Theories of Motivation

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Theories of Motivation
MANAGEMENT AND
ORGANISATIONS IN A GLOBAL
ENVIRONMENT – 980387

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Theories of Motivation
Executive Summary
The report has been prepared to gain a deeper insight into the concept of motivation and how
it affects employees at work. The report includes a differentiation between content theories of
motivation and process theories of motivation. The report also explains some of the most
widely used motivational theories, such as the expectancy theory, McClelland’s theory,
Equity theory and the goal setting theory with examples.

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Theories of Motivation
Table of ContentsIntroduction.............................................................................3
Motivation......................................................................................3
Process Theories and Content Theories......................................3
Content Theories.............................................................................4
Process Theory...............................................................................4
McClelland’ Theory of Motivation...............................................6
Goal Setting Theory..................................................................7
Equity Theory of Motivation.......................................................8
Expectancy Theory of Motivation...............................................9
Conclusion.............................................................................. 11
References.............................................................................12

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Theories of Motivation
Introduction
Motivation
Motivation is a feeling in the employees that makes them direct their efforts towards the
achievement of individual and organisational goals and objectives (Lăzăroiu, 2015). The
contemporary business world has become highly complex and competitive, which is making
market survival difficult for business organisations. In such a situation, business
organizations are relying heavily upon their human resources to perform adequately and help
them in achieving a competitive edge in the market. To optimise the performance levels of
the employees, it is important to keep them motivated so that they remain engaged in their
jobs and committed to their organizations (Kuranchie-Mensah & Amponsah-Tawiah, 2016).
Further, the positive effects that employee motivation can have on the job attributes of
employees, such as job satisfaction, organisational and job commitment, performance,
psychological contract, retention rates, etc. make it even more important for managers to be
able to ensure high motivation levels in the workplace.
Employee motivation results because of a number of factors, which leads to different
behavioural patterns amongst them. There have been a lot of studies that have been carried
out in the field of employee motivation (Cook & Artino Jr, 2016). Motivation theories, such
as Maslow’s need hierarchy, ERG theory, McClelland’s theory, etc. are some of the pioneer
theories that are used by business organisations to ensure motivation in the workplace. In this
report, we will gain a deeper insight into the concept of motivation and the theories that are
available in the field of employee motivation. The report will discuss some of the pioneer
motivation theories in detail and how they can be helpful to business organisation in
motivating their employees. The report contains a deep insight into four theories of
motivation i.e. McClelland’s Need Theory, Goal Setting Theory, Equity Theory and
Expectancy theory and will discuss the factors that can lead to employee motivation by using
specific examples.
Process Theories and Content Theories
As discussed above, motivation is a field that has been studied extensively by scholars and
academic writers. There are a large number of theories that have been prepared in relation to