Chapter: 2

Theoretical Perspective of MotivationThe globalization and social and economical changes,

technological transformation has resulted in the growth of organization

sizes and complexity. In modern complex organization, the lack of

morale, motivation, communication etc. of public personnel or employee

are resulting to ineffective management of public affairs and

unsatisfactory delivery of public services are causing to poor

performance of public administrative system. The better performance of

public administration depend upon the effective utilization of human

resources but the problem of effective utilization of human resources is

once again the problem of work motivation, morale communication etc.

Due to the increasing and changing scenario of social and economical

nation, it is much necessary to look into the factors which are

responsible for the optimum utilization of man and material to achieve

the goal. A multitude of organizational variables and the factors

affecting the works performance of the administration and officials has

received the attention of several social scientists. The motivation to

work which speaks of the health of mind of the workers as well as

organizational health has been given due attention and discussed by

classical thinkers and psychologists.

This chapter is intended to discuss the concepts and some of the

most popular theories and the factors influencing the administration and

officials such as the concept of motivation, moral, communication,

leadership, management, administration, performance etc. and to

highlights their inadequacies and to work out the development to put up

their best performance and successful accomplishment of organization.

Performance was results from the interaction of physical, financial and

human resources. The first two are inanimate they are translated into

‘productivity’ only when human elements is involved. However the

38

human elements interjects a variables over which managers has limited

control. When dealing with the inanimate factors of production, a

manager can accurately predict the input-output relationship. In dealing

with employees however and intangible factor of will, volition or freedom

of choice is introduced and worker can increase or decrease their

productivity as they choose. This human quality gives rise to the need

for positive motivation. In fact, the level of performance of employee in

an organization is a function of his abilities and motivation. Where there

is a strong positive motivation, the employees’ output increase but

where there is a negative or weak positive motivation, his performance

level is low, so one of the key elements of management and

administration are motivation.

As Mc Gregor has stated that “the task of a manager or

administrator is to arrange organizational conditions and method of

operations so that people can achieve their own goal best by directing

their own efforts towards organizational objectives” successful

supervisors will be those who integrate the goal oriented action of

individual, worker with the pursuit of organization goal. The goal of the

individual and the organization can be achieved through stimulating

worker toward productive performance called motivational process”.

Thus, the performance depends upon the arousing action sustaining the

activity in progress and regulating the pattern of activity. It attracts and

initiates action and also serves as a factor in the continuation of activity

until objectives have been attained.

Concept of Motivation:

Motivation has been variously defined by scholars. Usually one or

more of these words are included in the definition as desire, wants,

aims, goals, drives, motives and incentives. Motivation is a Latin word

meaning ‘to move’. Motivation is the process of channeling a person’s

inner drives so that he wants to accomplish the goals of the

39

organization. It is a kind of behavioral concept by which we try to

understand why people behave as they do. It concerns those dynamic

processes which produce goal oriented behaviour. Dubin describes

motivation as the complex of forces starting and keeping a person at

work in an organization. It is something that moves the person to action

and activity and suggests that there are forces inside the person starting

and maintaining activity, whether we call them drives, instinct or wishes,

they can be described as mechanism of the organism. ‘In simple words

motivation is will to work’.

Berelson and Steiner state that “A motivation is an inner state that

energizes, activates or moves and directs channels behaviour towards

goals”. Standford and Wrightman describe a motive “thus it is

restlessness, a lack, a yen, a force. Thus motivation is the process of

creating organizational conditions which will impel employees to strive

to attain organizational goal. According to Lillis – motivation is the

stimulation of any emotion or desire operating upon one’s will and

prompting or driving it to inspire and encourage people to take required

action. Tolman observes “more specifically the term motivation has

been called intervening variables”. As motivation has been defined by

many social thinkers and psychologist in these own way but all

definitions indicates motivation is a goal oriented work or motivation is a

kind of energy in every man required to booster to expend energy to

achieve the goal, the boosted may be a kind of reward incentives etc.

“We may define motivation as a willingness to expend energy to

achieve a goal or reward. It is a force that activates dormant energies

and set in motion the action of people”.

Nature of Motivation:

Motivation is not an easily observed phenomenon ‘generally we

observe an individual’s actions and then interpret his observed

behaviour in term of motivation. This leaves a wide margin of error. Our

40

interpretation does not necessarily reveal the individuals true motives

motivation as things stand now the ‘whys’ of behaviour cannot be

explained easily. The following points reveal the complexity involved in

understanding true motivation. Let us examine some of the factors that

complicate this process.

Individual Differ in Their Motivation:

There is only one ‘economic drive’, which determines behaviour

in untenable. The goal to which an individual aspires is many and so are

his motivations. Different people may have different vision in behavior in

the same manner. Thus, three different ways underlines the same

behaviour likewise.

Unconscious Motivation:

Frued uncovered this phenomenon while analyzing his critical

patient. He found that in many ways man is like an ice berg, only a

small part is conscious or visible the rest is beneath the surface. This

below the surface concept is unconscious motivation or we can say it is

a kind of nebulous feelings of a man.

Motivation Change:

Motivation of each individual change from time to time even

though he may continue to behave in the same way for example – a

temporary worker may produce more in the beginning to become

permanent. When made permanent he may continue to produce more

this time to gain promotion and so on.

Complex Nature of Motivation:

Motivation is apparently a complex subject. It is difficult to explain

or predict the behaviour of workers or employee. Thus, the introduction

of an apparently favourable motivational device may not necessarily

achieve the desired end if it brings opposite motive into play. In a

41

factory, when blue green lighting was introduced to reduce eye strain,

the output of men worker increased but the same time women workers

decreased. On investigation, it was found that the latter dislike the

change in lighting because they felt that the new type of lighting had

made them look simple ghastly (very bad), that’s why one manager is

expected to look into the complex factors that go into the behaviour of

employees carefully and start appropriate steps to motivate them.

Type of Motivation:

If a manager want to get work performance by his employees, he

has to either hold out a promise of reward for then for doing work in a

better or improved way or he may constrain them by instilling fear in

them or by using force to do the described work or to achieve the work

performance. In other words, he may utilize a positive or a negative

motivation. Both these type are widely used by management

administration. A positive motivation involves the possibility of

decreased motive satisfaction, while negative motivation involves the

possibility of decreased motive satisfaction.

