Main Elements of Self Determination Theory - Case Study Example

Main Elements of Self Determination Theory Self determination theory (SDT) refers to a human motivational theory. This theory outlines individuals’ personalities and inborn psychological needs (Deci, Connell and Ryan, 2008: 580; Deci and Ryan, 2012: 34). This implies that SDT provides a platform for the analysis of the motivation behind the choices made by different individuals. Different choices made by individuals have different motivational reasons. The factors contributing towards the motivation for certain action could either be external or internal. Therefore, SDT focuses on the motivation behind the choices made without any external influences. This implies that SDT focuses on self-motivated and self-determined decisions. Since its inception in the 1970s, SDT has evolved to become a crucial element of social psychology based on empirical research. As mentioned, SDT is mainly anchored on intrinsic motivation. This refers to the need to partake in an activity due to the activity’s satisfactory value. Thus, this need is contrary to extrinsic motivation which refers to the engagement in a given activity in order to fulfill certain goals or obligations. Therefore, SDT can be said to be centered on the following crucial elements: Intrinsic Motivation As mentioned, intrinsic motivation refers to the naturally occurring motivation in the event of engaging in certain occurrences (Deci and Ryan, 2005: 49). Therefore, this motivation is highly associated with social development. Cognitive evaluation is a necessary tool in the assessment of the degree of intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation may, thus, be cultivated through the employment of social context events such as rewarding systems. Therefore, intrinsic motivation must be backed by the necessary environment in order to result in the desired self-cultivated drive (Ryan and Deci, 2010: 68). Extrinsic Motivation Contrary to intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation is based on external influence. However, external motivations may also be internalized through various processes, thus, contributing significantly to social development. Extrinsic motivation, thus, forms a crucial element of SDT. Extrinsically motivated behaviors may take various forms. However, their integration into an individual’s lives provides the required platform for self motivation. Basic Needs In an effort to differentiate between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, there existed a need for the establishment of basic intrinsic needs. These needs can be categorized into three: Autonomy Autonomy refers to an inward want for self independence and dictation of an individual’s life. Nevertheless, the need for autonomy does not translate into independence from other individuals (Chirkov, Ryan, Kim and Kaplan, 2003: 97; Soenens, Vansteenkiste, Lens, Luyckx, Beyers, Goossens, and Ryan, 2007: 633; Vansteenkiste, Simons, Lens, Sheldon and Deci, 2003: 93). Therefore, caution has to be exercised in the administration of tasks to individuals so as to avoid limiting an individual’s autonomous nature. This would, in turn, result in reduced levels of intrinsic motivation. Competence Competence refers to the need to regulate the outcome of given events with regard to the level of experience and skill mastery exhibited. Positive feedback has been found to elicit a need for competence among individuals. Therefore, accessibility to positive feedback by individuals would contribute significantly towards enhancing the individual’s intrinsic motivation to perform a given task. On the other hand, negative feedback would result in reduced intrinsic motivation with regard to the performance of a given task. Relatedness Relatedness refers to a common want for interaction and caring for other individuals. Therefore, this need does not offer crucial significance to the development of intrinsic motivation towards the performance of a given task. Therefore, these needs shape an individual’s intrinsic motivation, thus, significantly contributing towards social development. This implies that SDT provides a platform for the emphasis of positive growth and development of human beings through the employment of intrinsic motivational measures. Diagnosis of the Motivational Problems of the Sampled Staff Using SDT From the case study; it is evident that the staff at the Royal Windsor hospital, under the supervision of Madeline, experienced numerous motivational problems. Thus, with effective employment of SDT, these motivational issues can be diagnosed. Madeline, in her supervisory role offered an excellent example to the entire staff by reporting to work early and leaving late. This practice was embraced by Madeline as an exemplary measure in spite of her standard shift scheduling. Madeline could, thus, be exonerated with regard to the existence of motivational issues amongst the staff at the Royal Windsor hospital. However, as the supervisor of the nursing staff in the pediatric department, Madeline played a significant role with regard to the depreciating motivational levels. This can be demonstrated in various ways. For instance, Madeline’s restriction of nurses’ “chat talks” to meal times only contributed in a way to the process of discouraging of nurses. This is owed to the fact that the notion of “chat talk” amongst nurses represented a relatedness need amongst nurses. Thus, prohibition of this need would obviously spark resistance from her counterparts (Fernet, Guay and Senecal, 2004: 37). This would, in turn, contribute towards increasing extrinsic motivation at the expense of intrinsic motivation. Thus, this significantly contributed towards reduced motivational levels. In addition, Madeline’s resolve to accompany doctors on inspection trips of nurses’ records also contributed towards the genesis of the motivational issues amongst the staff at the Royal Windsor hospital. This can be attributed to the fact that in so doing, Madeline pried on nurses’ need with regard to competence. This implies that nurses eventually developed a notion that Madeline did not assert or edify their competence levels. As a result, this led to reduced levels of intrinsic motivation, thus, reducing the motivational level of staff (Harter, 2008: 661; Jang, 2008:798). Moreover, Molly’s case also underlines the violation of nurses’ basic needs with regard to competence. As outlined, Molly was elderly and experienced in her practice as a nurse. Therefore, constant inspection and directions resulted in a repulsive feeling of undermined competence levels thus contributing significantly towards extremely reduced motivational levels. On the other hand Margaret’s case goes a long way in the depiction of the violation of nurses’ need for autonomy. It is recorded that Margaret was an extremely assertive nurse who was immensely confident and sure of her work. This implies that Margaret was certain about her work and, thus, resented being directed or questioned by her supervisor. Therefore, violation of this need by Madeline resulted in a negative drive towards the promotion of intrinsic motivation among the staff which is responsible for the motivational levels of staff. Thus, this resulted in the