Motivation Theories

Motivation is an internal desire or willingness to do something. Motivation is what encourages people to set goals and then to take action to work toward achieving those goals

Motivation theory is the study of understanding what drives a person to work towards a particular goal or outcome. It’s relevant to all of society but is especially important to business and management. That’s because a motivated employee is more productive, and a more productive employee is more profitable.

To describe the indescribable seems to be the ambitious undertaking of motivation theories.

The many approaches to defining what drives human behavior are best understood when considering the very purpose of creating them, be it increased performance, goal pursuit, resilience, or relapse prevention, to name a few.

There is nothing more practical than a good theory.

Kurt Lewin

There is no single motivation theory that explains all aspects of human motivation, but these theoretical explanations do often serve as the basis for the development of approaches and techniques to increase motivation in distinct areas of human endeavor.

This article briefly summarizes existing theories of motivation and their potential real-world applications.

What is Motivation Psychology?

Motivation psychologists usually attempt to show how motivation varies within a person at different times or among different people at the same time. The purpose of the psychology of motivation is to explain how and why that happens.

Broad views of how to understand motivation were created by psychologists based on various types of analyses. Cognitive analyses, behavioral anticipation, and affective devices are often used to account for motivation in terms of expecting an end-state or goal.

Motivation psychology is a study of how biological, psychological, and environmental variables contribute to motivation. That is, what do the body and brain contribute to motivation; what mental processes contribute; and finally, how do material incentives, goals, and mental representations motivate individuals?

Psychologists research motivation through the use of two different methods. Experimental research is usually conducted in a laboratory and involves manipulating a motivational variable to determine its effects on behavior.

Correlational research involves measuring an existing motivational variable to determine how the measured values are associated with behavioral indicators of motivation.

Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.

Henry Ford, 1863–1947

To be motivated means to be moved into action. We are induced into action or thought by either the push of a motive or the pull of an incentive or goal toward some end-state. Here a motive is understood as an internal disposition that pushes an individual toward a desired end-state where the motive is satisfied, and a goal is defined as the cognitive representation of the desired outcome that an individual attempts to achieve.

While a goal guides a behavior that results in achieving it, an incentive is an anticipated feature of the environment that pulls an individual toward or away from a goal. Incentives usually enhance motivation for goal achievement. Emotions act like motives as well. They motivate an individual in a coordinated fashion along multiple channels of effect, physiology, and behavior to adapt to significant environmental changes.

See our discussion of the motorcycle and process in the blog post entitled What is Motivation?

Theories of Motivation

Theories of motivation are often separated into content theories and process theories. In short, content theories explain what motivation is, and process theories describe how motivation occurs.

There are also a large number of cognitive theories that relate to motivation and explain how our way of thinking and perceiving ourselves and the world around us can influence our motives. From self-concept, dissonance, and mindset to values, orientation, and perceived control, these theories explain how our preference toward certain mental constructs can increase or impair our ability to take goal-directed action.

Theories of motivation are also grouped by the field of human endeavor they apply. Several theories relate to motivating employees where incentives and needs take a central stage as well as theories used in sports and performance psychology where the effect is considered a more prominent driver of human behavior. Some of these theories are also applied to education and learning.

Content Theories of Motivation

Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs, Alderfer’s ERG theory, McClelland’s achievement motivation theory, and Herzberg’s two-factor theory focused on what motivates people and addressed specific factors like individual needs and goals.

Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs

The most recognized content theory of motivation is that of Abraham Maslow, who explained motivation through the satisfaction of needs arranged in a hierarchical order. As satisfied needs do not motivate, it is the dissatisfaction that moves us in the direction of fulfillment.

Needs are conditions within the individual that are essential for the maintenance of life and the nurturance of growth and well-being. Hunger and thirst exemplify two biological needs that arise from the body’s requirement for food and water. These are required nutriments for the maintenance of life.

The body of man is a machine which winds its own spring.

