Question: contemporary motivation theories in management

Firstly, Sisk defined management as a social process entails the coordination of all resources through the process of Planning, Organizing, Directing and Controlling in order to attains stated objective. What are these resource s?

• The 7MS – Men, money, machines, materials, methods, morale and Minutes.

• What is motivation: Glueck defined it as the inner state that energizes, channels and sustains human behavior. Motivation explains why some people work hard and well, and others perform poorly. Three critical factors affect motivation. Individual needs, the nature of the job, and the work environment.

• Theories of motivation fall into two broad categories:

• The content theories of motivation• The process theories of motivation

• Content theories of motivation attempt to identify the individual motives considered important to job performance and satisfaction. They are based on the assumption that people have a set of needs or desired outcome, and they pursue action to achieve their wants

• Process theories deal in the main with the process of how behavior is energized. The concentrate on the ways outcomes become desirable and are pursued by people. All the major process theories have given wages and salary issues a central position in their analyses.

• CONTENT THEORIES OF MOTIVATION• One of the best known content theories of

motivation is Abraham Maslow’s Heirarchy of needs. Maslow recognized five different levels of needs, progressing from the most basic physiological needs to the more refined psychological needs of self actualization

• The needs were neatly set out in a hierarchy:• Physiological needs – Satisfaction of hunger, sleep,

thirst and so on.• Security needs – protection against threats and danger • Affiliation needs – Needs for love and acceptance by

other• Esteem needs – Needs for respect, status and

recognition• Self-Actualization Needs – Need for self-fulfillment and

self development

• Maslow contended that employees are motivated to satisfy these needs progressively, from the lower level needs to the highest level needs.

• Closely following Maslow’s work is the Motivator – Hygiene Model of Herzberg. Herzberg recognized a set of factors that impact on employee motivation. Certain job conditions operate primarily to dissatisfy employees when the conditions are absent, but their presence does not motivate employees in a strong way. These potent dissatisfies are called Hygiene Factors or Maintenance Factors.

• They include company policy and administration, technical supervision, interpersonal relations with subordinates, salary, job security, working condition and status. A second set of job conditions operates to build strong motivation and high job satisfaction, but their absence rarely proves dissatisfaction.

• David MC Clell and posited the Achievement Motivation theory. He recognized that culture is an environment of human-created beliefs, customs, knowledge and practice.

• . He identified 4 of these motivational patterns.• Achievement – Motivation:- This represents a desire to

overcome challenges, people work harder and make more progress. Achievement-motivated persons are the best source of competent leadership. They seek accomplishment for its own sake and work b/s of the sense of challenge, accomplishment and service to others. Monetary rewards are not their goals – but area lure only for people low in achievement-motivation. They work harder when they get precise feedback either successes or failures

• Affiliation-Motivation:- They work better when they are complimented for favorable attitude and cooperation. Achievement motivated people select assistants that are competent, regardless of personal feelings about them; but affiliation-motivated people select friends to surround them. Persons

• Competence – Motivation:- Persons who are competence motivated seek job mastery and professional growth. They are interested much in technical aspect of work.

• Power-Motivation:- This relates to drive to be in control. They tend to be somewhat higher risk – takers than others. If an individual is largely concerned with influencing people, winning arguments, changing others’ behavior, he has a strong power motive.

• Another management writer, ARCH Patton defined what he called management motivations – These motivators were found to be especially important in the case of executives. They are:

• Challenge found in work – what is expected of him will motivate him to perform better.

• Status – titles, promotions e.t.c• Urge to achieve leadership – the wish to be leader among his peers• The lash of competition• Fear – of errors, of loss of job or of reduction of a bonus• Money• Goal setting motivation theory – effective method of stimulating

individual performance. Goal will be set in regards to quantity and quality of work and performance. The appears to offer particular advantages in dealing with employees whose performance is deficient because of a lack of interest in the work.

• PROCESS THEORIES OF MOTIVATION• The process theories are based on 2 fundamental economic

laws • The Law of effect and motivation – which state that

behavior which seems to lead to reward tents to be repeated while behavior which seems not to lead to reward or seem to lead to punishment, leads not be repeated.

• Exchange theory – it states that in order for people to join and remain within an organization the benefits they receive must be more than their costs. Materials and monetary rewards will make these more attached to the organization and support it.

• Victor Vroom’s Expectancy Theory- Establishes motivation as a function of

• Expectancies• Goal• Outcomes• Outcome • Valences (preference) • Instrumentality • Outcome preferred b/s it’s instrument to

achievement of other

• Adams Postulated his own Equity theory of Motivation – The theory posits that people are concerned with maximizing not only the amount of payment but the fairness of the payment as well i.e the ratio of input to outcome. When the comparism yield an imbalance (inequity) tension is produce and provided basis for motivation. He then strives for what he perceived as equity and fairness.

• Charles Handy develops Motivational Calculus which suggests 3 factors

• The individual needs• The desired Result• The “E” factors (i.e Effort, Emotion, Energy,

Expenditure and Excitement in achieving desired results )

• In summary, Motivation theories can be classified into

3 broad categories • Satisfaction theories - satisfied employees will work

harder than dissatisfied one • Incentive theories – person will work harder to obtain

a reward i.e positive reinforcement, recognition and reward will result in higher product

• Intrinsic theories – which hold that people will work hard to realize higher – order needs containing in the job itself (self fulfillment, responsibility, participation)

• Employees should be well paid in order to enable them to satisfy their physiological needs.

• Safety equipment and materials should be provided for workers in order to satisfy their needs of safety.

• The special needs of employees can be satisfied by encouraging regular management–employee communication and informal work relationships.

• Effective delegation and fair promotion and advancement policies can be used to satisfy workers’ needs for self esteem and recognition.

• Good working relationship should be maintained in order to satisfy workers need for a pleasant and beautiful working environment. That is their aesthetic need.

• Workers should be given adequate personal attention because they may become demoralized when they feel they are being neglected and that no one cares about or show interest about them.

• Workers should be given opportunity to use their own ideas at work. The use of personal initiatives and independent thinking should be encouraged.

• Workers should be fairly allocated so that some workers may not feel that they are carrying an unfair load of work

• Feelings of insecurity and uncertainty should be removed because they tend to lower morale productive performance and the fear of loss of one’s job are absolutely incompatible.

• The managers should set good examples and exhibit personal diligence because example is one of the most powerful motivating factors.

• Praise should be given to employees when it is due and appropriate.

REFERENCEBenjamin C.O: Hilda E. O 2002;Management practice pg 86- 99

GROUP 7

• AJIBOLA FLORENCE NSC/ 2008/130• ADETONA TOLULOPE NSC/2008/120• OMOWOLE OLUWATOYIN NSC/2007/175• OLATOYE BOLANLE NSC/2008/205• ADEOSUN BOSEDE NSC/2008/114• ADERIBIGBE FEYI NSC/2007/089

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