Motivational
How to Get Moving, Stay Fit and Motivated
Posted on May 2, 2012 |
When it comes to staying or getting into good shape, motivation may be hard to come by. As the seasons change so do our motivation to stay in shape. Holiday schedules, cold winter days, and all those convient gadgets that keep us from drudging up the motivation to get in shape or maintain a daily routine of exercise are definite culprits. But we should be totally aware of the effects that inactivity has on the body.
Heart disease, stroke or diabetes is just some of the unhealthy affects of inactivity in the body. The good news is that studies show without discrepancy that these affects can be prevented or reversed; meaning that switching from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one can be extremely beneficial over time. Exercise alone, without change in diet, can greatly reduce the risks for these diseases even in small amounts. Doing what ever you can to increase your motivation to exercise is the first step to overcoming the lack of motivation to actually do it. Any of the arrays of methods to motivate you will be of great importance. Listening to music while running, simply finding out the exercises that you truly enjoy, setting particular times when exercise is the main focus of the day, all help you to stay motivated to stay in motion. Developing a habit or pattern for exercising is the best way to stay motivated; your body will become accustomed to working out heavy at a certain time each and every time. Your mind posses the ability to create positive ideas that leads to positive actions allowing you to live a strong and healthy life. Positive self talk can do wonders for motivation as well as just viewing the results of previous attempts (i.e. thinner waistline, six pack, etc). Self encouragement is the ultimate motivation. You’ll have no one to thank but yourself.
Fitness motivation is the essential part of changing your body, so creating a fitness motivation plan maybe the answer for you. For men, setting goals and providing adequate challenges work best. Changing scenery from indoors to outdoors may be the answer. If you just don’t feel like exercising or giving up on an established routine, constantly reminding yourself that the pay off is great will help. Psychological benefits like increased confidence, self-esteem, and relief from anxiety, stress and depression and better sexual performance can be all the motivation that’s needed. Remaining realistic about your goals will also aid in the fight to stay motivated to exercise. Setting a goal that is extremely difficult to obtain is depleting and counterproductive. Achieving a challenging appropriate goal boosts pride, satisfaction and will create more motivation.
Making the exercise routine fun by adding variety in routines, exercises, or persons that you exercise with is a likely way to stick to any exercise routine.
If you are not particularly knowledgeable when it comes to fitness issues, you should consider hiring a professional trainer to help you out with your routine. This can take a lot of the mystery out of getting fit, as your trainer will custom tailor exercises and routines for your bodily needs, so as to maximize the results that you see. This is a slightly costly thing to do, so you should be sure about your commitment to exercising before you spend money to hire a personal trainer. You can also use the amazing technology of the internet to tap the brains of professionals. There are many different blogs that are updated daily with exercise routines that anyone can do.
When it comes to staying or getting into good shape, motivation may be hard to come by. As the seasons change so do our motivation to stay in shape. Holiday schedules, cold winter days, and all those convient gadgets that keep us from drudging up the motivation to get in shape or maintain a daily routine of exercise are definite culprits. But we should be totally aware of the effects that inactivity has on the body.
Heart disease, stroke or diabetes is just some of the unhealthy affects of inactivity in the body. The good news is that studies show without discrepancy that these affects can be prevented or reversed; meaning that switching from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one can be extremely beneficial over time. Exercise alone, without change in diet, can greatly reduce the risks for these diseases even in small amounts. Doing what ever you can to increase your motivation to exercise is the first step to overcoming the lack of motivation to actually do it. Any of the arrays of methods to motivate you will be of great importance. Listening to music while running, simply finding out the exercises that you truly enjoy, setting particular times when exercise is the main focus of the day, all help you to stay motivated to stay in motion. Developing a habit or pattern for exercising is the best way to stay motivated; your body will become accustomed to working out heavy at a certain time each and every time. Your mind posses the ability to create positive ideas that leads to positive actions allowing you to live a strong and healthy life. Positive self talk can do wonders for motivation as well as just viewing the results of previous attempts (i.e. thinner waistline, six pack, etc). Self encouragement is the ultimate motivation. You’ll have no one to thank but yourself.
