Motivation Theory

INTRODUCTION

The dictionary reads, “Motivation is the psychological feature that arouses an organism to act towards a certain goal in a particular way”. Motivation can be basically described as the driving force which stimulates the desire within us to continually stay involved and committed to our work and strive hard to achieve our goals. Motivation as a process helps initiate and maintain a goal-oriented behaviour in an individual.

Besides perception, personality, attitudes, and learning, motivation is an extremely vital portion of understanding behaviour. Motivation ought not to be believed merely as the explanation of behaviour, as it interacts alongside and acts in conjunction with other mediating processes and with the environment. Like

Once employees feel these things, it helps them, and thereby their managers, be extra successful.

DEFINITIONS

Motivation has been defined by different authors in various ways. Gareth Jones, Jennifer George and Charles Hill define motivation as the psychological power that ascertains the direction of a person’s behaviour, a person’s level of power, and a person’s level of persistence in the face of obstacles.

David Myers defines motivation as a need or desire that serves to energize behaviour and to direct it towards a goal. Frank Hawkins defines it as something that drives or induces a person to behave in a particular fashion the internal force which initiates, directs, sustains and terminates all important activities. It influences the efficiency achieved, the level of performance and the time spent on an activity.

Kyösti Julkunen claims that in the classroom context, motivation can be perceived as a constant interaction process between the learner and the environment. Its main role is in manipulating and managing an activity, coordinating assorted procedures towards an object or goal, motivation transforms a number of distinct reactions into significant

Some of these theories will be explained below:

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory

Hierarchy of Needs theory was developed by Abraham Maslow in the 1950’s. This theory advocated that people have five disparate sets of needs: physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, and needs for self-actualization.

According to Maslow, lower needs are of the highest priority. They have to be fulfilled first and only then can the others be activated. In other words, individuals cannot move to the next higher level until all needs at the current (lower) level are satisfied. For example, there is no point to be concerned whether a given colour looks good on you or not, when you are dying of starvation, or being threatened for your life.

Physiological needs are the physical necessities for human survival. If these necessities are not met, the human body cannot purpose properly and will in the end fail. Physiological needs are believed to be the most important; they ought to be fulfilled