NET, IAS, State-SET (KSET, WBSET, MPSET, etc.), GATE, CUET, Olympiads etc.: Motivational Theories

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Organisation consists of Structure, Process and Human beings. Structure is the mechanical aspect of the organisation, while Process involves the use of this Structure by men to achieve organizational goals. Human beings involve sentiments, emotions, attitudes, values. Therefore, efficiency of achieving organizational goals within an existing structure depends upon the motivation levels of the team working in it.

Michael Jucius describes motivation as “the act of stimulating someone to get a desired course of action, to push the right button to get a desired reaction” Dubin describes motivation as the complex of forces starting and keeping a person at work in an organisation. Likert views motivation as “the core of management”

Different theories at different points of time came to say what? motivates a person (content theories) and how? is he motivated (process theories) . Luthans Observes that content theories (by Maslow, McGregor, Herzberg and Alderfer) are concerned with identifying the needs/drives that people have and how these needs/drives are prioritized; process theories (by Victor-Vroom, Porter-Lawler, Stacy-Adams and Kelley) are concerned with cognitive antecedents that go into motivation and the way they relate to one another.

Taylor and other classical theorists say that each worker is an Economic man? interested in maximizing his monetary income. Thus giving him material rewards will make them work harder and they will produce more and vice-versa. These are also known as: Monistic Theory, Economic Theory and Carrot and Stick Approach. Taylor was the first major exponent of this approach. Approach was criticised on the ground that it has over-simplified and underestimated human motivation by neglecting the non-economic factors, that is, socio-psychological factors.

Human Relationists like Mayo, and Behaviouralists like Barnard, Maslow, and Herzberg etc. Say that material rewards are ineffective beyond subsidence level excepting a small proportion of men (Barnard) . Men don? t work harder for more material things. Motivation is the willingness to exert high levels of effort to reach organizational goals, conditioned by effort? s ability to satisfy some individual need. Peter Drucker says, “Satisfaction with monetary rewards is not a sufficient motivation.”

People work for incentives in the form of 4 Ps of motivation: Praise, prestige, promotion and pay cheque. In the words of Dubin, “non-financial incentives are the psychic rewards or the rewards of enhanced position that can be secured in the work organisation.” Some of the most commonly used non-financial motivations are: 1. Job enlargement 2. Job rotation 3 Job loading 4. Reinforcement

There are 3 early theories of motivation, namely: Maslow? s Hierarchy of Needs, McGregor? s Theories X and Y, and Herzberg? s motivation-hygiene theory.