SUBMITTED TO: MA'AM IMRANA AWAN

SUBMITTED BY: NAGHMA NASIR

BBA 8
 MOTIVATION
Motivation is the word derived from the word ’motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or
drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish the
goals.

According to various proponents:

Motivation is the willingness to exert high levels of effort toward

organizational goals, conditioned by the effort’s ability to satisfy
some individual needs. Stephen P Robbins

It is the desire within an individual that stimulates him or her to

action. George R. Terry

It  is the way in which urges, drives, desires, aspirations, strivings or needs direct, control or
explains the behavior of human beings. D.E. McFarland

It  is a process of stimulating people to action to accomplish desired goals.Scot

It  is the way in which urges, drives, desires, aspirations, strivings need direct, control or
explain the behaviour of human beings. Mc Farland

It  is a willingness to expand energy to achieve a goal or reward. It is a force that activates
dormant energies and sets in motion the action of the people. It is the function that kindles a
burning passion for action among the human beings of an organisation. C.B. Mamoria
Examples of Motivation in Life

Here are some of the most common examples of motivation

in life driven by pleasure:
Survival needs (food, shelter, clothing)
Accomplishment (school, career, sports, etc.)
Fun (partying, dancing, playing, beach, etc.)
Taste (food)
Curiosity (needing to know something)
Laughter (feeling uplifted)
Sex (dopamine release)
Drugs (dopamine release)
Money (the idea of freedom)
Social status (how you are seen by others)
Individuality (feeling special or unique)
Adventure (feeling of excitement)
Here are some of the most common examples of motivation driven by pain:
Fear of loss
Fear of rejection
Fear of the unknown
Fear of uncertainty
Fear of failure
Fear of change
Anything in your life that causes one of these fears will motivate you to behave in a way that
moves you away from it.
This is why many people will not take risks in their life because one of these fears is prevalent in
so many situations.

Examples of Motivation in the Workplace

Here is a simple list of what motivates people in the workplace:
Acknowledgment and appreciation
Trust from management
The ability to do work they love
Incentives such as bonuses or vacation days
A positive and healthy work environment
Transparency and honesty
Flexible hours
Being inclusive
Allowing employees to voice their opinion
The ability to learn, grow, and move up in their career
It’s often believed that increasing a person’s paycheck, their hourly or salary rate, is going to be
more than enough motivation to improve their productivity. However, that rarely happens. Sure,
it might have been for a few days or weeks, but eventually they will return to their typical
patterns of behavior.
A great example of positive motivation in the workplace is a manager or boss who takes the time
to get to know each of his or her employees, understands their hobbies, passions, past times, and
families. Then, when a job is well done, they make note of it and perhaps offer a gift card to that
employee’s favorite restaurant, or some extra time off.

In the work goal context the psychological factors stimulating the people’s behaviour can be -
 desire for money
 success
 recognition
 job-satisfaction
 team work, etc
One of the most important functions of management is to create willingness amongst the
employees to perform in the best of their abilities. Therefore the role of a leader is to arouse
interest in performance of employees in their jobs. The process of motivation consists of three
stages:-
 A felt need or drive
 A stimulus in which needs have to be aroused
 When needs are satisfied, the satisfaction or accomplishment of goals.
Therefore, we can say that motivation is a psychological phenomenon which means needs and
wants of the individuals have to be tackled by framing an incentive plan.
 TYPES OF MOTIVATION
Different types of motivation are frequently described as being either extrinsic or intrinsic:

Extrinsic motivations are those that arise from outside of the individual and often involve
rewards such as trophies, money, social recognition, or praise.
Intrinsic motivations are those that arise from within the individual, such as doing a
complicated crossword puzzle purely for the personal gratification of solving a problem.

