ORGB-364 - Chapter 5 - Foundations of
Employee Motivation
define motivation
the forces within a person that affect the direction, intensity, and persistence of their effort for
voluntary behaviour.
What is direction, intensity, and persistence as it relates to motivation?
1. Direction refers to what people are focused on achieving; in other words, the goal or outcome
toward which they steer their effort.
2. Intensity is the amount of physical, cognitive, and emotional energy expanded at a given moment
to achieve a task or other objective.
3. Persistence refers to how long people sustain their effort as they move toward their goal.
define employee engagement
is an individual's emotional and cognitive (logical) motivation, particularly a focused, intense,
persistent, and purposive effort toward work-related goals.
define drives
are hardwired characteristics of the brain that attempt to keep us in balance by correcting
deficiencies. Also called primary needs.
· Drives produce emotions that energize us to act on our environment.
· Research has consistently identified several human drives, such as the drive to have social
interaction and bonding, to develop our competence, to make sense of our surroundings, and to
defend ourselves against physical and psychological harm.
define needs
are goal-directed forces that people experience.
They are the motivational forces of emotions channelled toward specific goals and associated
behaviours to correct deficiencies or imbalances.
What is the difference between drives and needs?
Everyone has the same drives; they are hardwired in us through evolution. However, people develop
different intensities of needs in a particular situation.
the individual's self-concept (as well as personality and values), social norms, and past experience
amplify or suppress emotions, thereby resulting in stronger or weaker needs.
define four-drive theory
This theory states that emotions are the source of human motivation and that these emotions are
generated through four drives.
What are the 4 drives in four-drive theory?
1. Drive to acquire. This is the drive to seek, take, control, and retain objects and personal
experiences. It produces various needs, including achievement, competence, status, and self-esteem.
The drive to acquire also motivates competition.
, 2. Drive to bond. This drive produces the need to belonging and affiliation. It explains why our self-
concept is partly defined by associations with social groups. The drive to bond motivates people to
cooperate and, consequently, is essential for organizations and societies.
3. Drive to comprehend. We are inherently curious and need to make sense of our environment and
ourselves. When observing something that is inconsistent with or beyond our current knowledge, we
experience a tension that motivates us to close that information gap. The drive to comprehend
motivates curiosity as well as the broader need to reach our knowledge potential.
4. Drive to defend. This is the drive to protect ourselves physically, psychologically, and socially.
Probably the first drive to develop in human beings, it creates a fight-or-flight response when we are
confronted with threats to our physical safety, our possessions, our self-concept, our values, and the
well-being of people around us.
What are Maslow's hierarchy of needs?
· Physiological (need for food, air, water, shelter, etc.)
· Safety (need for security and stability)
·Belongingness/love (need for interaction with and affection from others),
· Esteem (need for self-esteem and social esteem/status), and
· Self-actualization (need for self-fulfilment, realization of one's potential).
Define intrinsic motivation
motivation that occurs when people are fulfilling their needs for competence and autonomy by
engaging in the activity itself, rather than from an externally controlled outcome of that activity.
Intrinsically motivated employees apply their talents toward a meaningful task and experience
progress or success in that task.
define extrinsic motivation
motivation that occurs when people want to engage in an activity for instrumental reasons, that is, to
receive something that is beyond their personal control.
This involves directing one's effort toward a reward controlled by others that indirectly fulfils a need.
Extrinsic motivators exist throughout organizations, such as pay incentives, recognition awards, and
frequent reminders from the boss about work deadline.
What are the three "learned" needs?
need for achievement (nAch)
need for affiliation (nAff)
need for power (nPow)
define expectancy theory
states that work effort is directed toward behaviours that people believe will produce the most
favourable outcomes.
It assumes that people are rational decision makers who choose a target that will that best fulfill their
needs. This choice is based on the probability that specific events will occur and the positive or
negative valences (expected satisfaction) resulting from those events.
Employee Motivation
define motivation
the forces within a person that affect the direction, intensity, and persistence of their effort for
voluntary behaviour.
What is direction, intensity, and persistence as it relates to motivation?
1. Direction refers to what people are focused on achieving; in other words, the goal or outcome
toward which they steer their effort.
2. Intensity is the amount of physical, cognitive, and emotional energy expanded at a given moment
to achieve a task or other objective.
3. Persistence refers to how long people sustain their effort as they move toward their goal.
define employee engagement
is an individual's emotional and cognitive (logical) motivation, particularly a focused, intense,
persistent, and purposive effort toward work-related goals.
define drives
are hardwired characteristics of the brain that attempt to keep us in balance by correcting
deficiencies. Also called primary needs.
· Drives produce emotions that energize us to act on our environment.
· Research has consistently identified several human drives, such as the drive to have social
interaction and bonding, to develop our competence, to make sense of our surroundings, and to
defend ourselves against physical and psychological harm.
define needs
are goal-directed forces that people experience.
They are the motivational forces of emotions channelled toward specific goals and associated
behaviours to correct deficiencies or imbalances.
What is the difference between drives and needs?
Everyone has the same drives; they are hardwired in us through evolution. However, people develop
different intensities of needs in a particular situation.
the individual's self-concept (as well as personality and values), social norms, and past experience
amplify or suppress emotions, thereby resulting in stronger or weaker needs.
define four-drive theory
This theory states that emotions are the source of human motivation and that these emotions are
generated through four drives.
What are the 4 drives in four-drive theory?
1. Drive to acquire. This is the drive to seek, take, control, and retain objects and personal
experiences. It produces various needs, including achievement, competence, status, and self-esteem.
The drive to acquire also motivates competition.
, 2. Drive to bond. This drive produces the need to belonging and affiliation. It explains why our self-
concept is partly defined by associations with social groups. The drive to bond motivates people to
cooperate and, consequently, is essential for organizations and societies.
3. Drive to comprehend. We are inherently curious and need to make sense of our environment and
ourselves. When observing something that is inconsistent with or beyond our current knowledge, we
experience a tension that motivates us to close that information gap. The drive to comprehend
motivates curiosity as well as the broader need to reach our knowledge potential.
4. Drive to defend. This is the drive to protect ourselves physically, psychologically, and socially.
Probably the first drive to develop in human beings, it creates a fight-or-flight response when we are
confronted with threats to our physical safety, our possessions, our self-concept, our values, and the
well-being of people around us.
What are Maslow's hierarchy of needs?
· Physiological (need for food, air, water, shelter, etc.)
· Safety (need for security and stability)
·Belongingness/love (need for interaction with and affection from others),
· Esteem (need for self-esteem and social esteem/status), and
· Self-actualization (need for self-fulfilment, realization of one's potential).
Define intrinsic motivation
motivation that occurs when people are fulfilling their needs for competence and autonomy by
engaging in the activity itself, rather than from an externally controlled outcome of that activity.
Intrinsically motivated employees apply their talents toward a meaningful task and experience
progress or success in that task.
define extrinsic motivation
motivation that occurs when people want to engage in an activity for instrumental reasons, that is, to
receive something that is beyond their personal control.
This involves directing one's effort toward a reward controlled by others that indirectly fulfils a need.
Extrinsic motivators exist throughout organizations, such as pay incentives, recognition awards, and
frequent reminders from the boss about work deadline.
What are the three "learned" needs?
need for achievement (nAch)
need for affiliation (nAff)
need for power (nPow)
define expectancy theory
states that work effort is directed toward behaviours that people believe will produce the most
favourable outcomes.
It assumes that people are rational decision makers who choose a target that will that best fulfill their
needs. This choice is based on the probability that specific events will occur and the positive or
negative valences (expected satisfaction) resulting from those events.
