I. Definition of motivation
Motivation is the impulse that leads a person to choose and carry out an action among those alternatives that are presented in a certain situation.
For a better understanding of human resources in the workplace, it is important to know the causes that originate human behavior.
Motivation is made up of all the factors capable of provoking, maintaining and directing the behavior towards an object.
II.Theories of motivation
Motivation has been in recent decades an object of study that has given rise to numerous theories, of which the most important have given rise to countless investigations. We can classify these theories in the following way:
- Content theories: Groups those theories that consider everything that can motivate people. Process theories: It groups together those theories that consider the way (process) in which the person becomes motivated.
Content theories
Content theories
Theory of Human Needs - Abraham Maslow:
According to this theory, the inner spring of a person is made up of a series of needs in hierarchical order, ranging from the most material to the most spiritual. Five levels are identified within this hierarchy:
- Physiological: They have to do with the minimum subsistence conditions of man: Food, housing, clothing, etc. Security: It is related to the tendency to conservation in the face of dangerous situations. Preservation of your property, your job, etc. Social: Man by nature has the need to relate, to group informally, in family, with friends or formally in organizations. Estimate: At this point in the pyramid, the individual needs more than just being a member of a group, it is necessary to receive recognition from others in terms of respect, status, prestige, power, etc. Self realisation: It consists of developing the potential of each one to the maximum, it is a permanent self-improvement sensation. They are an example of her autonomy, independence, self-control.
Characteristics of the operation of Maslow's theory:
- Only unmet needs influence people's behavior, that satisfied need does not generate any behavior Physiological needs are born with man, the rest of the needs arise over time As the person manages to control their needs basic needs gradually appear higher order. Not all individuals feel needs for self-realization because this is an individual conquest. The highest needs do not arise as the lower ones are being satisfied. They may be concomitant, but the basic ones will predominate over the higher ones. Basic needs require a relatively short motivational cycle for their satisfaction as opposed to higher needs that require a longer cycle.
Observations to Maslow's theory:
- According to other approaches, the theory does not recognize that people are different and that what may be a necessity for one may not be for another. For some critics the author does not recognize that people can vary the order of the hierarchy. For others, the The model is not practical from the management point of view because it describes how people work, but it does not consider the most appropriate way to provide incentives from the organization.
Like any theory, Maslow's has its followers and critics, but it is unquestionable that his model answers the question of how human beings function and are motivated, that is, because they strive and work.
Herzberg's bifactorial theory:
While Maslow supports his theory of motivation in the diverse human needs (approach oriented towards the interior of the person), Herzberg bases his theory on the external environment and the work of the individual (approach oriented towards the outside).
The bifactorial theory was supported by the studies that Frederick Herzberg together with his research group developed in companies in Pittsburgh, United States. The research consisted of a questionnaire in which engineers and accountants were asked about the factors that produced satisfaction and dissatisfaction in their work. From this investigation, two types of factors were separated, which are shown in the following graph.
- Hygienic factors : In the graph they are compared with the minimum water level necessary to be able to keep the boat afloat. The presence of these factors allows the person not to feel dissatisfied in their work but it does not imply that they generated the necessary motivation to achieve the objectives. Examples of these factors are: working conditions, supervision received, salary, etc. Motivational factors: Depending on the graph, it is represented as the energy that gives the necessary impulse to lead people to deposit their forces in the organization in order to achieve results. Examples: The degree of responsibility, recognition, the possibility of progress, etc.
In short, the two-factor theory states that:
- Job satisfaction is a function of the content or challenging and stimulating activities of the job: These are called motivating factors. Job dissatisfaction depends on the environment, supervision, colleagues, and the general context of the job: These These are the so-called hygienic factors.
In the life of the organization, the lack of coverage of hygiene factors will cause dissatisfaction among its members, preventing them from remaining in a state of motivation due to their concern to satisfy needs of this type. Once hygiene needs are minimally satisfied, this will prevent members of the organization from suffering from a state of dissatisfaction, but it will not be enough to provoke a motivating attitude.
From my time as a student of the Public Accountant career and the way of acting on the motivation of the two factors of this theory, the following example of the Chair of Administration I dictated by Cr. Raúl Ortiz from UNS remained in my mind: «The Social Work or medical-assistance coverage that is granted to an employee does not motivate, but its removal demotivates».
With respect to this theory, a semantic confusion usually occurs, since many people consider that the opposite of satisfaction is dissatisfaction and vice versa. However, the opposite of satisfaction is absence of satisfaction and in the same way, the opposite of dissatisfaction is absence of dissatisfaction.
In order to achieve job satisfaction, the author of this theory proposes the enrichment of tasks (job enrichment), which consists of turning them into a challenge through the increase of responsibility and objectives.
Alderfer's Theory of Existence, Relationship and Progress
Clayton Adelfer, conducted a review of Maslow's theory of needs, which would become his ERG theory existence, relationship and growth (growth, in English). The review carried out by the author resulted in the grouping of human needs in the three mentioned categories.
