Motivation

What motivation is relevant to me?

Motivation is desire and drive to strive for something someone wants. An example in an organisation is usually bonuses. However, it does not have to be monetary factors that effect motivation. It can simply be a working environment. For students, it may be grades. Motivation tells us why people act in a particular way and why people do what they do. Mullins (2008) describes motivation as why people behave in a certain way and the direction and persistence of action.

The motivation theory I have chosen related to me is McClellands achievement theory. This theory points out that there are three categories that motivates people. These three motives are achievement, affiliation and power. The first motive is achievement, this is where someone has the desire to achieve and succeed. Typically, the person with this motivated need will set long term goals that are testing for them. They have to be a challenge for them, so they get a sense of achievement after they have accomplished it. According to Montana (2008) achievement motivation is largely a theory for entrepreneurs because of the goal setting and challenging tasks.

Affiliation is the need for human interaction and relationships with other people. This type of person may need to have friends and these characteristics in order to achieve, so a specific environmental area will be a interactive one. There is a clear advantage to this aspect, this is that they are likely to be a good team player.

The last idea of McClellands theory is power. This idea is to have a big influence on people and be effective. There will also be a desired need to be a leader, therefore this last motive is most likely to be linked with managers. Not just an organisation, but even in a football team where the manager drives on there players. Law (2011) highlights that people who need power, are most likely to be people who want to rise to the top of the organisation.

I have chosen this theory because I believe it relates to me the most and I need these three categories in order to be motivated. I believe I need achievement in order to be motivated because I need goals in my life in order try and be successful. I like the idea of difficult challenges and ambitious goals because I have a capacity for hard work. Affiliation is also needed in my life to be constantly be motivated, this is because I think that friends make me feel comfortable and content. The feeling that you can contact others put me in a better mood which makes it feel easier to be motivated. Another reason why McClelland’s theory is relevant to me is because of the last factor, power. In some situations, I believe I need power to keep me motivated, this is because in sports such as badminton, I like to feel that I am a big influence in the team and that I am effective for the team. Otherwise my confidence will not be as high as therefore, motivation is lost.

Motivation for my degree course, why I am here? What has motivated you to get here and what will motivate you for the next 2 – 3 years?

 I have a numerous number of reasons why I am currently at university. One of the reasons why I am here is because of the social side of university and the experience of it. I wanted to meet new people and friends and experience living on my own to be more independent. Learning about business has also brought me here, as I have been interested in the subject through out my life, especially with my parents being heavily related to business in their careers. However, the main reason is my future. I want a degree to show I am educated and I want to be successful in life with a well payed job. These are my main accomplishments. This is what will keep me motivated for the next two to three years and what has driven me on to come to university. I am sure I will feel a great sense of achievement if I get my degree and when I have a well payed job so this is what I am striving for. This can be linked to McClellands achievement theory. I believe I need affiliation needs for motivation to both come to university and to work hard for the next couple of years. This is because working to get to university was very challenging. Having a close relationship back at home helped me to achieve getting to university because of the comfortable interactive environment I was in with them, and the fact that most of them was also going to attend university. This spurred me on. To finish this course, I will also need the motivation need, achievement. This motive is required to finish the course because I need to feel I am working for the degree. If I was working hard for no reason, I do not believe I will be motivated. The degree is a goal that will be a challenge, but it is what I am striving for.

 A time when I was de-motivated. Why I felt like this? How did I get more motivated?

A time where I was de-motivated is mainly during A levels and when I first came to university I was slightly de-motivated. This is because the results for my A levels was poor even though I felt I worked extremely hard throughout the two years. But I also felt I would not get into a university and therefore my aims were not going to be met. Buckinghamshire New University was not my first choice and most of my friends went to there first choice, so this saddened me a little too. However, I was not de-motivated all throughout A levels, as there were signs I could potentially achieve in some exams. I can link this back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Hezrberg's theory. Maslow's Hierarchy of needs says that we must fulfil each need in order, starting with the first need to be motivated. This deals with the most obvious needs for survival itself. It has five stages to this theory. These are shown in the diagram. Pride (2011) defines this theory as a series of human requirements in the order of their importance. I can link this back to my de-motivation because even though I had physiological, safety and social needs. I did not have esteem or self actualization needs. This is because after I put in so much effort, but still failing to achieve the results I wanted, I lost self esteem and confidence, and therefore I could not move up the hierarchy. In this theory, you often move up and down the pyramid. At one point, I believe I was at self esteem and self actualization sector because of a couple encouraging results.

 Another theory I can link to being de-motivated is Herzberg's two factor theory. This is because Hertzberg two factor motivation theory consists of two categories which both analyse what makes you content or disgruntled at work. These two factors are hygiene and motivation factors. Nelson (2009) explains Hygiene factors as the working conditions related to dissatisfaction caused by discomfort, and the motivation factors as the working conditions related satisfaction of the need of psychological growth. I can again relate this theory to how I was de-motivated during a levels and after it. This is because there were certain hygiene and motivation factors that made me de-motivated. For example, a motivation factors is achievement, after getting my A level results, there was not really a sense of achievement as I did not do as well as I expected. For the hygiene factor, status was a little issue. This is because my university was not highly ranked in the table compared to others and therefore, I felt my status was lower than others.

After settling into university, I am back on track to accomplish my main goals, which is to get into a university and have a degree with a well paid job. I do not think I could have changed much during A levels because I believe I worked extremely hard and tried everything to succeed. To get me more motivated, I just moved on. I knew I could not change my results and so I just worked hard at the university that accepted me and made it as enjoyable as I can. I can link this to Aldefer's ERG because existence needs is required to keep me motivated because I need to feel secure, with shelter to go home too, and food to keep me going. Growth is also needed to keep me motivated as I need to feel that I am developing.

In conclusion to this blog, I found this topic intriguing. This is because I learnt a lot about what I need in order to keep motivated and how different theories can link with each other. I can also see how each theory can reflect on other peoples life, and that different motivation theories will suit different people, as they may have completely different goals.

Bibliography

Charnov, B.H and Montana, P.J. (2008) Management. 4th ed. New York: Barron's Educational Series, Inc.

Law, J. (2011) Business: The Ultimate Resource. 3rd ed.

Mullins, L.J. (2008) Essentials of Organisational Behaviour. 2nd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Quick, J.C and  Nelson, D.L. (2011) Organizational Behavior: Science, the Real World, and You. 7th ed. OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Pride, W.M, Hughes, R.J and Kapoo, J.R. (2011) Business. 11th ed.