Fitness motivation is the essential part of changing your body, so creating a fitness motivation plan maybe the answer for you. For men, setting goals and providing adequate challenges work best. Changing scenery from indoors to outdoors may be the answer. If you just don’t feel like exercising or giving up on an established routine, constantly reminding yourself that the pay off is great will help. Psychological benefits like increased confidence, self-esteem, and relief from anxiety, stress and depression and better sexual performance can be all the motivation that’s needed. Remaining realistic about your goals will also aid in the fight to stay motivated to exercise. Setting a goal that is extremely difficult to obtain is depleting and counterproductive. Achieving a challenging appropriate goal boosts pride, satisfaction and will create more motivation.
Making the exercise routine fun by adding variety in routines, exercises, or persons that you exercise with is a likely way to stick to any exercise routine.
If you are not particularly knowledgeable when it comes to fitness issues, you should consider hiring a professional trainer to help you out with your routine. This can take a lot of the mystery out of getting fit, as your trainer will custom tailor exercises and routines for your bodily needs, so as to maximize the results that you see. This is a slightly costly thing to do, so you should be sure about your commitment to exercising before you spend money to hire a personal trainer. You can also use the amazing technology of the internet to tap the brains of professionals. There are many different blogs that are updated daily with exercise routines that anyone can do.
So setting attainable goals, adding things to increase enjoyment of the exercise routine, challenges, and the addition of a buddy to assist are all great ways to stay motivated, stay fit, and most importantly stay moving. You will benefit in the short term, and in the long run as well with physical and mental benefits in almost every way.
What is Motivation
Posted on April 16, 2012 |
Motivation is of particular interest to Educational psychologists because of the crucial role it plays in student learning. Motivation in education can have several effects on how students learn and their behaviour towards subject matter (Ormrod, 2003). Motivation has been found to be a pivotal area in treating Autism Spectrum Disorders, as in Pivotal Response Therapy. Motivation is also an important element in the concept of Andragogy (what motivates the adult learner). Motivation by threat is a dead-end strategy, and naturally staff are more attracted to the opportunity side of the motivation curve than the threat side. Motivational strategies need to be applied individually and changed frequently so that they do not become ineffective through over use.
Motivation
According to Geen, motivation refers to the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of human behaviour. Some authors distinguish between two forms of intrinsic motivation: one based on enjoyment, the other on obligation. There is currently no universal theory to explain the origin or elements of intrinsic motivation, and most explanations combine elements of Fritz Heider’s attribution theory, Bandura’s work on self-efficacy and other studies relating to locus of control and goal orientation.
Note that the idea of reward for achievement is absent from this model of intrinsic motivation, since rewards are an extrinsic factor. In work environments, money may provide a more powerful extrinsic factor than the intrinsic motivation provided by an enjoyable workplace. Successful coercion sometimes can take priority over other types of motivation. The self-control of motivation is increasingly understood as a subset of emotional intelligence; a person may be highly intelligent according to a more conservative definition (as measured by many intelligence tests), yet unmotivated to dedicate this intelligence to certain tasks.
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs theory is the most widely discussed theory of motivation. Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory, aka intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, concludes that certain factors in the workplace result in job satisfaction, but if absent, lead to dissatisfaction. To understand how to control motivation it is first necessary to understand why many people lack motivation.
It is usually suggested that it is critical to maintain a list of tasks, with a distinction between those which are completed and those which are not, thereby moving some of the required motivation for their completion from the tasks themselves into a “meta-task”, namely the processing of the tasks in the task list, which can become a routine. However, the specific kind of motivation that is studied in the specialized setting of education differs qualitatively from the more general forms of motivation studied by psychologists in other fields.
