A Definition of Motivation

 

Motivate - v. 1 Supply a motive to; be the motive 05 2 Cause (a person) to act in a particular way. 3 Stimulate the interest (of a person in an activity).The Oxford Dictionary of Current English

Locke (as cited by Saari and Judge, 2004, p396) defined motivation as "a pleasant or positive emotional state that results from the evaluation of one's work experiences"

This description is a clear example of the problems linked to the idea of motivation. In one way, the definition indicates that motivation is where someone (maybe a team leader) causes someone else (a team member) to act in a certain way. In another way, it seems that motivation is something that someone uses as a motive to do things.

This clear strife reflects a continuous wrangle about by analysts into inspiration. Conventional sees of administration and inspiration reflected a ‘passive’ see of inspiration. In impact, individuals required solid pioneers to persuade them towards certain objectives. On the off chance that somebody says they are demotivated and we offer them a pack of cash or undermine to pillage them, and after that, they get on with the assignment in hand, what has happened? This approach to inspiration infers that the pioneer had to persuade his or her group part through different rewards and/or disciplines.

Motivation is characterized as an individual phenomenon in which every individual is unique and all the main motivation theories allow this uniqueness to be demonstrated in one way or another.

A manager's job in the workplace is to get stuff done by others. To do this, most individuals agree that workers should be able to 'motivate' the boss. Motivational practice and ideas, however, are complex topics, touching on many disciplines. The topic of motivation is not well understood and more often than not badly performed, in spite of enormous study, basic and applied. One must understand human nature itself in order to understand the motivation - and herein lies the problem.

Motivation is defined, generally, as deliberate. That is, motivation is believed to be under the influence of the worker, and actions that are affected by motivation, such as effort spent, are seen as action choices. Motivation can be seen as a weakness, a need that must be addressed. Hunger is motivation - it is an inner power, it is not food per se - it is the motive. Satisfaction and outwardness. When it's 'internal' and we've had enough and are happy, more food isn't an inspiration, it might actually be the opposite! It is multifaceted to inspire. The two most important ones are:

1. What gets people activated (arousal)
2. The force of an individual to engage in the desired behaviour (direction or choice of behaviour).

Predicting behaviour is the intention of motivational theories. Motivation is not the action itself, and success is not. Motivation concerns behaviour, as well as the internal and external factors that impact the choice of action of an individual. In terms of the strengths that can influence a person to take action, a manager's generic choices can include

• Positive strengthening
• Successful discipline and retaliation
• Treating persons equally
• Meeting the needs of workers
• Setting work-related goals
• Employment reform
• Basing bonuses on work efficiency.

These are clearly simple techniques, although the 'mix' can differ from place to place in the final recipe. There is essentially a difference between the actual state of the individual and some desired state, and managers strive to decrease the gap. Motivation can be seen as a means of minimizing and exploiting this gap; it influences people in a particular way, in line with organizational constraints, against objectives explicitly specified by the motivator.

Reference

1. Goleman, D. (1995) Emotional Intelligence, Bantam Books, New York.
2. M. Badubi, R. (2017). Theories of Motivation and Their Application in Organizations: A Risk Analysis. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, [online] 3(3), pp.44–51. Available at: https://researchleap.com/impact-recruitment-selection-strategy-employees-performance-study-three-selected-manufacturing-companies-nigeria/.