MSHN 622 - PRINCIPLES OF CORPORATE TRAINING AND

DEVELOPMENT, GENERAL MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES REPORT

What is Motivation?

Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented

behaviors. It is what causes you to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to
reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge.

Motivation 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. It is the driving force behind human
actions.

Understanding Content and Process Theories

Difference between content theory and process theory is that, content theory
emphasizes on the reasons for changing the human needs frequently
while process theory focuses on the psychological processes which affect
motivation, with regard to the expectations, goals, and perceptions of equity.
Both these theories are linked with motivation. Let’s consider them in details
and have a proper understanding of how important they are linked to
motivation.

What is Content Theory?

Content theory or need theory can be identified as the earliest theories related
with the concept of motivation. It outlines the reasons for motivating an
individual; that means it explains the necessities and requirements that are
essential to motivate a person. These theories have been developed by various
theorists such as Abraham Maslow – Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Federick
Herzberg – Two factor theory and David McClelland – Need for achievement,
affiliation and power as I will briefly discuss them in this report.

In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, there are five levels of needs as physiological

needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs. If
one individual could pursue one level of needs of the hierarchy, then he tries to
pursue the next level of needs and it is believed that individual fulfill their needs
according to the hierarchical order.

Herzberg developed the two-factor theory, which indicates that individual’s

motivation depends on the two factors; hygiene factors and motivators.
Likewise, each of these theories explains the factors that affect the employee
motivation.

Individuals are unique to each other. Therefore, they have different needs and
requirements. Each of the person’s preferences changes with time. Therefore, in
organizations it is very much essential to identify the requirements that satisfy
and motivate the employees in order to get their maximum contribution.

What is Process Theory?

Process theories outline various behavioral patterns of individuals in fulfilling

their needs and requirements. There are four process theories such as
Reinforcement, Expectancy, Equity and Goal setting.

Reinforcement theory is another approach to motivation that argues that the

behaviour that results in rewarding consequences is likely to be repeated,
whereas behaviour that results in punishing consequences is less likely to be
repeated. There are four types of reinforcement that can result from behaviour.
i.e. positive reinforcement, avoidance, punishment and extinction.

Expectancy theory indicates that one’s level of motivation depends on the

attractiveness of the rewards sought and the probability of the rewards obtained.
In the case of employees feeling that they get the value from business
organizations and they put higher effort of work effort.

Equity theory expresses that individuals’ perceptions on how they are being
treated by the organization comparing to other employees in the similar
organizational level.

In goal setting theory, goal difficulty, specificity, acceptance and commitment

combine to determine an individual’s goal directed effort. This effort when
complemented by appropriate organizational support and individual abilities
result in good performance.

The ERG Theory of Motivation is a simplified but more flexible version of

Maslow's hierarchy of Needs. It proposes three needs that must all be satisfied
in order for an individual to be motivated: existence, relatedness, and growth.

Existence needs
Existence needs concern our basic material requirements for living. These
include what Maslow categorized as physiological needs (such as air, food,
water, and shelter) and safety-related needs (such as health, secure employment,
and property).

Relatedness needs

Relatedness needs have to do with the importance of maintaining interpersonal

relationships. These needs are based in social interactions with others and align
with Maslow’s levels of love/belonging-related needs (such as friendship,
family, and sexual intimacy) and esteem-related needs (gaining the respect of
others).

Growth needs

Growth needs describe our intrinsic desire for personal development. These
needs align with the other portion of Maslow’s esteem-related needs (self-
esteem, self-confidence, and achievement) and self-actualization needs (such as
morality, creativity, problem-solving, and discovery).

Alderfer proposed that when a certain category of needs isn’t being met, people
will redouble their efforts to fulfill needs in a lower category. For example, if
someone’s self-esteem is suffering, he or she will invest more effort in the
relatedness category of needs.

Unlike the ERG theory of motivation which simplifies Maslow's hierarchy of

needs, Frustration-Regression theory differs from it.

This theory (Frustration-Regression) states that if a higher-level need remains

unfulfilled, a person may regress to lower level needs that appear easier to
satisfy. Frustration-regression suggests that an already satisfied need can
become active when a higher need cannot be satisfied.

