Motivation

Motivation

Motivation is the internal desire humans have to fulfil instinctive needs, and is a utensil required in everyday life in order to achieve personal goals and aspirations.  It is described as consisting of ‘internal and external factors that stimulate energy in people to apply continuous and consistent effort in attaining a goal.’ (Businessdictionary.com).

Motivation can be analysed in many different ways and has inspired various theories which are dedicated to evaluating it. The theory that I feel is most relevant to myself is Abraham Maslow’s concept of the hierarchy of needs. The principles of this theory entail a person having a hierarchy of needs they wish to fulfil, where motivation is based on wishing to accomplish the next level of need once the requirements of the previous level have been satisfied. The idea is also put forward that higher levels cannot be fulfilled until lower levels of needs are met. As stated in Management and Organisational Behaviour, Maslow’s basic preposition is that people are wanting beings, and what they want depends on what they already have. (Mullins, 2007 p.260), thus justifying the hierarchy of needs.

The above diagram illustrates the various levels of need which Maslow believed all people aspire to. Physiological needs are basic wants such as food and shelter, and Maslow’s theory suggests that the higher levels of safety and social needs cannot be met until this is acquired. However, this level of need illustrates how subjective the hierarchy can be. For example, the need for food and shelter is very easily met in a first world country such as Great Britain, which therefore reduces the significance of this level of need within the hierarchy. However, a person within a poverty-stricken country is more likely to aspire to the physiological level of need.

In turn, once this level of need is met, the theory suggests a person will aspire to fulfil Safety needs. This, in terms of a corporate environment, for example, could refer to an employee’s want of job security in order to ensure they have a consistent means of income. A person will not be able to aspire to the next level of Social needs until such issues have been resolved, as they will not be deemed to be at the same level of importance. However, once Safety needs have been met, Maslow suggests a person will aspire to fulfilling Social needs. Such needs depict a personal desire for interaction, e.g. to be part of a group, for instance, where they can emotional wants can be met with like-minded individuals. Such a sense of belonging is likely to boost an individual’s confidence, whereby they look to enhancing their self-esteem.  Within this level of need, a person will want recognition and to further their achievements to give them a sense of self accomplishment. This need for self-respect involves the desire for confidence, independence and freedom, (Mullins, 2007). Henceforth, such a level of confidence motivates people to seek Self-Actualisation, where they can develop to their full potential. Here they are suggested to be finally content, for example, in terms of job satisfaction. They have reached the point where they have achieved everything they are capable of achieving, as the theory portrays the fact that once a person has fulfilled a lower need, achieving it motivates them no longer. Thus, ‘a satisfied need is no longer a motivator.’ (Maslow 1943).

My personal motivation for starting my degree course stems from the need I have to prove myself academically. I feel that achievement at the highest place of education will allow me to do this, as the opportunity I have for independent learning and self-reliance mean that the credit I could get in managing to achieve academically will be all the more rewarding. In turn, these wants are also what will motivate me for the next three years, as it will be my desire to gain a good grade at the end of my degree that will drive me to work hard within my course. For these reasons, I feel my desires relate to the Self Esteem level of need within Maslow’s hierarchy, as I am looking to gain achievement and recognition through my degree. However, I also feel that the fact that my desires are more relatable to the Self Esteem level of need brings up the question of how reputable Maslow’s hierarchy is in terms of the order of needs. As a new student, I feel that I have not yet managed to satisfy social or safety requirements, due to the university and my peers still being relatively unknown to me. This means that I have therefore not conformed to Maslow’s order of needs or his theory that progression to the next level of need can only occur once the previous one has been fulfilled.

On a different note, this previous summer I received my A level results, and was dismayed to find out that I hadn’t done as well as I’d hoped within my Maths A level. In contrast to me being highly motivated to achieve academically, failing to do so was a high de-motivator, as I had failed to achieve satisfy my requirements for needs of Self Esteem, as present in Maslow’s hierarchy. This caused me to drop down to the Safety level of need, as I was worried my grade would damage my prospects of employment. However, as de-motivated I was in terms of finding a job, I was also partially frustrated on the Self Esteem level that I hadn’t managed to do myself justice and perform to my full capabilities. This had the contrasting effect of driving me to view my goal of doing well within my degree with even more focus and determination, which means that I may still be categorised as aspiring to fulfil the Self Esteem level of need within Maslow’s Hierarchy, as my failing has motivated me to do better academically within my degree, in order to prove my capabilities.

Conclusively, I feel that although Maslow’s theory is largely correct, the rigid order the needs are placed in do not reflect, in my opinion, how needs are categorised by people in real life, where personal desire is influenced by individual and personal motivators. However, analysing my experiences against Maslow’s theory has allowed me to understand the workings and value of motivation as a tool and how it is utilised to achieve desired goals.

References,

Mullins, Laurie J. (2010) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 9^th ed. Essex: Pearson

BusinessDictionary team, Motivation definition [online]. Businessdictionary.com. Available from: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/motivation.html [Accessed 10 October 2010].

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review 50, 370-96