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation occurs when we act without any obvious external rewards. We simply
enjoy an activity or see it as an opportunity to explore, learn, and actualize our potentials."
Consider for a moment your motivation for reading this article. If you are reading it because you
have an interest in psychology and simply want to know more about the topic of motivation, then
you are acting based upon intrinsic motivation.
But you might be reading this because you have to learn the information for a class and want to
avoid getting a bad grade. Then you are acting based upon extrinsic motivation.
When was the last time you did something simply for the enjoyment of the activity itself? There
are a number of activities that fall into this category. For instance, you may plant a garden, paint
a picture, play a game, write a story, or read a book. These may or may not produce something or
be rewarded in any way. Instead, we do them because we like to, they make us happy.
 o The Power of Internal Satisfaction
When you pursue an activity for the pure enjoyment of it, you are doing so because you are
intrinsically motivated. Your motivations for engaging in the behavior arise entirely from within
rather than out of a desire to gain some type of external rewards such as prizes, money, or
acclaim.
Of course, that isn't to say that intrinsically motivated behaviors do not come with their own
rewards. These rewards involve creating positive emotions within the individual.
Activities can generate such feelings when they give people a sense of meaning like participating
in volunteer or church events. They may also give you a sense of progress when you see that
your work is accomplishing something positive or competence when you learn something new or
become more skilled at a task.
o Impact of Extrinsic Reinforcement
Researchers have discovered that offering external rewards or reinforcements for an already
internally rewarding activity can actually make the activity less intrinsically rewarding. This
phenomenon is known as the overjustification effect. 2
"A person's intrinsic enjoyment of an activity provides sufficient justification for their behavior,"
explains author Richard A. Griggs in his book Psychology: A Concise Introduction. "With the
addition of extrinsic reinforcement, the person may perceive the task as overjustified and then
attempt to understand their true motivation (extrinsic versus intrinsic) for engaging in the
activity."
It is suggested that people are more creative when they are intrinsically motivated.
In work settings, for instance, productivity can be increased by using extrinsic rewards such as a
bonus. However, the actual quality of the work performed is influenced by intrinsic factors. If
you are doing something that you find rewarding, interesting, and challenging, you are more
likely to come up with novel ideas and creative solutions.
o Intrinsic Motivation in Education
Intrinsic motivation is an important topic in education. Teachers and instructional designers
strive to develop learning environments that are intrinsically rewarding. Unfortunately, many
traditional paradigms suggest that most students find learning boring so they must be
extrinsically goaded into educational activities.
In "Making Learning Fun: A Taxonomy of Intrinsic Motivations for Learning," authors Thomas
Malone and Mark Leeper suggest that this does not need to be the case. They identify several
different ways to make learning environments that are intrinsically rewarding.3
Activities are intrinsically motivating if "people engage in it for its own sake, rather than in order
to receive some external reward or avoid some external punishment." The words fun, interesting,
captivating, enjoyable, and intrinsically motivating are used interchangeably to describe such
activities.
The factors they identify as increasing intrinsic motivation include:
 Challenge: People are more motivated when they pursue goals with personal meaning
and when attaining the goal is possible but not necessarily certain. These goals may also
relate to their self-esteem when performance feedback is available.
 Control: People want control over themselves and their environments and want to
determine what they pursue.
 Cooperation and competition: Intrinsic motivation can be increased in situations where
people gain satisfaction from helping others. It also applies to cases where they are able
to compare their own performance favorably to that of others.
 Curiosity: Internal motivation is increased when something in the physical environment
grabs the individual's attention (sensory curiosity). It also occurs when something about
the activity stimulates the person to want to learn more (cognitive curiosity).
 Recognition: People enjoy having their accomplishment recognized by others, which can
increase internal motivation.

