1. What do we mean by ‘motivation’? Examine Abraham Maslow’s theory of
motivation showing how it may be used in a business context. Comment
on the criticisms which have been made of the theory.
ANSWER
Motivation is the processes that account for an individual’s intensity , direction ,
and persistence of effort towards attaining goal.
Human behavior rests on the basic concepts of needs and motives. A need is an
experienced state of deficiency that pushes our behavior in a given direction.
Examples of needs are hunger, thirst, power etc. A motive pulls one’s behavior in
a predictable direction.
Actually there are three key elements in the definition of motivation , intensity
which describe haw hard a person tries .and this is the most element we focus on
when we talk about motivation .
Direction in which the power of our intensity should channeled in it , and it is the
point the that employees could be benefits to their organization .
Persistence is the last element of them and it measures how long we maintain
our efforts to achieve goals.
Work motivation is referred to as the direction, level of effort and persistence
evident in the behavior of an employee. The direction of behavior refers to which
behavior an employee chooses to perform a task in the organization.
For example, an employee chooses to consult with his manager concerning rising
design costs for a new product option. The level of effort component of motivation
is how hard the employee will work to perform the behavior chosen. and, if the
employee prepares a written analysis and empirical evidence of rising costs in
the design project, he is working much harder than if he simply mentions his
concerns to his manager over an informal way. The level of persistence refers to
the employee’s tenacity in the face of obstacles to performance and goal
accomplishment.
The questions is if the manager refuse the assumption, analysis of the
employee , could it makes the employee low motivated or goes on and be more
motivated , going through more assumptions and better analysis.
Low motivation does not necessarily cause low performance. An employee may
have skills and abilities in such abundance that his high performance is assured
in spite of his motivation level. Managers who always assume that poor
performance is a result of low motivation risk taking the wrong steps to correct
performance problems in the workplace. For instance, they may overlook the
pivotal role of training and development, better equipment and technology.
There are many theories explaining motivation , and one of the most important
one is the theory of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs , which is absolutely
convinced me .
Abraham Maslow believed that motivation could be explained by organizing
human needs into five levels. He formulated his motivation theory to address
human behavior in all settings. His theory was quickly applied to the narrower
range of human behavior in organizations. Along with definitions and
organizational examples, the five levels of Maslow’s hierarchy are:
Self actualization and personal growth
self-esteem
Social satisfaction,
Safety and security
physiological
Physiological needs are the lowest level of needs in the hierarchy; they include
hunger thirst…etc shelter In today’s world these needs rarely dominate us. Real
hunger (starvation) in developed nations is rare. Mostly our first-level needs are
satisfied.
As Maslow notes, physiological needs are basic to our biological survival and
.Therefore, physiological needs are often referred to as lower-order needs.
Maslow states that physiological needs must be satisfied first.
Safety needs are also called lower-order needs and they are activated next.
These needs relate to protection against danger, threat or deprivation. Once their
physiological needs are met, people want guarantees that their safety needs will