Positive or Incentive Motivation:

Positive motivation is generally based on rewards. According to

Flippo “positive motivation is a process of attempting to influence other

to do your will through the possibility of gain or reward”. People work for

incentive in the form of four ‘Ps’ of motivation that is – Praise, Prestige,

Promotion and Pay Cheque. Positive motivation in fact includes: (i)

Praise and credit for work done; (ii) A sincere interest in subordinates

and individuals; (iii) Competition; (iv) Participation; (v) Pride; (vi)

Delegation of responsibility; (vii) Appreciation and (viii) Pay. According

to Peter Drucker, “the real and positive motivators are responsible for

placement high standard of performance, information, adequate for self

control and the participation of the worker as a responsible citizen in the

42

plant, community. Incentive motivation is the “Pull” mechanism. It has its

own benefits. The receipt of awards, due recognition and praise for

work well done definitively leads to good team spirit, cooperation and

feeling of happiness. Now, we should know what types of incentives are

which promotes to work performance or to develop motivational skills.

Incentive: An ‘incentive’ or ‘reward’ can be anything that attracts

a workers attention and stimulate him to work. In the word of Burack

and Smith “An incentive scheme is a plan or programmes to motivate

individuals or group performance. An incentive can be monitory rewards

but it may also include a variety of non-monetary rewards or prizes.

Incentives in general are important motivators their effectiveness

depends upon three factors drivers, performance value and satisfying

value of the goal objects.

Classification of Type of Reward/Incentives:

Rewards or incentives can be classified into: (i) Direct

Compensation; (ii) Indirect Compensation.

Direct Compensation: Direct compensation includes the basic

salary or wage that the individual is entitled to for his job, over time work

and holiday premium, bonuses based on performance, profit sharing

and opportunities to purchase stock option etc.

Indirect Compensation: It includes protection programmes

(Insurance plans, pension) pay for time not worked but these are

maintenance factors rather than reward components. Since they are

made to all employees irrespective of performance, they will tend to

retain people in the organization but not stimulating them to greater

efforts and higher performance.

These reward also termed as ‘Intrinsic’ reward and ‘Extrinsic’

rewards. Intrinsic rewards are those that an individual receive for

himself. They are largely a result of the job that worker does. At the

43

same time extrinsic reward are direct compensation, indirect

compensation and non-financial rewards.

Now the controversy prevails over the issue if ‘Money’ only

motivates the individuals the supporter says: “Money potentially be an

effective motivator regardless of the level one has attained and the

organization or the amount of money is earning. At the same time for

some people money can be instrumental in satisfying esteemed and

recognition needs well basic physical needs. Motivating people with

financial rewards is not a picker’s game. A company or organization

may give certain employees very large raises or bonuses if pay is to

motivate performance. Contrary to these observations, Allenport

observes that “Money incentive alone do not bring about the desired

motivation”. Everyone is not ‘economic man’ so much as their ‘ego

man’. They want else, each credit for work done, interesting task,

appreciation, approval and congenial relationship etc. This satisfaction

they want even more than high wages and job security.

It have been noticed that the most of the employees respond to

monitory incentive only to certain points, beyond this point money

becomes ineffective as an inciter of action. It is because of two reasons:

(a) Money is not having the ability to satisfy an urgent need; (b) The

worker may respond to money as a motivator if he believes the benefit

will be greater than expenses incurred by him. If the benefits perceived

are less than the personal cost, he will not respond to money as an

incentive any further. In effect a breakeven point is reached in which

additional money become marginal or even undesirable because of the

efforts and conditions demanded to earn the added income.

Using money as a motivator may decrease intrinsic motivation.

To use money and other extrinsic rewards as effective motivators, they

must be made contingent upon performance. However, in two cases

intrinsic motivation may increase: (a) if the monitory reward closely

44

follows performance so as to be reinforcing, (b) the monitory reward

should be function of employees work behaviour.

Wage Incentives:

The term wage incentive has been defined differently by different

authors. “It is a term which refers to objectives in the external situation

whose function is to increase or maintain, some already initiated activity

either in duration or in intensity”. According to Hummel and Nickerson,

“it refers to all the plans that provide extra performance in addition to

regular wages for a job”. Florance observes, “it refers to increased

willingness as distinguished from capacity incompliant do not create by

only aim to increase the rational momentum towards productivity”.

Wage incentives are extra financial motivation. They are designed to

stimulate human efforts by rewarding the person over and the time rates

remuneration for improvement in the present or forgotten result. A wage

incentive scheme is essentially a managerial device of increasing work

productivity with workers by rewarding them financially for their

increased rate of outfit. We may define a wage incentive as a system of

payment unless, which the amount payable to a person is linked with

his output. Thus, the term incentive has gradually acquired a wide

connotation and includes all the possible factors, besides canonic

grains which can possibly motivates human being towards better and

greater performance.

Negative or Fear Motivation:

It is a based on force and fear. Fear causes persons to act in a

certain way because they are afraid of the consequences if they don’t. If

worker does not work they are threatened with lay-off or demolition. In

other words fear motivation is a push mechanism. Negative motivation

has certain limitation through its use only the minimum of effort is put

into avoid punishment, moreover the imposition of punishment for

45

quality result in frustration among those punished, leading to the

development of maladaptive behaviour, punishment also errant the

hostile state of mind and an unfavourable attitude to the job. Moreover,

it may result in lower productivity because it stands to dissipate such

human assets as loyalty, cooperation and spirit de corps.

Self Motivation:

In any organization one must motivate oneself before one

motivates other. One of the most common deferent to human actions is

that of tired feeling. This tired feeling is due to emotional reactions

within oneself. The things that affect the conscious mind and are

generally known as anxiety are:

(a) Monotonous work

(b) Driven by boss

(c) Bad physical conditions

(d) Does not get along with associates

(e) Dissatisfaction with work or achievement

(f) Under constant strain

(g) Gets no real rest at home, worried about holding the job

(h) Financial troubles.

Beside these some other factors also effect the sub-conscious

mind are known as inner-conflict. This factor indicates that a person is:

(a) Unwilling to work

(b) Wants to be tired to have an excuse for failure

(c) Crave sympathy

Anxiety and inner-conflict may be reduced by:

(a) Making the job more interesting

46

(b) Thinking constructively

(c) Making the best possible use of one’s strong point and not

dwelling on weakness, which should be corrected as far as

possible?

