Team Diversifiers Reflective Journal on the Theories and Factors of Perception and Motivation

A key factor in learning organizational behavior is motivation and perception. Managers need to be aware of theories and factors that affect perception and motivation. Motivating factors depend on perception, so it is crucial to understand and relate the theories and factors related to motivation and perception. This reflective journal focuses on theories and factors related to perception and motivation.  

REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ON
THE THEORIES AND FACTORS
OF PERCEPTION AND
MOTIVATION
By
Team Diversifiers

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Reflective Journal on the Theories and Factors of
Perception and Motivation
Submitted to:
Dr. Imrana Yasmin,
Professor.
Department of Marketing,
Faculty of Business Studies
University of Dhaka.
Submitted by:
Team Diversifiers
Section: A
Course: MKT-313
Department of Marketing
Submission Date:23-04-2019

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April 23, 2019
Dr Imrana Yasmin,
Department of marketing.
University of Dhaka.
Dear Dr Imrana Yasmin Madam,
As agreed on 2nd of March, we are submitting the attached reflective journal entitled ‘Theories and
Factors in Perception and Motivation’ This reflective journal examines the current need of
understanding the theories and factors regarding motivation and perception.
I hope you find this reflective journal satisfactory.
Sincerely yours,
Khondoker Sadman Sakib,
Representative of Team Diversifiers.
MKT-313, Sec-A
Department of marketing.
University of Dhaka.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We cannot express enough gratitude to the almighty for giving us
enough strength to finish this report.
Our completion of this report could not have been accomplished
without the support of the team members, Tisha, Anif, Eva, Rimon
Thank you for your heartiest efforts.
And finally, we offer respect to the teacher who gave us this task
and guidance, Dr Imrana Yasmin.

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Group Profile
Of
Team Diversifiers
Name ID Email
Khondoker Sadman Sakib JH-26-093 [e-mail]
Tisha Chakraborty SK-26-013 [e-mail]
Anif Nawaz SM-26-085 [e-mail]
Eva Das RH-26-047 [e-mail]
MD. Raihan Uddin ZR-26-248 [e-mail]

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Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 6
Factors that Influence Perception.................................................................................................... 6
How Individual differences and organizational constraints affect decision making ...................... 7
Bookish learning and theory ....................................................................................................... 7
Interpretation ............................................................................................................................... 8
What is most important aspect of the theory? ......................................................................... 8
How can it be explained? ........................................................................................................ 8
Outcome ...................................................................................................................................... 8
What have I learned? .............................................................................................................. 8
How can it be applied in the future? ....................................................................................... 9
Early Theories of Motivation .......................................................................................................... 9
Contrast the elements of self-determination theory and goal-setting theory ................................ 11
Discussion on self-efficacy theory, reinforcement theory, equity theory, and expectancy theory.
....................................................................................................................................................... 13
Why is it necessary to learn self efficacy theory, reinforcement theory, equity theory and
expectancy theory?.................................................................................................................... 13
Self Efficacy Theory ................................................................................................................. 13
Reinforcement Theory .............................................................................................................. 14
Equity Theory ........................................................................................................................... 14
Expectancy Theory ................................................................................................................... 15
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 15

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Introduction
Motivation and Perception are key factors in learning organizational behaviour. A manager must
understand the theories and factors relating to perception and motivation. As perception creates
the urge of motivation, it is a very crucial aspect to understand and relate the factors and theories
relating to motivation and perception. This reflective journal has been focused on the
importance, application and understanding of theories and factors regarding perception and
motivation.
Factors that Influence Perception
It is important for a manager to understand the factors that drives perception, as perception is the
key fact that influences decision making. As a manager’s task is to take the best decisions and
influence the subordinates to perform the task. In an organization, a manager’s perception drives
the operations, decisions and the culture as well. So, to enhance and create a warm culture for an
organization, the manager and especially an HR manager must understand the influencing factors
of perception.
Perception is concerned with identifying the processes through which we interpret and organize
this information to produce our conscious experience of objects and relationships among objects.
It is not a simply a passive process of decoding incoming sensory information. There are three
factors including perceiver, situation and target which can touch the perception of a person.
Factors that influence perception are described below:

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Perceiver, situation and target factors can distort perception. Factors in the perceiver is influenced
by attitudes, motives, interests, experience, and expectations of a person. Area of interests
sometimes reflect the judgement of the perceiver. Also, the person who have more knowledge,
he/she consider something differently rather than who have less experiences. For example, we
think that a leader must have interpersonal skills, regardless of his/her performance. Time, work
setting and social setting are included in factors in the situation. It is necessary to know about the
situation. If the factors don't work properly, the perception about something may go wrong. For
example, when the boss mood is good, it is easier to make a proposal rather than other time. If the
person doesn’t have the time sense, the proposal may be sometimes rejected. Finally, factors in the
target can change the perception. Novelty, motion, sounds, size, background, proximity, similarity
are the characteristics of the target. This factor can't detach from perception. Perception influences
by the connectivity of the target and its background. We perceive something as group based on
their similarity. Whenever we know something closely, we can take rational decisions on the basis
of proximity. For example, knowing background of employees, the judgment of the boss can
change.
How Individual differences and organizational constraints affect
decision making
Bookish learning and theory
The bookish learning focuses on different aspects like Individual differences including Personality,
Age, Gender, Cultural differences and mental ability and Organizational constraints including

