Motivation

Motivation is the process by which individuals keep their behavior oriented to reach a specific goal. Someone is motivated when feels like doing something motivated by different elements of emotional and social nature. Based on motivation, several theories have been developed to explain how it explains, predicts and influences individual’s behavior.

On the one hand one approach about motivation suggests that it is explained first, by internal needs. Max Weber said that salvation could be reached only by working hard, a very protestant vision; and Sigmund Freud designed his own theory about the unconscious nature implicit in human’s behavior. On the other hand, we find the external incentives, those which come from external factors such as self-interest and economic gain and the self-interest vs. the enlightened interest.

Some of the main theories about motivation are the following ones:

1. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Maslow suggested that individual’s needs can be divided into 5 kinds: physiological needs, needs of security and safety, social needs, needs of self-esteem and needs of self-actualization. According to this theory, a level becomes dominant once the previous rank has been satisfied.

2. Frederick Herzberg’s Two Factors Theory: For Herzberg, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are defined by motivational factors like professional acknowledgement and achievements, and by hygiene factors such as salary and work conditions.

3. Douglas McGregor: His theory is one of the most popular, Theory X and Theory Y. Individuals under the X Theory do not have ambition, do not enjoy their work and their priority is the money. On the contrary, those under the Y Theory consider the effort as important at work; they do not care about responsibilities and are concerned about learning and being motivated.

4. McClelland’s need theory: States that an employee has 3 main needs: achievement whose motivation is the challenge and the feedback; the affiliation which is motivated by the cooperative and harmonious environment; and finally, the power, whose main motivation is the possibility to manage others.

Sources: http://psychology.about.com/od/mindex/g/motivation-definition.htm and Organizations and Culture slides.

What are the Hawthorne Studies? Explain its importance for studying motivation at the workplace and its influence over diverse motivation theories. (Include key findings and limitations) (max. 500 words)

Hawthorne Studies were researches carried out by researchers from Western Electric and Harvard University in order to examine the influence of the environment and its changes on workers performance in production. Researchers found that little changes in the environment did not affect dramatically the way how employees performed their work, nonetheless they tried to see what would happen giving some incentives expecting to discover a dramatic change, but they found that instead of working harder individually, workers started to focus more on the teamwork and the group.

These studies were important as they gave a new approach different to the previous ones about management since they go beyond tradition theories about motivation and shift from individual analysis to see motivation from the group dynamics and personal relations point of view. From that point on, managers are also part of those dynamics and they must be involved into their groups so they will know the best way to motivate, lead and communicate inside them.

Also, they contributed to the other motivation theories taken the substance of the topic to a most practical and realistic level.

Based on the class activity about "Flight 001: Motivating Employees", please answer the following question:

¿Which motivation theory do you think has the most relevance for understanding the behavior of Amanda Shank and fostering her motivation at work? (Max. 500 words)

The theory that better explains Amanda Shank’s behavior is maybe the X & Y Theory because she experienced both perspectives. On her first job, she lacked of motivation and desire to make a minimum effort to do her job, and the reason is very obvious, if you are told that all employees are just numbers and that nobody is essential for the organization, it is normal that you feel disappointed as it means you and your effort do not have any value, you’re just a tool for the company just to make money, so any employee under those conditions will perform without motivation, just doing the duties looking for the money and without feeling indentified with the organization. In Flight 001 her situation is totally opposed, she is motivated and her suggestions are heard and taken into account for improving processes inside the company. Even, the fact of having regular contact with the co-founder gives and impression that the effort is really worth and that continuous challenges are means to grow personally. To sum up, it means that she is now under the Y Theory.

Also, it might be said that under Maslow’s Theory, she had achieved the first three levels (her physiological, safety and social needs) so she automatically tried to move to the next level (self-esteem needs), a level that was impossible to satisfy in the other company and which right now has been achieved so Amanda will probably stay in the Self-Actualization level, learning constantly and feeling more and more challenged.

Sources:

· http://www.mgmtguru.com/mgt301/301_Lecture1Page10.htm

· http://www.beechmontcrest.com/hawthorne_studies.htm