Human Motivation in Organization - Essay Example

HUMAN MOTIVATION IN ORGANIZATION Introduction Motivation refers to the energy that starts, directs, and upholdsgoal-oriented conduct in an organization. In Buchanan words, it is a decision making process through which the individual chooses the desired product and set in the behavior appropriate to them. It is what causes us to take action, whether to persist in school to have a good future or go fasting to heal the thirst of what we believe in. According to Ryan and Deci, being motivated implies being moved to action1. An individual without impetus feelings or lacking the inspiration to act is thus unmotivated. On the contrary, an energized person toward a conclusion is regarded as motivated. Most people working with others are concerned with motivation and thereby raising the question of the amount of motivation one has for a task arises. Practitioners foster more motivation in those close to them. The forces, which drive motivation, can occur in different nature: biological, emotional, cognitive, or social2. Individual conduct is at the heart of a person’s motivation and it is so vital in understanding and influencing motivation. Individual behavior is important in comprehending and influencing motivation for a number of reasons. Each person possesses a set of requirements as well as a diverse set of objectives. Individuals conduct themselves in a manner aimed at satisfying their needs and fulfilling their goals. Thus, people behave differently. Businesses, such as firms can provide some of the contentment sought by individuals. For example relationships, personal development, sense of belonging, and intellectual encouragement among others. Motivation is important for businesses and the best ones have the best-motivated employees. Some characteristics define well-motivated workers: increased productivity, quality work without much wastage, prompt urgency, availability of feedback and suggestions necessary for improvements, and more feedback demands from the management. Motivated employees produce more for a particular resources level than poorly motivated employees do. Such employees make things happen, when they need to and take ownership of their duties. In this regard, my position is that individuals are not simply motivated by money offered to perform given tasks for a firm, but other things can explain why people do things the way they do. Motivational theory can explain why people do things the way they do. Discussion Behavior is directed to and originates from unsatisfied needs. According to Maslow, unsatisfied is the most significant word, he states, “If we are interested in what actually motivates us and not what has or will, or might motivate us, then a satisfied need is not a motivator.” When behavior is termed goal-oriented, it implies that people feel a need, want, or drive to accomplish something, which results in realization of a goal. However, the question arises if the goal is a part of the self already in existence. It thus questionable if the factor stimulates the need or if the goals as well as the needs are the same thing. A goal is the outcome that one strives to achieve in order to satisfy particular needs. It is the resulting yield, the need, the steering force, which encourages obtaining the result3. A good exemplar is a student aiming to attain an A marks. This goal may display different needs and thus, the student should confirm his or her competence; colleagues may be all scoring A’s thereby forcing this student to wish the same to obtain their esteem, to attain the best, and may be to obtain a scholarship. Therefore, it is hard to deduce goals from needs. Money is sometimes described as a motivator. It represents dissimilar things to diverse people thereby saying that people work for money is worthless. All we should understand is the needs the money is fulfilling, be it survival, success, status, belonging, or a convenient performance scorecard. As noted earlier, conduct is directed to as well as results from unsatisfied wants. Each person has various needs that vie for fulfillment thereby making it hard to choose from the competing forces4. Trying to fulfill all at the same time resembles a small kid in a candy shop confused on the best way to use her allowance, the same way people are forced to choose what they want most and thus, satisfy the strongest want first. The problem of the important needs persists despite the discovery of the existence of many needs. In the same manner, many have attempted severally to present motivation models with explicit figure of motivating wants implying their all-exclusiveness and representing the complete picture of needs. Motivation Theories I. Hierarchy of Needs by Abraham Maslow Maslow’s theory argues that people are motivated to fulfill some needs, which are times less powerful than others are. His argument is that until the prepotent needs are fulfilled, the others possess little influence on a person’s behavior. Similarly, people fulfill the most pressing needs first and proceed to the less prepotent ones. When a need is satisfied, it becomes less significant and others emerge and motivate a person’s behavior5. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs’ prepotency indicates that physiological needs, such as hunger are the most prepotent, followed by safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization respectively. Therefore, the needs should be satisfied in that order. Upon satisfying the physiological needs, the next level of needs surfaces. After safety is achieved, people are concerned with becoming a part of a group where they can affiliate and are accepted by others. The cycle continues because there is motivation by the desire to achieve the next level until self-actualization is attained. Without either of the needs as they flow in the hierarchy, a person sees him/herself as cut off, pointless, and drifting. Most of this dissatisfaction with some kind of job centers across as perceived by individuals performing them as humiliating and thus harmful to their self-concept. Upon satisfying all the mentioned needs to some extent, individuals are motivated by a desire to self-actualize, to attain their optimum potential, and to perform to the best of their capability. Self-actualization according to Maslow implies doing what one ought to be doing, for instance, an artist painting, which depicts the desire for self-fulfillment6. It is that desire to be more of what one is and to be what a person is capable of becoming. However, this will defer with different people depending on their desires and aspirations. However, Maslow does not mean that people have one kind of need at a time. Actually, people may experience all the needs in the hierarchy at the same time, but to differing degrees. Hunger is an indisputable reality in many parts of the globe, although people have witnessed the incident of inability to focus on a job because of a growling stomach. During lunchtime, productivity goes down because individuals shift their thoughts from work to the nearing meal. Rest is the need on the mind after lunch and food ceases from being the uppermost in their minds thereby setting in a sense of drowsiness. On a similar note, in all executive settings, people juggle their security needs with esteem needs. These issues are experienced given a circumstance where management demands a particular level of performance, but the group norms produce a lower level. This may cause an individual the job (security), but is the person adheres to the management requirements instead of the groups; she or he may be ostracized (belonging). Notably, the hierarchy does not apply to each person; some people have their needs in a different order of prepotence. Some may be interested in having esteem because they already can afford physiological and safety needs. Thus, they concentrate less on the two levels of needs and concentrate more on esteem. Therefore, esteem is the motivating factor to such persons. The needs may be satisfied once and cease from being a motivator, but may the need may re-emerge and thus become a motivator again; for instance, food is most of the times a motivator. This gives a clear point for management. Regrettably, most firms and people still do not get the message. Most inducement schemes are founded on the already satisfied needs. In case the management laid emphasis on unsatisfied needs, workers would be more probably to be motivated towards attaining the organization’s goals. The behavior of a person is principally geared towards unfulfilled needs7. This model offers constant growth of the person because there is no juncture at which all has been attained. A person is always trying to improve and work harder to attain the other pressing need. II. Dual-Factor Theory by Frederick Herzberg Herzberg hypothesized that people are motivated by two kinds of motivators, one king that leads to job satisfaction and the other that simply thwarts dissatisfaction. These types are disconnect and distinct from each other. According to Herzberg, factors that lead to job satisfaction are motivators whereas those, which merely are dissatisfaction, hygienes. In that case, the motivators include accomplishment, acknowledgment, work itself, accountability, and improvement. On the other hand, the hygienes include supervision, status, safety, money, interpersonal associations, working conditions, and corporation policy as well as administration. The hygienes can prevent dissatisfaction if applied effectively, but can result into unfavorable feelings in case applied poorly. Motivators refer to things allowing for psychological development on the job. They relate closely with the self-actualization concept that entails a challenge, a chance to expand oneself to the fullest, to taste the satisfaction of accomplishment, and to be acknowledged as having accomplished something valuable. On the other hand, hygienes are merely factors, which describe the work conditions instead of the work itself. Herzberg’s point is that in case one wishes to motivate individuals, he or she should be concerned with the work itself rather than the surroundings alone. Medically, certain things like healing happen internally. They result from proper diet, and sleep among others. Hygiene prevents the spread of infections and thus do not enhance growth8. The same way, people should concentrate on jobs rather than the surroundings. Herzberg claims that growth happen if favorable working conditions and security among others are provided; however, the truth as he says is that growth is stimulated by chances for accomplishment, acknowledgement, accountability, and advancement. III. Need for Achievement by David McClelland The need for achievement is a major motivational factor in any occupation. Different individuals will have different levels of need for achievement. In a group of individuals, some have high need for achievement, and they have unique personalities distinct from the rest. People with a high need for achievement prefer situations where they take personal responsibility in solving challenges facing them9. As David McClelland puts it, such people can obtain personal satisfaction from the achievements they make. People with a high need for achievement believe in their