Motivation Theories

Motivation is a state of mind, filled with energy and enthusiasm, which drives a person to
work in a certain way to achieve desired goals. Motivation is a force that pushes people to
work with a high level of commitment and focus, even if things are going against them.
Motivation translates into a certain kind of human behavior. In short; motivation is the
driving force behind human actions.

There are many different forces that guide and direct our motivations. Various psychologists
have studied human behavior and have formalized their findings in the form of various
motivational theories. These motivational theories provide insights into the way people
behave and what motivates them.

Motivation theory is a way of looking at the motivation of a person and how this influences
their behavior, whether for personal or professional reasons. It's important to every aspect of
society but is especially relevant to business and management. Motivation is the key to more
profitable employees, as a motivated employee is more productive.

What are the 5 Theories of Motivation?

Motivation is a huge field of study. Psychologists have proposed many different theories of
motivation. Some of the most famous motivational theories include the following:

1. Maslow’s Theory of Hierarchical Needs

Abraham Maslow postulated that a person will be motivated when all his needs are
fulfilled. People do not work for security or money, but they work to contribute and to use
their skills. He demonstrated this by creating a pyramid to show how people are motivated
and mentioned that ONE CANNOT ASCEND TO THE NEXT LEVEL UNLESS
LOWER-LEVEL NEEDS ARE FULFILLED. The lowest level needs in the pyramid are
basic needs and unless these lower-level needs are satisfied people do not look at working
toward satisfying the upper-level needs.

Below is the hierarchy of needs:

● Physiological needs: are basic needs for survival such as air, sleep, food, water,
clothing, sex, and shelter.
● Safety needs: Protection from threats, deprivation, and other dangers (e.g., health,
secure employment, and property)
● Social (belongingness and love) needs: The need for association, affiliation,
friendship, and so on.
● Self-esteem needs: The need for respect and recognition.
● Self-actualization needs: The opportunity for personal development, learning, and
fun/creative/challenging work. Self-actualization is the highest-level need to which a
human being can aspire.
The leader will have to understand at what level the team members are currently, and seek out
to help them to satisfy those specific needs and accordingly work to help fulfill those needs.
This will help the team members perform better and move ahead with the project. As their
needs get fulfilled, the team members will start performing, till the time they start thinking of
fulfilling the next upper level of need as mentioned in the pyramid.

2. Hertzberg’s two-factor Theory

Hertzberg classified the needs into two broad categories; namely hygiene factors and
motivating factors:

● poor hygiene factors may destroy motivation but improving them under most
circumstances will not improve team motivation
● hygiene factors only are not sufficient to motivate people, but motivator factors are
also required

Herzberg’s two-factor principles

Influenced by Hygiene Factors Improving motivator factors Influenced by motivator
(Dis-satisfiers) increases job satisfaction factors (Satisfiers)
● Achievements
● Working condition
● Recognition
● Coworker relations Improving the hygiene factors ● Responsibility
● Policies & rules decreases job dissatisfaction ● Work itself
● Supervisor quality
● Personal growth
3. McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y

Theory X and Theory Y were first explained by McGregor in his book, "The Human Side of
Enterprise," and they refer to two styles of management – authoritarian (Theory X) and
participative (Theory Y).

Theory X: Managers who accept this theory believe that if you feel that your team members
dislike their work, have little motivation, need to be watched every minute, and are incapable
of being accountable for their work, avoid responsibility and avoid work whenever possible,
then you are likely to use an authoritarian style of management. According to McGregor, this
approach is very "hands-on" and usually involves micromanaging people's work to ensure
that it gets done properly.

Theory Y: Managers who accept this theory believe that if people are willing to work
without supervision, take pride in their work, see it as a challenge, and want to achieve more,
they can direct their own efforts, take ownership of their work and do it effectively by
themselves. These managers use a decentralized, participative management style.

4. Alderfer’s ERG Theory

C. P. Alderfer, an American psychologist, developed Maslow’s hierarchy of needs into a

theory of his own.

His theory suggests that there are three groups of core needs: existence (E), relatedness (R),
and growth (G). These groups are aligned with Maslow’s levels of physiological needs, social
needs, and self-actualization needs, respectively.

Existence needs concern our basic material requirements for living, which include what
Maslow categorized as physiological needs such as air, sleep, food, water, clothing, sex and
shelter and safety-related needs such as health, secure employment, and property.

Relatedness needs have to do with the importance of maintaining interpersonal relationships.

These needs are based on social interactions with others and are aligned with Maslow’s levels
of love/belonging-related needs such as friendship, family, and sexual intimacy and
esteem-related needs such as gaining the respect of others.

Growth needs describe our intrinsic desire for personal development. These needs are
aligned with the other part of Maslow’s esteem-related needs such as self-esteem,
self-confidence, and achievement, and self-actualization needs such as morality, creativity,
problem-solving, and discovery.

Alderfer is of the opinion that when a certain category of needs is not being met, people will
redouble their efforts to fulfill needs in a lower category.

Maslow’s theory is very rigid and it assumes that the needs follow a specific and orderly
hierarchy and unless a lower-level need is satisfied, an individual cannot proceed to the
higher-level need i.e., an individual remains at a particular need level until that need is
satisfied.
Whereas, according to Alderfer’s theory, if a higher-level need is aggravated, an individual
may revert to increasing the satisfaction of a lower-level need. This is called the
frustration-regression aspect of ERG theory. ERG theory is very flexible as Alderfer
perceived the needs as a range/variety instead of perceiving them as a hierarchy i.e., an
individual can work on growth needs even if his existence or relatedness needs remain
unsatisfied.

For e.g., when growth needs aggravate, then an individual might be motivated to accomplish
the relatedness need and if there are issues in accomplishing relatedness needs, then he might
be motivated by the existence needs. Hence in this manner, frustration or aggravation can
result in regression to a lower-level need.

Another example could be, if someone’s self-esteem is suffering, he or she will invest more
effort in the relatedness category of needs.

Implications of the ERG Theory

All managers must understand that an employee has various needs that must be satisfied at
the same time. According to the ERG theory, if the manager focuses solely on one need at a
time, then this will not effectively motivate the employee. The frustration-regression aspect
of ERG Theory has an added effect on workplace motivation. For e.g., if an employee is not
provided with growth and advancement opportunities in an organization, then he or she might
revert to related needs such as socializing needs.

To meet those socializing needs, if the environment or circumstances do not permit it, he
might revert to the need for money to fulfill those socializing needs. By the time the manager
realizes and discovers this, they will take more immediate steps to fulfill those needs which
are frustrated until such time that the employee can again pursue growth.

Conclusion
Motivation is the state of mind which pushes all human beings to perform to their highest
potential, with good spirits and a positive attitude. The various motivation theories outlined
above help us to understand what are the factors that drive motivation. It is a leader’s job to
ensure that every individual in the team and the organization is motivated, and inspired to
perform better than their best. This is neither quick nor easy, but in the long-term, the gains
that are derived from happy employees far outweigh the time and effort spent in motivating
them!