J. O. De La Mettrie

Competence and belongingness exemplify two psychological needs that arise from the self’s requirement for environmental mastery and warm interpersonal relationships. These are required nutrients for growth and well-being.

Needs serve the organism, and they do so by:

• generating wants, desires, and strivings that motivate whatever behaviors are necessary for the maintenance of life and the promotion of growth and well-being, and
• generating a deep sense of need satisfaction from doing so.

Maslow’s legacy is the order of needs progressing in the ever-increasing complexity, starting with basic physiological and psychological needs and ending with the need for self-actualization. While basic needs are experienced as a sense of deficiency, the higher needs are experienced more in terms of the need for growth and fulfillment

Alderfer’s ERG theory

Alderfer’s theory of motivation expands on the work of Maslow and takes the premise of need categories a bit further. He observes that when lower needs are satisfied, they occupy less of our attention, but the higher needs tend to become more important, the more we pursue them.

He also observed a phenomenon that he called the frustration-regression process were when our higher needs are thwarted, we may regress to lower needs. This is especially important when it comes to motivating employees.

When a sense of autonomy or the need for mastery is compromised, say because of the structure of the work environment, the employee may focus more on the sense of security or relatedness the job provides.

McClelland’s achievement motivation theory

McClelland took a different approach to conceptualizing needs and argued that needs are developed and learned, and focused his research away from satisfaction. He was also adamant that only one dominant motive can be present in our behavior at a time. McClelland categorized the needs or motives into achievement, affiliation, and power and saw them as being influenced by either internal drivers or extrinsic factors.

Among all the prospects which man can have, the most comforting is, on the basis of his present moral condition, to look forward to something permanent and to further progress toward a still better prospect.

Immanuel Kant

The drive for achievement arises out of the psychological need for competence and is defined as a striving for excellence against a standard that can originate from three sources of competition: the task itself, the competition with the self, and the competition against others.

A high need for achievement can come from one’s social environment and socialization influences, like parents who promote and value pursuit and standards of excellence, but it can also be developed throughout life as a need for personal growth towards complexity (Reeve, 2014).

Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory

Herzberg’s two-factor theory, also known as motivation-hygiene theory, was originally intended to address employee motivation and recognized two sources of job satisfaction. He argued that motivating factors influence job satisfaction because they are based on an individual’s need for personal growth: achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, and advancement.

On the other hand, hygiene factors, which represented deficiency needs, defined the job context and could make individuals unhappy with their job: company policy and administration, supervision, salary, interpersonal relationships, and working conditions.

Process Theories of Motivation

Process theories like Skinner’s reinforcement theory, Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory, Adams’ equity theory, and Locke’s goal-setting theory set out to explain how motivation occurs and how our motives change over time.

Reinforcement theory

The most well-known process theory of motivation is the reinforcement theory, which focused on the consequences of human behavior as a motivating factor.

Based on Skinner’s operant conditioning theory, identifies positive reinforcements as promoters that increased the possibility of the desired behavior’s repetition: praise, appreciation, a good grade, trophy, money, promotion, or any other reward (Gordon, 1987).

It distinguished positive reinforcements from negative reinforcement and punishment, where the former gives a person only what they need in exchange for desired behavior, and the latter tries to stop the undesired behavior by inflicting unwanted consequences.

See our articles on Positive Reinforcement in the Workplace and Parenting Children with Positive Reinforcement.

Other process motivation theories combine aspects of reinforcement theory with other theories, sometimes from adjacent fields, to shine a light on what drives human behavior.

Adams’ equity theory of motivation

For example, Adams’ equity theory of motivation (1965), based on the Social Exchange theory, states that we are motivated when treated equitably, and we receive what we consider fair for our efforts.

It suggests that we not only compare our contributions to the number of rewards we receive but also compare them to what others receive for the same amount of input. Although equity is essential to motivation, it does not take into account the differences in individual needs, values, and personalities, which influence our perception of inequity.