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Performance evaluation systems, Reward systems, Formal regulations, System-Imposed time
constraints, Historical Precedents etc. Mainly focusing on how these things affect decision making.
The theory says that various difference on these levels make people prefer some decisions overs
others. The theory also explains what are the restraints one needs to work under.
Interpretation
What is most important aspect of the theory?
The most important aspect of the theory is that it explains why the same approach does not work
for everyone.
How can it be explained?
It can be explained because everyone is different and the organization, they are in have different
restraints too. As a result, people cannot always be most rational about everything.
Outcome
What have I learned?
I have learned why people are different and how I can approach and manage these different
people. The different traits people have and how these traits may influence their decisions.
I have also learned what kind of organizational constraints effect decision making and what I
can do to avoid these constraints.

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How can it be applied in the future?
I can apply it in my organization to avoid any kind of decision-making errors which may occur
because of these traits.
These theories have a clear approach to what kind of decision-making error one might make
while under certain circumstances. I can make it possible to avoid those circumstances and
situations so that decision making errors don’t appear on the decision makers side.
I can also make sure that I don’t fall into these criteria myself to avoid any kind of decision-
making mistake I might make.
Early Theories of Motivation
Theories of motivation are important aspect for managers to understand. Among these theories,
the early theories are crucial. It is important for a manager to understand how these theories come
in to play inside an organization. There are four early motivation theories.
Hierarchy of needs: In every human being of particular five needs exist. These five needs are
discussed below-
Needs Description
Physiological Hunger, thirst. For example, a graduate student’s first need will be to earn at least enough
money to fulfill his basic physiological needs like food and clothes.
Esteem Self-respect, autonomy. For example, in this stage, that particular guy would want to
achieve a certain goal that he considers to be attractive as well as respective.

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Safety Security and protection. For example, that graduate students’ next need would be to satisfy
his security concern from the likes of shelter, protection of his life etc.
Social Friendship, affection. For example, that particular graduate student would now want to
socialize and make friends and seek affection from the people around.
Self-
actualization
Growth, self-fulfilment. The last stage of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, where a person
would want to be recognized by the society. And for this reason, he’ll take necessary
actions.
Theory X and theory Y:
Theory X- An assumption that employees dislike work, they are lazy, dislike responsibility, and
must be coerced to perform.
Theory Y- An assumption that employees like work, are creative, seek responsibility, capable to
self direction.
Two factor theory
It relates intrinsic factors to job satisfaction and associates extrinsic factors with dissatisfaction. In
this theory, the rewards inside an organization are divided into two distinct form. First is the factors
that does not demotivate and the second are the factors that motivates an employee. The factors
that do no demotivate are factors that must be present, and if not, the employees would become
demotivated. On the other hand, motivation factors help to motivate employees but without them,
the employees do not feel demotivated.
McClelland's theory of needs-
McClelland has divided the needs of human beings into three distinct needs. According to his
theory, these three needs are the main motivation factors that drive an employee-

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Above all the early theories of motivation only McClelland’s theory had the best support.
Hierarchy of need doesn't validate by the research. Theory X-Theory Y can’t afford to provide
valid reason for motivating employees. Two factor theory also not applicable in nowadays.
McClelland's theory is only has had support. Unfortunately, it has less practical effect than the
others. Because, McClelland argued that the three needs are subconscious measuring them is not
easy. The process is time consuming and expensive.
Contrast the elements of self-determination theory and goal-setting theory
Self-Determination Theory is a concept of motivation that connects personality, human motivation,
and top-notch functioning. According to Self Determination Theory there are two types of
motivation which are intrinsic and extrinsic. Goal setting theory of motivation says that specific and
challenging goals along with proper feedback leads an employee to higher and better task
performance. Goals give direction to an employee about what needs to be done and how much efforts
are required to be put in.
The contrast between self-determination theory and goal setting theory is that self-determination
theory depicts the external and internal factors driving our motivation and positive outcomes from
the factors increase success and goal setting theory says that fixing a goal while working boosts up
the performance and increases success rate. From my personal point of view, self-determination
Need for achievement
• Drive to excel and
achieve
Need for power
• Behave in a proper
way
Need for affiliation
• Desire for colse and
friendly relationship

