MOTIVATION: MEANING & DEFINITION-
The term ‘motivation’ has been derived from the word ‘motive’. Motive may be defined as an inner state of
our mind that activates and directs our behaviour. It makes us move to act. It is always internal to us and is
externalized via our behaviour. Motivation is one’s willingness to exert efforts towards the accomplishment of
his/her goal. Let us consider a few important definitions on motivation that will help us understand the
meaning of motivation more clearly.
Fred Luthans defined motivation as a “process that starts with a physiological or psychological deficiency or
need that activates behaviour or a drive that is aimed at a goal or incentive”.
According to Stephen P. Robbins “motivation is the willingness to exert high levels of efforts toward
organisational goals, conditioned by the effort ability to satisfy some individual need”.
In the opinion of Gray and Starke “motivation is the result of processes, internal or external to the individual,
that arouse enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a certain course of action”.
After going through the above definitions, motivation can be defined very simply as the willingness to exert
towards the accomplishment of goal or need.
MOTIVATION CYCLE OR PROCESS:
As stated earlier, motivation is a process or cycle aimed at accomplishing some goals. The basic elements
included in the process are motives, goals and behaviour. A brief mention of these follows:
Motives:
Almost all human behaviour is motivated. It requires no motivation to grow hair, but getting a hair cut does.
Motives prompt people to action. Hence, these are at the very heart of motivational process. Motives provide
an activating thrust towards reaching a goal. The examples of the needs for food and water are translated into
the hunger and thrust drives or motives. Similarly, the need for friends becomes a motive for affiliation.
Goals:
Motives are generally directed towards goals. Motives generally create a state of physiological or
psychological imbalance. Attaining goals restores balance. For example, a goal exists when the body of the
man is deprived of food or water or one’s personality is deprived of friends or companions.
Behaviour:
Behaviour is a series of activities to be undertaken. Behaviour is directed to achieve a goal. For example, the
man goes to saloon to cut his hair. Diagrammed simply, the cycle or process of motivation is presented in
Figure 17.1 as follows:
1
, IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION:
The need for and importance of motivation can be imbued with multiplicity of justifications as follows:
1. Organisations are run by people. Hence, mangers cannot afford to avoid a concern with human behaviour at
work. This is because the motivated employees are more productive and quality- conscious than apathetic
ones.
2. Motivation as a pervasive concept affects and is also affected by a host of factors in the organisational
milieu. It enables managers to understand why people behave as they behave.
3. Organisational effectiveness becomes, to some extent, the question of management’s ability to motivate its
employees. Hence, an appreciation of motivation helps the managers how to motivate their employees.
4. Machines become necessary in case of complex technology. However, these remain inefficient vehicles of
effective and efficient operations without man to operate them. Therefore, organisations need to have
employees with required capability and willingness to use the advanced complex technology to achieve the
organisational goal.
5. With the realisation that organisations will run in more complex milieu in future, an increasing attention has
been given to develop employees as future resources (a ‘talent bank’). This facilitates the managers to draw
upon them as and when organisations grow and develop.
In sum and substance, the need for and significance of motivation for an organisation can be put as
follows:
“If we compare management with driving, while the organisation is the vehicle, then motivation is the power
or fuel that makes the vehicle moving”.
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
Traditional theory of Motivation: Maslow’s, Herzberg’s, Mc Cleland-
Some of the most important theories of motivation are as follows: 1. Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory 2.
Herzberg’s Motivation Hygiene Theory 3. McClelland’s Need Theory 4. McGregor’s Participation Theory 5.
Urwick’s Theory Z 6. Argyris’s Theory 7. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory 8. Porter and Lawler’s Expectancy
Theory.
From the very beginning, when the human organisations were established, various thinkers have tried to find
out the answer to what motivates people to work. Different approaches applied by them have resulted in a
number of theories concerning motivation.
These are discussed in brief in that order.
1. Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory:
It is probably safe to say that the most well-known theory of motivation is Maslow’s need hierarchy theory
Maslow’s theory is based on the human needs. Drawing chiefly on his clinical experience, he classified all
human needs into a hierarchical manner from the lower to the higher order.
