Motivation Theory Essay

Organizations everywhere use different methods to push members of their organization to complete various tasks on a daily basis. Whether these approaches are successful or not successful, displays how effective the organization’s motivating factors really are. Motivation is an essential element that must be incorporated into every organization to ensure that goals are accomplished and so that members of the organization always stick to their mission. James Porter and Lyman Porter define motivation as “the degree and type of effort that an individual exhibits in a behavioral situation…and has to do with the direction and quality of that effort” (Perry, 2005). People often wonder what factors cause an individual to perform their job in a certain

Whether or not people admit it, their needs come before anything else. Personal satisfaction and meeting personal desires are a major factor that affects the level of motivation that is achieved. For example, if an employee is constantly talking about the recognition that they have received or how they never get rewards for the work that they produce then they might have the need of esteem that needs to be met for motivation. The four theorists that have contributed to the needs theory include: Abraham H. Maslow, Clayton Alderfer, Frederick Herzberg, and David McClelland (Bauer). Each theory goes into detail about how personal needs are important to motivation within an organization. Abraham H. Maslow developed a suitable model for classifying human needs and organized it in a hierarchy that showed the most basic needs, which is at the bottom, and the most self-fulfillment needs at the top (see Figure 8.1 of Business Communication, 2014, for complete table). Maslow essentially said that “once basic needs are filled, people can progress up the hierarchy to focus on emotional satisfaction and self-fulfillment” (Banks 17). Needless to say, once a need that is ranked in the hierarchy is met, it can no longer be used as a motivator for that