The Factors Affecting The Members Of Aisg Essay

Motivation is derived from an internal force that provides an individual the opportunity to achieve their needs or goals. People are motivated by a variety of things and often have different motivating factors. Employers should be mindful of individual motivating factors when attempting to motivate staff to increase performance. While some people may be motivated by money, many are motivated by things like: recognition, promotion, and increased responsibility. Once an employer has identified motivating factors they are able to analyze a variety of motivational theories to design and implement a program that will motivate employees to go above and beyond what is expected of them.

“To be able to reflect one must step outside the experience in order to make the observance comprehendible” Gray (1998). To do this, one must have motivation. When speaking of motivation, task variety and participation allows each member of the team to use different skills as well as rotating the less desirable tasks giving a cohesive feeling to the team while motivating them. Bowen and Lawler (1992), argue practices that empower such as providing organizational information to employee, bureaucratic control reduction and increased self-power all helps to increase employee motivation. French and Raven (1959) add that motivation is a characteristic that makes one want to do or carryout a task willingly without being directed.

Keywords: motivation, emotion, homeostasis, psychological needs, physiological needs, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, need for relatedness, competition, exchange relationship, communal relationship, punishment, reward, environment, identity

Motivation is a main point in which I am interested and in order to understand more about the topic I have based my review in 2 different sources: Forbes article “Motivation Mystery: How to Keep Employees Productive” and Daniel Pink Ted Talk “The Puzzle of Motivation”.

These demands are ranked in the order that they most preoccupy the individual. To illustrate, an individual is not preoccupied by physiological needs such as hunger or thirst then he free to seek out that which gives him a sense of safety; moreover, if the individual isn’t preoccupied with finding a safety, warmth, and shelter, he can spend time time seeking out companionship (Huitt, 2007). Maslow proposes 8 levels of motivational needs, the first four, termed the deficiency needs, need to be fulfilled adequately before the second four, the growth needs, can be achieved. The deficiency needs are: bodily needs, the need for safety, social needs, and self esteem. The Growth needs are: the search for understanding, the need to be aesthetically pleased, self actualization, and finally, self-transcendence, which is the highest level, where one has acquired wisdom (Huitt

Physiological needs, such as food and shelter, are followed by needs related to safety. Next, there are needs of love and belonging. Fourth, humans have needs of esteem, such as the need for being respected. The final need in the hierarchy is the need for self-actualization (fulfilling one's potential). The hierarchy suggests that basic needs must be met prior to less basic needs; for example, a starving person will seek food before self-actualization.”(Maslow,

Working within Skills and Learning as part of Babcock international group I have chosen the following theories of motivation as it is felt that they represent how we as a business support not only our staff but our customers through the learning cycle. The Motivational theories that I will be using are Maslow Hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s Motivational and Hygiene Theory.

Osland, et al. (2007) provide a good introduction to three basic motivational content theories. The first theory is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs that proposes man is motivated by a lack in the one or more of the five common needs. The needs that Maslow identifies are physiological, safety, social belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Maslow believed that one fills needs from the most basic (like food and water) to the highest level (self-actualization). Maslow’s ideas are easy to relate to and attempt to provide an all-inclusive approach to the concept of motivation; however, there is little evidence to support the idea that man cannot have self-actualization without the other more basic needs first satisfied. The second content theory Osland, et al. discuss is McCelland’s learned needs. McCelland states that man is motivated by one of three things: achievement, power, or affiliation – or a mixture of the three. Each of these needs can possess a negative or positive connotation or implementation, but it is argued that people motivated by affiliation make better leaders. The third theory presented is McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y. McGregor asserts that Theory X people or employees are inherently lazy and must be controlled and forced to act, whereas Theory Y people are self-controlled, motivated, and ambitious.

According to the ERG theory "existence needs are the desire for physiological and material well-being, relatedness needs are the desire for satisfying interpersonal relationships and growth needs are the desire for continued personal growth and development"(Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn 2005, p.5 chpt.6). For the same reason's that Maslow's theory would not be a good choice for this organization to use to motivate their sales staff; the ERG theory is also not suited for this type of employee group.

Human Resources is dependent on the success, happiness, and contentment of employees that keep the business on course. Motivation is one of the best ways to push employees forward while making sure everyone is in a comfortable position in their job. Motivational theories just attempt to explain what motivates or makes people act the way that they do. The goal of understanding these theories and their outcomes is to ensure a better performance from each employee, and to give each of those employees the best situation they can have in the workplace. Visionaries such as Abraham Maslow, Frederick Herzberg, and Henry A. Landsberger also brought forward new ways of management and ways to handle internal situations that changed the landscape of human resources as a whole. Motivational theories instituted in the workplace have a commonly positive effect on both employees and management, showing that it is important to strive for proven motivational practices.

Alderfer’s ERG model provides a satisfactory insight of how human beings strive to satisfy their needs for existence, relatedness and growth. He postulates that existence needs are fulfilled by the basic material things such as clothing, food and shelter (Alderfer, 1977, p. 132). Alderfer argues physiological and safety needs are

Clayton Alderfer proposed the ERG theory of motivation. According to Alderfer, there are three groups of core needs: Existence (basic material existence, safety needs); Relatedness (social and self-esteem needs); and Growth: an intrinsic desire to grow and self-fulfillment. Contrary to Maslow’s theory, he proposed that more than one need may be operative at the same time and if the

9. Alderfer’s ERG Theory Frustration – Regression Enough remuneration Provision for health insurance Increasing use of teams and committee‟s ERG Theory Findings: Cultural differences influence needs, needs are influenced by individual‟s Personal values People are motivated by different Needs at different times in their lives.

Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology is devoted to the study of employee behavior in the workplace and understanding the issues facing organizations and employees in today’s complex and ever changing environment. Motivation refers to the set of forces that influence people to choose various behaviors among several alternatives available to them. An organization depends on the ability of management to provide a positive, fostering and motivating environment for its employees in order to increase profits, productivity and lower turnover rates of its employees. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and compare six academic journal articles and explore the behavior, job, and need based theories of motivation that can aid management in motivating and understanding their employees. Finding that delicate balance to can sometimes be elusive so effectively learning how to motivate by understanding, controlling and influencing factors to manipulate behavior and choices that are available to employees can produce the desired outcome.

Motivation is one of the most discussed topics in the present era’s organisations, especially since renowned psychologists like Maslow and Herzberg are dedicating their efforts to understanding it. Companies are investing a significant amount of resources in improving productivity in order to maximise profits. One of these important resources is of human nature. In order to get the very best out of employees, some motivational approaches need to be used. But what is motivation and how do I successfully motivate? I will try to relate one of my personal experiences with a friend to some of the most influential motivational theories. After introducing my story and making a definition of motivation I will address the ideas of Taylor,