o Different Perspectives on Rewards

Experts have noted that offering unnecessary rewards can have unexpected costs. 4 While we like
to think that offering a reward will improve a person's motivation, interest, and performance, this
isn't always the case.
When children are rewarded for playing with toys that they already enjoy playing with, their
motivation and enjoyment of those toys actually decreases.
It is important to note, however, that a number of factors can influence whether intrinsic
motivation is increased or decreased by external rewards. Salience or the significance of the
event itself often plays a critical role.
An athlete competing in a sporting event might view the winner's prize as confirmation of the
winner's competence and exceptionalism. On the other hand, some athletes might view the same
prize as a sort of bribe or coercion.
The way in which the individual views the importance of different characteristics of the event
impacts whether the reward will affect a person's intrinsic motivation for participating in that
activity.
Extrinsic Motivation
Think about your own motivation for reading this article. Are you trying to learn the material so
that you can get a good grade in your psychology class? This means that you are studying the
material to gain external reinforcement (getting a good grade), which means that your behavior is
extrinsically motivated.
If, on the other hand, you are reading this because you are interested in learning more about
human behavior, then that would be an example of intrinsic motivation. People who are
extrinsically motivated will continue to perform an action even though the task might not be in
and of itself rewarding.
A person who works in a manufacturing position, for example, might perform a number of
routine tasks that are not enjoyable. Because this person is receiving an extrinsic reward (a
paycheck) for completing these tasks, they will feel motivated to perform them.
When you want to get kids to do their homework, what is the best way to motivate them? Many
parents might start by offering some type of reward like a special treat or toy. This is an example
of extrinsic motivation, since the behavior is motivated by a desire to gain an external reward.
Unlike intrinsic motivation, which arises from within the individual, extrinsic motivation is
focused purely on outside rewards. 
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o Extrinsic Rewards Can Be Tangible or Psychological
Extrinsic motivation is usually defined as the tendency to engage in activities in order to gain
some type of known, external reward. It is important to note that these rewards can be either
tangible or psychological in nature.
Money and trophies are two common types of tangible rewards. People engage in activities that
they might normally not find terribly enjoyable or rewarding in order to earn a wage. Athletes
often engage in strenuous and difficult training sessions in order to be able to compete in
sporting events to win trophies and awards.
Psychological forms of extrinsic motivation can include praise and public acclaim. A child might
clean her room in order to receive positive praise from her parents. An actor might perform in a
role in order to obtain attention and acclaim from his audience. While these rewards are not
physical or tangible, they are a type of motivating reward that is external to the actual process of
participating in the event.
o How Effective Is Extrinsic Motivation?
So just how well do extrinsic rewards work for increasing motivation? This type of motivation
can be highly effective. Just look at all of the examples in your own life of things that you do in
order to gain some type of external reward. All of these are examples of performing specific
behaviors in order to obtain an external reward.
Shopping with a store loyalty card to gain points, discounts, and prizes
Performing tasks at work that you dislike in order to keep getting a steady paycheck
Using a particular type of credit card in order to receive airline miles
Extrinsic motivation is not a bad thing. External rewards can be useful and effective tool for
getting people to stay motivated and on task. This can be particularly important when people
need to complete something that they find difficult or uninteresting, such as a boring homework
assignment or a tedious work-related project.
o Extrinsic Motivation Can Backfire
While offering rewards can increase motivation in some cases, researchers have also found that
this is not always the case. In fact, offering excessive rewards can actually lead to
a decrease in intrinsic motivation.
The tendency of extrinsic motivation to interfere with intrinsic motivation is known as
the overjustification effect. This involves a decrease in intrinsically motivated behaviors after the
behavior is extrinsically rewarded and the reinforcement is subsequently discontinued.
In a classic experiment by Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett, children were rewarded lavishly for
drawing with felt-tip pens, an activity that they had previously enjoyed doing on their own
during play time.
When the children were later offered the chance to play with the pens during play time, the
children who had been rewarded for using them previously showed little interest in playing with
the pens again. The kids who had not been rewarded, however, continued to play with the pens.1
Why would rewarding an already intrinsically rewarding behavior lead to this sudden disinterest?
One reason is that people tend to analyze their own motivations for engaging in an activity. Once
they have been externally rewarded for performing an action, they assign too much importance
to the role of the reinforcement in their behavior.
Another possible reason is that activities that initially feel like play or fun can be transformed
into work or obligations when tied to an external reward. Extrinsic rewards can be an important
tool in motivating behavior, but experts warn that they should be used with caution, especially
with children.2
o Best Uses of Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivators are best applied in situations where people have little initial interest in
performing the activity, or in cases where basic skills are lacking. But these rewards should be
kept small and should be tied directly to performing a specific behavior. 2 Once some intrinsic
interest has been generated and some essential skills have been established, the external
motivators should be slowly phased out.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF MOTIVATION
Motivation is a process through which individually does something in order to satisfy
some basic needs. It is a responsibility of a manager to motivate the employees towards
the attainment of organizational goals through a higher level of performance.  The
characteristics of motivation are as follows:-

