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I have always held the belief that you cannot motivate people. In my MBA class, we read a few chapters on motivation that got me thinking more on the subject. While I still believe that one cannot directly motivate others, I firmly believe that one can affect the motivation of another by creating an environment that either fosters or kills motivation. In this multipart series, we’ll look at what motivation is, how can we as managers can affect the motivation of those around us, and what affects motivation at the individual level. Today, let’s start with a discussion of what motivation is.

What is Motivation?
Robbins and Judge define motivation as, “the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.” As in the book, we will discuss motivation as it relates to one’s focus on organizational goals. Based on the definition provided, we can assume that motivated individuals will maintain focus on a goal provided, and work with a concerted effort until that goal is accomplished.

Early Motivation Theories

Back in the day, there were a few theories on motivation. These theories include Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Theory X, Theory Y, and the Two-Factor Theory. Maslow believed that to motivate someone, you had to understand which level of the hierarchy the person was on, and fill those needs or those on the levels above.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs - Image credit

Theory X and Theory Y were developed by Douglas McGregor. Theory X managers operate under four assumptions (Robbins and Judge, 189):

1. Employees inherently dislike work and, whenever possible, will attempt to avoid it.
2. Since employees dislike work, they must be coerced, controlled, or threatened with punishment to achieve goals.
3. Employees will avoid responsibilities and seek formal direction whenever possible.
4. Most workers place security above all other factors associated with work and will display little ambition.

Theory X managers treat their employees like dirt. On the other hand, we have the positive Theory Y managers, who operate under these four assumptions (Robbins and Judge, 189):

1. Employees can view work as being as natural as rest or play.
2. People will exercise self-direction and self-control if they are committed to the objectives.
3. The average person can learn to accept, even seek, responsibility.
4. The ability to make innovative decisions is widely dispersed throughout the population and is not necessarily the sole province of those in management positions.

The final theory in our review is the two-factor theory, proposed by Frederick Herzberg. Herzberg wanted to know what people wanted from their jobs. After asking many people how they felt about their jobs and compiling the responses, Herzberg postulated that the factors that affect job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are mutually exclusive. He also surmised that it is the work itself and what people get out of it, rather than factors such as pay and physical working conditions, that determines job satisfaction.

Current Motivation Theories

There are many current motivation theories, however the ones we will look at are McClelland’s Theory of Needs, Goal-Setting Theory, Reinforcement Theory, Equity Theory, and the Expectancy Theory.

McClelland’s Theory of Needs states that an individual at work has three types of needs: the need for achievement, the need for power, and the need for affiliation. Achievers work for success and to raise the bar. Power seekers want to control the behavior of those around them; they want influence. Affiliates seek to build relationships. The achievers among us would love goal-setting theory which states that by setting hard to obtain but specific goals, while providing feedback, leads to greater performance. These types of goals might also be called stretch goals. Reinforcement theory on the other hand says that behavior is a result of either positive or negative reinforcement. This is where the carrot and stick come in with praise or punishment.

Equity Theory is a bit more complex. It essentially states that employees compare their job “inputs and outputs” to those of others, and work to remove inequities. An example of this (that I have seen with members of my MDA team) is an employee getting a small raise when moving into a higher position, and then seeing someone new come in to the same level position and being paid more. In the cases where people feel they are being treated unfairly, they react negatively. They might work less, produce lower quality results, put a negative focus on others, or even quit. Striving to be fair, which doesn’t necessarily mean treating everyone equally, should be a definite goal of any organization.

The last theory on our list is Expectancy theory. As you might have thought, expectancy theory is when one acts in a certain way believing that a certain outcome will occur. The outcome can be positive or negative. If someone expects that if they are a high performer they will get a raise, they will do so. If someone expects that if they slap a co-worker they will be fired (and therefore lose what they have due to a lack of income) they are less likely to do so. The door swings both ways on this one.

What all of this means for you
As leaders we create the environment in which we either nurture or kill the motivation of those working with us. While we cannot directly motivate others, we can directly impact the direction that motivation heads. It is up to us to understand what motivates our team, and to work with it in such a way that the business and everyone in it not only benefits, but feels a part of and has a truly great time moving forward. Ask your people what they really want out of their work. Listen to them. Work with them. Don’t simply manage, lead and inspire. You might be pleasantly surprised at what happens.

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