Republic of the Philippines

PALAWAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Tiniguiban Heights, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan

ARACELI CAMPUS
Barangay Tinintinan, Araceli, Palawan

BUSINESS DEPARTMENT

MODULE IN
HBO: HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN
ORGANIZATION

KENNETH F. SOCORIN
Faculty
Module 5

Module 5
Motivation

MODULE OVERVIEW

Job performance is a given requirement in any organization. It is possible, however, if the

following conditions are met:
1. the capacity to perform 2. the opportunity to perform 3. the willingness to perform
The capacity to perform relates to the degree to which the employee possesses skills, abilities,
knowledge, and experiences relevant to his job. If high performance is expected, the employee must
be fully trained and physically capable of doing his job.
The opportunity to perform will depend on the work environment provided to the employee.
One who works in an office that is hot, humid, and noisy cannot be expected to perform well. The
opportunity to perform is also diminished by lack of equipment, lack of funds, and insufficient
authority.
The willingness to perform relates to the degree in which an employee desires and is willing
to exert effort to achieve the goals assigned to him.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

 Provide an understanding about motivation;

 Discuss the Key Elements of Motivation;
 Enumerate the theories of Motivation

CONTENT

What is Motivation?

People behave differently and one of the reasons is that they are motivated differently. Some
are motivated by economic reasons, while some are motivated otherwise. But even those who are
motivated by money will differ in terms of how much they want.
As motivation is one of the requisites of performance, a basic understanding of what
motivation is and how it facilitates the achievement of goals would benefit both managers and
individual employees.
 It is defined as the process of activating behavior, sustaining it, and directing it toward a
particular goal.
 It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish the goals.

 In the workplace, motivation may be more specifically defined as the set of internal and
external forces that cause a worker or employee to choose a course of action and engage in a
certain behavior.

Motivation is derived from the word “motive” which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the
individuals.

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Figure 1. The Process of Work Motivation

http://www.whatishumanresource.com/motivation-process

Key Elements of Motivation

Motivation consists of the following elements:

1. intensity
2. direction
3. persistence

Intensity refers to the level of effort provided by the employee in the attempt to achieve the goal
assigned to him. In simple term intensity refers to how hard a person tries to do work.
The person's effort could be a full commitment to excellence or doing just enough to get by.
For example, if a company sets a minimum output of 10 units sold per person per month, the
employee whose intensity level of motivation is low will just sell 10 units per month and those with
high levels of motivation would sell more.
Direction relates to what an individual chooses to do when he is confronted with a number of
possible choices. When a field salesman, for instance, decided to visit a friend instead of a prospect,
he is moving away from the direction his company wants him to take.
Persistence is a dimension of motivation which measures how long a person can maintain effort to
achieve the organization's goals.
A person who scores low in persistence gives up prematurely. An example relates to what
action a salesperson will do when confronted by a prospect who thinks slowly and do not make quick
decisions. Persistence could be the answer, but the salesperson could decide otherwise.
In any case, the three elements complement each other. If the intensity of motivation is
insufficient, or the effort is not properly directed or persistent enough, excellent performance is not
just possible.

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Theories of Motivation

There are various theories related to motivation. They may be classified as either (1) content, or
(2) process theories.

Content theories are those that focus on analyzing the wants and needs of an individual. The four
better known content theories are the following:
1. Hierarchy of needs by Abraham Maslow
2. ERG Theory of Clayton Alderfer
3. Acquired Needs Theory by David L. McClelland
4. Two-Factor Theory of Frederick Hezberg

Process theories explain how people act in response to the wants and needs that they have.
Classified under process theories are the following:
1. Expectancy Theory of Victor Vroom
2. Equity Theory of J. Stacey Adams
3. Goal Setting Theory of Edwin A. Locke

The Hierarchy of Needs Theory

Abraham Maslow is well renowned for proposing the Hierarchy of Needs Theory in 1943. This
theory is based on the assumption that there is a hierarchy of five needs within each individual. The
urgency of these needs varies. These five needs are as follows:

1. Physiological needs- These are the basic needs of air, water, food, clothing and shelter. In
other words, physiological needs are the needs for basic amenities of life.
2. Safety needs- Safety needs include physical, environmental and emotional safety and
protection. For instance- Job security, financial security, protection from animals, family
security, health security, etc.
3. Social needs- Social needs include the need for love, affection, care, belongingness, and
friendship.
4. Esteem needs- Esteem needs are of two types: internal esteem needs (self- respect,
confidence, competence, achievement and freedom) and external esteem needs (recognition,
power, status, attention and admiration).
5. Self-actualization need it refers to the drive to become what one is capable of becoming,
which includes growth, achieving one’s potential and self-fulfillment.