 Motivation is a psychological phenomenon

It is the inner desire of an individual to achieve something more. More is the individual
motivated better performance and organization relations.

 Motivation is a continuous process

Since need and desire are endless so the need is a continuous phenomenon if one need is
satisfied the other need emerges.

 Motivation is caused due to anticipated perceived value from an action.

Perceived value is the probability or expectancy. motivation= value × expectancy.

 Motivation varies from person to person and time to time

Motivation is different for different persons and it also varied according to time and place
because wants are different for different people, according to time and places.

 An individual is motivated by positive or negative motivation

Positive motivation is based on incentives or reward. Incentive can be monetary and

non-monetary.
Negative motivation is based on penalties, calling for explanation, threats, fear, etc. Fear
of losing the job or promotion

 Motivation is a Complex Subject

Motivation is a complex subject in the sense that the individual’s needs and wants may be
unpredictable. The level of need of a person depends on his/her psychological and
physiological aspects.

 Motivation is Goal Oriented

Motivation should be directed towards the achievement of stated goals and objectives.
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. From the viewpoint of the
organization, the goal is to achieve high productivity through better job performance.
 IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION
Broadly, the importance of motivation is as follow:

High level of performance

Organization must ensure that the employees have a high degree of motivation. A highly
motivated employee put extra effort into work and have a sense of belonging for the
organization.
The efficiency of work will be improved, wastage will be minimum which will result in the
increased productivity, and performance level will be high.

Low employee turn over and absenteeism

Low level of motivation is a root cause of low turnover and absenteeism. High level of
absenteeism causes a low level of production, poor quality, wastages and disruption in
production schedules.
Increased turnover is disastrous for any organization as it puts a strain on the financial position of
the organization due to additional recruitment, selection, training and development.
Acceptance of organization change
Social change and technology evolution happens in the external environment have greater impact
on the motivation of the employee. Management must ensure that the changes are introduced in
the organization and its benefits explained to the employees so that there is no resistance to
change and organizational growth is achieved.
Re-engineering, empowerment, job enrichment, job rotation, the introduction of new technology
and processes will go a long way to boost employee morale and achieve a high degree of
motivation.

Organizational image
Employees are the mirrors of any organization. Regular training & development programmes
should be organized to keep employee updated with latest skills. It will have a positive impact on
the employees and the image of the organization will be improved.
High organizational image will contribute towards the brand image of the product and services
the organization is marketing.

In short, we can elaborate the importance of motivation as follows:

 MOTIVATING SUBORDINATES
If you want to know how to motivate your employees and get positive employee engagement,
you have to make them feel passionate to go to work every day and wanting to spend time with
you and their colleagues.
Motivating your employees does not have to be a challenge anymore. Here are 12 fantastic ways
you can use to motivate your employees:
 Create a friendly work environment
Your employees spend a large amount of time of their lives working in the office. So try to make
the office look as friendly and appealing as possible.
When you create a pleasant atmosphere where it is welcoming and comfortable, your employees
will be more than eager to go to work every day.