2
The term ‘motivation’ has been derived from the word ‘motive’. Motive may be defined as an inner state of
our mind that activates and directs our behaviour. It makes us move to act. It is always internal to us and is
externalized via our behaviour. Motivation is one’s willingness to exert efforts towards the accomplishment of
his/her goal. Let us consider a few important definitions on motivation that will help us understand the
meaning of motivation more clearly.
Fred Luthans defined motivation as a “process that starts with a physiological or psychological deficiency or
need that activates behaviour or a drive that is aimed at a goal or incentive”.
According to Stephen P. Robbins “motivation is the willingness to exert high levels of efforts toward
organisational goals, conditioned by the effort ability to satisfy some individual need”.
In the opinion of Gray and Starke “motivation is the result of processes, internal or external to the individual,
that arouse enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a certain course of action”.
After going through the above definitions, motivation can be defined very simply as the willingness to exert
towards the accomplishment of goal or need.
MOTIVATION CYCLE OR PROCESS:
As stated earlier, motivation is a process or cycle aimed at accomplishing some goals. The basic elements
included in the process are motives, goals and behaviour. A brief mention of these follows:
Motives:
Almost all human behaviour is motivated. It requires no motivation to grow hair, but getting a hair cut does.
Motives prompt people to action. Hence, these are at the very heart of motivational process. Motives provide
an activating thrust towards reaching a goal. The examples of the needs for food and water are translated into
the hunger and thrust drives or motives. Similarly, the need for friends becomes a motive for affiliation.
Goals:
Motives are generally directed towards goals. Motives generally create a state of physiological or
psychological imbalance. Attaining goals restores balance. For example, a goal exists when the body of the
man is deprived of food or water or one’s personality is deprived of friends or companions.
Behaviour:
Behaviour is a series of activities to be undertaken. Behaviour is directed to achieve a goal. For example, the
man goes to saloon to cut his hair. Diagrammed simply, the cycle or process of motivation is presented in
Figure 17.1 as follows:
1
, IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION:
The need for and importance of motivation can be imbued with multiplicity of justifications as follows:
1. Organisations are run by people. Hence, mangers cannot afford to avoid a concern with human behaviour at
work. This is because the motivated employees are more productive and quality- conscious than apathetic
ones.
2. Motivation as a pervasive concept affects and is also affected by a host of factors in the organisational
milieu. It enables managers to understand why people behave as they behave.
3. Organisational effectiveness becomes, to some extent, the question of management’s ability to motivate its
employees. Hence, an appreciation of motivation helps the managers how to motivate their employees.
4. Machines become necessary in case of complex technology. However, these remain inefficient vehicles of
effective and efficient operations without man to operate them. Therefore, organisations need to have
employees with required capability and willingness to use the advanced complex technology to achieve the
organisational goal.
5. With the realisation that organisations will run in more complex milieu in future, an increasing attention has
been given to develop employees as future resources (a ‘talent bank’). This facilitates the managers to draw
upon them as and when organisations grow and develop.
In sum and substance, the need for and significance of motivation for an organisation can be put as
follows:
“If we compare management with driving, while the organisation is the vehicle, then motivation is the power
or fuel that makes the vehicle moving”.
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
Traditional theory of Motivation: Maslow’s, Herzberg’s, Mc Cleland-
Some of the most important theories of motivation are as follows: 1. Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory 2.
Herzberg’s Motivation Hygiene Theory 3. McClelland’s Need Theory 4. McGregor’s Participation Theory 5.
Urwick’s Theory Z 6. Argyris’s Theory 7. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory 8. Porter and Lawler’s Expectancy
Theory.
From the very beginning, when the human organisations were established, various thinkers have tried to find
out the answer to what motivates people to work. Different approaches applied by them have resulted in a
number of theories concerning motivation.
These are discussed in brief in that order.
1. Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory:
It is probably safe to say that the most well-known theory of motivation is Maslow’s need hierarchy theory
Maslow’s theory is based on the human needs. Drawing chiefly on his clinical experience, he classified all
human needs into a hierarchical manner from the lower to the higher order.
2
