Theory of motivation and frustration

By focusing on the different areas of man's life, we can affirm that he develops in his environment through different motivational situations that lead him to success or failure.

This is why, in the following lines, the importance of MOTIVATION is exposed, as an indispensable element for the achievement of any objective, as well as one of its results, FRUSTRATION, the latter arises, when the entity exercises all its attitudes, physical abilities and efforts to achieve something and do not get it; However, if the individual delineates his intelligence and positivism towards this result, instead of considering it negative and provoking anger and discouragement, he will be able to reason it as an experience, which will help him to motivate himself in a next objective. Likewise, it will be possible to identify through these, our weaknesses and risks when we find ourselves in this situation.

Therefore, different theories and points of view focused on motivation and frustration in general are brought together, as well as its influence on one of the most important aspects of man's life, “work”, both concepts are palpable in the human being, one with a positive approach and the other negative, but both have the ability to face it and absorb it from the same perspective (the positive).

Motivation concept

The word motivation comes from the Latin terms motus "moved" and motio "movement". So psychologically and philosophically, motivation are those things that drive a person to perform certain actions and persist in them until the fulfillment of their objectives, in other words, motivation is the will to make an effort and achieve certain goals. Its antonym is demotivation, with which discouragement arises, despair in the face of obstacles (with pessimistic feelings and discouragement).1

For the author of the book The Force of Motivation, this is: «A hidden force that leads us to carry out an action; generally aimed at satisfying a personal need ”.2

Theories and motivational cycle

It is necessary to analyze the term "Motivation" for its importance and influence in the life of every person, through the various existing theories:

The Human Being from its origins was influenced by certain impulses that led him to act in a certain way, to achieve his goals, dreams and achievements. Let's take up a vast example, in primitive age man, to get food, needed to be motivated by something, his need to feed himself, a need located within the first link (physiological needs) of Maslow's Pyramid, a psychological theory presented by Abraham Maslow in his work: A Theory of Human Motivation (in English, 1943) Maslow formulates in his theory a hierarchy of human needs and argues that as the most basic needs are satisfied, human beings develop needs and desires more elevated.

The psychologist Frederick Herzberg proposed the motivation-hygiene theory, whose criterion is based on the fact that the level of performance in people varies according to the level of satisfaction, that is, the responses to work were different when they felt good or when they felt bad. Unlike Maslow's, it is based on motivation in the external environment and in man's work and not in human needs. Motivational factors, Herzberg called intrinsic (recognition, responsibility) and hygiene, extrinsic (company policies, salary).

Another theory, that of Mac Gregor, defends the hierarchy of the importance of needs and their contributions are more of a business nature, according to McGregor, companies have to provide stable employment and job security.

Taylor was one of the most prominent promoters of the scientific direction of work, setting the rules that allowed increasing the performance of machines and tools. It proposes a series of actions to increase productivity: creating economic rewards, hiring skilled and skilled workers, conducting a scientific analysis; study the tasks in detail, their execution time, etc. 3

In this context, it can be seen that each character places motivation with a different approach, for example, in Mc Gregor's theory, motivation depends on what a third party establishes so that the person is motivated, the person does not part of a desire or motive, to keep in balance, but someone else manages it, to feel good, and especially covers the business aspect, while Taylor also places motivation as the product of something, and not as the beginning of something, and also gives it a work approach, that is, they do not cover all the areas in which the Human Being operates, they study it specifically in a work or business environment.

However, all opinions focus on a single reality, the Human Being unfolds in daily life through motivational behaviors that are generated to satisfy its various areas and from my point of view, Abraham Maslow covers all these areas, such as can be seen in the following illustration:

Maslow's Pyramid: Hierarchy of Needs. 3

It is possible to identify in this pyramid that motivation originates at any moment in the life of the Human Being, at any stage, and in all it is of vital importance for their emotional and personal growth, precisely when the result is positive and satisfactory. However, it is necessary to warn that there is an opposite result, which, failing that, can cause severe psychological and emotional damage to the man, but if he has the ability to identify the mistakes made, these damages will be slight and temporary, since when starting a new motivational cycle, the experience obtained will provoke this time, your satisfaction.

The motivational cycle shows a complete circle, in which a balance is achieved if people get satisfaction. With the repetition of the cycle of motivation (reinforcement) and the learning that derives from it, behaviors or actions gradually become more effective in satisfying certain needs.

