Psychological Theories and Models for Employee Motivation Report

This report provides an introduction to employee motivation, focusing on the challenges and opportunities presented by a multi-generational workforce. It delves into the importance of employee retention and engagement in the modern business landscape, highlighting how motivation plays a pivotal role in achieving organizational success. The report examines the complexities of managing a diverse workforce with varying interests and needs, emphasizing the significance of understanding generational differences. It explores the interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and the role of emotional intelligence in fostering a motivated and productive work environment. The report outlines the problem statement as identifying psychological theories and models that can effectively motivate a multi-generational workplace. It discusses the theoretical framework, including intrinsic motivation driven by satisfaction and self-expression, and extrinsic motivation through tangible rewards. The report also emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence in managing employee emotions and promoting overall job performance, leadership abilities, and self-motivation within the workforce. The report concludes by highlighting the interconnectedness of these motivational tools in creating a cohesive and engaged workforce.

Running Head: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION CHAPTER
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

1INTRODUCTION CHAPTER
Table of Contents
Problem statement...........................................................................................................................2
Theoretical framework.....................................................................................................................4
Intrinsic motivation......................................................................................................................5
Extrinsic motivation.....................................................................................................................5
Emotional intelligence.................................................................................................................6
Reference.........................................................................................................................................8

2INTRODUCTION CHAPTER
Problem statement
The advent of globalisation has changed the shape of workplace and its activities to a
great extent. In the modern business practice human capital or workforce is considered to be the
most important and strategic element that controls the success of the organisation. in other
words, Cote (2019) articulated that due to the shortage of skilled labour in the market, business
companies are intensely concerned about their existing workforce. Therefore, becomes pertinent
for them to retain and engage the existing workforce into the organisational fold so that the
organisation can get the benefits. However, the change in the global business scenario also
transforms the perception and ways of seeing of the people as well. For instance, the interests of
the employees is also considered to be an important aspect for the business organisations to
reduce the employee turnover (Heyns & Kerr, 2018). In response to this, motivation plays a
pivotal role in the process of employee retention and the business organisations are taking
enough measures and skills to motivate its existing workforce. The purpose is associated with
gaining competitive edge in the market by having high quality performance from the employees
and at the same time it is also pertinent to meet the interests of the employees as a part of the
motivation.
There are several challenges that the organisation can face in course of meeting the
interests of the employees and motivate them effectively. Apart from the other challenges of
employee motivation, dealing with multi-generational workforce is very difficult for the
organisation as the interests of the employees varies as per the generation. According to the
research of Franco (2017) it can be stated that motivating the multi-generational workforce is
associated with myriad of impressive technical skills and in-depth knowledge that the managers

3INTRODUCTION CHAPTER
are expected to have. A pertinent question arises regarding the skills and knowledge of the
managers and its efficacy to motivate and manage a multi-generational workforce. As per the
research of Fahy and Moylan (2019) it can be stated that multi-generational workforce is defined
as a workforce consists of employees from different generations. Naturally, the employees have
different interests and needs as per their generations and it is imperative for the organisation to
create a multi-dimensional practice so that all their needs are taken care of. In order to make it a
more justified argument, Calk and Patrick (2017) opined that the global managers in modern
business must have the idea of different values and attitudes of each generation so that it will
help the organisation to formulate an effective motivational practice.
From the research of Fiaz, Su and Saqib (2017) employee motivation is a very intricate
and sophisticated subject that is resembled with the practice of different theories and models of
motivation. It is not possible for the global managers to use all those theories and models while
dealing with the multi-generational workforce because there is no point to use every theories and
models if it does not suit the interests of the employees and simultaneously meet the objectives
of the organisation as well. The practice of multi-generational workforce in organisation is
influenced by the fact that the employee performance can pave the way for the organisation to
achieve success. By using the multi-generation workforce, a company can use its experience,
knowledge and skills magnificently that can foster strategic advantage for the organisation in the
competitive market. However, the question still remains regarding motivating and engaging the
multi-generation workforce. As opined by Satpathy et al. (2018) employee engagement and
motivation depends on the psychological needs and demands of the employees. Therefore, the
organisation must use the psychological techniques to motivate its employees. In fact, for
engaging and motivating the multi-generational workforce, it is also effective to use the

4INTRODUCTION CHAPTER
psychological tools because the differences among various generations of workforce is primarily
based on the psychological differences (Jayasekara & Weerasinghe, 2018). As far as the research
of Solaja and Ogunola (2016) is concerned, psychological needs are the foundational elements
for all the employees belonged to different generation.
In response to this, the choice of different psychological tools of motivational practice is
a crucial factor for the business organisations. The companies must analyse the characteristics of
different psychological motivational tools and its drawbacks so that it will help to plan an
effective motivation strategy to manage multi-generation workforce. In addition to this, the
feasibility of the motivation strategies are also important for the organisation before
implementing it. Therefore, it can be stated that motivating a multi-generation workforce is not a
linear process of motivation that the companies are generally used. It requires some
psychological and emotional understanding that can help to motivate a multi-generational
workforce. Therefore, the problem statement of the study is to find out the psychological theories
and models that can help to motivate multi-generational workplace.
Theoretical framework
Forsten-Astikainen, Kultalahti and Muhos (2018) defined that motivation is a
psychological force that determine the direction of the behaviour and attitude of a person. From
the organisational context, it can be asserted that the motivation is a tool or technique that drives
an organisation to set personal level of effort and the person’s level of persistence in the face of
obstacles. Motivation is sometimes identified as a simple and unitary practice but in case of
managing and motivating multi-generation employees this perception is not relevant enough due
to the differences of psychological needs of the employees. Therefore, Gibbs, Neckermann and

