Motivation Theories: Application in the Contemporary Workplace

This essay explores the critical role of motivation in contemporary business environments, highlighting its influence on goal-oriented behavior. It emphasizes the need for organizations to effectively motivate employees to achieve company objectives. The report delves into various motivation theories, ...Read More

Individual Essay

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.............................................................................................................................3
Discuss theories of motivation and how to apply then in the modern workplace..................3
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................8
Books and Journals:...............................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Motivation is found to be an important process in today's complex business
environment. It refers to a process that guides, maintain and initiate goal-oriented behaviour.
Every day the complex nature of the business environment is increasing and employees are
feeling very restless and demotivated towards the goal and objective of the company (Kothe
and et.al., 2019). It becomes necessary for organisations to provide effective motivation to
the employees so that they can give their best product which results in the achievement of
goals and objectives of the company. This report aims to identify and analyse the theories of
motivation which are applied in the modern work places. Many theories will discuss in this
report of motivation that helps an organisation to encourage and motivate their employees
towards the goal of the company.
MAIN BODY
Discuss theories of motivation and how to apply then in the modern workplace
Motivation is defined as the internal force which provides a great impact on the
intensity, direction and endurance of a person. It is the process that helps an organisation to
accomplish its goals and objective as it inspired employees and workers to work for the
accomplishment of organisational goals. It is identified that motivation belts confidence in
employees which results in improving their work performances, reduces absenteeism,
securing loyalty and reduction in labour turnover (Wang and et.al., 2019). It is identified that
organisation needs to motivate their employees time by time because every day the complex
behaviour of the business environment is increasing due to its dynamic nature. Globalization
increases the competition for companies as any company can enter into any market for the
purpose of expanding their business. This will result in increasing the stress for companies as
it becomes very tough for them to compete with their competitors. It is also identified that
motivation becomes very essential in such type of situation when employees feel that they are
not able to do it. With the help of motivation, an organisation can easily handle these types of
situations and able to reduce stress among all employees.
Now it is clear that motivation is very important and it requires in every stage of
organisation. But at the same time, it is recommended to the organisation that they need to
apply motivational theories as it increases the probability of success because motivational
theories are efficient and effective to encourage employees towards the accomplishment of
organisational goals and objectives. This is the main reason that theories need to apply by

organisations in the business environment which helps employees to handle all the dynamic
situations. Some important theories of motivation of mentioned below:
Maslow's theory of hierarchical needs
It is a theory that was postulated by Abraham Maslow. According to him, a person
will get motivated when their needs and wants are fulfilled (Shafiei and Maleksaeidi 2020).
He believes that people do not work for security or money as they work for using their skills
and contributing to the organisation. For that reason, he create a pyramid to show how people
are motivated. In their pyramid, it includes five important stages which start from
physiological and end with self-actualization needs. This can be explained with the help of
the below points and pyramid:
 Physiological needs are found to be the basic and necessary needs that are crucial for
each person to fulfil. An organisation needs to make sure that they provide enough
salary which can fulfil their basic needs. Physiological needs are needed for the
survival of an individual such as air, clothing, food, water, sleep and shelter.
 Safety needs are found to be very important for the individual which should be
satisfying after physiological needs (Rad and et.al., 2021). It is identified that safety
needs are concerned with protection from deprivation, threats and other types of
dangers for example health, property and secure employment. In today's time, it is

identified that every individual is suffering from the threat of employment. After the
pandemic situation, the thread is increasing because there are many companies who
terminate the employee's tenure before their due date. This is the main reason that
safety needs are increasing and it is crucial for an organisation to provide safety needs
so that employees are able to encourage towards the achievement of goals and
objectives.
 Belongingness need is concerned with social needs which include association,
friendship, and affiliation and so on. The stress level of employees is increasing every
day because the business environment is getting very dynamic and it creates many
complex situations in front of the employees which needs to be handled by the
employee. At that time, it is necessary that any person should provide assistance to the
employees so that they can feel that they are not a single person who was suffering
from complexities. This time they require belongingness and love which needs to be
fulfilled by the organisation (Oakley and et.al., 2020). They can be full filled with the
help of providing unofficial parties where employees can meet with other employees,
not for a business purpose but they can meet as a friend. These types of opportunities
are very helpful in order to satisfy the need for belongingness and love.
 Now self-esteem needs have occurred when all basic needs are fulfilled. It is the need
that requires recognition and respect for an individual. It is necessary to understand by
an organisation that after a certain time it becomes crucial for employees that they
should get recognition which helps them to encourage and appreciate for their work.
Appreciation is found to be the best way to fulfil this need as when employees get an
appreciation for their work then they are able to do their best for the organisation.
This is the reason that organisations should understand the importance of self-esteem
needs. They can be fulfilled with the help of conducting a program in which they need
to be provided awards for the performances of employees.
 Last but not least self-actualization needs are found to be not possible to full fill as it
is the stage where human aspire is becoming very high. It is the stage where they can
find an opportunity for personal development and learning challenging work. This
type of need is found to be difficult to fulfil.
Hertzberg’s two factor theory
According to this theory, there is a separate set of mutually exclusive factors which
are presented in the workplace that cause job dissatisfaction or satisfaction. It is necessary for

