing certain works by individuals. Motivation consists of three major components such as activation, persistence and intensity. These three components work one by one to generate motivation. “Motivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. Motivation is what causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge. It involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage, the term motivation is frequently used to describe why a person does something” (Cherry 2012). There are proofs to say that motivation is the major factor behind the employees to guide them in a particular structured manner. Here, the discussion is on the importance of motivation in organizational behavior. 1) Individuals have shown reasons for everything that they do. 2) Whatever humans choose as an aim is something they believe is good for them. 3) The objective, entrepreneurs have set, must be seen as achievable. 4) The circumstances under which the work is done can influence its value to the employee, and his or her perceptions of attainability or accomplishment. The driving force behind the ability to change the behavior of the individual is called motivation. Human behavior is always purposefully directed to some goals or objectives so it compels people to act in some particular manner. Motivation can be intrinsic and extrinsic. When it comes from a person’s internal aspects like interests, requirements, and that which necessitates fulfillment, it is called intrinsic motivation. There are external factors like rewards, congratulations, and promotions which highly influence motivation. It is very common that people who are not committed to achieve the goals of the organization will be out performed by the people who are committed. Individuals with high self esteem will accomplish their task as a result of internal motivation, as they are highly satisfied. So, it is important that the managers have to motivate their employees consistently by helping them in making a satisfactory environment for achieving the goals of organization. This is considered as one of the difficult tasks, as workplaces consist of people with different attitudes and different thinking. Influences of dissimilar cultures also affect the likes and dislikes of people. “The word motivation is coined from the Latin word ‘movere’ which means to move. Motivation is defined as an internal drive that activates behavior and gives it direction. The term motivation theory is concerned with the processes that describe why and how human behavior is activated and directed. It is regarded as one of the most important areas of study in the field of organizational behavior” (Romando 2012). Frederick Winslow Taylor studied the management in a scientific way and defined the management in a scientific way. It was the time of industrial revolution, and the studies are going on to improve the productivity of the employees as well as the organizations. Taylor implemented incentive system as an experiment, and found that the productivity increased dramatically when the employees are offered extra payment as a reward. Thus, it was found that workers in that particular organization were economically motivated. During that period, the social issues which could make an impact on human behavior were not taken into consideration. The best example of such a study was done at the start of 1930s. A researcher, Elton Mayo, and his colleagues from Harvard University, designed and conducted a research at ‘Western Electric plant in’ Hawthorne, Illinois. This study was conducted to measure the productivity of employees. The research team studied the impacts of fatigue and environmental changes such as layout, heating, and lighting on efficiency. The well known Hawthorne effect was revealed as a result of this study. In that study, it was found that the productivity or the efficiency of employees increased as the illumination in environment increased and the result remained the very same when the illumination decreased. The researchers came to the conclusion that the productivity of the employees increased because of their awareness that they are being watched by the researchers, and that it was further a contributing factor to their output level, more than the environmental setting. The fact that watching and paying attention towards workers increases their productivity or efficiency is known as Hawthorne Effect. These findings became the strong reason for starting human relation movement inside the organizations. Now a day, employees are being treated at a high level of humanity within the organization. Now the management works better to increase the level of satisfaction in workers, within the aim of increasing productivity. To increase the satisfaction level of workers, the management gives more emphasize on the needs and wants of their workers. “Many years later, it was discovered that the workers in the Hawthorne experimental group had received an increase in income; therefore, money was probably a motivating factor, although it was not recognized as such at the time” (Motivation 2012). Job performance is the result of ability and motivation, ability or motivation alone can’t increase the performance of the employees or workers. Ability is moulded as a result of education and experience, so it will take some time for employees to prove their ability time. But people can be motivated in quick time; the motivating factors for the common employees are Positive reinforcement (High expectation), Effective discipline and punishment, Fair treatment for the employees, Satisfying the needs of employees, Work related goals should be set, Restructuring of jobs(Right person to the right job) and Rewards based on job performance These major strategies for the motivation of employees, and their final mix up, vary from situation to situation. The essential thing is that, the administrative side needs to reduce the gap between the actual state and the desired state of performance. Motivation helps the managers to reduce this gap, to ensure that productivity is increased. There are many theories that substantiate motivation. “Researchers have developed a number of different theories to explain motivation. Each individual theory tends to be rather limited in scope” (Cherry 2012). Motivation theories are accepted with high consideration, as all organizations need to motivate their employees. The motivation theory is categorized into two, and they are the content theory and the process theory of motivation. The content theory of motivation which is also known as need theory, mainly focuses on the internal factors of individuals that can affect the behavior of people. The need theories are, 1) Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. 2) Alderfer's ERG Theory. 3) Herzeberg's Motivator-Hygiene Theory (Herzeberg's dual factors theory). 4) McClelland's Learned Needs or Three-Need Theory. The generally agreed and the most famous need theory is the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. In this theory, he explains the five levels of human needs. Basic needs are categorized as Physiological needs, Safety and security needs, Needs of love, Needs for self esteem and Needs for self-actualization. A part from Maslow’s theory, Alderfer’s ERG theory explains about existence, relatedness, and growth needs. Herzeberg explains the dual factor theory to stress the need of attaining job satisfaction. McClelland's Learned Needs explains the needs of power, affiliation and achievement. In this theory, he explains that people have a desire to guide the behavior of others. The other, which is Process theory, helps to understand the thought process of people, which affect and influence the behavior of humans. The most important process theories of motivation are 1) Adams' Equity Theory 2) Vroom's Expectancy Theory 3) Goal-Setting Theory 4) Reinforcement Theory. The major elements in process theory which are explained are Expectancy, Instrumentality and Valence. Goal setting theory demands, there should be some achievable goals for the workers to enjoy, so that the performance will be increased as a result of motivation; thereby increasing the productivity of the organization. The Reinforcement Theory suggests that by recognizing the consequences, the employees or workers get motivated. “Motivation is a process that starts with a physiological or psychological need that activates a behavior or a drive that is aimed at a goal” (Lesson 20: Motivation and its Theories n.d.). So it is concluded that studying the field of Organizational Behavior can assist in deepening our understanding of why people in an organizational setting behave in the ways that they do, and it is obvious that the motivation is the major factor behind this. Reference List Cherry, K 2012. What is Motivation. [Online] Available at [Accessed on 06 April 2012]. Cherry, K 2012. Theories of Motivation. About.com. [Online] Available at [Accessed on 06 April 2012]. Leadership and Organizational Behavior 2011. Big Dog and Little Dog’s Performance Juxtaposition. [Online] Available at [Accessed on 06 April 2012]. Lesson 20: Motivation and its Theories n.d. Print. Motivation 2012. eNotes. [Online] Available at [Accessed on 06 April 2012]. Romando, R 2012. Motivation Theory. Ezine Articles.com. [Online] Available at [Accessed on 06 April 2012]. Why People Do What They Do n.d. PTGGlobal. Available at < http://www.ptg-global.com/PDFArticles/Why%20people%20do%20what%20they%20do%20v1.0.pdf> [Accessed on 06 April 2012]. Read More