Vroom’s expectancy theory

Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory (1964), on the other hand, integrates needs, equity, and reinforcement theories to explain how we choose from alternative forms of voluntary behavior based on the belief that decisions will have desired outcomes. Vroom suggests that we are motivated to pursue an activity by appraising three factors:

• Expectancy that assumes more effort will result in success
• Instrumentality that sees a connection between activity and goal
• Valence represents the degree to which we value the reward or the results of success.

Locke’s goal-setting theory

Finally, Locke and Latham’s (1990) goal-setting theory, an integrative model of motivation, sees goals as key determinants of behavior. Possibly the most widely applied, the goal-setting theory stresses goal specificity, difficulty, and acceptance and provides guidelines for how to incorporate them into incentive programs and management by objectives (MBO) techniques in many areas.

Lock’s recipe for effective goal setting includes:

• The setting of challenging but attainable goals. Too easy or too difficult or unrealistic goals don’t motivate us.
• Setting goals that are specific and measurable. These can focus us on what we want and can help us measure the progress toward the goal.
• Goal commitment should be obtained. If we don’t commit to the goals, then we will not put adequate effort toward reaching them, regardless of how specific or challenging they are.
• Strategies to achieve this could include participation in the goal-setting process, the use of extrinsic rewards (bonuses), and encouraging intrinsic motivation through providing feedback about goal attainment. It is important to mention here that pressure to achieve goals is not useful because it can result in dishonesty and superficial performance.
• Support elements should be provided. For example, encouragement needed materials and resources, and moral support.
• Knowledge of results is essential. Goals need to be quantifiable, and there needs to be feedback.

There are several articles on effective goal setting in our blog series that cover Locke’s theory and its many applications.

Cognitive Theories of Motivation

Some cognitive theories inform our understanding of motivation. They address specific cognitive phenomena that can influence motivation, represent a particular factor of motivation, describe a form of expression of motivation, or explain a process through which it can occur or be enhanced.

The list of cognitive phenomena is by no means comprehensive, but it does give us a taste of the complexity of human motivation and includes references for those who want to read further into more nuanced topics:

• Plans (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1998)
• Goals (Locke & Latham, 2002)
• Implementation intentions (Gollwitzer, 1999)
• Deliberative versus implementation mindsets (Gollwitzer & Kinney, 1989)
• Promotion versus prevention orientations (Higgins, 1997)
• Growth versus fixed mindsets (Dweck, 2006)
• Dissonance (Festinger, 1957; Harmon-Jones & Mills, 1999)
• Self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986)
• Perceived control (Skinner, 1996)
• Reactance theory (Brehm, 1966)
• Learned helplessness theory (Miller & Seligman, 1975)
• Mastery beliefs (Diener & Dweck, 1978)
• Attributions (Wiener, 1986)
• Values (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002)
• Self-concept (Markus, 1977)
• Possible selves (Oyserman, Bybee, & Terry, 2006)
• Identity (Eccles, 2009)
• Self-regulation (Zimmerman, 2000)
• Self-control (Baumeister & Tierney, 2011)

There are also several different approaches to understanding human motivation which we have discussed in greater detail in our article on Benefits and Importance of Motivation which amass a large body of motivational studies and are currently attracting a lot of attention in contemporary research in motivational science, namely intrinsic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000) and the flow theory (Csíkszentmihályi, 1975).

Motivational Theories in Business

There are many theories developed for application to the organizational setting and motivation of employees. In addition to the Two Factor theory and equity theory, some theories focus on autonomy, wellbeing, and feedback as core motivational aspects of employees’ performance; theories X, Y, and Z, and the Hawthorne effect, respectively.

Theory X and Theory Y

Douglas McGregor proposed two theories, Theory X and Theory Y, to explain employee motivation and its implications for management. He divided employees into Theory X employees who avoid work and dislike responsibility and Theory Y employees who enjoy work and exert effort when they have control in the workplace.

