Chapter 4

Motivation Concepts and Their Applications

 What is motivation?

• The term is derived from the Latin word

‘mover’, meaning ‘to move’.
• Motivation is one of the key ingredients in
employee performance & productivity.
• It is processes and it can be simply stated
as psychological process that arouse and
direct goal, behavior.
 Cont…nd
• It account for an individual’s intensity, direction
and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.
• This definition has 3 key elements such as
intensity, persistence and direction.
• Motivated people are willing to exert a particular
level of efforts (intensity) for a certain amount of
time (persistence) toward a particular goal
(direction).
 Cont…nd
• Motivation refers to the forces within a person
that affect his/her direction, intensity, and
persistence of voluntary behavior.
• In motivation, needs produce motives which
leads to the accomplishment of goals and
• Needs are caused because of deficiencies, either
physical or psychological.
 Cont…nd
• Motivation theorists talk about intrinsic motivators
and extrinsic motivators.
• Intrinsic Motivators come from the person’s
internal desire to do something, motivated by
such things as interest, challenge and personal
satisfaction.
• extrinsic motivators motivation that comes from
outside the person and include such things as
pay, bonuses, and other tangible rewards.
• 
 Features of motivation
• It is a psychological phenomenon
• It is a continuous process
• It is caused due to anticipated perceived value
from an action
• There are unsatisfied needs
• An individual is motivated by positive motivation
 Importance of motivation
• High level of performance
• Low employee turnover and absenteeism
• Acceptance of organization change
• Organizational image
 Theories of Motivation
• Two main categories such as early theories and
contemporary theories.
• Early theories of motivation
• Contemporary theories of motivation
 Early theories of motivation
• Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory
• Herzberg’s motivation Hygiene theory, and
• McGregor’s theory x and theory y
 Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory
• The most well-known theory of motivation is Abraham
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
• He stated that human beings have five types of needs.

Self-
actualization
Esteem
Social
Security
Physiological
 Herzberg’s motivation Hygiene theory
• It is also known as two factor theory.
• Motivator-hygiene theory is developed by Frederick
Herzberg.
• Motivational Factors
• They are used to improve job satisfaction.
• They are intrinsic in nature and help increase one’s output. E.g.
achievement, recognition, work itself etc.
• Maintenance Factors
• These factors are also called hygiene factors or dissatisfies. E.g.
salary, job security, company policy etc.
• When these factors are present they do not motivate in a strong
way, when absent they dissatisfy.
 McGregor’s theory X and theory Y
• Theory X
• The average human being dislikes work.
• People would be passive management must persuade,
reward and punish.
• Workers lacks ambition, dislike responsibility, prefers to
be lead/directed etc.
• Theory Y
• The average human being likes work.
• He/she dislikes punishment.
• Workers seek direction and exercise self-control.
 Contemporary theories of motivation
• Alderfer’s ERG Theory
• McClelland’s theory of learned Needs.
• Expectancy theory
• Equity theory &
• Goal-setting theory
 Alderfer’s ERG Theory
• It developed to overcome the problems with Maslow’s
needs hierarchy theory.
• He further studies on Maslow’s theory of need hierarchy
and
• He identified three basic needs of human being against
five needs of Maslow.
• Three broad categories existence (E), relatedness (R) &
growth (G).
 Cont…nd
• Existence need- It is related to Maslow’s physiological
and safety needs.
• Relatedness need- related to Maslow’s social and
external component of esteem needs i.e., status,
recognition and attention.
• Growth need- It is related to intrinsic component of
esteem need like advancement, self-respect, autonomy,
achievement and self-actualization need.
 Cont…nd
• ERG theory is motivation theory in which people
progress to the next higher needs when a lower one is
fulfilled,
• and regress to the lower need if unable to fulfill a higher
need.
• All the needs need not be in rigid stepwise progression.
• A person can, for instance, be working on growth even
though existence or relatedness needs are unsatisfied;
• or all three need categories could be operating at the
same time.
 McClelland’s theory of learned needs
• David McClelland studied 3 secondary needs considered
important sources of motivation.
• Need for achievement
• Need for affiliation, and
• Need for power
• Need For Achievement
• It concerns issues of excellence, completion, challenging
goals, persistence, and overcoming difficulties.
 Cont…nd
• Need For Power
• It is concerned with making an impact on others.
• Need For Affiliation
• It is concerned with establishing and maintaining warm,
close relationships with other people.
 Vroom’s Expectancy theory
• Currently, one of the most widely accepted explanations
of motivation is Victor Vroom’s
expectancy theory
• He believes that employee is motivated to exert high
level of efforts, when he/she believes that efforts will lead
to good performance, that good performance will lead
to organizational rewards,
• That the rewards will satisfy his or her personal goals.
• Efforts-performance relationship
• This is commonly called expectancy.
• Exerting a given amount of efforts will lead to
performance.
 Cont…nd
• Performance-reward/outcome relationship
• It is commonly called instrumentality.
• Performing a particular level will lead to attainment of
desired outcome.
• Reward/outcome- personal goal relationship
• It is commonly called valence.
• The degree to which an organizational reward will satisfy
individual needs and goals.
 Equity Theory
• It explains how people develop perception of fairness in
the distribution and exchanging of resources.
• And also explains what employees are motivated to do
when they feel inequitably treated,
• i.e. perceived inequity motivate employees to complain
and try to change the source of the previous inequity.
 Cont…nd
• Equity theory has four main elements:-
• Outcome/ input ratio
• Compression other
• Equity evaluation and
• Consequence of inequity
 Cont…nd
• Outcome /Input Ratio
• Inputs include skills, efforts, experiences, amount of time
worked, performance result and other employee
contributions to the organization.
• And Outcomes are the things employees receive from
the organization in exchanging for the inputs, such as pay,
promotions, recognition, or an office with a window.
 Cont…nd
• Comparison with Others
• Equity theory states that we compare our situation with a
comparison other.
• Most of the time we compare ourselves with others who
are nearby in similar positions, and with similar
backgrounds.
 Cont…nd
• Equity evaluation
Person Comparison Other

Equity Outcomes = Outcomes

Inputs Inputs

Negative Outcomes<Outcomes
Inequity Inputs Inputs

Positive Outcomes>Outcomes
Inequity Inputs Inputs
 Cont…nd
• Consequences of inequity
• There are 6 possible ways to reduce feelings of inequity
such as:
• Changing inputs
• Changing outcomes
• Changing perception
• Leaving the field
• Acting on the comparison other
• Changing the comparison other
 Goal setting
• It is one of the most effective and widely practiced
theories of motivation in organizations.
• Goals are the immediate or ultimate objectives that
employees are trying to accomplish from their work effort.
 Characteristics of effective goals
Specific goals
Result-oriented goals
Challenging goals
Goal commitment
Participation in goal formation
Goal feedback
Thank you