McClelland’s Learned Needs

McClelland’s Learned Needs identified the basic needs that human beings have,
in order of their importance: physiological needs, safety needs, and the needs
for belonging, self-esteem and "self-actualization". According to McClelland,
these motivators are learned (which is why this theory is sometimes called the
Learned Needs Theory).
David McClelland built on this work in his 1961 book, "The Achieving
Society." He identified three motivators that he believed we all have: a need for
achievement, a need for affiliation, and a need for power. People will have
different characteristics depending on their dominant motivator.

According to McClelland, these motivators are learned (which is why this

theory is sometimes called the Learned Needs Theory).

McClelland says that, regardless of our gender, culture, or age, we all have three
motivating drivers, and one of these will be our dominant motivating driver.
These needs are acquired through interaction with environment. This dominant
motivator is largely dependent on our culture and life experiences.

Herzberg’s Motivation Two-Factor Theory

The two-factor motivation theory, otherwise known as Herzberg’s motivation-

hygiene theory or dual-factor theory, argues that there are separate sets of
mutually exclusive factors in the workplace that either cause job satisfaction or
dissatisfaction.

Herzberg argues that motivation factors are necessary to improve job

satisfaction. These motivators, according to Herzberg, are intrinsic to the job
and lead to job satisfaction because they satisfy needs for growth and self-
actualization (Herzberg, 1966).
In his original paper, Herzberg examines 14 motivational and hygiene factors,
of which these are notable examples:

Advancement

Herzberg defined advancement as the upward and positive status or position of

someone in a workplace. Meanwhile, a negative or neutral status at work
represents negative advancement (Alshmemri et al., 2017, 2017).
The work itself

The content of job tasks in itself can have positive or negative effects on
employees. The job’s difficulty and level of engagement can dramatically
impact satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the workplace (Alshmemri et al., 2017,
2017).

Possibility for growth

Possibilities for growth exist in the same vein as Maslow’s self-actualization;

they are opportunities for a person to experience personal growth and promotion
in the workplace. Personal growth can result in professional growth, increased
opportunities to develop new skills and techniques, and gaining professional
knowledge (Alshmemri et al., 2017, 2017).

Responsibility

Responsibility encompasses both the responsibilities held by the individual and

the authority granted to the individual in

Their Role: People gain satisfaction from being given the responsibility and
authority to make decisions. Conversely, a mismatch between responsibility and
level of authority negatively affects job satisfaction (Alshmemri et al., 2017,
2017).

Recognition

When employees receive praise or rewards for reaching goals at their job or for
producing high-quality work, they receive recognition. Negative recognition
involves criticisms or blame for a poorly-done job (Alshmemri et al., 2017,
2017).

Achievement
Positive achievement can involve, for example, completing a difficult task on
time, solving a job-related problem, or seeing positive results from one’s work.
Negative achievement includes failure to make progress at work or poor job-
related decision making (Alshmemri et al., 2017, 2017).

Hygiene Factors
Hygiene factors are those which decrease job dissatisfaction.
Herzberg also states that hygiene factors are extrinsic to the job, and function in
“the need to avoid unpleasantness” (Herzberg, 1966).
Hygiene factors, rather than relating to the content of the job in itself, tend to
relate to contextual factors such as interpersonal relations, salary, company
policies and administration, relationship with supervisors and working
conditions:

Interpersonal relations: Interpersonal relationships involve the personal and

working relationships between an employee and his supervisors, subordinates,
and peers. This can manifest in, for example, job-related interactions as well as
social discussions in both the work environment and during informal break
times.

Salary: Salary includes wage or salary increases, and negatively, unfulfilled

expectations of wage or salary increases (Alshmemri et al., 2017).

Company policies and administration: Company policies and administration

includes factors such as the extent to which company organization and
management policies and guidelines are clear or unclear. For example, a lack of
delegation of authority, vague policies and procedures and communication may
lead to job dissatisfaction.

Supervision: Supervision involves an employee’s judgements of the

competence or incompetence and fairness or unfairness of the supervisor or
supervisions. For example, this could include a supervisor's willingness to
delegate responsibility or to feach, as well as their knowledge of the job at hand.
Poor leadership and management can decrease job dissatisfaction.
Working conditions: Finally, working conditions involve the physical
surroundings of the job and whether or not they are good or poor. Factors
leading to a good or poor workspace could involve the amount of work, space,
ventilation, tools, temperature, and safety (Alshmemri et al., 2017).