Because students are not always internally motivated, they sometimes need situated motivation, which is found in environmental conditions that the teacher creates. There are two kinds of motivation: Intrinsic motivation occurs when people are internally motivated to do something because it either brings them pleasure, they think it is important, or they feel that what they are learning is significant.
At lower levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, such as Physiological needs, money is a motivator; however it tends to have a motivating effect on staff that lasts only for a short period (in accordance with Herzberg’s two-factor model of motivation). At higher levels of the hierarchy, praise, respect, recognition, empowerment and a sense of belonging are far more powerful motivators than money, as both Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation and Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and theory Y (pertaining to the theory of leadership) demonstrate.
According to the system of scientific management developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor, a worker’s motivation is solely determined by pay, and therefore management need not consider psychological or social aspects of work. In essence scientific management bases human motivation wholly on extrinsic rewards and discards the idea of intrinsic rewards.
In contrast, David McClelland believed that workers could not be motivated by the mere need for money– in fact, extrinsic motivation (e. , money) could extinguish intrinsic motivation such as achievement motivation, though money could be used as an indicator of success for various motives, e.
Motivation is of particular interest to Educational psychologists because of the crucial role it plays in student learning. Motivation has been found to be a pivotal area in treating Autism Spectrum Disorders, as in Pivotal Response Therapy. Motivation by threat is a dead-end strategy, and naturally staff is more attracted to the opportunity side of the motivation curve than the threat side. Motivation is the key to performance improvement.
Motivation is, in effect, a means to reduce and manipulate this gap. Motivational strategies need to be applied individually and changed frequently so that they do not become ineffective through over use. Motivation is a pivotal concept in most theories of learning. Motivation to achieve is a function of the individual’s desire for success, the expectancy of success, and the incentives provided. Motivation is divided into two basic types: integrative and instrumental.
Motivation is an important factor in L2 achievement. Motivation’s philosophy is based on commitment towards ‘enhancing the quality of life of people with disabilities’ through the provision of appropriate mobility devices (wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs), professional services such as physiotherapy, economic empowerment (via job fairs, vocational training, job placements) and advocating basic human rights. Motivation depends on many factors with the primary factor being the power of your dreams.
Motivation Theories – Understanding The Content Theories Of Motivation
Posted on March 28, 2012 |
Before we go into look at the four major content theories of motivation developed by the theorists, it is thus vital to have a general understanding of what content theories are in the first place. Hence so, the content theories also known as the ‘needs theories’ are based on the needs of the individuals. In other words, these theories basically explain why the needs of the humans keep changing overtime thus focussing on the specific factors that motivate them. By doing so, what they try to explain is that the needs of the individuals should be taken into consideration, and thus be satisfied in order to motivate them. To say, if these needs of the individuals are not met or satisfied, then it is unlikely that the people will be motivated to perform the tasks in order to meet the goals and objectives. Having said that, let us now look at each of the four content theories separately.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
The Hierarchy of Needs theory is one of the four major content theories developed by Ibrahim Maslow in the year 1943. This theory is based on the fact that it is the unfulfilled needs that leads to motivate the individuals. It also provides an understanding to why the needs of the individuals keep changing overtime and the importance of identifying what each and every individual is after in terms of their needs. This is because, it probably gives an insight to what exactly are the individual needs that have to be met, in order to motivate them. Having said that, Maslow identified five levels of needs which are basically the,
Self Actualization ( level 5 – highest level)
Self Esteem ( level 4 )
Social belonging & Love needs (level 3)
Safety ( level 2)
Physiology ( level 1)
According to Maslow, these five levels of needs have to be satisfied if the individuals are to be motivated. In other words, it is said to believe that motivation is thus driven by the existence of these unsatisfied needs, meaning to say that unless they have fulfilled their needs there are motivated to do so. However, his idea was that in order to motivate the individuals the first higher level of needs have to be satisfied before the next level of needs. And only once the lower level of needs are satisfied the next level of needs will act as a motivator. For example, a person who is dying of hunger will at first be motivated to fulfil his hunger by earning wages/salaries . But once his basic needs are satisfied, then this will no longer act as a motivator , but thereafter it is only the second level of needs such as a good and safe working environment etc that will lead to motivate him. To say, Maslow pointed out the fact that satisfying the individual needs is a step by step process that should follow from the lowest level to the highest level of needs and only satisfies one level of needs at a time.
Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
Herzberg’s Two factor theory is another major content theory that focuses on the individual needs of the people. According to Herzberg, he basically identified two separate groups of factors that had a strong impact on motivation. His first group of factors were the hygiene factors which consisted of factors such as working conditions, quality of supervision, salary, status, company policies and administration. What he tend to believed was the fact that hygiene factors strongly influenced feelings of dissatisfaction among employees thus paving way to affect the job performance. He also went in to say that the presence of these factors will not motivate the employees as such, but rather it is necessary to have the hygiene factors right in the first place if the employees are to be motivated. What actually meant by this was that, if these hygiene factors are not present in the organization then it is not quite possible to motivate the employees thus because it is these factors that act as the foundation for the motivating factors to be effective. For example, without a good and safe working environment it is no use giving responsibility to an employee because the chances of motivating him are very low.
Having said that, the second group of factors identified were known as the motivating factors which consisted of factors such recognition, achievement, responsibility, interesting job and advancement to higher level tasks as and growth etc. Herzberg believed that the motivating factors do satisfy employees which will eventually lead to employee motivation. But he also went into say that in order for the motivating factors to act there have to be the hygiene factors present.
Alderfer’s ERG Theory
The ERG theory is another form of content theory developed by Alderfer. This is also based on the needs of the individuals. To say, the ERG theory was proposed thus thinking that it will basically overcome the limitations of the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. However, this too is in the form of a hierarchy but only comprising of three levels. In other words, unlike the Maslow’s theory which has five levels of needs the ERG theory has simplified the levels of individual needs in to just three levels. The three levels of needs identified by Alderfer are,
Alderfer basically reduced the number of levels in his hierarchy thus combining each of the levels together. In other words, the first level in his hierarchy was formed by grouping both the physiology and safety needs together. Then he combined the social and external esteem needs as the second level and last of all the internal esteem and self-actualization needs as the third and final level. However, he went into say that the first level of needs which is existence still have the priority over the other two levels of needs. And hence, the order of the needs may not exact be the same for all individuals and thus could rather change depending on the individual. It doesn’t always happen that the individuals are motivated to satisfy the lower level first in order to go to the next level as in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. For example, an individual will be motivated to perform the tasks because of his need for recognition is fulfilled rather than for a safer working environment. Unlike in Maslow’s hierarchy, the ERG theory allows for different levels of needs to be pursued simultaneously. He further went into say that, according to his theory the individuals may expect to satisfy a higher level of needs and those who are unable to satisfy that level ( frustration regression process) will eventually be frustrated and look to satisfy the lower level that seems to be much more easier to satisfy in order to motivate them. This will motivate the individuals for the moment with the hope that they could satisfy the higher level in the times to come. In such situations, it is thus important for the employers to identify this and help them to satisfy the lower level of needs in order to motivate them.
McClelland’s 3 Needs Theory
The 3 Needs theory also known as the Acquired theory or the Learned theory, is another content theory developed by McClelland around 1961. Like the other content theories, this theory is also based on the needs of the individuals. In his theory, what McClelland tries to explain is the fact that motivation of an individual could basically result from three dominant needs. The three dominant needs identified are,
According to McClelland, human motivation is thus dominated by these three needs. In other words, some individuals will look for tasks that will help them to achieve something, paving way to motivate them. Likewise some others may need power and some may look for affiliation. However, he also went into say that even though all these needs are present in each and every individual, there is basically one need that dominates the individuals when it comes to most people. For example, an individual will want to achieve certain things, will want to maintain good relations with others but at the same time, more than anything else they may want lead the others in order to motivate them.