 Acknowledge employees’ achievement

Everyone wants to be recognised for something they have done; regardless if it was for a work or
personal achievement. The acknowledgement of a job well done coming from upper
management will mean more to an employee than you think. Always remember to give credit
when credit is due.

 Rewarding employees
There will be times when it takes more than just a pat on the back. Try giving simple incentives
when rewarding engaged employees.
It does not have to be monetary rewards all the time; simple things like a week of having a
personal parking spot at the office would be sufficient. Rewarding employees could also be a
part of the company benefits.

 Positive communication is the key

Everyone communicates at work and it is probably the easiest thing you can do with your
employee. Yet it can also be the most difficult. Spend a short period of time each day to have a
word with your employees; discussing things from concerns to ideas.
This will not only make your employees happy, it will also provide you with much-needed
insight on your business from your employees.
  Encourage friendly competition
A little competition among the employees would not hurt. A competitive environment is a
productive environment. Encourage employees to participate in competitions or challenges as it
is healthy and may actually lead to increased camaraderie.
Friendly competition amongst teams helps with employee engagement and employee
participation.

 Have a meaningful and worthwhile goal

Managers should ensure that the company has a vision and plan at a corporate and individual
level. Employees who have a path set before them that may lead to promotion can work towards
a goal. Achievable goals are very helpful as it gives employees the drive to work harder without
being asked.

 Create a career path

When employees have an idea of what is provided or what the incentives are, they become
further motivated. This will lead to increased commitment towards their employer. The members
of your team will be more valuable to your organisation, and to themselves, when they have
opportunities to learn new skills.
Provide your employees with the training they require to advance in their careers and to become
knowledgeable about the latest technologies and industry news.

 Be a leader worth following

As a leader, employees are going to look to you to set an example for the rest of the group.
Leaders tend to be setting a tone and values for the company. By doing so, it could have a
meaningful effect on the mentality of the employees. If leaders set an example of positive
thinking, employees will follow and the entire work culture will become more motivating.

 Encourage creativity
Creativity does not have to be based on the work that the employees are doing. It could be simple
task like giving ideas on the next company retreat or team building exercises.

 Encourage team work

Try to remove any bureaucracy and hierarchy within the company and create an ‘openness’ to
new ideas at any level and working together as a team keeps employees motivated.
  Welcome all ideas
Everyone is unique and unpredictable and each with individual desires and some with
complicated ideas. Remember not to shunt away ideas or suggestions no matter how silly or
meaningless they may sound.
No single strategy can ever hope to please all of your workers all at once. A tiny silly idea could
be brainstormed into something brilliant sooner or later.

 Don’t let employees become bored

Some employees have a short attention span. Host a cupcake bake-off, plan a happy hour every
Friday, have company lunches together in the office on alternate Wednesdays or allow a
different person to run the weekly meetings to break up the dreariness.

While motivating the subordinates/ employees following assumptions are made.

