1. Motivation
What presses your buttons?

2. Can individuals be motivated?
• Motivating most of you is easy: you are the
‘motivatable’
• The big problem: motivating the ‘un-
motivatable’
• De-skilling work - the factory system
• Technology has superseded the worker
• Work: it might make you ugly!

3. Or has something else taken place
in the world of work?
• Changing views of work and non-work
• The ‘golden generation’ (you)
• Out-of-balance lives (me)

4. How useful are our models of motivation?
Central questions:
• 1. Why does an individual decide to join an
organisation?
• 2. Why does he or she decide to stay or leave?
• 3. Why does he or she decides to perform at the
level required by the organisation or not?

5. Great ‘Motivators’
Julius Caesar Power, Glory, Property
• Alexander the Great • Gold, Power & Naivety
• Jesus Christ • Love, love, love
• Genghis Khan • Murder & Mayhem
• Marco Polo • Wanderlust, Curiosity
• Napoleon • Ego & Josephine
• Hitler • Disappointment & Hate
• Pink Floyd? • $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
• Self-interest’ rules?

6. Dominant ideas about motivation
• Content theories (Maslow, ERG, Herzberg
etc)
• Process theories (Adams, Vroom, etc)

7. Content Theories
• Concerned with the nature of the work e. g
is it challenging?
• Can it be ‘enriched’ to provide greater
satisfaction
• Can we re-design work; job enlargement,
rotation and ‘enrichment’
• Does it work?

8. Content theories of motivation
Needs hierarchy ERG Motivatorhygiene McClelland’s
theory theory theory learned needs
Self- Need for
actualisation achievement
Growth Motivators
Need for
Esteem
power
Need for
Belongingness Relatedness
affiliation
Safety Hygienes
Existence
Physiological

9. Process theories
• Cognitive – decision making
• Why individuals decide to put in or with
hold effort
• What are they looking for?
• Equitable outcomes
Fair rewards

10. Expectancy theory of motivation
E-to-P P-to-O Outcomes
expectancy expectancy and valences
Outcome 1
+ or -
Outcome 2
Effort Performance + or -
Outcome 3
+ or -

11. Equity theory
• Outcome/input ratio
–inputs  what employee contributes (eg skill)
–outcomes  what employees receive (eg pay)
• Comparison with ‘significant’ others
–person/people with whom we compare ratio
–not easily identifiable
• Equity evaluation
–compare outcome/input ratio with the
comparison other

12. Overreward vs underreward
inequity
Comparison
You
other
Outcomes
Overreward Outcomes
inequity
Inputs Inputs
Underreward Outcomes
inequity Outcomes
Inputs Inputs

13. Where does this leave us?
• Reward is critical in the motivation
equation
• Intrinsic (internal) and extrinsic (external)
rewards
• Need to reward individuals for putting in
effort

14. Effective Reward Systems
• Must be:
• Perceived as fair
• Timely
• Of significant magnitude
• Individualised
• Based on current performance
• So why don’t organisations do this?

15. Conclusion
• It is difficult (impossible?) to motivate
anyone
• Best we can do is structure situations
where individuals decide to expend energy
• Finding the right button to push
• But there are so many buttons for a wide
variety of people