5INTRODUCTION CHAPTER
Siemroth (2017) opined that different kinds of motivation is not enough for encouraging a multi-
generation workforce. It requires different kinds of motivational efforts as well so that both the
organisation and the multi-generation employees both get benefitted. The current research
focuses on the relationship between intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and emotional
intelligence in order to motivate a multi-generation workforce.
Intrinsic motivation
The concept of intrinsic motivation is associated with the activity of inheriting
satisfaction by internal efforts. According to Hartijasti and Darpita (2017) the intrinsic
motivation is a complex process resembled with the neurophysiological activity. In other words,
it can be stated that the driving factors of the intrinsic motivation are the satisfaction,
organisational commitment and self-expression of the employees. In a multi-generation
workforce, self-expression is considered to be an important aspect for the employees to ventilate
their vision and needs so that it can be met. The intrinsic motivational factors provide an
optimistic psychological feelings to the employees so that they can do meaningful work and
performing well.
Extrinsic motivation
On the other hand, the extrinsic motivation is defined as the outside encouragement that
can drive the employees to get motivated without having any fun or enjoyment at work. It is
important to note that the role of the extrinsic motivational factors is to provide rewards in terms
of financial benefits to the employees that can meet their interests. However, there is no relation
between the extrinsic motivational factors and the satisfaction and fun in doing the work.
Therefore, it can be argued that the extrinsic motivation practice is associated with the tangible
rewards in the form of salary hike, bonuses, incentives, promotion that will help to motivate the

6INTRODUCTION CHAPTER
employees. In course of relating the extrinsic motivation practice with motivating the multi-
generation employees, Fiaz, Su and Saqib (2017) advocated that the extrinsic motivational
practice can be useful tool for influencing and encouraging the multi-generation employees
because it provides different sorts of tangible benefits that can meet the demands and demands of
the employees.
Emotional intelligence
From the research of Heyns and Kerr (2018), it can be referred that emotional
intelligence is able to manage the emotional states of the employees and guides them towards
getting highly motivated to plan and achieve the needs. The emotional intelligence practice is a
very spontaneous effort of employee motivation where the needs and demands of the employees
can easily be identified and push them towards achieve it. As per the research of Calk and
Patrick (2017) it can be stated that the emotional intelligence practice is consisted of self-
awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills that are highly useful to not
only motivate the employees but also prepare them to achieve motivation effectively. There is an
intricate relationship between the emotional intelligence practice and the job performance and
leadership abilities of the managers. In other words, it can be stated that the emotional
intelligence practice is acted as a predictor of performance and ability of the employees and
based on the prediction it can easily be find out whether the employee is motivated or not.
Furthermore, Cote (2019) opined that emotional intelligence plays a significant role in
organising, directing and motivating the employees so that they can perform well and usher
progress and benefits for the organisation and self-development as well.
The relationship among all those different motivational tools can be identified in terms of
generating an encouragement among the multi-generational workforce as all those tools are

7INTRODUCTION CHAPTER
directly or indirectly influences the workforce to perform well. For instance, the intrinsic
motivation can help the multi-generation workforce to get the opportunity to express themselves
equally and a commitment that the organisation endorses towards the benefit of its human
capital. It helps them to understand the benevolent purpose of the organisation. On the other
hand, the extrinsic motivation enables them to get tangible benefits that they demand and expect.
Finally, the emotional intelligence helps them to take responsibilities of their job and a self-
motivated practice has been formulated that drives the multi-generational employees to engage
into their job profoundly.

8INTRODUCTION CHAPTER
Reference
Calk, R., & Patrick, A. (2017). Millennials through the looking glass: Workplace motivating
factors. The Journal of Business Inquiry, 16(2), 131-139.
Cote, R. (2019). Motivating Multigenerational Employees: Is There a Difference?. Journal of
Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, 16(2).
Fahy, G., & Moylan, E. (2019). The challenge of developing reward programs that motivate
multi-generational workforces. Exemplar.
Fiaz, M., Su, Q., & Saqib, A. (2017). Leadership styles and employees' motivation: Perspective
from an emerging economy. The Journal of Developing Areas, 51(4), 143-156.
Forsten-Astikainen, R., Kultalahti, S., & Muhos, M. (2018, December). Age-related Differences
in Work Motivations: The Case of SMEs. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on
Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM) (pp. 1031-1034). IEEE.
Franco, A. (2017). Motivation and engagement of public health inspectors: a Canadian
perspective for the 21st century. Environmental Health Review, 60(2), 34-41.
Gibbs, M., Neckermann, S., & Siemroth, C. (2017). A field experiment in motivating employee
ideas. Review of Economics and Statistics, 99(4), 577-590.
Hartijasti, Y., & Darpita, S. (2017). Is Financial Reward Still an Important Motivator for the
Indonesian Multi-Generational Workforce?. Journal of Management and Marketing
Review (JMMR) Vol, 2(3).

9INTRODUCTION CHAPTER
Heyns, M. M., & Kerr, M. D. (2018). Generational differences in workplace motivation. SA
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Jayasekara, W. A. S. S., & Weerasinghe, T. D. (2018). The Nexus between Employee
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Reference to the Executives of a Leading PVC Manufacturing Firm in Sri
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Satpathy, I., Patnaik, B. C. M., & Palai, D. (2018). Intricacies of Multi-Generational Workforce
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Solaja, O. M., & Ogunola, A. A. (2016). Leadership style and multigenerational workforce: A
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