The need for Achievement
Having said that, the need for achievement basically means the extend to which an individual wants to perform tasks that are difficult and indeed challenging. To say , in order to motivate an individual with a need for achievement they probably have to be given difficult and challenging tasks. They will basically go to achieve goals that are challenging and realistic. In other words, what they really want is success and positive feedback, avoids both the low-risk and high-risk situations, and prefer to work alone rather than in a team with other high achievers. That way, they really tend to be motivated if they happen to believe the tasks they are given to perform are indeed challenging.
The need for power
Likewise, individuals with the need for power will basically want to lead the others. This may be two types meaning to say personal and institutional. . In other words, some individuals will look for personal power while the other may need for institutional power. Individuals with a need for personal power will thus want to direct and influence others. What actually mean by this is that, if they are not allowed to lead the others then they probably will be de-motivated. Saying that, individuals with a high need for institutional power wants to organize the efforts of others for the success of the organization. For example, individuals with the need for institutional power are more likely to be motivated if they are provided with status oriented positions, managerial posts and leadership.
The need for Affiliation
And to say, individuals with the need for affiliation basically look for good, friendly interpersonal relationships with others. In others words, they really want to feel like that they are accepted by others and liked by others, they basically strive to maintain good relationships by way of trust and understanding, they prefer cooperation more than competition, As a result, individuals with a high need for affiliation do prefer to work as a team and work in customer service environments which will lead to motivate them.
And finally, it should be said that all of the content theories are based on the fact that in order to motivate the people their needs have to be satisfied or fulfilled. Individual need do vary from one individual to another, and that is why it is important to understand these theories properly in order to motivate the individuals effectively.
By shameena Silva
Motivation Theories- the Foundation to Employee Motivation
Posted on February 27, 2012 |
In the past, employees were not given much of a thought, not more than just another input into the production of goods and services. Employee motivation was not the main concern of the managers.
However, as the time passed by the ‘Hawthorne Experiment’ a research conducted by Elton Mayo in 1924, basically changed the way of thinking about the employees. the study of Elton Mayo pointed out the fact that money does not motivate employees to use their full potential, but instead it is the employee attitudes that keeps them going and linked with behaviour. As a result, this gave rise to what is known as the Human Relations approach to management which lead the managers to focus mainly on the needs of employees and thus finding ways to motivate them.
Even though the managers began to concentrate on motivating employees thereafter, this was not an easy task to do, as understanding the employees and motivating them needed careful consideration. If not so ever, then the time and money spent on motivating employees may be of no use to the organization or the employee, if the employees were motivated the wrong way.As a result, to understand the whole concept of motivation and help the managers carry out the strategy, it is important to look into the theories of motivation, which developed soon after the study of the Hawthorne Experiment.
The motivation theories developed, as a result of the researches carried out by the theorists focusing understanding what motivated employees and how they were motivated. Hence so, let us have a closer look at four of the good motivational theories that explains what motivates employees, in order to understand and do the best possible way to motivate them.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs Theory
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is one of the important theories that provide an insight to understand what basically motivates employees and how it should be done if the employees are to be motivated. Maslow identified five levels of needs. They are,
Self Actualization ( level 5 – highest level)
Esteem ( level 4 )
Social belonging & love needs ( level 3)
safety ( level 2 )
Physiology ( level 1 – lowest level)
These five levels of needs have to be satisfied if the employees are to be motivated. In other words, it is said that motivation is thus driven by the existence of these unsatisfied needs. Maslow pointed out the fact that, in order to motivate the employees, first of all the lower level of needs have to be met before the next higher level of needs. What he meant by this was that only once the lower level of needs have been satisfied the employee will be motivated to satisfy the next higher level of needs. For example, an is at the lowest level of the hierarchy will only be motivated by a good pay well enough to afford his basic needs rather than safety of his work area and stability of the job etc. As a result, the hierarchy of needs theory highlights the fact that employees do differ from each other, and if they are to be motivated it is thus vital to look into their needs first and then come up with the suitable motivation techniques effectively.
