Workplace Motivation Theory

Ever since the beginning of Organizational Psychology, work motivation has been a big topic of discussion and research. Based off of what I learned in class lectures, motivation is a complex force that drives people to behave in certain ways. Motivation is an effort expenditure that energizes, directs, and sustains, however, it is not the same thing as performance or ability. Over the course of this discussion, I have formed a variety of ideas about workplace motivation and have better equipped myself to define what I believe creates a motivated, productive, and engaged workforce. Looking at all of the different motivational theories, I believe Herzberg’s two-factor theory, job characteristics theory, the equity theory, the equity theory,

The theory makes sense even though research only suggests some support because managers say this theory holds true in the workplace. Employees need the motivators such as, recognition, interesting work and responsibility to feel satisfied and motivated in the workforce while the hygiene’s such as, reasonable salary and working conditions prevent dissatisfaction. These two factors work together to meet the needs of an employee both at a basic and higher level of needs. When you take into account the difficulty of measuring needs, the flawed studies are more understandable and relying on what managers say is easy to side with. After learning about the next need-motive-value theory, I warped my original thoughts to match this theory of Job

Many of the employees in the office I work at are constantly making perceptions about the fairness of their treatment at work. I am a very observant person so I always notice how individuals compare their ratios of inputs and outputs with what others bring to the table and get out of these similar situations. Learning about this in class really intrigued me because I was able to directly relate it to real-life scenarios. Based on the equity theory principles, I believe employees are motivated by maintaining their state of equity. If there is inequity exposed, employees are motivated to reduce this tension and return it to its original, comfortable state. For example, a Staff Accountant in the office noticed how another Staff Accountant at the same level as them was getting more recognition for his performance although he believed the other employee was not performing up to the same standards. This caused tension between the manager and the two employees. The unhappy employee followed the exact ways people reduce perceptions of inequity as we learned in the class lecture. He first changes the inputs by altering his effort and also made it a point to receive more recognition from his manager by constantly updating her on his success with clients. After doing this, he was able to alter his perceptions and convinced himself he was receiving the same level of equity and his state was regained. People’s