McClelland's theory of needs

This is a content-based theory and it affirms that humans have three motivational drivers, regardless of
age or gender. One of the three drivers may be dominant in every human being, depending on their life
experiences. The three drivers are:

Achievement: People who thrive on achievement may have a powerful urge to set and achieve goals and
take calculated risks during the process. They may expect feedback, acknowledgement and appreciation
for their work and may prefer to work alone.

Affiliation: People who thrive on affiliation favour collaboration and may prefer to work in a group. They
would want team members and colleagues to like them and may side with the majority to do what a
larger portion of the group insists on.

Power: People who thrive on power may show tendencies to control and influence others and win
arguments. They may be highly competitive and may enjoy status and recognition.

An administrative professional can use McClelland's theory to identify the primary motivational drivers
of team members and use the information to build a team with diverse competencies and character
traits. This theory helps team managers and hiring managers identify the right candidates for a job role.
Employees who enjoy power may become good leaders, mentors and supervisors. Employees who
thrive on affiliation may not be effective managers as they may struggle with tough decisions while
trying to cater to the interests of all concerned parties.

Incentive theory

The incentive theory suggests that management can invoke motivation by reinforcement, recognition,
through incentives and rewards. The incentive theory also proposes that people display certain
behaviors to achieve a specific result, incite a particular action or receive a reward. Here are a few
examples of incentives in the workplace:

Bonus: A bonus is a monetary reward that a company may give an employee based on their
performance.

Praise: Praise can be useful for one-on-one situations, such as quarterly employee reviews. Praising and
appreciating an employee by giving positive feedback about their performance helps build trust and
significantly reduce attrition.

Training and education: Providing opportunities such as paid training or continuing education may give a
team an incentive to increase their knowledge in a specific field or develop a skill set.

Promotion: Providing an opportunity for career advancement is often one of the most influential
incentives a manager can offer because it can give an employee a feeling of importance and growth. A
promotion may include an advanced role, a new job title and a salary increase.

Salary or wage hike: Management teams find that offering a pay raise or a salary increase can be
effective motivators. For optimal results, managers use salary or wage incentives for individual
employees, rather than for all employees and departments within a business.
Paid vacation or time off: Consider offering employees compensation for taking days off or give them
additional vacation days every quarter or year. Employees may value this incentive if they plan for a
family vacation or desire some extra time to rest at home.

Managers can use incentive theories to help employees to work on tough or challenging tasks that many
professionals avoid. Some popular incentives are cash, products, experiences, gift cards and tickets to
popular sporting and entertainment events. It is important that a manager uses these incentives as
rewards only for achieving goals and not without reason.

Herzberg's two-factor theory

Herzberg's two-factor theory is a content-based theory. It describes two sets of factors that may lead to
either satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Herzberg defines the factors that lead to satisfaction or
dissatisfaction as hygiene and motivating factors:

Hygiene factors: These are factors affecting satisfaction, relating to working conditions, professional
relationships, office policies, rules of conduct and attitudes of supervisors. Improving a few or all hygiene
factors can help decrease dissatisfaction and improve motivation among employees.

Motivating factors: Factors like professional achievements, recognition, responsibility and career and
personal growth are motivating factors for professionals. Addressing these factors increases job
satisfaction.

Management can implement Herzberg's two-factor theory by reforming company policies, offering
competitive wages and providing effective supervision, job security and more autonomy. Administrative
professionals can take a proactive role in employee welfare initiatives. A company can reduce
dissatisfaction by offering professionals ways to find a sense of purpose, both professionally and
personally.

Vroom's expectancy theory

Vroom's expectancy theory is a process-based motivation theory which assumes that an individual's
behavior results from the conscious choices they make from multiple available alternatives. Individuals
make specific choices believing that they may guarantee more satisfaction and comfort. Vroom's theory
suggests that an individual gets motivation from the following three factors:

Expectancy is an individual's belief that the harder they work, their chances of success increases.

Instrumentality is an individual's belief that they may receive a reward if they meet performance
expectations.

Valence is the importance an individual places on an expected outcome.

Vroom's expectancy theory states that if an employee believes that they can accomplish a task, it may
motivate them to work harder. An unrealistic or unattainable goal can demotivate professionals.
Managers can assess how well employees understand their role in achieving organisational goals. If an
employee is unsure of their capability or feels that a goal is challenging, managers can train them to
align their performance with organisational goals.
Goal-Setting Theory

Locke, et al (1981) defined the “goal” in Goal-Setting Theory (GST) as “what an individual is trying to
accomplish; it is the object or aim of an action” (p. 126). According to Moeller et al. (2012), goal setting
is the process of establishing specific and effective targets for task performance. Locke, et al. (1981) also
provided evidence that goal setting has a positive influence on task performance. Latham and Locke
(2007) explained that “a specific high goal leads to even higher performance than urging people to do
their best” (p. 291).

Dynamic action theory

A theory for developing display decision support systems for a complex system with dynamic sources of
information is proposed. The dynamic action theory utilizes the constructive concepts of recognition-
primed decision (RPD) making, mental simulation and introspection to develop a computational
framework for decision making in a dynamic system. The theory incorporates methodologies for belief
disposition and rehearsals during problem solving. Planning and goal-attainment are based on a
structured, heterocyclical means-ends paradigm. This concept supports the nonlinear behavior of
human mental processes.

