Motivation

From stimulating an individual, to creating an environment that fosters adequated performance, the motivation is known as a key factor for reaching common goals and objectives in every project or organization. When is somebody motivated? The simple answer to that question is: When somebody is willing to do something, in technical words it is defined as “the prcess that initiates. Guides and maintains goal-oriented behavior. Motivation is what makes us to act” (Cherry, 2010). Besides it is an intrinsic phenomenon, “an internal driver that causes us to consistently direct high levels of effort toward completing their project assignments” (Hierstetter, 2009)

Understanding this factor, and creating motivational theories, is an attempt to explain, predict and try to influence this area from the human behavior. This is when internal and external elements come into the field. Academics have made their approaches taking into account those sources of internal and external influences, thus, the must known theories can be classified in two general categories: 1. Internal needs and 2. External incentives. Other way to categorize theories is “content” and “process”. The Content theories examine factors within individuals that stimulate, inspire, and stop behavior. The Process theories, consider how individuals make decisions and how rewards influence future performance (Hierstetter, 2009) (Evolution of a Motivation Theory, 2009).The most popular about motivation that are recognized in an international level, are:

1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: 5 classification of people’s needs ( physiological, security, social, self esteem and self actualization needs)

2. Fredericks Herzberg’s two factor theory: Work satisfaction, Hygiene factors

3. Theory X and Theory Y, from Douglas McGregor: Employees categories, X: Lower order of needs, Y: Higher order of needs

4. The Expectancy Theory, elaborated by Vroom, developed by Porter and Lawler: connection between work performance and results

5. The Goal Setting Theory, by Lotham and Locke: accepted objectives, and provided of performance feedback

6. The Equity Theory by John Stacey Adams: Perception that an individual has of how they are treated in comparison with others.

7. The Theory of group personality and group needs by Adair: working groups resemble individuals, with personality and needs.

8. The Fifty-Fifty Rules by Adair too: part of motivation lies within the person, and another part lies outside and beyond its control

9. McClelland’s Need Theory: Acquire needs, like achievement, power and affiliation, are motivated by external situations and opportunities.

The last theories shown how complex is motivation, and also, that is the result of many related factors. Those are made for illustrate management and academic field, can be applied to make a pictures of individual’s motivators in real companies, but the successful apply of those models, require inquiring and understanding group and individual wants when designing a Motivation Program. In the real life, an study found that, a conducive work environment results in 80% willingness from employees to do a good job(Evolution of a Motivation Theory, 2006).

Hawthorne Studies

The Hawthorne studies were experiments that took as subject of research the effects of the physical environment on their workers. All this began in the 1920’s, when the Western Electric company decides to make a research at its Hawthorne plant, outside of Chicago because American companies were influenced by Scientific Management, widely developed by F. Taylor and other several scientific management theories at that time. The Studies were lead by Fritz Roethlisberger and William J. Dickson, with the purpose to measure the impact of diverse working conditions on the results given by the employees (some like payment, working hours, and lighting levels). Curiously, the productivity increased while the researched was carried out, even when some of the quality of some conditions was decreased (more specifically in the lighting levels). This was called the “Hawthorne Effect”, the experiments themselves were making positive impact on the workers’ productivity.

The situation created for the experimental participation, made workers think that the managers had interest in them, raising moral and thereby, increasing levels of productivity. The last concept is widely used nowadays referring to the “behavior-modifying effect of being the subject of social investigation” (Marshall, 1998), in the Macefield review, Hawthorne Effect is explain as the popular understanding of the concept, that states: it is an experimenter effect whereby participants, in any human-centered study, may exhibit atypically high levels of performance simply because they are aware that they are being studied. The first one in make a critique to the studies was Mayo (1933), who was member of the research team at the Hawthorne Works. Later Parsons (1974) provide detailed analysis of the studies and gained widespread support by the academic community. In his analysis Parsons stated that the performance improvements were easily explainable by mechanisms other than those proposed by Mayo. For example, changing the length of breaks that were given to the workers, and concluded that this effect was better explained by learning and feedback mechanisms, no obtained in a normal working day (Macefield, 2007).

This theory inspired Mayo, Parson and other academics to work and generate knowledge in the Human Relations Movement, that in general terms, have concluded that supervision had a great impact in workers’ productivity. Making them get into a predicament, when is about research, it is supposed to show the picture of the reality and provide helpful diagnosis for identifying and solving problems, but instead, it may generate changes in the environment and subject of research, giving misleading results of what is the actual situation.

Watch a Motivation lesson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSM1mvMypWU

Use of Motivation for commercial purposes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfWTQA6QPk4&feature=related

References:

Stewart Watkiss, Rugby St. John, 2004, Motivation, A Study of the Motivations for Members of a Volunteer Organisation

Tonya M. Peterson, 2007, Motivation: How to Increase Project Team Performance, Project Management Journal, Vol. 38, No. 4, 60–69

Clark Dorman and Paolo Gaudiano, Motivation, Boston University, Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems

Result Plus Pty ltd, 2006, Evolution of a Motivation Theory

Sarah Rees, 2007, The Art of Test Team Management and Motivation

Brad Hierstetter, 2009, The Motivated Project Team

Ritch Macefield, 2007, Journal of Usability Studies, Usability Studies and the Hawthorne Effect

Gordon marshall. "Hawthorne studies." A Dictionary of Sociology. 1998.

About.com, Pshycology, Kendra Cherry Articles: What is Motivation?