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THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
We have a hierarchy of needs that ranges from “lower” to “higher”. As lower needs are fulfilled, there is a tendency for other higher needs to emerge. Maslow’s theory maintain that a person does not feel a higher need until the needs of the current level have been satisfied. This theory posits that a person must first satisfy his Physiologic Needs in order for him to thrive in his daily life. A person needs air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, and other bodily needs in order for him to live. As he maintains his living, his needs elevate to another level. Safety Needs become the next priority a person. His being alive needs to be maintained and flourished by securing his body in a shelter free from harm. As soon as a person feels physically secure and safe, he now strives to level up his needs and seek for Love and Belongingness where a person affiliates himself with another for friendship, or for sexual intimacy, or for family. As soon as a person passed the first few needs, he is now geared to aim for a higher need which cannot be attained if not for the completion of the aforementioned needs. An individual is now longing for Self Esteem where he builds himself worthy of respect from others. When an individual ultimately achieves all his goals in life without stagnation nor despair, it is said to be that he had attain the level of a Self-Actualized person.
Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory
This theory studies the variables which were responsible for the level of satisfaction of employees, in particular, which motivated the employees in their organization. Hygiene Factors refers to the indirect factors which affect the motivation of employees in their job, while Motivational Factors refers to the direct factors which have a positive effect on the functioning of the employees in their organizations. A person is motivated when he acquires Achievement in his workplace and such achievement is reciprocated accordingly with Recognition by his superiors. A person is motivated further when he undergoes the desired Advancement in his work, to facilitate his motivation on the Work-itself. Throughout his career, a person feels driven to go further when he feels the Possibility of Growth in his field, in view of the achievement, recognition, advancement, and work that he went through. Once these mentioned motivational factors are increased, a person is motivated to seek for Responsibility in his workplace. It is deemed that in order for motivation to continuously flow, there must no breakage on any of the six mentioned factors above.
McClelland’s Three-Need Theory
Specific needs of individual are acquired over a period of time and gets molded with one’s experience of the life. This theory posits that the person’s level of effectiveness and motivation is greatly influenced by his: (1) Need for Power; (2) Need for Affiliation; and (3) Need for Achievement. People most often have needs for achievement. But in order for them to achieve something, they must need to lead the pack. In their journey to lead the pack, they must hone themselves in order to develop and handle the consequences of such achievement. First, they must have the Need for Power. Power is the ability to induce or influence the behavior of others. People with high Power Needs tend to seek high-level positions in the organizations so as to exercise influence and control over the others. Generally, they are outspoken, forceful, demanding, practical, realistic, not sentimental, and like to get involved in the conversations. In relation to their habit of being involved in conversations, their Need for Affiliation arises. People with high need for affiliation derives pleasure from being loved by all and tend to avoid the pain of being rejected. Since human beings are social animals, they like to interact and be with others where they feel people accept them.
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
An individual selects a certain behavior over the other behaviors with an expectation of getting results the one desired for. This theory posits that, more effort will result in success. This theory is commonly observed among the working class. Working individuals have a default mindset that the higher the effort they exert, the closer they are to success. Hence, most of the people strive hard in their careers with the hope that their undying efforts will be reciprocated with unwavering success in life.
Adam’s Equity Theory
People maintain a fair relationship between the performance and rewards in comparison to others. Simply put, an employee gets de-motivated by the job and his employer in case his inputs are more than the outputs. This theory posits that an individual compares his input and outcomes with those of others and try to correct the inequality. An individual is said to be highly motivated if he perceives to be treated fairly. To illustrate, an employee presented business proposals to his boss but neither one of it was accepted, while another employee only presented a single business proposal but was immediately accepted by the boss. In view of this illustration, the first scenario involved numerous input but none was considered as output, while the second scenario involved a 1:1 input-output ratio. It can be gleaned that the first employee may feel unfair treatment which may ensue to de-motivation due to inequity.
Reinforcement Theory The behavior of people is largely determined by its consequence. Actions that tend to have positive or pleasant consequence tend to be repeated more often in the future, while those actions that tends to have repeated negative or unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated again. This theory suggests that managers should try to structure the contingencies of rewards and punishments on the job in such a way that the consequences of effective job behavior are positive while the consequences of ineffective work behavior are negative or unpleasant.