Hertzberg’s Two Factor Theory
The Hertzberg’s two factor theory is another vital theory that provides the managers with a clear understanding to how the employees could be motivated. He also pointed out the fact that motivating employees are not just possible without the presence of intrinsic factors.
According to Hertzberg, he basically identified two separate groups of factors that had a strong impact on motivation. His first group of factors were the hygiene factors which consisted of factors such as the working conditions, quality of supervision, salary,status,safety, company policies, and administration. He tends to believe that the hygiene factors strongly influenced feelings of dissatisfaction among the employees thus paving way to affect the job performance. However, he also went into point out that the presence of these factors will not basically motivate the employees as such, but rather they are necessary to have them right in the first place, if the organization intends to motivate the factors. The second group of factors identified by hertzberg were the motivating factors. These included factors such as recognition,achievement, responsibility, interesting job, growth and advancement to higher level tasks etc. Accordingly, he went into say that these factors do bring job satisfaction among employees which will eventually lead to employee motivation.
Vroom’s Expectancy theory
Another theory that explained what basically motivated the employees was the Expectancy theory of Victor Vroom in 1964. Actually Vroom believed that employee effort will pave the way for job performance and thus job performance will lead to rewards. In other words, he highlighted the fact that employees tend to believe that by putting effort it will lead to a good performance and likewise because of the good performance they will be rewarded. It is these rewards that motivate the employees. If the rewards are positive and welcoming , then obviously the employees will be motivated, or else if they turn out to be negative or not attractive then the chances of employees being de-motivated are very high indeed.
Adam’s Equity Theory
Adam’s Equity theory is a motivation theory that points out the fact that the mangers should seek a fair balance between the employees’ inputs( effort, loyalty, hard work, sacrifice, etc) and their outputs ( recognition, status, salary, status etc), in order to motivate employees( Adams, 1965). He also stated that it is very vital to make the employee feel that he is treated fairly if the managers are to achieve positive outcomes and motivate the employees effectively. However, if the employees tend to feel that they have been treated unfairly meaning to say that their inputs are greater than the outputs, then they will be de-motivated.Ans this will no doubt reduce their inputs such as effort and hard work etc.
In conclusion, the tasks of the managers to motivate the employees are indeed not that easy.This is because each and every employee has got their very own needs that tend to motivate them. However, the managers need to have some sort of aknowledge that will help them to understand the employees well and think of better ways of motivating them. This is where the motivational theories come into considertaion. It is these theories that provide an explanation of how to motivate them based on what motivates them. The Hierarchy of needs theory and Hertzberg’s two factor theory deals with explaining how the employees are to be motivated by way of looking into their needs. On the other hand, Adams theory also helps the managers to understand that a fair balance between inputs and outputs of employees are important. The Expectancy theory too shows that rewards tend to motivate the employees. However, overall all motivation theories do state that rewarding and recognising employees are important in order to motivate employees thus acting as the foundation to motivate employees.
Intrinsic Or Extrinsic Motivation – The Most Effective Way To Motivate Employees
Posted on February 25, 2012 |
Before we go in to look at what Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation is in the first place, it is thus vital to understand what motivation is and why is it important to motivate employees. Hence so, motivation could be defined as the driving force within individuals that encourages them to go ahead and perform the tasks, in order to achieve their intended needs and expectations. In other words, it is a set of reasons that eventually drags an individual to perform a particulat task convinicng that they could fulfil their needs and expectations, once the task is performed.
How is it possible to motivate employees ? and Why ?