 ANALYSIS OF MOTIVATION
Motivation Analysis is a technique that quantifiably measures the psychological traits, enduring
patterns of behavior, of an audience. Generally, this analysis is aimed at determining the
motivating factors driving behavior or key interactions on social media and other digital
platforms.
For example, the motivation analysis of an audience might reveal that customers are
unconventional, analytical, coupon prone and power-hungry. Motivation analysis is primarily a
tool used to identify innate drivers of behavior in order to create marketing campaigns that align
with a particular audience.  It's a way to predict what type of content and campaigns will resonate
with your audience.
Improve Conversion Rates
One great example of how motivation analysis can increase performance of a splash page is our
experience working with a company to improve their consumer-facing Q&A website built
around product reviews.  We gathered, measured, and compared the motivations of both active
users and inactive users on the website.  Our analysis found that active users were much more
driven by fun, self-indulgent hedonistic motivations than inactive ones. Thereby determining the
driving motivation associated with the desired behavior.
With this insight, our research team recommended the company switch from a standard and plain
font to a lively and fun font to prime and trigger users’ hedonistic motivations.
This seems like somewhat simple adjustment, right? The results dramatically exceeded
expectations. This simple but informed decision, to make a font change, increased conversions
by a staggering 8,800%. While most developers think that small changes will have a small
impact, this demonstrations shows that small changes can have a big impact if they trigger the
right motivations.
Why did this happen?
Every person has a set of motivations that drive their day-to-day behavior. If your splash page is
aligned with your target audience’s motivations, you are able to trigger their motivations. This
case study emphasizes both the importance of audience measurement and a failure of a universal
strategy. Simply changing the font from a boring font to a fun font had a tremendous impact on
conversions, but not because fun fonts yield higher conversion rates than boring fonts. Rather,
the people hitting the splash page were specifically motivated to engage because they thought it
would be fun. After measuring the psychological profile of the audience, the designers were able
to maximize the impact of a great design by leveraging insight about their audience.
Creating successful splash pages is not about implementing changes to mimic companies that
have been successful. The key to successful splash pages is having a complete understanding of
your audience in order to trigger desired behavior (engagement, conversion, sales etc.). This is
just one example of an intuitive way that marketers and designers are applying insight derived
from motivation analysis to improve campaigns.
Motive Metrics leverages motivation analysis to provide marketers with a host of powerful
metrics that expose hidden insights about who an audience is and why an audience engages.
Theories of motivation are important elements that shed lights on the stimulating factors that
steers human behaviors, which is important to understand what motivates employees. Business
organizations then can use them to plan how to motivate employees, which will in turn help the
organizations to achieve their goals.

Theories of Motivation
Motivation theories can be divided into three categories: content, process, and reinforcement.
Content theories are defined by Callahan et al. (1986:81) as insight such as need, drives and
incentives that cause people to behave in a certain manner such as good working conditions,
and focus on what stimulates individual behaviour. Theories that falls under this category are
Maslow’s need hierarchy, McDelland’s achievement theory, Hertzberg’s two- factor theory and
the Al-derfer ERG theory (Callahan et al. 1986:83).

Maslow’s Theory of Needs – is the most widely known motivational theory, proposed by
Abraham Maslow in 1970. He devised a hierarchy of human needs divided into five levels. The
first level is physical needs, which are basic human needs, such as sunlight, oxygen, and food.
These can be attained at work by an attractive salary, and good working conditions, like a warm
and dry workplace. If this need is attained, another need from the other levels will become
important (Callahan et al. 1986:83). The second level is the need for safety and security i.e. to
be free from physical threat or the deprivation of one’s basic physical needs, including security,
comfort and freedom from fear. This can be attained at work by safe working conditions, health
insurance and reducing the need for redundancy policies (Callahan et al. 1986:83). The third
level is affiliation or social need, which dominates when the two basic levels are fulfilled. In
this stage, the individual will look for meaningful relationship with others, through attraction,
belonging, and affection, and this can be met in the workplace by sports, social clubs and team
work (Buchanan and Huczynski 1991:72).The fourth level is the need for esteem; both self
esteem and the recognition, respect and appreciation of others. This is done at work by regular
positive feedback, promotions etc. The fifth level is self- actualization, where the development
of individual capabilities and potentials are maximized. This can be met through activities such
as challenging new job assignments (Buchanan and Huczynski 1991:73).

