Process Theory Of Motivation

Motivation is an innate driving force embodied in each of us, and is of great importance in the modern workplace mainly due to its practical implications, such as productivity and la-bour turnover. Several theories have emerged attempting to explain the topic of motivation. The theories that I have chosen are the content theory devised by Abraham Maslow, known as the ‘Maslow Theory of Hierarchy’ and the process theory known as the ‘Equity theory’, proposed by J. Stacy Adams. Earlier theories of motivation were often designed to be big theories of human nature, whereas later theories have tended to confine themselves to spe-cific aspects of motivated behaviour.

Per the book Organizational Behaviour (Buachanan and Huczynski 2010) motivation is

Needs can be de-fined as ‘experienced deficiencies between what someone is or has and what he or she wants to be or have, which result in a desire to remove the deficiency’ (Rollinson and Broadfield 2002) These theories concentrate on the question ‘What factors affect people’s willingness or persistence at work?’’ Maslow originally produced the idea in 1943, but in his book ‘Mo-tivation and Personality’ (1954) his theory was fully developed, being described what it is possibly the most recognised of the content theories. He suggested there is a ‘hierarchy of needs’ up which people progress. Once a certain need is satisfied at a level of hierarchy, it has stopped motivating their behaviour and they move up to the next level of need, and are motivated at this hierarchy. These needs include physiological needs such as food and warmth, security needs such as need from safety and freedom from fear, social needs such as satisfactory and supportive relationships with others. These are known as deficiency needs. An individual then moves on to what are known as higher-order needs such as self-esteem, a need for recognition and belief in oneself, and then finally; self-actualisation needs i.e. to develop one’s full potential. Maslow argued that when satisfied, a need be-comes less important to an individual.

Maslow theory can be used in the workplace ‘because of the uneven distribution of satisfy-ing work, Maslow

Also, having a promotional system whereby after a series of results or years worked at the firm employees move up to manager or partner in corporate firms, rather than hand picking promotions that may lead to a feeling of inequity.

The list of differences between Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Adams’ Equity Theory can be easily summarised. Content theories deal with ‘Why do people work?’ while process theories deal with ‘What factors influence how hard people work?’. Also, Maslow’s theory does not allow for individual or cultural motivations, and his needs are described as univer-salist, whereas Adams’ theory allows for individual and cultural motivations, while also al-lowing for our ability to make choices based on our motivations.

Accounts of motivation have limited value in understanding and managing work behaviour. They offer very interesting reads into the way of human motivation, but lack solid theoreti-cal findings and give vague instructions to managers on ways to motivate