Motivating employees is not an easy task, due to the fact that what motivates employees seems to change overtime. To say, different employees are motivated in different ways according to their needs. For example, one employee will be motivated to do his task by way of responsibility, while on the other hand another employee will be motivated by monetary rewards. However, it is possible to motivate an employee only if they want to be motivated. As a result, it is thus vital to identify the reason and create the atmosphere that encourages the non-performing employees to refresh and motivate themselves. In other words, it is thus important to try and find out what really motivates the employee. Trying to motivate an employee by wrong means could thus lead to a waste of money, time and so on, while paving way to de-motivate the employee more.
Having said that, highly motivated employees are considered to be true assets for any organization. Once motivated, they basically tend to be more productive, energetic, and very mush eager to take on additional responsibilities, and thus pleasant to be with and work with. Howvever, on the other hand it should be said that there also tends to be non performing employees as well almost in every organization. Therefore, in such circumstances they basically have to look for deal with the obstacles by going and identifying the unmotivated employees and turning them around if the organizations are to be successful. In spite of that, when it comes to motivating employees this could be done intrinsically or extrinsically by using either intrinsic or extrinsic rewards.
Intrinsic Motivation
when it comes to intrinsic motivation, this basically means that employees are motivate to do a particular task because of the pleasure or satisfaction that they get in performing the task itself. In other words, intrinsic motivation comes from within an individual rather than from extrinsic rewards such as monetary incentives etc. An employee who tends to be intrincically motivated could be motivated by internal factors such as recognition, responsibility, growth and advancement. If an employee is to be motivated by intrinsic rewards, then this means that what the employee really wants is a job that interests him, a challenging work environment, and the responsiblity to perform the task etc in order to motivate him. For example, an intrinsically motivated person will perform a task given to him willingly, either because he might find the task challenging or else interesting and satified with completing it. To say, and not with the intention of getting other rewards. This is due to the fact the external rewards hardly motivate these employees. As a result, intrinsic motivation tends to be very much effective in the long run as the employees perform the tasks willingly because it interests them, rather than trying to escape from it once the job is done.
Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation on the other hand is when the employees are thus motivated by means of external rewards. External rewards bacically consists of monetary incentives and grades etc. The employees are involved in performing a particular task is because of the external rewards that gives them satisfation and pleasure, and not because they are interested in it. In other means, extrinsic motivation drives an employee to do things specially for tangible rewards or pressure, rather than for the fun of it. Extrinsic motivators can be either positive or negative. To say, it is thus possible to use positive motivators such as monetary rewards or negative such as threats or bribery to motivate them extrinsically. Extrinsic motivators basically focusses the employees on rewards rather than actions. For example, employees will perform tasks though they are not quite interested in it, thus because of the rewards involved with it. To say, some people will not want to do the work willingly, but rather they are motivated to do so by external rewards. However in reality, extrinsic rewards do motivate employees only short term. This is because the extrinsically motivated employees will do their work only as long as they receive their rewards and therafter will stop performing the tasks, once the rewards are no longer there.
What is the most effective way to motivate employees ?
Having looked at both the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, it could be said that intrinsic motivation is far stronger than extrinsic motivation when it comes to motivate employees in the long run. This is because the intrinsically motivated employees will continue to perform better day after day as long they find the work interesting and satisfied. It doesn’t mean that extrinsic motivation should not be used, but this is not the ideal way to long motivate the employees. To say, extrinsically motivated employees will only find what they do to interesting as long as they receive the rewards which can either be positive or negative. And hence in order to motivate them to increase performance, then they will have to be given more rewards than before. If not, they will only be de-motivated. Not only that, but once the employees are given extrinsic rewards they will no longer be intrinsically motivated, but rather depend on rewards to keep them motivated therafter. That is why it is vital to try and motivate employees intrinsically by trying to explain how it will help them to develop and encouraging them by offering more challenging work, giving responsibility and recognition for the work done etc. This will in turn lead to enhance performance by motivating them to meet the long term success.