According to Maslow, individuals are motivated by unsatisfied needs. As each of these needs is
significantly satisfied, it drives and forces the next need to emerge. Maslow grouped the five needs
into two categories - Higher-order needs and Lower-order needs. The physiological and the safety
needs constituted the lower-order needs. These lower-order needs are mainly satisfied externally.
The social, esteem, and self-actualization needs constituted the higher-order needs. These higher-
order needs are generally satisfied internally.

If Maslow's theory really gives clue to motivating people, managers and supervisors would
do well in their jobs if they concentrate on satisfying an individual's next level of need, i.e., if the
current need level is already satisfied. For instance, if an employee already feels satisfied with his
physiological needs, then he can be expected to perform better if his safety needs are taken care
of.
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Figure 2. Hierarchy of Needs

The ERG Theory

The ERG Theory is a need hierarchy theory of motivation that was developed by Clayton
Alderfer. He believed that in motivating people, we are confronted by three sets of needs:
existence (E),
relatedness (R), &
growth (G).

These sets of needs may be briefly described as follows:

1. Existence -- this refers to needs satisfied by such factors as food, air, water, pay, and working
conditions;
2. Relatedness - this refers to the needs satisfied by meaningful social and interpersonal
relationships; and
3. Growth - this refers to the needs satisfied by an individual making creative or productive
contributions.
Alderfer, like Maslow, also believed that individuals progress up the hierarchy of needs as a
result of the satisfaction of lower order needs. But he maintained, however, that if a higher order
need cannot be satisfied, a lower order need becomes dominant as a motivating factor. For
example, if growth cannot be attained, the individual will regress to relatedness as a motivator.

Figure 3. ERG Theory

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Acquired Need Theory

David McClelland’s acquired-needs theory splits the needs of employees into three categories. These
three categories are achievement, affiliation, and power.

1. need for achievement - this refers to the desire to do something better or more efficiently, to
solve problems, or to master complex tasks;
2. need for affiliation - which refers to the desire to establish and maintain friendly and warm
relations with others; and
3. need for power - which refers to the desire to control others, to influence their behavior, or to be
responsible for others.
McClelland believed that the foregoing needs are acquired over time as a result of life experiences.
His research findings consist of the following:
1. People who have high achievement needs have the drive to advance and to overcome challenging
situations such as those faced by entrepreneurs in introducing innovative new business;
2. An affiliation motivated person prefers to work with friends.
3. The need for power drives successful managers.

The Two Factor Theory

Frederick Hezberg developed his two-factor theory that identifies job context as a source of job
dissatisfaction and job content as the source of job satisfaction.
The job context or work setting relates more to the environment in which people work. The
factors associated with job context are called hygiene factors which include the following:
1. organizational policies
2. quality of supervision
3. working conditions
4. base wage or salary
5. relationship with peers
6. relationship with subordinates
7. status
8. security
According to the two-factor theory, improving any of the hygiene factors will not make
people satisfied with their work; it will only prevent them from being dissatisfied.

The job content relates more to what people actually do in their work. Those that are related
to job content are called motivator factors and they consist of the following:

1. achievement
2. recognition
3. work itself
4. responsibility
5. advancement
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6. growth

According to the two factor theory, when the forgoing factors are not present, there is low job
satisfaction among workers and there is lack of motivation to perform.

Figure 4 The Two Factor Theory

Expectancy Theory
One of the process theories refer to the expectancy theory that was developed by Victor
Vroom. This theory sees people as choosing a course of action according to what they anticipate will
give the greatest rewards.
Vroom elaborated by explaining that motivation is a product of the following factors:
1. valence – how much one wants a reward;
2. expectancy - one's estimate of the probability that effort will result in successful performance;
and
3. instrumentality - one's estimate that performance will result in receiving the reward.

Figure 5 Expectancy Theory

The expectancy theory predicts that motivation will be high if all three factors are rated high.
Conversely, the lower the rate of any or all of the three factors, the lower the motivation becomes.