He postulated that to motivate Theory X employees, the company needs to enforce rules and implement punishments. For Theory Y employees, management must develop opportunities for employees to take on responsibility and show creativity as a way of motivating them. Theory X is heavily informed by what we know about intrinsic motivation, and the role satisfaction of basic psychological needs plays in effective employee motivation.

Theory Z

In response to this theory, a third theory, Theory Z, was developed by Dr. William Ouchi. Ouchi’s theory focuses on increasing employee loyalty to the company by providing a job for life and focusing on the employee’s well-being. It encourages group work and social interaction to motivate employees in the workplace.

The Hawthorne Effect

Elton Mayo developed an explanation known as the Hawthorne Effect that suggested that employees are more productive when they know their work is being measured and studied.

He recognized that employees need recognition for a job well done and reassurance that their opinion matters in the workplace to be motivated to perform. Mayo noticed that employees were more productive when provided with feedback and allowed to provide input into the work process.

Motivational Theories in Sports Psychology

There are also several theories on motivation that are used in sports and performance psychology. The core concept in understanding motivation from the performance perspective is how physiological and psychological arousal accompanies behavior.

Arousal is a form of mobilization of energy and activation either before or while engaged in the behavior. Arousal occurs in different modes. Physiological arousal refers to the excitement of the body, while psychological arousal is about how subjectively aroused an individual feels.

When we say that our palms are sweaty or our heart is pounding, it implies physiological arousal. When we feel tense and anxious, it signifies psychological arousal.

Robert Thayer (1989) evolved the theory of psychological arousal into two dimensions: energetic arousal and tense arousal, composed of energetic and tense dimensions. Energetic arousal is associated with positive affect, while tense arousal is associated with anxiety and fearfulness.

Tense arousal can be divided further into two types of anxiety: trait anxiety and state anxiety. One refers to the degree we respond to the environment in general negatively and with worry, while state anxiety refers to feelings of apprehension that occur in response to a particular situation.

Arousal originates from several sources. It can be generated by a stimulus that has an arousing function and a cue function. But background stimuli that do not capture our attention also increase arousal.

Thayer found that arousal varies with time of day, for many of us being highest around noon and lower in the morning and evening. Coffee, for example, can boost arousal, as can an instance of being evaluated during exams, music performances, or sports competitions.

Arousal also depends on more complex variables like novelty, complexity, and incongruity. The interaction of various stimuli explains why sometimes arousal increases behavioral efficiency and in other instances, decreases it.

Optimal functioning hypothesis

The zone of optimal functioning hypothesis in sports psychology identifies a zone of optimal arousal where an athlete performs best (Hanin, 1989). As arousal increases, performance on a task increases and then decreases, as can be seen in the inverted-U arousal–performance relationship diagram below.

According to the zone of optimal functioning hypothesis, each individual has her preferred area of arousal based on cognitive or somatic anxiety. The Yerkes–Dodson law explains further that the high point of the inverted-U or arousal–performance relationship depends on the complexity of the task being performed.

Several theories have been proposed to explain the relationship between the inverted-U nature of the arousal–performance relationship.

Hull–Spence drive theory

The classic Hull–Spence drive theory emphasizes how arousal affects performance with little regard for any cognitive awareness by the individual. Also known as drive reduction theory, it postulates that human behavior could be explained by conditioning and reinforcement.

This oversimplification is part of the reason why more nuanced and complex cognitive theories have largely replaced the theory. The cusp catastrophe model in sports psychology, arousal-biased competition theory, processing efficiency theory, and attentional control theory are more concerned with the cognitive aspects of arousal and how this affects behavioral efficiency.

Arousal-biased competition theory

Mather and Sutherland (2011) developed an arousal-biased competition theory to explain the inverted-U arousal–performance relationship. It suggests that arousal exhibits biases toward information that is the focus of our attention.