16 Basic Desires Theory

A theory of motivation by Steven Reiss, the 16 Basic Desires Theory talks about the sixteen fundamental
needs, values and drives that motivate a person.

Thorndike’s theory of reinforcement.

Thorndike's Reinforcement Theory is a theory of employee motivation that makes use of consequences
as motivation techniques. Discover how positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or avoidance,
punishment, and extinction are used in the workplace and how employees react to each strategy. This
theory was proposed by Edward Lee Thorndike, an American psychologist, in 1913. He hasconducted
experiments to see how experiences can alter non-reflective behavior. Anderson (1990) regarded him as
one of the world's leading educational psychologists in apprenticeship, geneticpsychology, testing and
social psychology, psychology and arithmetic.

DRIVE-REDUCTION THEORY

When the instinct theory of motivation failed it was replaced by the drive- reduction theory.
Psychological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the
need.

Behaviorism

Behaviorism is based on the idea that knowledge is independent and on the exterior of the learner. In a
behaviorist’s mind, the learner is a blank slate that should be provided with the information to be learnt.

Through this interaction, new associations are made and thus learning occurs. Learning is achieved
when the provided stimulus changes behavior. A non-educational example of this is the work done by
Pavlov.
Cognitivism

In contrast to behaviorism, cognitivism focuses on the idea that students process information they
receive rather than just responding to a stimulus, as with behaviorism.

There is still a behavior change evident, but this is in response to thinking and processing information.

Cognitive theories were developed in the early 1900s in Germany from Gestalt psychology by Wolfgang
Kohler. In English, Gestalt roughly translates to the organization of something as a whole, that is viewed
as more than the sum of its individual parts.

Cognitivism has given rise to many evidence based education theories, including cognitive load theory,
schema theory and dual coding theory as well as being the basis for retrieval practice.

In cognitivism theory, learning occurs when the student reorganizes information, either by finding new
explanations or adapting old ones.

This is viewed as a change in knowledge and is stored in the memory rather than just being viewed as a
change in behavior. Cognitive learning theories are mainly attributed to Jean Piaget.

Constructivism

Constructivism is based on the premise that we construct learning new ideas based on our own prior
knowledge and experiences. Learning, therefore, is unique to the individual learner. Students adapt
their models of understanding either by reflecting on prior theories or resolving misconceptions.

Students need to have a prior base of knowledge for constructivist approaches to be effective. Bruner’s
spiral curriculum (see below) is a great example of constructivism in action.

As students are constructing their own knowledge base, outcomes cannot always be anticipated,
therefore, the teacher should check and challenge misconceptions that may have arisen. When
consistent outcomes are required, a constructivist approach may not be the ideal theory to use.

Kolb’s Experiential Theory

Each stage in the cycle both supports and leads into the next stage. Learning is achieved only if all four
stages have been completed, however, a learner may travel around the cycle multiple times, further
refining their understanding of the topic.

No one stage is an effective learning strategy on its own, for example, if the reflective observation stage
is skipped, the learner could continue to make the same mistakes.

aird’s Sensory Theory

In 1985 Dugan Laird stated in his book Approaches to Training and Development that learning occurs
when the senses are stimulated.

He quoted research that found that 75% of an adult’s knowledge was obtained by seeing. 13% was
through hearing, the remaining 12% was learned through touch, smell and taste combined.
Based on this research, providing visual prompts for students will enhance their learning. However,
making your lessons a multi-sensual experience will enhance learning even further. It’s worth
considering this when planning your lessons.

Theory of Academic Performance

The theory of performance is a challenge to educators: by improving our own performance, we

Walberg's theory of educational productivity

Walberg's (1981) theory of educational productivity, is one of the few empirically tested
theories of school learning based on an extensive review and integration of over 3,000 studies (DiPerna,
Volpe & Stephen, 2002). Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1997) analyzed the content of 179 handbook
chapters and reviews and 91 research syntheses and surveyed educational researchers in an effort to
achieve some consensus regarding the most significant influences on learning (Greenberg et al., 2003).
Using a variety of methods, Wang, et al.(1977) identified 28 categories of learning influence.

Motivational Systems Theory and Academic Performance

A direct offspring or subset of Sigmund Freud’s theory is Martin Ford’s motivational systems
theory (MST). This framework focuses on the individual as the unit of analysis, but embeds the individual
in the biological, social, and environmental contexts that are crucial to development. MST
attempts to describe the development of the whole person-in-context, in much the same way a
biologist might describe an individual plant and its relation to its immediate ecological niche, as well as
the larger ecosystems in which it resides ( Pintrich & Schunk, 1996).

Type A Personality Theory (Friedman & Rosenman 1974)

The Type A behaviour pattern originally described by Friedman and Rosenman (1974) has received
considerable attention in the literature. According to Watson, Minzenmayer, and Bowler (2006),
type A personality continues to be associated with three particular personality characteristics
which includes: highly competitive attitudes toward achievement, a strong sense of time
urgency, and the use of aggression and hostility to cope with a frustrating situation
(Watson et al., 2006).

Self determination theory

The stucy anchors on the theory of Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan known as “Self determination”

The theory states that the student himself and the free factors have an extraordinary part in molding
the students examination propensity.