The need can be satisfied, frustrated or compensated (transferred to another object). In the cycle of motivation represented in the previous figure, there is a state of internal balance (of the person) altered by a stimulus (internal) or incentive (external), which produces a need. The need causes a state of tension that leads to a behavior or action that leads to the satisfaction of that need.

Satisfied this, the human organism returns to the previous internal balance. However, the need is not always met. Many times, the tension caused by the emergence of need encounters a barrier or an obstacle to its release. By not finding a normal exit, the tension repressed in the organism, seeks an indirect exit mechanism, either through the social (aggressiveness, discontent, emotional tension, apathy, indifference, among others), through the physiology (nervous tension, insomnia, cardiac or digestive repercussions among others). This is called frustration, since the tension is not released and remains in the body causing certain psychological, physiological or social symptoms.

Returning to what was mentioned by Frederick Herzberg, Douglas Mc Gregor and Frederick W Taylor, from the labor point of view, we usually motivate ourselves from the first moment of the morning to go to our workplace or company, in order to obtain all possible achievements in the tasks we develop. Once there, new motivators appear, transmitted by employers, colleagues and even the people to whom we provide a service, which allows us to satisfy certain expectations.

Company culture generally assumes that money and other incentives can be used as motivators with staff, which is only partially true. Motivation is based on the satisfaction of needs and these change from person to person. There is a group of fundamental needs that all of us have (health, safety, food, housing, etc.), but there are others that are not common or at least do not have the same intensity in people (recognition, prestige, significance, improvement, etc.).

Motivators are those elements that generate motivation; However, there are the so-called maintainers, which are those elements that serve as motivators but only temporarily, since when reaching an optimal level in the satisfaction of needs they no longer serve to motivate; an example of this is money.

The second group is that of the real motivators, that is, those who, by being present, always provoke motivation, since they are generally connected to the internal aspirations of the individual.

Considering the concept of motivation of Ling Gresing, author of the book The Force of Motivation, as this is a hidden force, it makes it difficult to determine its origin, that is, to identify the motivator that causes it. Many organizations claim to measure the degree of motivation based on people's productivity, which is wrong. Motivation causes a behavior, an action in people, which is generally good for productivity but is not a sufficient condition. Items such as training, skills, and available resources count toward a certain level of productivity.

What is really important for a proper management of motivation at work is to identify the motivators that generate it and this varies from person to person. One way to identify them is by asking each person directly, finding out what they do with their free time, or by analyzing each person's successful experiences.

Once individual motivators have been identified, you can establish a plan to provide them to each individual within the framework of work policies.5

Some techniques to properly manage motivation at work

Set clear goals. It refers to clearly informing staff of what is expected of them, allowing them to participate in evaluating achievement, establishing and communicating clear work rules, and giving them certainty about what they can expect for good performance.

Effective communication. It involves listening to staff, letting them express themselves, and not just asking or hearing what you want. Here it is important to consider not only the messages but also the medium used (verbal, written, bodily, etc.), minimizing noise and misunderstandings, always under the protection of the truth.

Positive feedback. It refers to rewarding work well done, not just results. What is really important here is to reward staff with previously identified motivators, which are not necessarily monetary in nature.

Negative feedback in a motivational way. Sometimes it is necessary to point out a bad performance or behavior to the staff. Doing it effectively can be a motivator and not cause a bigger problem. The focus is on pointing out in detail and without emotions the fault detected, listening to the opinion of the staff, maintaining the impersonal conversation and pointing out in a consistent way the consequences in case of repetition.

Employee participation. Through this form it is achieved that the employees are fully involved in the achievement of the goals and even more in the establishment of the way to achieve it. This has enormous potential in organizations, as staff feel a living part of the process, which serves as a non-monetary motivator that in turn generates strong participation and commitment from staff. ⁵

It also happens that no matter how motivated and enthusiastic a person may be, they are likely to have anguish and / or fear in the same proportion, as Arnie Warreb contemplates in his book The Great Connection: “However, no matter how successful we may seem people, everyone hides a darker side, perhaps even suppressed »Do we all have demons within us that we try to deny? 6, many times we are focused on trying to please people, trying to look good with them, that's why we act enthusiastic, cheerful, motivated, but the reality is different, we find ourselves carrying a large tombstone of fear, anguish and frustration, we put aside pleasing and pleasing ourselves, and when they ask us to behave differently, we think we are going to lose the acceptance and liking of other people.If we begin to see and satisfy other people's needs, rather than motivate ourselves, we begin to enclose our life in a circle, without knowing what we really want, we also give in to negative thoughts that can lead us to failure, and successively to frustration.