Arousal affects and therefore increases the priority of processing important information and decreases the priority of processing less critical information. The presence of arousal improves the efficiency of behavior that concerns a crucial stimulus, but it is done at the expense of the background stimuli.

Two memory systems theory

Metcalfe and Jacobs (1998) postulated the existence of two memory systems that influence the level of arousal we experience: a cool memory system and a hot memory system, each in a different area of the brain. The cool system, located in the hippocampus, serves the memory of events occurring in space and time and would allow us to remember where we parked our car this morning.

The hot system in the amygdala serves as the memory of events that occur under high arousal. Metcalfe and Jacobs theorized that the hot system remembers the details of stimuli that predict the onset of highly stressful or arousing events, such as events that predict danger, and is responsible for the intrusive memories of individuals who have experienced extremely traumatic events.

Processing efficiency theory

The processing efficiency theory of Eysenck and Calvo theorized how anxiety, expressed as worry, can influence performance. Preoccupation with being evaluated and being concerned about one’s performance turns to worry, which takes up working memory capacity and causes performance on cognitive tasks to decline (Eysenck & Calvo, 1992).

Exploring Motivation Further in the Classroom

At the heart of all teaching lies care for, interest in, and knowledge of students. What makes them tick, genuinely?

Stereotypes aren’t motivating; generic application of top-down theories provided by non-practitioners aren’t motivating; if you aren’t motivated as the teacher, what hope have you of motivating your students?

Indeed, to paraphrase many a better writer than I:

If you have no idea why you are doing what you are doing then you have no idea whether what you are doing means anything at all.

I need purpose. I need to see why I am doing what I am doing, and in particular, what success looks like; clear goals, easily explained, with the appropriate steps in place to help me achieve them.

The same goes for our teaching and therefore our strategies for motivating our students – let them see, know and understand why they are doing what they are doing, with clear goals and outcomes for every step.

Reduce the cognitive load to make absorption of concepts easier, encourage retention through retrieval, practice until perfect… But yet, surely there needs to be some success?

Success will breed the motivation to foster future success, surely?

Yes; so make success an option in the classroom, nearly all of the time – just not every time.

Rosenshine suggests that an optimum success rate is 80%; keep it that way; like Tantalus, have certain things just out of reach but keep them as desirable.

Goals can be short, medium, or long-term, but I would argue that students need to be aware of them all, at the appropriate time.

We zoom out to zoom in:

• We help students orient themselves in their learning state and make them see the purpose of their endeavors.
• We provide concrete examples of abstract concepts.
• We foster the joy of academia.
• We praise success and effort. We challenge the accepted truths.
• We role-model the joy of learning.

Jang (2008), looked at how students who were told before a lesson what the rationale was against those who weren’t; by the end of the lesson those who knew its purpose were 25% more engaged and afterward demonstrated over 10% higher levels of factual and conceptual understanding of the topics covered.

Yes, figures can be refuted but they mustn’t be ignored without reason – purpose held sway here.

To elaborate, in Jang’s study, the outcomes themselves weren’t the only driver; students were also told why and how the lesson would help, why it might be difficult and why it was worth sticking at it – students needed to see ‘the importance and personal utility within the task’ and to ‘perceive high autonomy while working on that task’.

I see a process of Show and Tell.

As a student, I can be told that it is possible to jump nearly 9m. I don’t believe it; this seems ridiculous, especially when that distance is physically measured out on the classroom floor (if we have such classroom sizes!).

1. I am TOLD it is possible. It’s not true.
2. Then I am SHOWN Mike Powell doing just that at the 1991 World Athletics Championships and Carl Lewis nearly doing it too.
3. I can’t refute it, because I have just watched it happen. And I want to replicate it. And beat it.
4. Because I know it can be done.
5. And if someone older than me did it before me, why shouldn’t I be able to do it better?

