MOTIVATION

LAKHPAT MEENA
MSC(N) FINAL YEAR
 DEFINITION

• It is a dynamic process
initiating and
directing behavior,
continuous but
fluctuating in
intensities, and aimed
at the satisfaction of
Motivation is defined as the
process that initiates, guides,
and maintains goal-oriented
behaviors. Motivation is what
causes us to act, whether it is
getting a glass of water to
reduce thirst or reading a
book to gain knowledge.
 COMPONENTS OF MOTIVATION

• Activation involves the decision to

initiate a behavior, such as enrolling in a
psychology class.
• Persistence is the continued effort
toward a goal even though obstacles
may exist, such as taking more
psychology courses in order to earn a
degree although it requires a significant
investment of time, energy, and
resources.
• Intensity can be seen in the
concentration and vigor that goes into
 CHARACTERISTICS

Motivation is a psychological phenomenon:

Motivation is an internal feeling which generates
within an individual. Motivating factors are always
unconscious but they are to be aroused by
leadership action.
Motivation is based on needs: Needs may be
consciously or unconsciously felt. Needs may be
(a) fundamental needs such as food, clothes,
shelter, etc. and (b) ego- satisfaction needs such
as self-development, self- actualization. These
needs vary with individuals and with the same
individual at different times.
Goals are motivator: Motivation causes goal
directed behavior, feeling of need by the person
causes him to behave in such a way that he tries
to satisfy himself.
 CHARACTERISTICS

Motivation is different from satisfaction:

Motivation implies a drive towards an
outcome while satisfaction involves outcomes
already experienced and achieved
satisfaction is the contentment experienced
when a desire is satisfied.
Motivation is a continuous process: Motivation
is an unending process. Wants are
innumerable and cannot be satisfied at one
time. As satisfaction of needs is an unending
process, so the process of motivation is also
unending.
Motivation is related to a person in totality:
Person in totality, not in part, is motivated.
 IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION

• Best utilization of resources: Motivation ensures

best and
efficient utilization of all types of resources.
• Will to contribute: There is a difference between
“capacity to work” and “willingness to work.”
One can be physically and mentally fit to work
but he may not be willing to work. Motivation
results in a feeling of involvement to present
his better performance. Thus, motivation
bridges the gap between capacity to work and
willingness to work.
• Sizeable increase in production and
productivity: When motivated properly, people
try to put efforts to produce more, thus
increasing their efficiency and as a result of this
the general production and productivity of the
organization increases.
 IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION

• Basis of cooperation: In a zeal to produce more

the members work „as a team to pull the weight
effectively, to get their loyalty to the group and
the organization, to carry out properly the
activities allocated and generally to play an
efficient part in achieving the purpose which
the organization has undertaken'.
• Improvement upon skill and knowledge: All the
members will try to be as efficient as possible
and will try to improve upon their skill and
knowledge so that they may be able to
contribute to the progress of the organization.
• Better image: A firm that provides opportunities
for the advancement of its people has a better
image in the minds of the public as a good
employer.
 IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION
• Best utilization of resources: Motivation ensures
best and
efficient utilization of all types of resources.
• Will to contribute: There is a difference between
“capacity to work” and “willingness to work.” One can
be physically and mentally fit to work but he may not
be willing to work. Motivation results in a feeling of
involvement to present his better performance. Thus,
motivation bridges the gap between capacity to work
and willingness to work.
• Sizeable increase in production and
productivity: When motivated properly, people try
to put efforts to produce more, thus increasing their
efficiency and as a result of this the general
production and productivity of the organization
increases.
 CLASSIFICATION OF MOTIVATION

Intrinsic motivation: Intrinsic motivations are

those that arise from within the individual,
such as doing a complicated cross-word
puzzle purely for the personal gratification of
solving a problem.
Internal desires to perform a particular task,
people do certain activities because it gives
them pleasure, develops a particular skill, or
It‟s morally the right thing to do.
Extrinsic motivation: Extrinsic motivations
are those that arise from outside of the
individual and often involve rewards such as
trophies, money, social recognition or praise.
Factors external to the individual and
unrelated to the task they are performing.
Examples include money, good grades, and
other Rewards.
 TECHNIQUES OF MOTIVATING
THE STUDENTS IN
CLASSROOM
• Child centric approach
• Linking with previous
knowledge
• Definiteness of goals
• Knowledge of the results and
progress
• Praise
• Rewards
• Healthy competition
THEORY OF HUMAN MOTIVATION

• It was in 1943 a Psychologist Mr.