- Existence: Groups the most basic needs considered by Maslow as physiological and safety. Relationship: These needs require, for their satisfaction, interaction with other people, understanding the social need and the external component of the classification of esteem made by Maslow. Growth: Represented by the desire for internal growth of people. They include the internal component of the esteem rating and the self-realization rating.
ERG theory does not only represent a different way of grouping the needs considered by Maslow, since it differs from the latter's theory in the following aspects:
ERG Theory does not consider a rigid structure of needs, where a correlative order must be followed for their satisfaction.
In contrast to Maslow, who considers that people remain at a certain level of needs until they are satisfied, this theory considers that if the individual fails to satisfy a higher-order need, a lower-order need appears (frustration-regression)
Several needs can operate at the same time.
Variables such as family history and cultural environment can alter the order of needs, an example of this situation are cultures such as the Japanese that put social needs before physiological ones.
McClelland's Three Needs Theory
In order to understand motivation, this author classified needs into three categories:
- Need for achievement: The urge to excel, to strive to be successful. This classification groups together those people who put success in themselves before prizes, look for situations in which they can assume responsibilities and dislike the achievement of merits by chance.Need for power: Need for others to carry out a behavior that without his indication they would not have observed. People who possess it enjoy the endowment of "boss", try to influence others and are more concerned with achieving influence than with their own performance. Need for affiliation: Desire to establish interpersonal relationships. Those who possess it prefer cooperative situations to those of competition, the former standing out for a high degree of collaboration.
III. Hierarchy of Needs Theory
We are probably correct in saying that the best-known theory of motivation is Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs. He hypothesizes that within every human being there is a hierarchy of the following five needs.
- Physiological: includes hunger, thirst, shelter, sex and other bodily needs Safety: includes safety and protection from physical and emotional harm. Social: includes affection, the feeling of belonging, acceptance and friendship. From Ego: includes internal factors of esteem, such as self-respect, autonomy and achievements; and external factors such as status, recognition, and attention. Self-actualization: the impulse to be what one is capable of being; it includes growth, reaching one's potential, and self-satisfaction.
IV. Theory of the two factors
It is a theory formulated by Frederick Herzberg to better explain the behavior of people in work situations. This author raises the existence of two factors that guide people's behavior.
- The satisfaction that is mainly the result of motivational factors. These factors help increase individual satisfaction but have little effect on dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction is primarily the result of hygiene factors. If these factors are missing or inappropriate, they cause dissatisfaction, but their presence has very little effect on long-term satisfaction.
V. XY theory
Douglas McGregor was an illustrious figure in the management school of human relations that boomed in the middle of the last century, whose teachings, very pragmatic indeed, are still quite applicable today despite having borne the weight of four decades of theories and managerial fashions.
McGregor in his book "The human side of organizations" described two ways of thinking of managers to which he called Theory X and Theory Y. The managers of the first view their subordinates as work animals that only move under the yoke or threat, while the managers of the second are based on the principle that people want and need to work.
Theory X
It is based on the old precept of the stick and the carrot and the presumption of mediocrity of the masses, it is assumed that individuals have a natural tendency to leisure and that, like the black boy of the batey (the song), work is a form of punishment or as they say, "working is so bad that you even get paid", which presents two urgent needs for the organization: supervision and motivation.
Theory Y
The Theory Y managers consider that their subordinates find in their employment a source of satisfaction and that they will always strive to achieve the best results for the organization, thus, companies must release the skills of their workers in favor of said results.
conclusion
During the present investigation, it was evaluated that motivation is a multifaceted process that has individual, administrative and organizational implications
It is also not only what the employee shows, but a whole set of environmental aspects that surrounds the job which makes an individual act and behave in a certain way within the organization.
In human beings, motivation encompasses both conscious and unconscious impulses, that is, motivation is associated with the individual's cognition system, which is what people know about themselves and the environment that surrounds them and that implies their values personal that are influenced by their physical and social environment, by their physiological structure, needs and experiences.
Since each person constitutes a different reality from others, the needs that claim to be satisfied in order for the individual to achieve fulfillment in life are not always satisfied in the same way in all individuals because each individual has an emotional face and different experiences, but they are indisputably present in every human being.
Organizational behavior occurs in a complex social system, the behavior of the employee will depend largely on the motivation of personal characteristics and the environment that surrounds it, part of that environment is social culture, which provides broad clues that determine how It will be the behavior of the person in a certain environment.
Thus we have in the Motivational cycle that is given by the emergence of a need.
This need breaks the state of balance in which a person finds himself, producing a state of tension that leads the individual to develop a behavior capable of unloading tension and freeing him from discomfort and imbalance. If the behavior was effective, the need will be satisfied, returning to its previous state of balance.
Organizations succeed or fail depending on whether certain processes are developed or not and people adapt to their standards, identify with their objectives and manage through the organization to satisfy some of their needs with which it ensures the permanence of its employees.
