Page 171 - DMGT519_Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Unit 8: Role of Attitude and Persuasion

8.10.3 Meaning and Definition of Motivation Notes

The term ‘motivation’ has its origin in the Latin word “mover” which means to “move”. Thus,
motivation stands for movement. One can get a donkey to move by using a “carrot or a stick”,
with people one can use incentives, or threats or reprimands. However, these only have a
limited effect. These work for a while and then need to be repeated, increased or reinforced to
secure further movement. The term motivation may be defined as “the managerial function of
ascertaining the motives of subordinates and helping them to realize those motives”.
According to Dubin motivation could be defined as “the complex of forces starting and keeping
a person at work in an organisation. Motivation is something that moves the person to action,
and continues him in the course of action already initiated”. Motivation refers to the way a
person is enthused at work to intensify his/her desire and willingness to use and channelize
his/her energy for the achievement of organisational objectives. It is something that moves a
person into action wand continue him in the course of action enthusiastically. The role of
motivation is to develop and intensify the desire in every member of the organisation to work
effectively and efficiently in his position.
In the words of Dalton E. McFarland, motivation is the way in which urges, desires, aspiration,
striving or needs direct, control or explain the behaviour of human being”. Motivation has very
close relationship with the behaviour. It explains how and way the human behaviour is caused.
According to McFarland motivation is a form of tension occurring within individual, with
resulting behaviour aimed at reducing, eliminating or diverting the tension. Understanding the
needs and drives and their resulting tensions helps to explain and predict human behaviour
ultimately providing a sound basis for managerial decision and action.” Thus, motivation is the
term, which applies to the entire class of urges, drives, desires, needs and similar forces.

Concept of Motivation

The word motivation is common in everyday language, but is not easy to define rigorously in
a scientific context. The concept of motivation is related to, but distinct from other concepts, such
as instincts, drives, and reflexes. Motivated behavior is usually goal oriented; the goal may be
associated with a drive such as hunger or thirst (called primary motivation). However, motivation
is also closely tied to sensory stimuli: an animal will not usually exhibit eating behavior unless
food is presented. Unlike instinctive behavior, Motivation depends on affect (emotional state).
Finally, motivation can be learned (in which case it is called secondary motivation) and typically
elicits more complex behaviors than simple reflexes.
An animal is always performing some activity, even when that activity is sleep. At any given
time the environment offers the opportunity to carry out many different behaviors. Such as
exploratory or consummator behaviors, but an animal typically carries out a single voluntary
activity at a time. The study of motivation is concerned with which activity the animal performs
in a given environment, and how the animal maintains a given activity or changes between
different activities, as a function of environmental events and internal needs.
Motivation is typically studied using two approaches: psychological studies manipulate
environmental events and monitor the resulting patterns of motivated behavior; physiological
studies are aimed at clarifying the neural or endocrine origin of motivation. Psychological
studies might examine, for instance, how an animal is able to maintain a constant goal-oriented
activity as the surrounding stimuli change, or how an animal is able to spontaneously switch
between behaviors as its needs change. Physiological studies attempt to identify physiological
variables and neural regions that are related to motivated behavior.

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