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theory allows people to feel that they are able to have a positive effect at work tend to feel more
engaged and motivated. If the intrinsic and extrinsic factors result in positive outcomes or outcomes
that meets up the expectations of the employees then self-determination theory works as an absolute
successive theory for motivating organization’s people. There are ways to implement this theory into
organizational activities. For example, managers and leaders can foster this sense of self-
determination by allowing their employees or team members to take an active role in work rather
than themselves doing it. They can also offer the employees to bear some important responsibilities
of work. They can provide them meaningful feedback, encouragement and support. But employers
should be careful not to overuse the extrinsic rewards as many rewards can disrupt intrinsic
motivation and sometimes can cause employees to feel unappreciated. Now to speak about goal
setting theory, it brings benefits and achievements in the organization and leads to better
performance by the employees. When employees are assigned by their upper level management team
in achieving certain goals or targets, they will be motivated to achieve them because this is the time
that they can prove themselves to the company that they can be relied upon. Goal setting theory can
be used to raise incentives for employees. It can lead to better performance by increasing motivation
and efforts, but also through increasing and improving the feedback quality. Besides that, when a
company determines its most important goals for their employees, the employees themselves will
not be reluctant to develop specific skills in order to attain those goals set by the company. This will
result in better performances especially in terms of productivity. But there are some drawbacks found
of goal setting theory. At times, the organizational goals gets conflicted with the managerial goals.
If the employee lacks skills and competencies to perform actions essential for goal, then the goal-
setting can fail and lead to failure of performance. Self-determination theory portraits that along with
the quantity of goals, quality matters too and goal setting theory focuses on the number of success

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in performance achieved. The successful outcomes of these theories depend on the implementation
of it. Employers can design the theories according to their employees need and can exert the negative
effects that the theories imply on organization. But nonetheless, both of these theories have a great
impact on motivation regardless of the limitations.
Discussion on self-efficacy theory, reinforcement theory, equity theory, and
expectancy theory.
Why is it necessary to learn self efficacy theory, reinforcement theory, equity theory and
expectancy theory?
As the world is changing every minute, contemporary theories like self efficacy theory,
reinforcement theory, equity theory and expectancy theory help a manager to understand how his
behaviour inside the organization may lead to a cold situation inside the organization as the old
motivation theory does not always work for the current employees.
Self Efficacy Theory
Self-Efficacy theory focuses on individual’s belief about own’s ability. Today’s managers and
employees like to analyse own self to understand the strengths and weaknesses. Now this help the
to develop self efficacy. Self efficacy enhances the ability to perform a task. A person who has a
high score in self efficacy tries hard to match his ability and achieve the goals he thinks are possible
for him to achieve. The manager of an organization with high score in Self Efficacy, will set a
difficult job, as he thinks he’s capable of doing it. This would push the employees to work hard as
well because of own belief and would improve effectiveness of tasks.

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Reinforcement Theory
This theory suggests that, the people’s action is more focused on the consequences of his own
action and totally ignores the inner state of a person. In an organization, there are basically two
ways to find out the use of reinforcement theory. First is the Behaviourism Technique and the
second is the social learning theory. In an organization, a manager must understand both of these
techniques to motivate his team in a proper way, as it is one of the most common form of
motivation right now. Behaviourism Theory: The boss of an organization sets a goal for an
employee and tags a reward with it if that goal can be achieved. Here the reward is the motivation
for the employee to complete the task and achieve the goal his boss has offered. Social Learning:
At first, an employee sees one of the colleagues doing a task which he thought to be tough and
feels attracted to it. Secondly, the employee tries to remember facts from observing. Thirdly, the
employee tries to replicate the task using his memory. Finally, the employee would try to evaluate
the task and the reward. If positive, he’ll continue to do that task although he thought it to be a
tough one.
Equity Theory
It suggests that employees get motivated by comparing their input and output of the job with others.
If the comparison brings a positive or neutral result, they get motivated to work more. On the other
hand, if the result is negative, they start feeling down, and thinks of switching or in some cases,
their work becomes poor. Now in equity theory, employees seek equity between all the employees.
To ensure a healthy atmosphere in the organization, it is important for the manager to ensure the
use of equity theory at the most effective way.

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Expectancy Theory
One of the most famous contemporary theory of motivation is the Expectancy Theory. This theory
states that, people’s effort in a task is totally dependent on what the outcome of that task will bring
and the attractiveness of those outcomes. In other words, an employee would work harder for a
task which has an attractive outcome or an outcome which would bring that employee a valuable
reward. This theory suggests that when an employee starts working on a task, he becomes
motivated or demotivated to perform well in task because of the three core reasons. First, whether
that performance in the task would get recognized in the performance appraisal or not. Secondly,
whether that performance appraisal would lead to an organizational reward or not. And lastly, is
the reward attractive or not.
Conclusion
Theories of perception and motivation are one of the most important aspect in forming an ideal
organizational behaviour. Managers, especially the HR managers must understand the necessity
and use of perception and motivation in the field of organization behaviour. In this reflective
journal, the core features of perception and use of motivation theories were discussed briefly. The
application and understanding of how factors and theories of perception and motivation influences
the management is discussed in this journal.