(d) Adopting oneself to the situation

(e) Acquiring a sensible and worthwhile philosophy of life

Thus, one motive oneself by setting certain objectives and goes

before oneself.

Group Motivation:

The motivation of group is a as important as self-motivation.

Others and be well motivated when they are informed of ideas/plans

inventions, or systems “nothing can be done, no act can be undertaken,

no decision made, no thinking process brought to a real conclusion

unless until the act of communication is made and inherent part of the

undertaking. This communication of ideas/plans etc. can be made

effective when certain personal qualities have been developed. The

qualities are honestly, fairness, integrity, truthfulness, loyalty, stability,

ability to assume, responsibility and give and take constructive criticism

and compromise when necessary. A group can be motivated by

improving human relations and dealing with people in a human way by

developing the will to do, by encouraging people to feel involvement in

their work and by giving them an opportunity to improve their

performance and by complementing or praising them in dealing with

others. It must be borne in mind that the greatest return can be obtained

when each member of a group is properly motivated. Therefore,

motivation must be used in ones day to day activities.

Steps in Motivation:

47

Jucius M J in personal management observed that the following

steps should be adopted in motivation.

(a) Sizing up: This involves ascertaining motivational needs. All

employees needs motivation but varying times and in varying

degrees. For example: one may need proper facilities for the

education of children. Other may want higher education for them.

One may take pride in producing quality work. Stress at size of

sage must therefore be led up as individual differences.

(b) Repairing a set of motivating tool: This requires a selection of

specific tools of motivation. An executive from personal

experience and from the experience of others and with the help of

the personnel of department may draw up a list of the devices

that may motivate different type of people under different

circumstances.

(c) Selecting and applying motivators: The executive should

decide about the words, the tone of voice, the gestures etc., to be

used and make a necessary rehearsal for their proper use.

Besides, it has also to be considered where and whom motivation

is to be applied. The place and timing for this purpose are

important.

(d) Feedback: The feedback system finds out that whether an

individual has been motivated with the applied motivating device,

if not, some other device may be applied.

(e) Variability: It says that the method of motivation should not be

the same but should change according to circumstances and also

it should be known the one set of motivator will not be effective

for everybody or for the same person over a period of time.

(f) Attainability: It is necessary to establish goals which are

reasonable and attainable. When such goals are attained,

48

employees satisfaction is achieved unattainable goal often

frustrate people.

(g) Participation: The desirability of participation of those to be

motivated ensures that their cooperation is enlisted. This reduces

suspicious of management’s motivational aims.

(h) Proportioning Rewards: Motivation should be in proportion to

the efforts made.

(i) The Human Elements: Motivation appeals to the emotions. The

executive who is most successful as a motivator can trance his

success in variably to his skill in dealing with other feelings.

(j) Individual Group Relationship: Motivation must be based on

group as well as individual stimuli.

(k) Situational: Motivation must be based on sound managerial

theory.

Techniques of Motivation:

There are certain techniques of motivation which can be used by

the managers/administrators. Here we can categories these techniques

in two categories that re: (i) Financial Motivators; (ii) Non-financial

Motivators.

Financial Motivators:

As per this techniques money can never be overlooked as a

motivator and such motivational technique is directly or indirectly

connected with money whether in the form of wages or salary, bonuses,

profit sharing, medical reimbursement etc. Economists have tended to

place money high on the scale of motivation. On the other hand

behavioural scientists tend to place it low and said it is kind of need that

is quickly satisfied. But in reality this is not true. The reason is that

money is more than just a medium of exchange. It is more than a

49

vehicle through which one can satisfy other higher order need. For

example which a person goes to buy a car, he is doing more than

spending his money, he is buying at least in his own eyes – prestige,

recognitions, and a visible symbol of his achievements. He uses money

to satisfy some of higher order needs – self actualization, ego and

social need beside the safety psychological need, for this reason money

is sometime is regarded as the most esteem need and most reliable

motivators. But the Glitterman has said, ‘Money is so subtle instrument

that the ultimate effect of money itself is not easier to identify than is an

egg in an omelet. Moreover, money as a motivator tends to be dulled

somewhat by the practice of making sure that salaries of various

managers in a company are reasonable similar or in other words

organization after taking great care to ensure that people on

comparable levels are given same. Further, if money is to be an

effective motivator, people in various positions even though at a similar

level must be given salaries and bonus that reflects their individual

performance. In fact, it appears that unless bonuses for managers are

based to a major extend on individual performance, an enterprise or

organization is not buying such motivation with the manager or

administrator. It is almost certainly true that money can motivate only

when the prospective payment is large relative to person’s income.

Non-Financial Motivators:

(1) Participation: One technique that has been given strong support

as the result of motivation theory and research is the increased

awareness and use of participation in an activity, especially in

that of decision making. This satisfies one’s ego and self esteem

and the need of creativeness and initiative, participation is also

means of recognition it appears to the need for affiliation and

acceptance. Participation may be in regard to:

50

(a) Institutional arrangements for worker participation in

decision within undertaking (work councils and joint council

bodies).

(b) Participation of worker in management organs (especially

in managing welfare facilities).

(c) Participation at the shop-floor and at the board level.

(2) Job Enlargement and Whole Job Concept: According to

Strauss George and L.R. Syles, “It implies the instead of

assigning one man to each job, a group of men can be assigned

to a group of jobs and then allowed to decide for themselves how

to organize the work such changes permit more social contacts

and greater control over the work process”.

(3) Job Loading: Job loading technique implies the job more

interesting, A horizontal job loading assumes that if employees

are given more work at the same level at which they are working

they will be motivated to work harder also be more satisfied with

their work but in a vertical job loading changes in jobs include

larger area of responsibility intrinsically more interesting. The

worker is motivated because his job is more challenging and

more meaningful.

Herjberg F. has completed a check list of steps involved in

vertical job loading which includes the motivators that can be expected

from each steps.

Principles of Job LoadingSl. No.