an organisation to understand those two factors which are namely categorised into hygiene
factors and motivating factors. It is identified that poor hygiene factors are destroying
motivation. Hygiene factors are not sufficient to motivate people as people are also required
some motivator factors (Wigfield and Koenka, 2020). These factors are found to be important
as they encourage job satisfaction related to self-actualization and self-growth. In today's
workplaces, it is found that the two-factor motivation theory is becoming one of the most
commonly used frameworks which are required by an organisation to increase job
satisfaction. It includes two important factors which are motivation factors and hygiene
factors. It is necessary to understand that motivation factors help to improve job satisfaction
and are found to be intrinsic to the job. It is really very helpful in order to satisfy the need for
self-actualization and growth. Some important hygiene and motivational factors are found
such as advancement, the possibility for growth, recognition, responsibility, achievement, etc.
On the other hand, hygiene factors are found to be those factors that decrease job this
satisfaction (Haag, Siponen and Liu, 2021). It is similarly important as medical hygiene
because it operates to remove health hazards from the environment and in an organisation it
helps to remove all the factors which reduce the satisfaction of job in the employees. These
are found to be extrinsic and it includes interpersonal relations, company policies and
administration, salary, working conditions and supervision.
These are the important theories that are necessary for an organisation to apply as it
helps them to achieve their goals and objectives in an effective way (van Bavel and et.al.,
2019). When a company is using theories of motivation then the surety is becoming hundred
per cent of achieving the goals and objectives of the company. Both theories are found to be
very important and it is crucial to apply in the business environment.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above discussion that motivation is becoming very
important in today's business environment. It is necessary to understand by a company that
motivation is very important for each organisation as the use human resources which required
motivation and encouragement so that they can give their best to the company. It is necessary
to understand by an organisation that they need to use some theories of motivation which
becomes very helpful as it becomes a tool that helps to motivate their employees in an
effective way. This report included important theories of motivation that are applied by every

organisation in today's workplace. It includes Maslow's theory of hierarchical needs and
Hertzberg's two-factor theory.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Haag, S., Siponen, M. and Liu, F., 2021. Protection motivation theory in information systems
security research: A review of the past and a road map for the future. ACM SIGMIS
Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems, 52(2), pp.25-67.
Kothe, E.J., and et.al., 2019. Protection motivation theory and pro‐environmental behaviour:
A systematic mapping review. Australian Journal of Psychology, 71(4), pp.411-432.
Oakley, M., and et.al., 2020. Protection motivation theory: a proposed theoretical extension
and moving beyond rationality—the case of flooding. Water, 12(7), p.1848.
Rad, R.E., and et.al., 2021. Application of the protection motivation theory for predicting
COVID-19 preventive behaviors in Hormozgan, Iran: a cross-sectional study. BMC
Public Health, 21(1), pp.1-11.
Shafiei, A. and Maleksaeidi, H., 2020. Pro-environmental behavior of university students:
Application of protection motivation theory. Global Ecology and Conservation, 22,
p.e00908.
van Bavel, R., and et.al., 2019. Using protection motivation theory in the design of nudges to
improve online security behavior. International Journal of Human-Computer
Studies, 123, pp.29-39.
Wang, J., and et.al., 2019. Travellers' self-protections against health risks: An application of
the full Protection Motivation Theory. Annals of Tourism Research, 78, p.102743.
Wigfield, A. and Koenka, A.C., 2020. Where do we go from here in academic motivation
theory and research? Some reflections and recommendations for future
work. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, p.101872.