depreciation of the motivation levels amongst the staff of the Royal Windsor hospital. These issues with regard to the poor observance of the autonomous, competence, and relatedness needs of the nursing personnel at the Royal Windsor hospital contributed significantly towards the deprivation of intrinsic motivation amongst the staff. This, in turn, led to reduced motivational levels of the nursing staff. Necessary Steps towards Aversion of the Motivational Problems of the Sampled Staff Using SDT Existence of motivational issues within the nursing personnel at Royal Windsor hospital has been evidenced. In addition, causes of these motivational problems have been highlighted with the aid of SDT as outlined. Thus, there exists a need for the employment of the necessary intervention methods based on the SDT. The first step, therefore, would be the identification of a suitable intervention method to avert the resulting motivational problems amongst the staff at the Royal Windsor hotel. The intervention strategy has to effectively bridge the gap between behaviors and attitudes. This implies that in order for Madeline to impact the desired change to boost motivation of nurses at the hospital, employment of a proper intervention strategy has to occur (Latham, 2007: 22). The strategy employed has to effectively bridge the gap between the attitudes of nurses towards her leadership and their behaviors with regard to the effective operations of the entire hospital. As outlined, Madeline’s leadership approaches with regard to the functionality of nurses in the hospital elicited different operational attitudes among the staff of the Royal Windsor hospital. For instance, Margaret and Molly portrayed similar attitudes in their reaction to Madeline’s leadership style. Both reacted with remorse and resentment towards her quest for the effective running of the pediatric department of the hospital. This negative attitude towards Madeline’s prying and nagging approaches with regard to their supervision significantly contributed towards the depreciation of the motivation levels amongst nurses. Therefore, in order to promote the desired motivational levels among nurses at the hospital, positive attitudes have to be cultivated. This implies that positive attitudes towards the leadership measures employed by Madeline with regards to the operations of the hospital would result in the desired behaviors from her nursing personnel. This would, in turn, boost intrinsic motivational levels among the staff, thus, boosting the overall motivation of nurses in the hospital. SDT provides the desired platform for the transformation of nurses’ attitudes and, thus, their behavior with regard to the operations of the hospital. As mentioned earlier, SDT offers a platform for the internalization of various extrinsic motivations over a spell of time. This would, in turn, lead to the internalization of the extrinsic motivations into desired intrinsic motivations. Thus, these intrinsic motivations would be responsible for the overall appreciation of the motivation levels amongst the staff at the hospital. However, this process of internalization of extrinsic motivational values into desirable intrinsic motivational values requires the employment of necessary intervention methods. The most suitable methods of intervention culminating in the desired behaviors among the hospital’s nursing personnel with regard to Madeline’s leadership styles can be outlined as follows (Markland, Ryan, Tobin and Rollnick, 2005: 811; Miller and Rollnick, 2012: 31; Pritchard and Ashwood, 2008: 17): Effective Communication Effective communication provides the necessary ingredient for the smooth running of operations within any organization. Thus, with regard to the flow of operations in the pediatric department of the Royal Windsor hospital, effective communication would have to be employed. This implies that Madeline, the supervising nurse, would have to employ effective communication methods of conveying information to the staff with regard to daily operations. This would, in turn, result in reduced confrontations with the staff in regards to various operations. Reduced prying from Madeline would, thus, culminate in the fulfillment of nurses’ need for autonomy. This would result in an increase of intrinsic motivation amongst the staff, thus boosting the overall motivation of the employees. Convenience Like effective communication, convenience in operations also contributes significantly towards smooth operations within an organization. This implies that the adoption of convenient operations with respect to suggestions made by various individuals in the hospital would also significantly contribute towards raising motivational levels among the nursing personnel. As recorded, Margaret proposed various changes in the operations of the hospital. However, these changes failed to be taken into consideration by Madeline. This resulted in the development of immense extrinsic motivation with regard to the operations of the hospital. Madeline should, therefore, seek to incorporate some the convenient operational suggestions made by her juniors in the effective operation of the hospital. This would significantly boost the intrinsic levels of motivation, thus boosting overall motivation for nurses at the hospital. Monetary Incentives Monetary incentives also offer perfect platform for cultivation of motivation among personnel of various institutions. Thus, although it is recorded that the working conditions and pay rates of nurses were set in adherence to the standard levels, Madeline should champion for various incentives with regard to the various operations of nurses. These monetary incentives may be based on the overall performance of the nursing staff based on various comments from the service rendered to patients. Although this is an extrinsic motivation measure, it would result in an immense boost to the motivation of the employees. Therefore, through these practices, Madeline would be able to initiate the desired positive attitudes towards various operations amongst the nursing staff of Royal Windsor hospital. This would, in turn, lead to the development of the desired behaviors with regard to the operations of the hospital. Thus, the employment of SDT in raising the motivational levels among the staff of the Royal Windsor hospital significantly contributes to the fulfillment of the task in the following ways: SDT provides a platform for the establishment of the causes leading to reduced motivational levels amongst the employees. This paves way for the employment of suitable intervention methods geared towards addressing the problems cited by the SDT procedure. SDT effectively creates a platform for the internalization of various extrinsic motivational factors to the desired intrinsic motivational factors responsible for the overall increase in motivation. This implies that SDT provides the desired mechanism for boosting the overall motivation of the nursing personnel at the Royal Windsor hospital (Villacorta, Koestner and Lekes, 2003: 486). However, its main disadvantage is that the theory mainly provides short term intervention methods. These methods may, thus, be costly and difficult to maintain. 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