Motivation Lecture 10

Motivation definition It is a set of forces that cause people to behave in certain ways; It is the reason to take certain action; Motivation can be internal and external.

Approaches to motivation Historical approach Taylor is representative of it. He thought that economic incentive is the primary one that motivates the individual. Money is the only motivation factor according to this approach. Work is inherently unpleasant for workers and the money they earn is more important than the job they are performing;

Motivation as a process It begins with a deficiency for the individual. There is some need to be satisfied and it leads to feeling of deficiency. Next step is searching of ways to satisfy needs; Choice of behaviour to satisfy need; Evaluation of need satisfaction; Determination of future needs and search of choice for satisfaction;

Human relations approach The emphasis is on the social processes. The employees want to feel important and useful at their workplace, want to belong to certain social group and these needs are more important than money. Managers should involve employees in the decision making process,keep them informed about all changes in organizations.

Human resources approach People want to contribute to the organizations and are able to make genuine contributions. Management’s task is to encourage participation and create work environment that makes full use of available resources. It is related to motivation of employees.

Content perspectives of motivation Content perspectives deal with internal processes of motivations. They represent the needs of people. They answer the question”What factors motivate people?” They are represented by the following theories: Maslow’s need hierarchy; Two-factor theory;

Maslow’s theory of motivation People are motivated to satisfy various needs and these needs are arranged in a hierarchy of importance. There are the following needs: Physiological needs( food, water, sleep) Security needs, i.e. needs for secure physical and emotional environment( secure home, job stability) Belonginess needs. They are related to social processes. Esteem needs includes need of a positive self-image and self-respect and need for recognition and respect from others. Self-actualization needs. It is the potential for growth that the person has.

Disadvantages of Maslow’s theory People are motivated by different needs at the same time. You do not have to satisfy primary needs in order to be motivated by higher needs. Needs are constantly appearing.

ERG theory of motivation The author of it is Alderfer. The needs are the following: Existence needs. They correspond to the security and physiological needs of Maslow. Relatedness needs focus on how people relate to the social environment. Growth needs correspond to self-esteem and self-actualization needs.

Advantages of Alderfer’s theory More than one level of needs can motivate at the same time; It has frustration-regression model. If needs remain unsatisfied at higher level, the individual will become more frustrated and regress to the lower model.

Two-factor theory It is developed by Herzberg. There are two group of factors, affecting the behaviour of a person: Motivational factors; Hygienic factors. Hygienic factors are not motivating ones. They must be provided and managers should ensure that they are not deficient.

Hygienic factors They include pay and security, safe working conditions, acceptable technical supervision, good company policy and administration.

Motivational factors Factors that motivate workers are: achievement; Recognition; The work itself; Responsibility; Advancement and growth.

Process perspectives on motivation The process theories view motivation as an external process.they focus on why people choose certain behavioural options to fulfill their needs and how they evaluate their satisfaction after they have attained their goals. The popular theories include expectancy theory and equity theory.

Expectancy theory Motivation is determined by how much we want something and how likely we think we are going to get it. The behaviour is determined by a combination of forces in the individual and in the environment; People make decisions about their own behaviour in the organizations. Different people have different types of needs, desires and goals. People make choices among alternative plans of behaviour based on their perception of the extent to which a given behaviour is leading to a certain outcome.

Effort- to- performance The basic idea is individual’s perception of the probability that his or her effort will lead to high performance. When the individual believes that his effort will lead to high performance, expectancy will be quite strong;

Performance-to-outcome expectancy It is the individual perception that his or her performance will lead to a specific outcome. If the individual believes that gigh performance will result in pay rise, his performance-tooutcome expectancy is high.

Outcomes and valences Expectancy theory recognizes that individual may experince a variety of outcomes or rewards in an organizational setting. Valence is an index of how much an individual desires a particular outcome, it is the attractiveness of the outcome to the individual.

Motivational programs Behaviour modification. It has five stages: The manager specifies behaviours that are to be increased; These target behaviours are measured to establish a baseline against the effectiveness of behaviour modification; Then manager analyzes the situation to ascertain what rewards subordinates value and how to tie these rewards with the target behaviour.

Work redesign Changing the nature of the task-related activities is being used as motivational technique; It takes the form of: Job rotation; Job enlargement; Job characteristics approach; Autonomous work groups.

Group task You are going to motivate the staff in the restaurant with Bulgarian cuisine. Work in groups and write motivation program for the people involved in it.