Principle Motivation Involved

1. Remove some controls while retaining accountability

Responsibility and personal achievement

2. Increase the accountability of Responsibility and recognition

51

individuals for own work

3. Give a person complete natural unit of work (division area)

Responsibility, recognition and achievement

4. Grant additional authority to employee, give more job freedom

Responsibility, achievement and recognition

5. Make periodic reports directly available to the worker rather than to the supervisor

Internal recognition

6. Introduce new and more difficult tasks not previously handled

Growth of learning

7. Assign individuals specific or specialized tasks, enabling them to become experts.

Job Rotation:

It implies the shifting of an employee from one job to another so

that monotony and boredom are reduced. The basic objective of job

rotation is to increase the skill and knowledge if the employee about

related job. In job rotation, workers learn to do all the different activities

necessary for an operation or unit work. Sometimes an unpleasant job

is made an entry-level position. Employees can be told that the job is

monotones, but temporary. Another possibility may be to put all dull/job

up for grabs each day. Sleepy or hangover workers may even prefer a

day on a job not requiring much use of their minds. Another possibility is

that physically or mentally handicapped worker might be given simple

jobs.

Job Enrichment:

Job enrichment is a form of changing or improving a job so that a

worker is likely to be more motivated. According to Luthorn’s and Khos

job enrichment can be defined as designing job that includes greater

52

work. Control requires a higher level of knowledge and skill, give the

worker more autonomy and responsibility for planning direction and

controlling his own performance. In the job enrich new job is made more

challenging and interesting.

Quality of Working Life:

One of the most interesting approach to motivation is the quality

of working life programme, which is a system approach to job design

and a promising development of broad area job enrichment but also an

interdisciplinary field of inquiry and action combining industrial and

organization psychology and sociology, industrial organizing,

organizational theory and development, motivation and leadership

theory and industrial relation. The form QWL means different thing to

different people. For example: to worker an assembly time, it may mean

a fair days pay, a safe working condition and a supervisor who treats

him with dignity. To a joining new entrant, it may mean opportunities for

advancement creative tasks and in successful career. As per Prof.

Llyod, it means “the degree to which members of a work organization

are also to satisfy important need through their experience in the

organization.

Review of Literature:

A number of research studies related to motivation, job

enrichment, working conditions, organizational climate and culture and

job satisfaction have been carried out however; there is paucity of

literature and empirical data on motivation and job satisfaction among

the bureaucrats in Indian political and administrative system. Maslow

suggested that there is a ‘hierarchy of needs’ which people progress.

Once a need at one level in the hierarchy is satisfied in an individual, it

ceases to motivate their behavior; instead they are motivated by the

need at the next level up the hierarchy. Though many found the idea of

53

a hierarchy of needs appealing, we should stress that the motion has

not much empirical support (Wahba and Bridwell, 1978). One content

theory which does provide reasonably reliable measures for the needs it

proposes is known as ERG theory (Alderfer, 1972).

Herzberg's two-factor theory is a second theory which makes the

same basic point (Herzberg, and Snydeman 1959). The independent

effect of motivators and hygiene's has been questioned, and at least

one study has demonstrated that both can be related to job satisfaction

and dissatisfaction (Schneider and Locke, 1971). Douglas McGregor

also attempted to illustrate the connection between different models of

motivation and managerial practices (McGregor, 1960). An emphasis

on the role of an individual's cognitive processes in determining his or

her level of motivation is what all process theories have in common.

Individuals can also compare their effort-reward ratio to one that they

experienced at one point in time. Equity theorists assume that this

social comparison process is driven by our concern with fairness or

equity. We perceive effort and reward not in absolute but in relative

terms (Adams, 1965). Recent research (Summers, and Hendrix, 1991)

(Dornstein, 1989) is real rather than laboratory settings supports Adams'

original predictions and confirms equity theory as one of the most useful

frameworks for understanding work motivation. The key role of

employees' perceptions of their jobs is underlined again in the Valence,

instrumentality and expectancy (VIE) theory. This explanation of

employee motivation has been popular since the publication of Vroom's

study (Vroom, 1964).

In a study by Hong et. al. (Long, Luang, Sun & Chiou, 1995),

bonuses, dividends and pensions are the three types of benefit that

were found to have the greatest impact on workers' performance.

Larger firms often offer share ownership schemes as an incentive to

their employees, but Cully et al (Cully, G Dix, A O'Reilly & S Woodland,

54

1999) found that the presence of such a scheme has no measurable

effect upon workers' motivation or performance. Over the past two

decades, a major theme in organizations has been the "reengineering"

of jobs in an attempt to make them more psychologically rewarding

(Pefia and Reis, 2001). Reengineering may involve "job rotation"

(switching employees between tasks to avoid boredom), "job

enlargement" or "job enrichment" (L J Mullins, 1996). Social interactions

with colleagues are an important source of motivation in many jobs. To

some extent these are beyond managers' control, but firms can seek to

reduce the risk of de-motivating personal conflicts occurring, by taking

care during the recruitment and selection process to hire appropriate

individuals who will fit in with a team's culture (Bent, Forbes, Ingram and

Seaman 2002). There is evidence that employees are best-motivated

when they are pursuing specific "goals".".(Cully, Dix, O'Reilly and

Woodland, 1999) also found evidence that regular performance

appraisals and monitoring of individual quality do help to "boost morale"

and improve "workplace well-being". Nearly all employees regardless of

their occupation or their status in an organizations hierarchy are

motivated to some extent by pay (Wiley, 1997).

Faculties appear to have the needs which are the most mature.

The academic environment attracts people who tend to be oriented to

self-initiated, creative behavior. By Aldefer (1972) frustration of growth

(generatively and self-actualization) increase the desires of relatedness

satisfaction, and frustration of related needs lends to the desire for

existence gratification. For instance, frustrated researchers might turn to

affiliation available through teaching, frustrated teachers might move to

another institution, extend their education, or participate more in

administration. MacKeachie (1982), Leander (1982) and Ryan (1982) all

suggest that faculty are intrinsically motivated and have limited positive

extrinsic motivation possibilities. Intrinsic motivation is coincident with

55

the higher levels of Maslow's need hierarchy, while extrinsic motivators

are appropriate for the lower levels of the hierarchy.

