Human Resource Management 

 
 
Summary

Chapter Five: Motivation

5.1 Nature and importance of Motivation

Motivation is a process which begins with a

physiological need (need for air, food or water) or a
psychological need (need for recognition), which
triggers behaviour that is aimed at a goal.
Motivation is the characteristic that helps an
individual achieve his goal. Performance is
considered to be a function of ability and
motivation. It puts human resources into action,
improves level of efficiency of employees, leads to
achievement of organizational goals, builds friendly
relationships& also leads to stability of workforce.
Motivation is important to an individual as well as
an organization.
5.2 Early theories of Motivation
Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theorystates that human
beings have wants and desires, only unsatisfied needs
influence behaviour, human beings have many needs and
they can be arranged in order of their importance
and only when one level of needs is satisfied, then
the person moves to the next level. The theory is of
help to managers who are keen about motivating their
employees as it explains many variations in human
behaviour. But managers may not have time to diagnose
all needs of each employee. Even if they
identifythem, managers cannotoffer solutions in all
cases.
Douglas McGregor, whoproposedTheory X and Theory
Ystated that there are two distinct views of human
beings – one basically negative – labeled Theory X
and the other basically positive – labeled theory
Y.Managers’ view of their workers is based on certain
assumptions and these are used to mold their
behaviour towards their staff.Managers holding theory
Y are said to motivate employees, but there is
no evidence to prove this.
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Two Factor Theory is also known as motivation-hygiene
theory and was propounded by Frederick Hertzberg. He
used critical incident method and observed that
certain characteristics are related to job
satisfaction and others to job dissatisfaction. These
characteristics could be classified into
intrinsic/motivationfactors andextrinsic/hygiene
factors. Intrinsic factors keep workers happy while
absence of extrinsic factors makes them unhappy.
5.3 Contemporary [Modern] theories of Motivation
Achievement Motivation Theory, also known as Three
Needs Theory, was put forward by David C
McClelland.He states that a person’s behaviour is
mostly motivated by any of the three needs – power,
affiliation and achievement. A person does have other
needs but these three are primary needs that motivate
him.The theory highlights importance of matching the
individual and the job.Employees with high
achievement needs thrive on work that is challenging.
However, psychologists suggest that the acquisition
of motives normally occurs in childhood and hence
cannot be taught to adults.
The equity theory, also known as ‘social comparison’
theory or inequity theory is based on the assumption
that individuals are motivated by their desire to be
equitably treated in their work relationships.An
employee compares his job inputs and outcomes with
another employee having similar work & education
background. If his input-outcome ratio is equal with
that of other employee there is equity. If not, he
will try to correct inequity by altering
inputs/outcomes. The equity theory recognizes the
influence of social comparison processes on
motivation. If employees observe inequity they are
motivated to restore equity.
The most comprehensive explanation of motivation is
expectancy theory. The theory argues that the
strength of tendency to act in a certain way depends
on the strength of an expectation that the act will

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be followed by a given outcome and on the
attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.
Thus it can be seen that the theory is based on three
variables; Attractiveness, Performance reward linkage
and Effort- performance linkage. The theory views
individuals as thinking, reasoning beings. It values
human dignity.It implies that managers must make it
possible for employee to see that effort can result
in appropriate rewards.
5.4 Applied motivation practices.
After understanding theory, managers must know how to
apply it. Some of the ways of motivating employees
are through rewards, job design, empowerment,
participative management, profit sharing, merit pay
etc. In addition to both financial and non-financial
rewards, managers have some other methods to motivate
staff.Job design has a critical impact on the
motivation of the employees. It is a process of
determining contents of the job and how the job
should be performed. The objective is to make it
interesting to the employee. Job rotation, job
enlargement and job enrichment are stages in using
job design to motivate employees. Empowerment, one
more motivator, is the process of enhancing feelings
of self-efficiency and sense of ‘owning’ a job. Being
empowered, employees aspire to do a better job and
suggest improvements or cost reduction initiatives.

Maintaining and motivating the best workforce

IBM, Covergys and other MNCs understand that growth

of today’s organizations is contingent on developing,
growing and honing talent of their workforce. The
easiest way to do so is through motivation.Mode
deployed by organizations to motivate workforce
depends on employee profile. A mix of financial
incentives, subordinate-peer-senior appreciation,
along with a larger level of responsibility is used.
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