Motivation



MOTIVATION. RETRIVED FROM
http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/m/motivation.html

 What is motor inside our head that gets us going??? What is our drive to so things in life? this two simple question can be answer with one simple word.........MOTIVATION.

motivation is the driving force which causes us to achieve goals. Motivation is said to be  intrinsic and extrinsic. in other words, is the little voice we hear inside our body telling us "yes you can do it, go for it, this is the best thing......." pretty much we need a good motivation to get us to do that things we do in our everyday life, but most importantly i we humans need a good motivation when it comes down to work.

 what inspires people to work hard? What energizes them to perform at high level of effort and productivity? What encourages them to apply their creative talents to solving work related problems? These questions have created an interest in motivation theories as they apply to business and industries. The theories can be divided into 3 internal, external, and motivation theories.

Internal motivation theories focuses in giving  primary consideration to variables within the individual that give rise to motivation and behavior, let me further explain this with one of the most influent theory, the Maslow´s Hierarchy of need. This is the pyramid below.

Maslow’s Need Hierarchy.
Retrieved from February 2011:http://www.akri.org/cognition/motivate.htm

This theory proposed by  Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation classifies people’s needs into five categories. Physiological needs, needs of security and safety, social needs (sense of belonging), needs of self esteem and the need of self actualization. He believe that once of the blocks from the pyramid is accomplish the next step is to make the next level dominant.

It might seen  a little  add that our needs are divided into levels since we are all different, meaning we all have different needs, now let’s break down each level and see if we agree with Mr Maslow. The first level of motivation is the desire to satisfy physiological needs, pretty much  what we need to survive (Air, water, and food), The next level of motivation that man seeks to satisfy is that of safety. In relating this need to the work situation both personal safety and personal security concepts must be considered. l - The third level of motivation is social. In the work context this level includes the need to belong to the organization, to the work group, or to a local clique. - The fourth level of this hierarchy is the esteem or ego needs. To satisfy this a man must feel that other people respect him, that others think he is someone. Satisfaction of this need leads to self-confidence, strength, and a feeling of adequateness. - This is the highest level of the hierarchy. The level represents the need to be what one potentially is.

Moving on from these theories let go back to out 3 categories of motivation theories and examine the external ones theories that take into account the elements in the environment. We can take a look at the two-factor theory to understand a little better this concept.

The two- factor theory, develop by Frederick Herzbrg, talks about how  there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job satisfacion, while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction. This theory is distinguish in two factors, like the name says: motivation  and Hygiene factors.

Two facor theory. Retrieved from March 2011:

http://www.all4espresso.de/images/page.php?yiuDRPp=example-of-herzberg-two-factor-theory

Nevertheless let’s talk about the final motivation theory category and that is the Process , this theory categorizes the motivation theories  on emphasizing the nature of the interaction between the individual and the environment.

I will be explain this with the expectancy theory or VIE (Valence, Expectancy, Instrumentality) was initially elaborated by Vroom in 1964 later on by Porter and Lawler. This theory establishes  a connection between the employees´  motivation and the certitude of their expectancies.

In multicultural organizational contexts what could be a good strategy to keep people motivated towards a common task?


In a multicultural organizational context leaders need to recognize and cope with innovation, taking risk, and responding quickly but most importantly a good strategy that can be apply in order to motivated all employees towards a common goal , is of course being able to respect, recognize and  understand each employees culture. This strategy is important because this way the manager is able to know how each person works and how they develop each task, having in mind each person background, mainly because this is going to make the employees feel understood, important, and value for what they are. As a result he manager will be giving them the motor they need in order to feel motivated to work in a good and relax working environment. Having a good climate in the working environment would motivate and induced them to high performance results, the ability to understand there teamwork, the relationships among tasks and between the leader and its employees.



BIBLIO

*Haasen, Adolf Y Shea, Gordon F . A Better Place To Work : A New Sense Of Motivation Leading To High Productivity. New York : American Management Association, 1997. 95p. ( ). Isbn 0814423639.
 *Steers, R. M., Mowday, R. T., & Shapiro, D. L. (2005). Response to "Meaningful Motivation for Work Motivation Theory". Academy of Management Review, 30(2), 238. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

*Timmons, Jeffry A Y Spinelli, Stephen . New Venture Creation : Entrepreneurship For The 21st Century. 8 Ed. Boston : Mcgraw-Hill/Irwin, 2009. 666p. ( ). Isbn 0073381551
*Viorel, Lefter, ManolescuAurel, Marinas CristianVirgil, and PuiaRamona Stefania. 2009. "Employees Motivation Theories Developed at an International Level". Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series18, no. 4: 324-328