Organizational structure, external rewards like promotion, pay

and feedback are examples of extrinsic rewards - which are seen as

somewhat self-defeating when used in a controlling manner. If extrinsic

rewards are used, then faculty may slacken their efforts once full

professorship and tenure have been obtained; such administration may

build in a never-ending spiral of salary increases in hopes of continuing

faculty motivation. However, providing external evaluation in an

informational way can lead to motivation. Slight discrepancies from a

faculty's self image may motivate change; however, large external

evaluation discrepancies are rejected. Finally too little extrinsic

feedback can lead to de-motivation (Sloan, 1997). Csikszenmihalyi

(1982), McClelland et al., (1953), and Litwin and Stringer (1968) all

indicate that intrinsic motivation is reinforced by a slight imbalance in (a)

the challenges to the faculty with (b) the skills the faculty have to meet

the challenge. If the challenge severely outweighs the skills, then

anxiety and frustration occurs; if the challenge (such as teaching a

course multiple time) does not require slightly stretching the skills, then

boredom can occur. Optimally there is an opportunity for growth by

continual slight imbalances between challenges and skills, as shown by

Csikszcntrnihalyi (1991) so that the skill level can evolve to meet a

growing level of challenges.

Deci and Ryan (1982) indicate that intrinsic motivation appears to

work equally well for both teachers and learners. A teacher who is

intrinsically motivated seems to enjoy the activity for its own sake and

has a good chance to get the student to seek the intrinsic rewards of

learning. If a teacher is extrinsically motivated, students might conclude

that learning is worthless in and of it and lacks inherent value.

Whitehead (1929) says that the ideal of a technical education is to be a

56

commonwealth in which work is play, and play is life."

Locke (1986) attempted to capture the affective nature of Job

Satisfaction in his definition "a pleasurable positive emotional state

resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences". Pareek

(1981) states that the final psychological outcome of the person's

working in an organization is the satisfaction he derives from his work

and role. In a research by straw and Ross (1985), it was found that job

satisfaction is a comparatively stable disposition and does not change

over time. Work is inextricably bound with human existence. The

content and context of work should therefore promote, rather than

damage, human dignity. Mumford (1995) analyzed job satisfaction in

two ways. Kanungo (1992) pointed out that managers have the moral

obligation to empower subordinates and thereby promote their growth

and development. The interpretations of the Hawthorne studies

stressed the role of the informal work group and supervisory practices in

shaping employee satisfaction and performance (Mayo, 1933);

(Roethisberger and Dickson, 1939), Hoppock (1935) published the first

intensive study of job satisfaction Rothman (1981) contrasts the security

and financial motives for entering teaching during the depression years

with present-day idealistic and intellectual convictions. Especially other

professions pay equally well or better. The conclusion of Greenwood &

Soars (1973) that less lecturing by teachers and more classroom

discussion relates positively to teacher morale further supports the

importance of higher-order needs. While the relationship between

teacher motivation and student achievement has not yet been

established, the correlation between teacher motivation and student

self- esteem has been shown by Peck, Fox, and Morston (1977).

"Teachers with strong positive attitudes about teaching had students

whose self-esteem was high. Students seem to recognize the

effectiveness of teachers who are satisfied with their teaching

57

performance."

Organizational commitment has an important place in the study of

organizational behavior. This is in part due to the vast number of works

that have found relationships between organizational commitment and

attitudes and behaviors in the workplace (Porter et al., 1974, 1976;

Koch and Steers, 1978; Angle and Perry, 1981). Furthermore, Batemen

and Strasser (1984) state that the reasons for studying organizational

commitment are related to “(a) employee behaviors and performance

effectiveness, (b) attitudinal, affective, and cognitive constructs such as

job satisfaction, (c) characteristics of the employee’s job and role, such

as responsibility and (d) personal characteristics of the employee such

as age, job tenure” (p. 95-96).

Organizational commitment has been studied in the public,

private, and non-profit sector, and more recently internationally. Early

research focused on defining the concept and current research

continues to examine organizational commitment through two popular

approaches, commitment-related attitudes and commitment-related

behaviors. A variety of antecedents and outcomes have been identified

in the past thirty years (Angle and Perry, 1981; Mowday et.al. (1979;

Hall, 1977). Numerous studies found that fob stress influences the

employees’ job satisfaction and their overall performance in their work.

Because most of the organizations now are more demanding for the

better job outcomes. In fact, modern times have been called as the “age

of anxiety and stress” (Coleman, 1976). The stress itself will be affected

by number of stressors. Nevertheless, Beehr and Newman (1978) had

defined stress as a situation which will force a person to deviate from

normal functioning due to the change (i.e. disrupt or enhance) in his/her

psychological and/or physiological condition, such that the person is

forced to deviate from normal functioning. From the definition that has

been identified by researchers, we can conclude that it is truly important

58

for an individual to recognize the stresses that are facing by them in

their career. Some demographic factor may influence the way a

university academic staff act in their workplace.

Management role of an organization is one of the aspects that

affect work-related stress among workers (Alexandros-Stamatios et. al.,

2003).Workers in an organization can face occupational stress through

the role stress that the management gave. Role stress means anything

about an organizational role that produces adverse consequences for

the individual (Kahn and Quinn, 1970). Management will have their own

role that stands as their related. Role related are concerned with how

individuals perceive the expectations other have of them and includes

role ambiguity and role conflict (Alexandros-Stamatios et. al., 2003).

Family and work are inter-related and interdependent to the extent that

experiences in one area affect the quality of life in the other

(Sarantakos, 1996). Home-work interface can be known as the overlap

between work and home; the two way relationship involves the source

of stress at work affecting home life and vice versa affects of seafaring

on home life, demands from work at home, no support from home,

absent of stability in home life. It asks about whether home problems

are brought to work and work has a negative impact on home life

(Alexandros-Stamatios G.A et al., 2003). For example, it questions

whether the workers have to take work home, or inability to forget about

work when the individual is at home. Home-work interface is important

for the workers to reduce the level of work-related stress. According to

Lasky (1995) demands associated with family and finances can be a

major source of ‘extra-organisational’ stress that can complicate, or

even precipitate, work-place stress. Russo & Vitaliano (1995) argued

that the occurrence of stressors in the workplace either immediately

following a period of chronic stress at home, or in conjunction with other

major life stressors, is likely to have a marked impact on outcome.