Abraham Harold Maslow
suggested his Theory of Human
Motivation. Maslow's theory is
based on the Hierarchy of Human
Needs.
 ASSUMPTIONS IN HIERARCHY OF
NEEDS THEORY
I
• Man is a wanting being, i.e. his wants are
growing
continuously even when some wants are
satisfied. Human needs are of varied and
diversified nature. They can be arranged in
a hierarchy of importance progressing from
a lower to a higher order of needs.
• Needs have a definite hierarchy of
importance. As soon as needs on a lower
level are fulfilled, those on the next level
will emerge and demand satisfaction.
• A satisfied need does not act as a motivator.
• As one need is satisfied, another replaces it.
• Physiological Needs : Physiological needs
are the basic needs for sustaining human
life. These needs include food, shelter,
clothing, rest, air, water, sleep and sexual
satisfaction. These basic human needs (also
called biological needs) lie at the lowest
level in the hierarchy of needs as they have
priority over all other needs.
• Security / Safety Needs : These are the
needs connected with the psychological
fear of loss of job, property, natural
calamities or hazards, etc. An employee
wants protection from such types of fear.
He prefers adequate safety or security in
this regard
i.e. protection from physical danger,
security of job, pension for old age,
insurance cover for life, etc. The safety
needs come after meeting the physiological
needs.
Social Needs : An employee is a human being
is rightly treated as a social animal. He
desires to stay in group. He feels that he
should belong to one or the other group and
the member of the group should accept him
with love and affection. Every person desires
to be affiliated to such groups. This is treated
as basic social need of an individual.
• Esteem Needs : This category of needs
include the need to be respected by others,
need to be appreciated by others, need to
have power and finally prestigious position.
Once the previous needs are satisfied, a
person feels to be held in esteem both by
himself and also by others. Thus, esteem
needs are two fold in nature. Self esteem
needs include those for self confidence,
self-respect, competence, etc. The second
groups of esteem needs are those related
to one's status, reputation, recognition and
appreciation by others. This is a type of
personal ego which needs to be satisfied.
Self-actualisation Needs : This is the highest
among the needs in the hierarchy of needs
advocated by Maslow. Self actualisation is
the desire to become what one is capable of
becoming. It is a 'growth' need. A worker
must work efficiently if he is to be ultimately
happy. Here, a person feels that he should
accomplish something in his fife. He want to
utilise his potentials to the maximum extent
and desires to become what one is capable
of becoming.
MCCLELLAND’S THEORY
 ACHIEVEMENT

People with a high need for achievement

(nAch) seek to excel and thus tend to avoid
both low-risk and high-risk situations.
Achievers avoid low-risk situations because
the easily attained success is not a genuine
achievement. In high-risk projects, achievers
see the outcome as one of chance rather
than one's own effort. High nAch individuals
prefer work that has a moderate probability
of success, ideally a 50% chance. Achievers
need regular feedback in order to monitor
the progress of their acheivements. They
prefer either to work alone or with other
high achievers.
 AFFILIATION

Those with a high need for affiliation (nAff)

need harmonious relationships with other
people and need to feel accepted by other
people. They tend to conform to the norms
of their work group. High nAff individuals
prefer work that provides significant
personal interaction. They perform well in
customer service and client interaction
situations.
 POWER

A person's need for power (nPow) can be one

of two types - personal and institutional.
Those who need personal power want to
direct others, and this need often is
perceived as undesirable. Persons who need
institutional power (also known as social
power) want to organize the efforts of others
to further the goals of the organization.
Managers with a high need for institutional
power tend to be more effective than those
with a high need for personal power.
 THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST

McClelland used the Thematic Apperception Test

(TAT) as a tool to measure the individual needs of
different people. The TAT is a test of imagination
that presents the subject with a series of
ambiguous pictures, and the subject is asked to
develop a spontaneous story for each picture.
The assumption is that the subject will project his
or her own needs into the story.
Psychologists have developed fairly reliable
scoring techniques for the Thematic
Apperception Test. The test determines the
individual's score for each of the needs of
achievement, affiliation, and power. This score
can be used to suggest the types of jobs for
which the person might be well suited.
 IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT

People with different needs are motivated

differently.
• High need for achievement - High achievers
should be given challenging projects with
reachable goals. They should be provided
frequent feedback. While money is not an
important motivator, it is an effective form
of feedback.
• High need for affiliation - Employees with a
high affiliation need perform best in a
cooperative environment.
• High need for power - Management should
provide power seekers the opportunity to
 WEINER’S ATTRIBUTION THEORY

• Bernard Weiner (born 1935) is a

social psychologist who is known for
developing a form of attribution
theory which explains the emotional
and motivational entailments of
academic success and failure.
• It emphasizes that learners' current self-
perceptions will strongly influence the ways
in which they will interpret the success or
failure of their current efforts and hence
their future tendency to perform these same
behaviors.
• First, the cause of the success or
failure may be internal or
external. That is, we may
succeed or fail because of
factors that we believe have
their origin within us or because
of factors that originate in our
environment.
• Second, the cause of the success or failure
may be either stable or unstable. If the we
believe cause is stable, then the outcome is
likely to be the same if we perform the same
behavior on anotheroccasion. If it
the outcome likelyis is
unstable, on another occasion
different to be
• Third, the cause of the success or
failure may be controllable or
[Link]
A controllable factor is
one which we believe we ourselves can
alter if we wish to do so. An
uncontrollable factor is one that we do
not believe we can easily alter.
• An important assumption of
attribution theory is that people will
interpret their environment in such a
way as to maintain a positive self-
image.
 FACTORS RELATED TO ATTRIBUTION
THEORY

• Ability is a relatively internal and stable factor over

which the learner does not exercise much direct
control.
• Task difficulty is an external and stable factor that is
largely beyond the learner's control.
• Effort is an internal and unstable factor over which
the learner can exercise a great deal of control.
• Luck is an external and unstable factor over which
the learner exercises very little control.