Motivation Series: Other Motivation Theories
While Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy is the most commonly known motivation theory, psychology provides other ways of understanding motivation. There are other motivation theories that focus on the intrinsic causes, behaviors and perception of the way we manage our needs and our motivation. In this article we are going to discuss three of these motivation theories, that focus on instincts, drive and arousal.
Instinct Theory of Motivation
This theory states that “every organism is born with different biological traits and tendencies in order to help them survive. These aren’t learned or experienced behaviors, rather patterns of behavior that occur naturally and are goal-directed. These patterns of behavior are referred to as instincts, and the theory suggests that instincts drive all behaviors.“
According to this theory, people behave in certain ways because they are genetically programmed to do so. According to the Instinct Theory, all people are naturally driven by instincts such as maternal instinct, comfort, sex, hunger, laughter and curiosity to have a specific behavior as a response to a specific stimulus. For example, when a newborn infant’s cheek or lip is touched, it will turn its head toward it and making a sucking motion with the mouth. This is known as rooting reflex, which assists in successful breastfeeding.
Based on these instincts people also tend to have the same emotional response, uniformly expressed in the similar circumstances. For example, all infants are startled by loud noises, while 6-month-olds show a consistent fear of snakes and spiders.
Instinct Theory of Motivation for People
Instinct leads to patterns of goal-oriented behavior, which means, that when an instinct manifest it will motivate us towards a specific action, which in turn requires our mental and physical resources. It is almost impossible to focus on a task, when we feel hungry, angry or unclean. This is because it is in our nature to by driven by instinct more than we are driven by reason. Instinctively, we are also more motivated to over-compensate and to manifest low self-control, leading to over-eating, over-sleeping or over-reacting. If we want to find motivation, we first need to satisfy our basic instinctual needs or to tie the satisfaction of our instinctual needs to specific personal objectives.
Instinct Theory of Motivation for Corporate Culture
Instinct based motivation implies that the organization is able to provide a balanced work environment where breaks, water, a sufficient degree of comfort and benefits are provided and encouraged within normal limits. Hindering the satisfaction of instinct based objective or implying a threat to their satisfaction is a sure way of demotivating employees. For example, problems and issues need to be transparently communicated, but they should be presented as lessons learned and opportunities of growth instead of being the root cause of punitive measure.
If people perceive some tasks or activities as potential risks for the satisfaction of their instinctual needs, they will be less motivated to execute those tasks. Imagine being asked to do a task for a project, while being told that you will be fired or the company would lose millions if you fail. Instinctively you will be more likely to avoid doing that task instead of being motivated to do it. On the other hand, presenting the same task as challenging, but doable or as a great learning opportunity might trigger instincts that can highly motivate us like curiosity, discovery or pleasure.
Drive Reduction Theory of Motivation
This theory was proposed by Clark Hull and continued by Kenneth Spece. According to this theory, people are motivated to take actions in order to reduce tensions caused by unmet needs.
The Drive Reduction theory revolves around the concept of Homeostasis, which states that the body works in order to keep a state of equilibrium, and as such, the reduction of drives is the force behind motivation. By drive, Hull refers to the state of tension caused by biological or physiological needs (thirst, hunger, need for warmth). A drive creates a tension that needs to be reduced, generating a specific behavior.
Drive Reduction Theory of Motivation for People
Drive Reduction implies that if a certain behavior leads to a decrease in a drive (satisfies a need), we are more likely to repeat that behavior when the drive manifests again. This means that we can actively teach our brain the strategies we want to be motivated to pursue when we feel an unsatisfied need. At any moment we might have competing drives that require our resources and motivation. It is mandatory that we learn to balance drive reduction, through efficient strategies in order to maintain motivation for our personal, long term goals.
For example, if we are hungry and we also need to finish a task, the easiest approach is to take a break and eat something. However, the optimal approach is to have a stable eating schedule, so that we can plan tasks and activities around the reduction of the food drive. Taking unscheduled breaks, leads to loosing focus and delays in finishing the tasks. Another aspect of drive reduction is the amplitude of the reduction, compared to the actual drive. For example, eating more than it is necessary, when we feel a little hungry will teach our brain that over-eating is a preferred strategy for that drive reduction.
Drive Reduction Theory of Motivation for Corporate Culture
Within any organization, there are a set of efficient practices, principles and processes that should be applied by each employee. Rewarding shortcomings in applying these practices and processes teaches people that partially correct work is an acceptable strategy for drive reduction, leading to a repetition of the process, whenever possible. This accounts for technical debt propagation in the code-base or incorrect processes being applied in multiple teams.
The systematic propagation of technical debt within software project is described by the Broken Window Theory. For a detailed view on how this theory manifest and how it can be efficiently mitigated check out our “Software Management Laws and Principles” course.
On the other hand, innovation also needs to be permitted, so small deviations from a preferred strategy should be discussed and allowed in order to encourage improvements and possible personal satisfaction.
Arousal Theory of Motivation
According to this theory, people take actions in order to maintain an optimal level of physiological arousal. According to this theory, individual arousal constantly decreases and people are motivated to search for those activities that can help increase and maintain the arousal level at optimal levels.
The optimal level of arousal is different among individuals therefore, one might seek activities that generate high levels of adrenaline, while another might seek calmer, safer activities. Arousal theory of motivation also links the arousal level to a person’s ability to gather and process information. As such, peak individual performance is achieved when optimal arousal is maintained, while any imbalance in a positive or negative way would lead to a decrease in performance.
Arousal Theory of Motivation for People
Because people have different types of arousal levels and their optimal arousal level differ, it is important for each person to discover (usually through experimentation) their individual levels of arousal. Based on this theory, we are more likely to be motivated to pursue only those goals or objectives that are challenging enough to be perceived as exciting, but easy enough to be perceived as doable and manageable. As such, the way we present an objective or activity to ourselves significantly influences if we are going to be motivated to do it. For example, if we need to clean the house it may not be as exciting as we hoped and our motivation might be low. However, to improve this we could either present the task as improving an aspect of our lives (like increase quality of life, partner satisfaction, relationship participation and many more) or as avoiding a possible loss (avoid a decrease in quality of life, avoid an argument with our partner, avoid the shame of being criticized or ridiculed by others for our hygiene and many more).
Arousal Theory of Motivation for Corporate Culture
As with individual people, leaders in any organization need to assign tasks that match people’s skills and aptitudes so that people feel that the tasks are doable, making sure that people feel challenged but in control. Most people related problems can be mitigated by making sure that the level of arousal for their tasks and responsibilities is maintained at an optimal level. In order to encourage personal growth, people need to be challenged, but they also need to be provided support by leaders and people with more experience.
A balance between support and autonomy ensures that most people will do their best on the tasks that they are assigned. Punitive measures, lack of accountability for shortcomings and monetary incentives as primary form of motivation only make people less likely to be motivated about their tasks. People need to feel that they are part of something greater, that their work counts for something, that their contribution is appreciated, while at the same time they need to be assured that they will receive help to solve any problem that they cannot handle on their own.
The problem most companies face is that due to inefficient or insufficient people management, employees receive tasks that are far beyond their skills, that have too many unknowns or that have too many external dependencies. This puts employees in a state of extreme arousal, where tasks no longer feel challenging and start to feel overwhelming or impossible. Once the optimal arousal level is passed, people start to experience fear and anxiety. In this state, they default back to other strategies (intrinsic, drive reduction or hierarchical) in order to mitigate fear and will no longer be able to allocate sufficient resources to the task at hand.
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