59

Several studies have highlighted the deleterious consequences of

high workloads or work overload. According to Wilkes et al. (1998) work

overloads and time constraints were significant contributors to work

stress among community nurses. Workload stress can be defined as

reluctance to come to work and a feeling of constant pressure (i.e. no

effort is enough) accompanied by the general physiological,

psychological, and behavioral stress symptoms (Division of Human

Resource, 2000). Al-Aameri AS. (2003) has mentioned in his studies

that one of the six factors of occupational stress is pressure originating

from workload. Alexandros-Stamatios G.A. et al. (2003) also argued

that “factors intrinsic to the job” means explore workload, variety of

tasks and rates of pay. Rapidly changing global scene is increasing the

pressure of workforce to perform maximum output and enhance

competitiveness. Indeed, to perform better to their job, there is a

requirement for workers to perform multiple tasks in the workplace to

keep abreast of changing technologies (Cascio, 1995; Quick, 1997).

The ultimate results of this pressure have been found to one of the

important factors influencing job stress in their work (Cahn et al., 2000).

A study in UK indicated that the majority of the workers were unhappy

with the current culture where they were required to work extended

hours and cope with large workloads while simultaneously meeting

production targets and deadlines (Townley, 2000).

Role ambiguity is another aspect that affects job stress in the

workplace. According to Beehr et al. (1976), Cordes & Dougherty

(1993), Cooper (1991), Dyer & Quine (1998) and Ursprung (1986) role

ambiguity exists when an individual lacks information about the

requirements of his or her role, how those role requirements are to be

met, and the evaluative procedures available to ensure that the role is

being performed successfully. Jackson & Schuler (1985) and Muchinsky

(1997) studies found role ambiguity to lead to such negative outcomes

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as reduces confidence, a sense of hopelessness, anxiety, and

depression. Several studies have tried to determine the link between

stress and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction and job stress are the two

hot focuses in human resource management researches. According to

Stamps & Piedmonte (1986) job satisfaction has been found significant

relationship with job stress. One study of general practitioners in

England identified four job stressors that were predictive of job

dissatisfaction (Cooper, et al., 1989). In other study, Vinokur-Kaplan

(1991) stated that organization factors such as workload and working

condition were negatively related with job satisfaction. Fletcher & Payne

(1980) identified that a lack of satisfaction can be a source of stress,

while high satisfaction can alleviate the effects of stress. This study

reveals that, both of job stress and job satisfaction were found to be

interrelated.

The study of Landsbergis (1988) and Terry et al. (1993) showed

that high levels of work stress are associated with low levels of job

satisfaction. Moreover, Cummins (1990) have emphasized that job

stressors are predictive of job dissatisfaction and greater propensity to

leave the organization. Sheena et al. (2005) studied in UK found that

there are some occupations that are reporting worse than average

scores on each of the factors such as physical health, psychological

well-being, and job satisfaction. The relationship between variables can

be very important to academician. If a definite link exists between two

variables, it could be possible for a academician to provide intervention

in order to increase the level of one of the variables in hope that the

intervention will also improve the other variable as well (Koslowsky, et

al., 1995). In this study, we would like to examine what extent of

interrelation between the job stress and job satisfaction among

university academic staff setting in Malaysia.

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In order to cope with increased competitive pressure globalization

and demand for efficiency, many organizations have come to rely on the

strategy of restructuring and downsizing. The effectiveness of this

strategy, however, depends, in part, on its impact on survivors’ work

attitudes and behaviors. Unfortunately, much of the evidence from

research on survivors’ work-related attitudes and behaviors subsequent

to restructuring and downsizing have documented evidence of feelings

of job insecurity, intent to quit, decline in organizational commitment,

loyalty and trust, among others (Brockner, 1998; Brockner, Grover,

Reed, DeWitt and O’Malley, 1987; Cascio, 1993; Kets de Varies and

Balazs, 1997; Armstrong-Stassen, 1998; Ryan and Macky, 1998;

Wager, 2001). Of these, intent to quit poses the most serious threat to

the effectiveness of the restructuring and downsizing strategy because

if unchecked, with appropriate organizational interventions, it leads to

voluntary turnover of high performing survivors on whose long-term

commitment, motivation and loyalty, the success of restructuring and

downsizing depends (Mueller et al. 1984; Mone, 1994; Mishra, Spreitzer

and Mishra, 1998). What is more, intent to quit is considered to be one

of the most reliable predictors of voluntary turnover (Price and Mueller,

1995; Hom and Griffeth, 1995; Muller et al., 1994). This underscores the

need for a conscious and structured organizational approach to the

management of survivors’ adverse reactions (intent to quit and

subsequent voluntary turnover) to restructuring and downsizing.

Using Larzarus and Folkman’s (1984) theory of stress, Mishra

and Spreitzer (1998) offer a theoretical model that explains survivors’

responses to downsizing. It classifies responses as either constructive

or destructive and explains how they are influenced by trust, sense of

justices, empowerment and job redesign. Empowerment and work

redesign, they argue, influence secondary appraisal and facilitate

constructive active responses because they enhance survivors’

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assessments of their capacity to effectively respond to the challenges

that restructuring and downsizing represent. Consequently, they

respond by obeying orders, waiting willingly through good and bad

times for conditions to improve in the organization, accepting the goals

and objectives assigned to them by management and by actively finding

ways to help the organization fulfill the objectives of the downsizing.

If this argument holds true, employee empowerment and job

redesign would be related to affective organizational commitment,

defined as an employee’s desire to remain attached to an organization

and work to help accomplish its goal (Porter et al., 1979; Mowday,

Steers and Porter, 1979,). It also suggests that empowerment and job

redesign can be organizational interventions that could mitigate “intent

to quit” that is induced by the uncertainties that restructuring and

downsizing create. This, of course, is based on the premise that

constructive responses exhibited by survivors are manifestations of their

desire to remain attached and work to help accomplish the goals of the

organization. Conversely, intent to quit and the consequent voluntary

turnover are manifestations of a decline of survivors’ affective

organizational commitment. In other words, affective commitment is a

predictor of intent to quit and subsequent voluntary turnover.

A number of studies on organizational and personal effects of

restructuring and downsizing have reported mixed findings. While some

reported cost savings and improved efficiency, others have reported

high organizational costs in terms of lower levels of employees= morale,

trust (Henkoff, 1994; Cascio, 1993; Ket de Vries & Balazs, 1997;

Brockner, Davy & Carter, 1985) and feelings of job insecurity, higher

levels of stress, loss of productive employees and feelings of

uncertainties among survivors.