Maslow proposes four major arguments with his theory. Firstly, if a need is satisfied, it does not
motivate, so having a well-paid job will not create a need to get another one, unless the
individual seek something else besides money, like personal/career development (Callahan et
al. 1986:83). Secondly, if a certain need is satisfied, another will take its place, not necessarily
in the same order in the hierarchy, such as when the need for creativity replaces safety and
survival (Buchanan and Huczynski 1991:74). Thirdly, as Buchanan and Huczynski (1991:74)
note Individuals have an innate desire to work our way up in the hierarchy of needs pursuing
the satisfaction of our higher order needs. Fourthly, the dissatisfaction of these needs affects
our mental health, so that a poorly paid job can create frustration and stress (Buchanan and
Huczynski 1991:74).
Maslow’s theory had an enormous influence on the field of psychology and the development of
motivation theories that address human needs. However, it has some limitations, as identified by
Buchanan and Huczynski (1991:77-78). Firstly, it is difficult to measure the amount of
satisfaction required to move to the next level, as satisfaction differs between individuals; also,
this subjective concept (satisfaction) is difficult to measure. Secondly, it is unclear whether the
skills required to achieve physiological and safety are acquire or learned behaviours (Buchanan
and Huczynski 1991:77). Thirdly, regarding the dissatisfaction of one’s needs affecting one’s
mental health, each individual may cope with dissatisfaction differently, and if positive
techniques are applied, it may not necessarily affect one’s mental health (Buchanan and
Huczynski 1991:74). The fourth limitation of Maslow’s theory, along with all content theories,
is that they are general and deal with a single behaviour, providing little information about
handling groups of behaviours. Finally, no content theory discusses the reason why an
individual chooses a particular behavior (Locks and Latham 2004).

The second category of motivational theories is process theories, which explain how people
start, direct, maintain, and end a particular type of behaviour. Unlike content theories, they
do not deal with needs only. Callahan et al. (1986:82) explain how these needs interact and
influence one another to produce certain kinds of behaviors. They are composed of equity
theory, expectancy theory and goal-setting theory.

Expectation Theory – was proposed by Victor Vroom in 1964, and relates to how people choose
their actions. He argues that motivation is determined by individual belief about effort and
performance. His first assumption is that behaviour is voluntary. Callahan et al (1986:84)
describe how people are free to choose behaviors suggested by their own expectancy
calculation. Secondly, he assumes that individuals choose behaviors in a rational manner in
order to gain the best outcome (Callahan et al. 1986:84). Thirdly, Vroom’s theory relies on
three different beliefs:

Expectancy – the belief that one’s effort will result in performance; Instrumentality –

the belief that one’s effort will be rewarded; and Valance – the perceived value of the
rewards to the recipient (Greenberg and Baron 1995: 142).

Vroom also used a mathematical equation to explain the relationship between these three
beliefs, whereby E = Expectancy, M = Motivation, S =I Instrumentality and V=Valance;
hence M= S (E * V) (Buchanan and Huczynski 1991:80). He assumes that motivation is the
multiplicative result of all three components, reaching its highest level if the all three component
are high. However, if one of them is zero, the overall result will be zero, meaning no motivation.
This equation has been regarded as a limitation of the model, and the assumption created debate
due to the misinterpretation of the equation’s components.

Vroom’s theory of expectation is considered one of the dominant motivational theories,

although its weakness relates to his multiplicative assumption which created misinterpretations
of the equation components (Greenberg and Baron 1995: 143).

The major weakness of content and process theories is that they deals with individuals’ internal
motivation system, which is difficult to predict, and will create difficulties when designing
training programmes. Nor do they consider other external factors that may influence the need or
the decision-making process, such as the culture, organizational system and nature of the job
(McKenna 2000:88).
The third category of motivational theories is reinforcement theories, which focus on
individual behaviour. Reinforcement is achieved by means, for example, of recognition in the
company newsletter or promotion, as a reward for behaviour. These theories work on
reinforcement factors that are available in the outer environment, where managers work on
changing and maintaining the environmental condition, unlike the content and process theories
which worked on the individual internal motivation system to obtain the desired behaviour. The
open system, schedules of reinforcement and behaviour modification theories are reinforcement
theories (Callahan et al. 1986:99). Taking the latter as an example, it focuses on analyzing and
measuring observed behaviour in order to bring about change. It recommends: 

 Firstly, identify the goals or the targeted behaviour.

