Are you motivated to go to work?
Motivation is one of the most important psychological factors that can boost the performance in any task, and it is very critical in our knowledge-based job these days. Motivation can significantly boost the productivity of an employee and increase the quality of the work. Managers undergo several pieces of training to improve the work culture of their team, even then people find it hard to be self-motivated to go to the office every morning. Eighty-five percent of workers worldwide admit to hating their jobs when surveyed anonymously, according to Gallup Polls.
This blog is based upon the book named, ‘High Output Management’ by Andrew S. Groove, former CEO of Intel. His description of what makes people perform relied heavily on Maslow’s theory of Motivation. Simply because his observations of working life confirm Maslow’s concepts. For Maslow, Motivation is closely tied to the idea of needs, which cause people to have drives, which in turn, result in Motivation. A need once satisfied stops being a need and therefore stops being a source of Motivation.
Simply put, if we are to create and maintain a high degree of Motivation, we must keep some need unsatisfied at all times. People tend to have a variety of concurrent needs, but one among them is always stronger than others. And that need is the one that largely determines an individual motivation and therefore his level of performance. Maslow defined a set of needs, as shown below, that tend to lie in a hierarchy: when a lower need is satisfied, one higher is likely to take over.
Physiological Needs:
These consist of things that money can buy, like food, clothing, and other basic necessities of life. Fear is hitched to such needs: one fears that possible deprivation of food, clothing, and so on.
Security/Safety Needs:
These come from a desire to protect oneself from slipping back to a state of being deprived of basic necessities. It included things like insurance, deposits, etc. The existence of benefits is rarely a dominant source of employee motivation, but if benefits were absent, then people have to worry about such concerns, performance would no doubt be severely affected.
Social/Affiliation Needs:
The social needs stem from the inherent desire of human beings to belong to some group or other. But people don’t want to belong to just any group; they need to belong to one whose members possess something in common with themselves. Social needs are quite powerful. Many people go back to their old job even if they have to take a pay cut because companionship that is offered at work is more important than a small pay difference. As one’s environment or condition in life changes, he desires to satisfy another set. For example, if an earthquake comes to a factory, people will fear of their lives, will drop everything and will run to the nearest exit as they found themselves totally consumed by the most fundamental of physiological needs- survival.
The physiological, safety/security and social needs all can motivate us to show up for work, but other need -esteem and self actualization-makes us perform once we are there.
Esteem/Recognition Needs:
The need to keep up with or emulate someone is a powerful source of positive Motivation. The person or group whose recognition one desires may mean nothing to someone else, but he will try hard to get that. Esteem exists in the eyes of the beholder.
All of the above sources of Motivation are self-limiting. That is, when a need is gratified, it can no longer motivate a person. Once a predetermined goal or level of achievement is reached, the need to go any further loses urgency.
Self- Actualization:
For Maslow, self-actualization stems from a personal realization that “What I can be, I must be”. Self-Actualization means the need to achieve one’s utter personal best in the chosen field of endeavor. Its most important characteristic is that unlike other sources of Motivation, which extinguish themselves after the needs are fulfilled, self-actualization continues to motivate people to an even higher level of performance.
Two inner forces can drive a person to use all of his capabilities. He can be competence-driven or achievement driven. The former concern itself with the job and task mastery. A virtuoso violinist who continues to practice day after day is obviously moved by his desire to become better each day and master the skill. On the achievement-driven path to self-actualization, people are driven by an abstract need to achieve in all that they do. Both competence- and achievement-oriented people spontaneously try to test the outer limits of their abilities.
In the work environment, where the need to stretch is not spontaneous, management needs to create an example to foster it. In a Management By Objectives (MBO) system, for example, objectives should be set at a point high enough so that even if the individual pushes himself hard, he will still only have a 50–50 chance of making them. The output will tend to be greater when everybody strives for a level of achievement beyond their immediate grasp, even though trying means failing half of the time. Moreover, if an organization wants to cultivate achievement- driven motivation, it needs to create an environment that values and emphasizes output.
Now, let’s talk a little more about the answer many people give on what motivates them — Money. At the lower levels of the motivation hierarchy, money is obviously essential, need to buy the necessities of life. Once there is enough money to bring a person up to a level, he expects of himself, more money will not motivate. At the upper level of the need hierarchy, when one is self-actualized, money in itself is no longer a source of Motivation but rather a measure of achievement. Money in the physiological- and security-driven modes only motivates until the need is satisfied, but money as a measure of achievement will drive without limit.
A simple test can be used to determine where someone is in the motivational hierarchy. If the absolute sum of a raise in salary an individual receives is important to him, he is working mostly within the physiological or safety modes. If, however, what matters to him is how his raise stacks up against what other people got, he is motivated by esteem or self-actualization because in this case, money is clearly a measure.
You can improve your motivational level or your team’s by understanding the level where you are and what next level you needs to work for. This will not only motivate you at work, but it will also boost your performance and will improve the work environment. So, what level are you at right now?