Clunky analogy possibly, but it captures the heart of teaching – modeling.

Showing and representing success through stages, with plenty of checking for understanding, lots of low-stakes checks of skill, ensuring the foundations are in place but still pushing – much of motivation theory can be found in coaching approaches, and rightly so.

I must be sensitive to the needs, desires, goals, and potential of my students.

We must be aware of the difference between actual learning and looking like learning; the latter is very easy but, as pointed out by many, and by Nuthall in his seminal work ‘The Hidden Lives of Learners’, engagement is a poor proxy for learning; looking busy is easy, learning is not so.

Carrot or Stick?

Beware the easy reward as the motivator – not so…

Carrots are fine, but they must be duly earned; look back at Weiner (above); a reward for no effort is no reward, and the future of that reward is diminished.

Rewards need reasons behind their award; this helps give tasks purpose.

There is nothing more demotivating for a ‘standard’ student who tries their very best to see a ‘troublesome’ student gain a reward for what for them is a basic expectation.

Don’t dilute to manage the classroom; focus on the discretionary effort, beyond the basics of the task – if you have pitched at a la Goldilocks (not too hot, not too cold, just right…) then you are creating climates where consistency is easy.

You can create success in your classroom by being active and attentive; planning for learning in small steps (Rosenshine); modeling outcomes and explaining processes, and tweaking the direction of the lesson to accommodate the mood of the room.

M is for Motivate:

In his MARGE model, Shimamura tells us that, due to all the distractions in a classroom and the effort required to learn, it’s important to support students in generating mental motivation to focus on the content being studied.

He tells us that:

“There are times when personal interests make it easy for us to seek new information, such as learning about a favorite topic, activity, or hobby. The trick to motivation is to expand the spectrum of pleasure-seeking experiences and push ourselves into new learning situations”…

…Indeed, just enveloping ourselves in a new setting and breaking away from regular habits will fully engage our learning machine. Take a walk around unfamiliar terrain and you will motivate yourself to attend, relate, generate, and evaluate”…

Shimamura focuses on how teachers can create environments for students that then encourage them to attend, relate, generate and evaluate for greater learning – it’s a great read.

Shimamura’s main ideas translate easily to classrooms

• Stimulate curiosity. Frame learning through Big Questions and links to larger schema
• Harness the power of storytelling. What will happen next?
• Consider the ‘aesthetic question’. Engage emotional responses and personal views on topics
• Explore new places. Virtually if you have to!

Other Views on Motivation

One very useful strategy for improving motivation in the classroom (live or online) is the use of low-stakes testing and regular retrieval practice; students who experience more success then feel more empowered and motivated to achieve more!

Much of motivation is also geographically contextual in its framing; it is widely recorded that East Asian students, teachers, and parents are more likely to value effort and its role in achievement than the innate ability of the student themselves.

By having high expectations of our students and sculpting the work accordingly; teacher mindset and expectation are vital to lifting the lid on student success.

Rattan et al (2012) found that teacher mindset affected the way teachers communicate with students.

Students who heard words of feedback and instruction based on strategy were more likely to succeed in future assessments than students who heard comfort-focused works, which they associated with n assumption that they thought the teacher lacked faith in their ability.

Rosenthal’s work around teacher expectations and Pygmalion is worth investigating further too – a rising tide lifts all ships, and all that…

Martin et al (2008) considered what is called ‘Academic Buoyancy’.

5 ‘C’s of Confidence, Coordination, Commitment, Composure, and Control that, when managed and fostered, enable students to overcome daily challenges by providing them with the strategies to be more in charge of what they can achieve, and boosting their self-efficacy and self-regulation.

Yet another sink or swim metaphor to go with our rising tide…

Questions You Could Ask Yourself

• To what extent are your pupils intrinsically motivated in your classroom?
• To what extent do you use rewards prudently in your classroom? Why? How do you know?
• Do you give sincere praise, emphasize the process, and are immediate?
• Do your pupils feel supported and able to make mistakes?