Just as the results are mixed for organizations, survivors’

responses to restructuring and downsizing are mixed as well. In one

63

study of survivors’ reaction to layoffs, Brockner, Grover, Reed, DeWitt

and O’Malley (1987) found that it took the form of reduced work

performance and organizational commitment. In another, Brockner,

Grover, Reed, and DeWitt (1992) found that survivors who perceived

downsizing as a threat but who had high economic need to work,

responded by increasing their work efforts. Therefore, while some see it

as a threat to job security, breach of psychological contract and trust,

others see it as an opportunity to advance and assume greater

responsibility by assuming the tasks and responsibilities of the victims.

Mishra and Spreitzer (1998) are of the view point that constructive

responses range from obliging (calm, relief, committed, loyal, following

order, routine behavior) to hopeful responses (hope, excitement,

optimism, problem solving, and taking initiative).

The post restructuring and downsizing work environment is

characterized by uncertainty, work overload, role overload and stress

level as survivors struggle to assume the work duties and

responsibilities of those laid off. Emotional reactions to all of these

include, fear, anxiety, feelings of job insecurity, anger, bitter feeling

toward the organization for not holding its end of the psychological

contract, and sense of loss of friendly coworkers.

A number of studies have found associations between these

prevailing conditions and emotional reactions and intent to quit, and

between intent to quit and voluntary turnover. Hom and Griffeth (1995)

found positive relationship between role overload and voluntary

turnover. Similarly, Mueller, (1994) found association between work

overload and voluntary turnover. To some survivors, the job insecurity

associated with restructuring and downsizing environment is viewed as

an opportunity to pursue career opportunity elsewhere (Bennet et al.,

1995). It should be noted, however, that availability of alternative

opportunities may mitigate voluntary turnover. Unfavorable economic

64

conditions may prevent survivals from translating intent to quit into

actual voluntary turnover. In such situation, survivors’ decision to stay in

their current employment may results from continuance commitment. A

review of organizational commitment research literature by Meyer and

Allen (1991), and corroborated by Dunham, Gruba and Castaneda

(1994), identified three types of organizational commitment: affective,

continuance and normative.

Affective commitment is defined as employee emotional

attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organization

and its goals. It results from and is induced by an individual and

organizational value congruency. As a result, it becomes almost natural

for the individual to become emotionally attached to and enjoy

continuing membership in the organization (March & Simon, 1958; Hall

et. al., 1970; O'Reily & Chatman, 1986, Meyer & Allen, 1984). Steers

(1977), and Mottaz, (1988), identified factors which help create

intrinsically rewarding situations for employees to be antecedents of

affective commitment. These factors include such job characteristics as

task significance, autonomy, identity, skills variety and feedback

concerning employee job performance, perceived organizational

support or dependence (the feeling that the organization considers what

is in the best interest of employees when making decisions that affect

employment conditions and work environment), and the degree that

employees are involved in the goal-setting and decision-making

processes.

Over the years, two basic approaches have been used to study

organizational commitment: commitment-related attitudes and

commitment-related behaviors. Each approach offers a slightly different

definition. The commitment-related attitude approach defines

organizational commitment as a partisan, affective attachment to the

goals and values, and to the organization for its own sake, apart from its

65

purely instrumental worth (Buchanan, 1974). Porter, Crampton and

Smith (1976) define it as the willingness of an employee to exert a high

level of effort on behalf of the organization, a strong desire on behalf of

the organization, and an acceptance of its major goals and values.

According to Mowday, Steers and Porter (1979), attitudinal commitment

represents a state in which an individual identifies with a particular

organization and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in order

to facilitate these goals.

Many definitions exist in the literature for institutional

commitment. For the purpose of the study, the definition of

organizational commitment is derived from Mowday, Porter and Steers

(1982). Organizational commitment is defined in terms of the relative

intensity of a teacher’s involvement in, and identification with, a specific

institution, Mathieu and Zajac (1990) state that this definition reflects

multiple dimensions since it includes the concept of identification and

incorporates the desire to remain with the institution and work toward

institutional goals.

Three factors of attitudes and behaviours lend salience to the

characterization of institutional commitment. They are (1) acceptance of

and belief in the values and goals of the institutions; (2) desire to

maintain institutional membership; and (3) a willingness to contribute to

the institution. This definition of institutional commitment denotes an

active relationship exchange between the teacher and the institution

and involves attitudes and behaviours as manifestations of the actual

concept of institutional commitment. Observed behaviours of the

committed teacher will be congruent with the definition constitutes

(Mowday, Porter & Stress, 1982).

O’Reilly and Chatman (1986) define institutional commitment as a

psychological attachment to the institution predicted by three

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independent constructs, those of compliance, identification and

internalization. Compliance is defined as involvement for the extrinsic

rewards. Identification is involvement with the institution because of the

desire for affiliation and is an important mechanism in the developing

process of psychological attachment (Bowlby, 1982). Internalization is

involvement based on the individual’s acceptance of the institution’s

values. The first definitional component of the Mowday, Porter and

Steers (1982) institutional commitment model, acceptance and belief in

the values and goals of an institution is based on psychological

attachment (O’Reilly & Chatman, 1986).

Mowday, Porter and Steers (1982) are of the view that

institutional commitment is a global construct revealing the affective

responses of the teacher to the whole of the institution. The

development of commitment to the institution begins at the time of

employment, continues over a period of time and involves interplay of

attitudes and behaviours. Porter, Crampon and Steer (1986) have

opined that the level of commitment reported by Teachers on the first

day of employment predict turnover up to several months on the job.

Alternatively, Hunt and Morgan (1994) advocated the multiple

commitment view of institutional commitment. They report institutional

commitment to be defined as multiple commitments to various groups

comprising the institution, such as commitment to the workgroup, the

supervisor and to top management. Their research supports a

reconceptualization of the global institutional commitment model as a

“key mediating construct” with compliance, internalization identification

as the bases of commitment. Constituency-specific commitments are

factors that lead to, and result in, the concept of global institutional

commitment. On the consequences and outcomes of global institutional

commitment, reduced voluntary turnover may be the most predictable of

the behavioural model Mitchell, 1991; Lee, Ashford, Walsh and Mowday

67

(1982). A meta-analysis outcomes (Mowday, Porter and Steers, 1982;

Mathieu and Zajac, 1990; Lee & conducted by Mathieu and Zajac

(1990) reveals high correlations between institutional commitment and

behavioural intentions. Mathieu and Zajac conclude that institutional

commitment may represent a “summary index” of the teacher’s work

related experience and that institutional commitment may influence the

behavioural intentions in a direct way.