Equity Theory

It is defined as a theory that individuals compare job inputs and outcomes with those of
others and then respond to eliminate inequities.
Equity theory assumes that employees are motivated by a desire to be equitably treated at
work. Equity exists when employees perceive that the ratios of their inputs (or efforts) to their
outputs (or rewards) are equivalent to the ratios of other employees. Inequity exists when these ratios
are not equivalent.

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Inequity leads to the experience of tension, and tension motivates a person to act in a manner
to resolve the inequity. The person, however, will be confronted with any of the two types of
inequity:
1. over rewarded; or
2. under rewarded:
Employees who feel over rewarded will think there is an imbalance in their relationship with
their employer. They will seek to restore the balance through any of the following:
1. they might work harder;
2. they could try to convince other employees to ask for more rewards; and
3. they might choose someone else for comparison purposes.
When employees feel under rewarded, they will seek to reduce their feelings of inequity
through any of the following:
1. they might lower the quality or quantity of their productivity
2. they could inflate the perceived value of the rewards received;
3. they could find someone else to compare themselves;
4. they could bargain for more rewards; and
5. they might quit.

Professor A Professor B

Inputs Ph.D. degree Master’s degree

10 years experience versus 10 years experience
40 hrs of work per week 40 hrs of work per week

Php 40,000 salary Php 40,000 salary

Vacation/sick leave privileges Vacation/sick leave privileges
Outcomes

Figure 6 Inequity in the Work Environment

Goal Setting Theory

It states that specific and challenging goals along with appropriate feedback contribute to
higher and better task performance.

A goal is the specific target that an individual is trying to achieve.

In simple words, goals indicate and give direction to an employee about what needs to be
done and how much efforts are required to be put in.

The important features of goal-setting theory are as follows:

 The willingness to work towards attainment of goal is main source of job motivation. Clear,
particular and difficult goals are greater motivating factors than easy, general and vague
goals.
 Specific and clear goals lead to greater output and better performance. Unambiguous,
measurable and clear goals accompanied by a deadline for completion avoids
misunderstanding.
 Goals should be realistic and challenging. This gives an individual a feeling of pride and
triumph when he attains them, and sets him up for attainment of next goal. The more

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challenging the goal, the greater is the reward generally and the more is the passion for
achieving it.
 Better and appropriate feedback of results directs the employee behavior and contributes to
higher performance than absence of feedback. Feedback is a means of gaining reputation,
making clarifications and regulating goal difficulties. It helps employees to work with more
involvement and leads to greater job satisfaction.

Videos to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-4ithG_07Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0PKWTta7lU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upBHae2J-LI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvhr2H5rAgY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFlQ6Hf-0t0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ8ap4kWPxo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpnzW06shsM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfovAw6Ix2s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg21keJZPq8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD-0eo9hGT4

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Module 5

EVALUATION Module 5. (30 pts)

HOW TO ENHANCE MOTIVATION

INSTRUCTIONS: Imagine you are a manager with a staff of 10. Productivity and morale are at
an all-time high. Your objective is to keep this productivity and morale high by enhancing
employees’ motivation. Describe what you could say and do to encourage people, keep morale
and productivity up, keep the performance level high, and engender good work spirit.

ACTIONS TO TAKE HOW/WHY THIS WOULD WORK

1.

2.

3.

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REFERENCES

BOOKS
Medina, Roberto G., Human Behavior in Organization (2011), Rex Bookstore
Serrano, Angelita Ong, Management of Human Behavior in Organization, Unlimited Books Library
Services & Publishing Inc.
Robbins, Stephen P., Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition, published by Pearson Education.
Malloy, Marco Organizational Behavior, Larsen & Keller

ONLINE SOURCES
https://www.managementstudyguide.com/what_is_motivation.htm
http://myllurmanagement.blogspot.com/2012/08/motivation-3-elements-of-
motivation.html#:~:text=Answer%3A,intensity%2C%20drive%2C%20and%20vigor.
https://www.managementstudyguide.com/classical-theories-of-motivation.htm
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-introductiontobusiness/chapter/mcclellands-acquired-needs-
theory/#:~:text=Psychologist%20David%20McClelland's%20acquired%2Dneeds,by%20the
%20desire%20for%20mastery.
https://www.managementstudyguide.com/goal-setting-theory-motivation.html

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