Motivation in the Classroom Takeaways

• Help students believe that they can improve and can be better in class
• Focus on and model process as well as outcome
• Construct a climate where students (modeled by you) see mistakes as learning opportunities, not criticism
• Use the bigger picture to help students see how the here and now links to the future
• Explain failures and successes
• Control the controllable yourself as the teacher, and encourage students to do the same
• Allow for small successes to be factored in to ensure motivation is harnessed for further success down the line
• Believe in your students as individuals and their capacity for improvement and success

Ultimately, students are humans, and humans are social creatures; as a teacher, you must create a climate informed by your own understanding – that fosters and supports learning.

What tools do employers have to improve motivation?

Reward

A thoughtfully created employee rewards scheme can go a long way to motivating your team and increasing productivity. While there are several common ways companies reward employees (Friday beers, staff lunch, etc.) a rewards scheme is not a one-size fits all policy. Instead, think about what works best for your team specifically, and make them inclusive and appropriately sized.

Whether they are geared towards personal goals or embodying company values, chances are you’ll see your team reinforcing your company values and better teamwork. Don’t sleep on small rewards either; a handwritten note or a shout-out at a team meeting can ensure your team stays motivated.

Trust

Employees want to know you have their best interests at heart while employers want to know they can trust employees to do a job well. Building a culture around trust creates a positive atmosphere that motivates your staff and benefits productivity.

Recognition

It’s simple but recognizing an employee’s hard work can have a tremendous impact. It can also spur them on to achieve more. Recognition can take many forms from an informal “thank you” or Kudos to a glitzier employee of the month or year award.

Career Advancement

One study found that the number one reason for employees leaving their jobs was career development. It makes sense – employees want to use their skills. They also want to learn new skills. If your company doesn’t offer a clear career development path, they may leave. And if they don’t leave, they’ll be far from productive. Combat this by talking to your employees about their career expectations and by building career development into your business.

Purpose

Increasing numbers of employees want more from their jobs than a paycheque. The organizational purpose is a strong motivator for many workers – especially younger employees. Engaging your staff with your business’s purpose can help increase commitment to your business and improve motivation.

Office environment

The likelihood that someone is going to love their job 100% of the time is slim. There will always be the occasional down day where people simply won’t feel as capable to perform in their role. It’s just as important to motivate your team on a bad day as it is on a good one. Thankfully, one way you can tackle this is by creating an office environment that is pleasant to be in. Studies have shown that plants are a cost-effective way to improve office life and increase positivity and motivation.

Feedback

Everyone likes to hear that they’ve done a good job, but unfortunately not everyone is given the opportunity. The benefits of giving feedback to your team and employees are numerous, and improved motivation is one of them.

Employees want to develop and improve and giving regular feedback enables them to see what they’re doing and how well they’re doing it.

The same works for the inverse too, if someone is not performing optimally in their position, feedback enables them to address their issues and perform better. It also makes them feel valued, and when employees feel valued they’re more likely to take ownership and responsibility for projects.

Talk – and listen

Whether it’s at a performance management meeting, formalized in a company survey, or the kitchen making a drink, talking with your team is the best way to understand what motivates them. Good communication is an effective tool that can be used to boost morale and employee value.

Take the time to listen to what your team has to say and come up with ways to address their concerns. Ask what they want, but be prepared that different generations may want different things from their job and the workplace.

Textbooks on Motivation

Here are suggested book references for the tertiary-level study of motivation for those who want to dive deeper into some of these topics:

1. Understanding Motivation and Emotion – Johnmarshall Reeve

By delving into the roots of motivation, the emotional processes at work, and the impacts on learning, performance, and well-being, this book provides a toolbox of practical interventions and approaches for use in a wide variety of settings.

Available on Amazon.

