Motivation in Work and Life

As I progress though each day I have a multitude of desires that are ever present for my career and personal life. Some I make progress on daily, some occasionally, others not so much. Reading the article Motivate by Ken Shah and Professor Param J. Shah gave me pause to think about how I could use this information to advance me through the desires that I rate highly and possibly consider altering or eliminating those that I do not. Motivation for me is primarily intrinsic at the core. Of course I have extrinsic motivators but as in the Vroom Valence x Expectancy (Shah & Shah) theory the motivation for me to perform an action stems from the internal motivation of the knowledge that achieving the results of the performance will achieve or advance me toward my internal goal, be it personal or professional. This theory is sufficient in my situation because I define motivation as a catalyst, internal or external, that spurs the desire to work toward the achievement of a goal and since I do have internal goals that my success in my current position is tied to I believe it is also effective. While I overall prefer Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory because I believe it covers all aspects of an individual’s life in all areas, Vroom’s theory relates directly to my work motivation.

McClelland’s Theory of Needs for me is the most lacking. I believe David McClelland is remiss to not acknowledge how the needs of basic life preservation impact the motivation for individuals to desire to achieve goals beyond them until they are satisfied. When looking at the description of each of the three levels, “1. Need for Power, 2. Need for Affiliation, and 3. Need for Achievement” (Shah & Shah, p. 14) these basic needs are not accounted for, therefore, we could speculate that McClelland’s theory implies that these needs have already been met or otherwise satisfied but then this implication would lend more weight to Maslow’s hierarchy.

On page 4 of the article Shah & Shah present part 2, Types of Motivation. While reading through the seven listed types I could identify individuals I work with that fit into several of the category descriptions. By taking the time to look critically at people I work closely with, and more so business partners and clients, to determine how they are motivated I will be able to more closely tailor my approach and presentations to show how honoring my request or partnering in my initiative could equally benefit them. In this process it will be important for me to recognize that regardless of the motivation each employee is driven by, determining what that motivation is and aligning work flow accordingly with each employee will be the best way to capitalize on potential productivity increases and employee satisfaction.

Each individual has their own set of personal motivating factors far too often these are never considered in the interview process. Many employers look for skill set, which is trainable, instead of cultural fit, which is not. Selecting a candidate that is not representative of the organization culture or motivated by a passion for the work or at least a personal work ethic will be detrimental to the company in terms of lost recruitment, time and productivity dollars. Equally detrimental and unethical is also to heighten your awareness of individual motivation and use that to manipulate and coerce. The information presented here provided a good foundation for me to begin to look strategically at how I can encourage engaged and productive partnering on projects and events.

References
Shah, P., & Shah, K. (n.d.). Motivation. Retrieved March 2, 2009, from Laynetworks Website: http://www.laynetworks.com/Motivation.html