Frustration

Concept

From the Latin frustatio, frustration is the action and effect of frustration (to render an attempt ineffective or fail). It is an unpleasant feeling that occurs when a person's expectations are not met by not being able to achieve what they intended.6 In other words, it is a feeling that flows when you fail to achieve the goal that you have set for yourself and for which you have fought. You feel anxiety, anger, depression, anguish, anger. Self-destructive feelings and thoughts for the subject.7

Frustration can lead the individual to either constructive activities or non-constructive forms of behavior, such as aggression, withdrawal and resignation. Let's not forget what Randy Pausch mentioned in this regard "when a wall appears in our path, it is there for a reason, it is not to stop us, but to show us how much we want to achieve." 8 So with an unfavorable result, it may happen that frustration increases the energy that is directed towards the solution of the problem and that this is the origin of many technological, scientific and cultural advances in history.

However, this phenomenon does not occur by itself, it originates through various causes and in turn causes certain consequences:

Frustrating processes

• Frustration by barrier.

An obstacle prevents us from obtaining the objective.

• Frustration due to incompatibility of two positive objectives.

We have the possibility of achieving two objectives but we cannot because they are incompatible with each other.

• Frustration due to avoidance-avoidance conflict.

We must avoid two negative situations. It usually causes flight or abandonment.

• Frustration from approach-avoidance conflict.

We find ourselves undecided in a situation that causes positive and negative results in equal measure, which causes us anxiety.

Consequences of frustration

• Aggression.

• Regression and infantile behavior.

• Sadness and depression.

• Introversion.

At the same time, it is important to be able to avoid frustration, through these easy mechanisms:

• Identify the origin (analyze the cause according to the frustrating processes).

• Seek alternative goals.9

The achievement of success has immediate consequences (pride, satisfaction) and medium and long term (learning and strengthening the appropriate responses) for the subject. On the other hand, obtaining a failure also entails immediate consequences (shame, loss of confidence) and in the medium and long term (modification of strategies and behaviors that are not the most appropriate, replacing them with more functional ones).10

This is how frustration can be considered the negative result of the impulse made for a certain action (motivation). As mentioned at the beginning, when an individual is motivated and willing to perform a certain action, if he manages to comply with what is proposed, it is satisfactory, on the other hand, if it does not occur, it causes dissatisfaction (frustration), identifying at this point, the relationship that exists between both phenomena.

In the workplace, it is depressing when good results are not achieved, the simple lack of collaboration of the employer to carry out ideas and objectives is a barrier. On many occasions also indecision, negativity, lack of communication, lack of leadership, cause in the staff, the constant discouragement to undertake or have their own initiative. If you want your entire company to be productive, it is necessary to take into account certain criteria, especially if you are a leader, to keep your staff highly motivated and avoid frustrations, this can be through various techniques, such as those mentioned by Ling Gresing.

The best way to stay motivated and avoid getting frustrated is by planning things well, having realistic expectations, and being persistent. Remember that by having a bad result, rather than causing frustration, we can put an end to unhealthy behavior and learn to do something new and exciting, in the end, changes and experiences are emotional. If not, life would be very boring!

conclusion

In general terms and according to the theories and points of view analyzed, it has been determined that of all the motivational situations in the life of the human being, many other situations are defined, especially positive ones. On the other hand, it can be seen that just as motivation positively influences all areas of a person's life, frustration can also cause severe damage in all these areas, for which, it is necessary to consider it, more than as a negative result, which can cause many alterations in behavior, such as productive, before which it is important to create a base of positive ideas in the mind.

In my modest opinion, specifically in the workplace, motivation is currently in a rut. During the performance of the tasks assigned in the workplace, most and depending on the degree of motivation result, others due to various factors do not. For example, when starting a normal work day, full of expectations, ideas, wishes, etc.; surprisingly, complications arise around us that prevent us from doing things the way we think, managing to isolate our motivation (impulse) and causing us to perform actions badly or wrongly, allowing negativity (discouragement, depression). According to psychologist Daniel Goleman, leaders should develop emotional and social intelligence (emotional intelligence has to do with oneself,with how the person handles himself, and how he makes individuals achieve great performance. Social is having direct contact with people, knowing them and being able to interact with them), to achieve good staff performance and the success of the company).

That is why I motivate readers, who are inside and outside a company, that for each new purpose, they deposit everything of themselves, in a bank of efforts and in case of any barrier that does not allow their achievement, consider the result, according to the following sentence.