 Secondly, measure these to provide baselines for future feedback. 
 Thirdly, analyze the antecedents and consequences of the desired behaviour, which may
reflect on other employees’ behaviour (callahan et al. 1986:105). 
 Fourthly, implement the change programme. Callahan et al (1986:105) explained this
stage as positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment and extinction
can be applied to change the targeted behavior. Positive reinforcement can be an
intrinsic (such as a challenging job) or extrinsic (such as monetary reward) force. For the
extinction strategy, the undesired behaviour should be eliminated (callahan et al.
1986:106). 
 Finally, evaluate the changed behaviour, including its impact on actual performance
(callahan et al. 1986:106).

A Critical Analysis of Motivational Theories

Most motivational theories relate to the internal and external motivation mechanism, which is
triggered by needs, the decision-making process or environmental factors (Employee Benefits
2004). However, their major drawback is that they address individuals rather than groups, and
do not offer suggestions about how to motivate a group of individuals to attain a goal. Also, they
assume that everybody has the same needs and follows the same decision-making process
(Employee Benefits 2004). Moreover, they fail to explain how the various needs and goals are
chosen by individuals or organizations, or how they are prioritized to obtain the desired outcome
(Locks and Latham 2004).

A further criticism of motivational theories is that it does not consider which factors may affect
the success or failure of the motivation process, overlooking the different variables, such as
culture, norms and social influence (Freedheim et al. 2003). Moreover, these theories do not
discuss the resistance that may occur in practice when a planned changed is implemented for a
group, especially since most change programmes are based on the managers’ perceptions about
the employees’ needs. If this problem is not addressed appropriately, it may affect the change
programme and lead to a waste of time, money, and effort (Locks and Latham 2004).
Finally, the question remains about how the knowledge of different personality traits can fit
into these theories (Locks and Latham 2004).

There are areas of contrast and tension in the existing motivation theories.
Firstly, some approaches are designed to work with the internal/cognitive aspect of the
individual, like the content and process theories, while others concentrate on the individual’s
external context, such as reinforcement theories (Freedheim et al. 2003). This may create
confusion and provoke the question of which approach can maximize performance and when
should it be used.

Secondly, a serious weakness with these theories is that they rely on the self report and self-
perception of the individual, which changes according to circumstances. This may challenge the
reliability of the approach and findings if these theories were tested (Freedheim et al. 2003).

Another problem with some motivation theories, especially those of Maslow and Herzberg, is
that they believe that all individuals are motivated by the same things, such as money, while, in
reality, each individual has different motivators, such as charity workers or those who do not
mind receiving low wages (Employee Benefits 2004).

Furthermore, there is also a problem with expectancy theory. Vroom believes that all human
behaviours are rational but Beck and Seligman (cited in Locks and Latham 2004) concluded that
not all human thoughts and behaviours are logical. They discovered that there are certain
dysfunctional thoughts that affect the decision-making process and people’s choices, such as
perfectionism:

if I am good at all, I should be able to excel at every thing I try,

which may affect the person’s choices and decisions (Locks and Latham 2004).

Finally, to conceptualize, and measure this concept/mechanism in organizational research

remains challenging. That is why understanding these theories are significant, as it provides
fresh insight into improving performance (Buchner 2007). 

However, efforts should be made, 

firstly, to develop common ground among these theories, providing a universal interpretation of
them that can be used in different disciplines and cultures. However, there have been several
attempts to link these interpretations together (Steel and Koning 2006). 

Secondly, as recommended by Steel and Konig (2006); Locks and Latham (2004) and Carver
and Sutton (2000), the different motivational theories should be integrated to develop a common
language among social, psychological and other disciplines’ scientists to facilitate multi-
disciplinary communication and collaboration and also enable managers to respond effectively to
complex motivational problems. 
Thirdly, it is essential to have diagnostic models and theories as suggested by Freedheim et al.
(2003) to facilitate identifying when and where a particular motivational intervention will work,
to aid organizations in directing their resources and efforts.

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