Motivation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Motivation - Essay Example Most of these theories build on the work of Abraham Maslow conducted in the 1940's. His studies into human personality included attempts to understand motivation. He organized a list of five levels of motivation in order of importance from physiological through safety, love, and esteem to the top level of self-actualization. At the physiological level, people are concerned with obtaining their physical needs - food, air, water, and shelter. At the safety level, the concern shifts to protecting and supporting the family. While love can refer to the kind of romantic relationship most people think when they see the work, in Maslow's hierarchy of needs model it refers to the need to be accepted as a member of a group. Esteem and self-actualization may seem like the same thing, but esteem refers to having a sense of self-respect while self-actualization refers to the development of wisdom (Maslow, 1987). â€Å"Maslow’s ultimate conclusion that the highest levels of self-actualizat ion are transcendent in their nature may be one of his most important contributions to the study of human behavior and motivation† (Daniels, cited in Huitt, 2004). In most illustrations of this model, the various stages are represented as individual steps on a pyramid of possibility with physical needs at the base and self-actualization at the peak. The reason for this depiction is due to Maslow's belief that all of the elements in one level must be achieved before the individual can move on to the next level. It is important to have this history, because it forms the base upon which or against which later theorist worked. Working in the late 1950's and 1960's, Frederick Herzberg built his two-factor theory from Maslow's model trying to learn new ways to motivate employees. He discovered that employees were not motivated just by having their low-level needs met and suggested employers who wanted to improve performance should work to also address high-level motivators. â€Å"M otivator or intrinsic factors, such as achievement and recognition, produce job satisfaction. Hygiene or extrinsic factors, such as pay and job security, produce job dissatisfaction† (Herzberg, Mausner & Snyderman, 1959). Although he renamed and grouped the levels into hygiene and motivator macro-levels, the same basic levels from Maslow can be discovered within as physiology and safety needs become hygiene and esteem and self-actualization become motivators. Organizations employing Herzberg's theory understand pay increases, bonuses, and other inducements related to the job intended to satisfy low-level needs will not motivate workers. Instead, just focusing on meeting these needs tends to encourage employees to seek employment elsewhere. Organisations such as Tesco base their operations on this theory, giving employees a chance to participate in decision-making, holding forums to gain employee input, and encouraging strong organisation-wide communication. These are all strat egies designed to meet high-level needs such as belonging, esteem,