proficiency and endeavor to have a result. They believe that the outcome of any situation is because of their actions and not by chance. This is a clear indication that people with a high need for achievement are highly motivated to attain their set goals. The goals that highly motivated people set are reasonable and achievable. They set goals that are neither too high to be achieve or too low to pose no challenge. People with high need achievement will set targets that require them to utilize their full potential and ability. Individuals with high need for achievement will set standards that pose a challenge for failure. They however, ensure that such standards are achievable by their own endeavors10. People with high need for achievement need satisfaction from their actions. They therefore require a tangible response concerning their actions. Such people would prefer opportunities that will appreciate their efforts, as well give them an actual feedback regarding their performance. Such kind of response is believed to reinforce their motivation, hence giving better results. People with high need for achievement will prefer working with professionals rather than friends in their place of work. High achievers form a personality of people who can only fit to certain jobs. It is vital to note that not all individuals can be motivated by posing challenging activities to them. Actual and fast response on performance, as well as assuming personal responsibility for all individuals may not motivate low achievers. IV. The need for Affiliation and the Need for Power McClelland has in addition discovered other two types of needs, which he called the need for power and the need for affiliation. McClelland arrived at these needs through an experiment he called the Thematic Apperception Test. According to McClelland, individuals with high need for achievement will devise tales associated with challenging encounters and need for satisfaction. Secondly, he concludes that individuals with high need for affiliation will devise stories reflecting on friendly human interactions and concern for others. He finally asserts that people with high need for power will associate their tales with situations where they are in power and can influence and control others. V. The need for affiliation People with high need for affiliation prefer to belong to a group and to have warm friends and personal connection with others. They have a strong desire for belonging to a group and it is a motivating factor, which can influence these people’s actions. McClelland equates the need for affiliation to Maslow’s need to belong where every individual needs to belong to a certain group or affiliate himself to a particular group. People with a high need for affiliation may demonstrate the need in varied ways. VI. The Need for Power People with a high need for power have strong aspiration to manipulate and control people. Managers who rise to the highest positions in organizations are said to be having a high need for power. However, it is worth to note that such control and influence should be directed in such a way that it benefits the entire organization. The need for power should be a recipe for effective performance in an organization, which will ensure organizational goals are achieved. McClelland stresses that managers should have an immense need for power as opposed to him seeking to be friendly to the people11. Conclusion In summary, motivation is the energy that starts, directs, and upholds goal-oriented conduct in an organization. It is a decision making process through which the individual chooses the desired product and set in the behavior appropriate to them. It is very clear that individuals are not simply motivated by money offered to perform given tasks for a firm, but other things can explain why people do things the way they do. The motivational theories discussed prove that money cannot be the sole source of motivation. Other factors, such as needs (physiological needs, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization), which are well explained by Maslow are the major source of motivation. The needs occur in hierarchy, which although is not universal to all, but applies in major cases. When one is fulfilled, motivation shifts to the next pressing need and the cycle continues. In fact, some needs may recur thereby maintaining the motivation flow. This is the same thing in organizations; management laying emphasis on unsatisfied needs make the workers more motivated towards attaining the organization’s goals. This is because the behavior of a person is principally geared towards unfulfilled needs. Others may be motivated by the need for power, achievement, or affiliation whereas others are motivated the need for fulfillment thereby holding up to my position that money is not a motivational factor, but rather other factors play a role. Bibliography Chang, Richard. "The Motivation Is Perfection." New York Times, Last modified February 5, 2010. Accessed August 1, 2012. http://http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/automobiles/07EGO.html. Koontz, Harold, and Weihrich, Heinz. Essentials of Management, 7th ed., 475. Asia: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2006. O’Nei, Harold, and Drillings, Michael. Motivation: theory and research. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, 1994. Ryan, Richard M., and Edward L. Deci. 2000. "Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions." Contemporary Educational Psychology 25 (1):54-67 Sapru, R. Administrative Theories and Management Thought, 444. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd, 2006. Read More