2. Motivation: Theories and Principles – Robert C. Beck

This experimentally-oriented book provides a critical examination of research and theory with a topical approach. It covers a broad range of motivational concepts from both human and animal theory and research, with an emphasis on the biological bases of motivation.

Available on Amazon.

3. Motivation – Lambert Deckers

This textbook provides a complete overview of motivation and emotion, using an overarching organizational scheme of how biological, psychological, and environmental sources become motivation―the inducement of behavior, feelings, and cognition.

Available on Amazon.

4. Motivation and Emotion Evolutionary Physiological, Developmental, and Social Perspectives – Denys A. de Catanzaro

Within each topically organized chapter, which all begins with a concise overview statement and ends with a personal summary, the author highlights material of special importance and concludes major sections with a summary.

Available on Amazon.

5. Motivation: A Biosocial and Cognitive Integration of Motivation and Emotion – Eva Dreikus Ferguson

A wide range of topics concerning motivation and emotion are considered, including hunger and thirst, circadian and other biological rhythms, fear and anxiety, anger and aggression, achievement, attachment, and love.

Available on Amazon.

6. Human Motivation – Robert E. Franken

Exploration of day-to-day human motivation, Franken provides a topical organization that shows students how biology, learning, and cognition interact with individual differences to produce human behavior.

Available on Amazon.

7. The Psychology of Action: Linking Cognition and Motivation to Behavior – Peter M. Gollwitzer and John Bargh

Renowned social and motivational psychologists present concise formulations of the latest research programs which are effectively mapping the territory, provide new findings, and suggest innovative strategies for future research.

Available on Amazon.

8. Motivation and Self-Regulation ccross the Life Span – Jutta Heckhausen and Carol S. Dweck

Critical elements of motivational systems can be specified and their interrelations understood by charting the origins and the developmental course of motivational processes.

Available on Amazon.

9. Reclaiming Cognition: The Primacy of Action, Intention, and Emotion (Journal of Consciousness Studies) – Rafael Nunez and Walter J. Freeman

Traditional cognitive science is Cartesian in the sense that it takes as fundamental the distinction between the mental and the physical, the mind and the world. This leads to the claim that cognition is representational and best explained using models derived from AI and computational theory. The authors depart radically from this model.

Available on Amazon.

10. Motivation: Theory, Research, and Applications – Herbert L. Petri and John M. Govern

Reflects the latest developments in the field in its thorough coverage of the biological, behavioral, and cognitive explanations for human motivation. The book presents the advantages and drawbacks to each of these explanations, allowing readers to draw their conclusions.

Available on Amazon.

11. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: The Search for Optimal Motivation and Performance – Carol Sansone and Judith M. Harackiewicz

This book provides a summary view of what research has determined about both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and clarifies what questions remain unanswered.

Available on Amazon.

12. Current Directions in Motivation and Emotion – Association for Psychological Science and Kennon Sheldon

Available on Amazon.

13. The Psychobiology of Human Motivation (Psychology Focus) – Hugh Wagner

The Psychobiology of Human Motivation explores what directs our behavior, from basic physiological needs like hunger and thirst to more complex aspects of social behavior like altruism.

Available on Amazon.

A Take-Home Message

There is no shortage of explanations for what constitutes human motivation, and the research on the topic is as vast and dense as the field of psychology itself. Perhaps the best course of action is to identify the motivational dilemma we’re trying to solve and then select one approach to motivation if only to try it out.

By annihilating desires you annihilate the mind. Every man without passions has within him no principle of action, nor motive to act.

Claude Adrien Helvetius, 1715–1771

As Dan Kahneman argues, teaching psychology is mostly a waste of time unless we as students can experience what we are trying to learn or teach about human nature and can deduce if it is right for us.

Then and only then, can we choose to act on it, move in the direction of change, or make a choice to remain the same? It’s all about experiential learning and connecting the knowledge we acquire to our own experience.