The institutional commitment meta-analysis conducted by

Mathieu and Zajac (1990) also reveals that among the focus of

commitment, the job involvement and institutional commitment

relationship is the largest observed. The two variables are considered to

influence some work related behaviours independently. Job involvement

is defined as a belief descriptive of and teacher’s relationship with the

present job. This is not to be confused with the term work involvement,

which may be defined as a normative and a function of historical cultural

conditioning and socialization whereas, job involvement is a function of

the satisfaction of eminent personal needs (Kanungo, 1982). Kanungo

(1982) suggests a reformulation of the job involvement construct to be

viewed as a form of psychological identification enhanced by a cognitive

or belief state. The teacher’s identification process depends on the

teacher’s saliency of both intrinsic to satisfy the teacher’s perceptions

about the job’s potentialities to satisfy the teacher’s needs, a

psychological contract relative to job involvement. According to Blau

and Boal (1987), job involvement is a better predictor of voluntary

turnover than absenteeism. Blau and Boal (1987) suggested that

institutional commitment and job involvement serve as complements

relative to prediction of the voluntary, turnover process. They also report

a significant interactive relationship between the two variables (Blau and

Boal, 1989).O’Reilly and Chatman (1986) are of the view that job

involvement is a consequent outcome of psychological commitment to

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an institution. Job involvement is included in a category of dependent

variables that is relevant to institutional commitment. There are certain

types of positive, involvement, which contribute to the definition of job

involvement. They are conformity, flexibility, motivation and an

acceptance of institutional policies demonstrated through obedience in

teacher institutional relationship.

Job satisfaction is a highly researched work and attitude is

commonly defined as “a pleasurable or positive emotional state

resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences” (Locke,

1976). Job satisfaction is associated with various organizational and

individual outcomes (Judge, Parker, Colbert, Heller, & Ilies, 2001). For

example, Violanti and Aron (1994) found that high levels of job

satisfaction were associated with improved psychological well-being, in

their research with police officers. The relationship between low levels

of job satisfaction and increased turnover behaviours is consistently

produced (O’Leary-Kelly & Griffith, 1995). However, the associations

between job satisfaction and actual turnover behavior are generally only

moderate, and have also produced some mixed findings. The instability

of job satisfaction over time probably accounts for these moderate

predictions of turnover (O’Driscoll & Brough, 2003; Paton, Jackson, &

Johnston, 2003), although this point has rarely been formally tested.

Theories of Motivation:

Entire theories of motivation can be broadly classified into three

namely: 1. Content or need theories which basically look at the motives

or needs in individuals that influence behavior. Maslow, Alderfer, Murry,

Mc Clelland and White are some personalities who have made

significance contributions to his approach. Cognitive or process theories

which look in the dynamic process of how people assess work

situations and make decisions cognitively as to whether and what extent

they should and would engage in work behavior in this category of

69

motivational theories Adam, Vroom, Porter, and Lawler have

contributed a lot. 3. Reinforcement theories which consider behavior as

the responses of individuals to the stimuli they are exposed to. The

theory suggests that by changing the cues or stimuli in people’s

environment, their behavior can be moulded, shaped, changed or

limited.

Content or Need Theory: Under this category of motivational

theories, following theories are considered:

Hierarchy of Needs Theories: Abraham Maslow postulated this

theory of motivation during the decades of the 1950s. He hypothesized

that within every individual there exists a hierarchy of five needs

such as-

1. Physiological Needs: Includes hunger, thrust, shelter, sex,

and bodily needs.

2. Safety Needs: Which covers security and protection from

physical and motivational harms.

3. Social Needs: Includes affection, a sense of belongingness,

acceptance, and friendship.

4. Esteem Needs: Contains internal factors such as self respect,

autonomy and achievements and external factors like status,

recognition and attention.

5. Self Actualization: The drive becomes what one is capable of

becoming includes growth, achieving ones potential and self

fulfillment.

Physiological and safety needs were described as lower order.

Social esteem and self actualization were categorized as higher order

needs. The differentiation between the two orders was made on the

premise that higher order needs are satisfied internally, whereas lower

order needs are predominantly satisfied externally by such things as

70

wages, union, contracts and tenure. This theory has received wide

recognition particularly among practicing managers. Unfortunately,

however, research does not generally validate the theory due to

following reasons:

a) Needs are arranged in a hierarchy fashion and the lower level

needs must be first satisfied before the higher level needs in the

pyramid will be activated. If we look into the evidences, the many

poets, artists, musicians and sculptures all over the world, who

have tried to self-, actualize themselves by their immortal work

without even having satisfied their lower level needs. Many of these

great personalities had lived their lives in subject poverty and non-

recognition during their life time obliviously their lower level

physiological, security, social and self esteem needs were never

met.

b) The operationalization of some of the concepts, which makes it

difficult for researcher to test the theory, e.g. how does one

measure self actualization.

Alderfer’s ‘ERG’ Theory:

Clayton Alderfer, reformulated Maslow’s theory of needs of

hierarchy. He modified and reduced Maslow’s five levels of needs to

three levels and labeled them as needs for Existence, Relatedness and

Growth. The name of ERG theory is derived from the first letter of each

of these three levels of needs. Alderfer’s existence needs comprise of

Maslow’s physiological needs as well as the needs for security and

safety. His relatedness needs refer to the need of people for affection,

love and friendship in their social environment and would thus include

Maslow’s social needs. Alderfer growth needs compasses the ideas of

Maslow as he had conceptualized self esteem and self actualization,

people tend to satisfy their needs to develop the growth on their job, the

basic difference between Maslow and Alderfer is that Alderfer posited a

71

“satisfaction – progression” akin t Maslow’s “Deprivation – Gratification”

as well as a frustration – regression process in his theory. That is

Alderfer agreed with Maslow that once one level of needs is satisfied

people will progress to the next level to satisfy the succeeding higher

level needs. For example, if relatedness needs are satisfied people will

move on to the growth needs level to have them satisfied. Unlike

Maslow however, Alderfer also postulated that if for some reason,

people continuously become frustrated in trying to satisfy their needs at

one level, their next lower level of needs will re-merge and they will

regress to the lower level to satisfy their more basic needs. For

instance, if relatedness are not satisfied and an individual continuously

experiences frustration in not being able to meet choose needs, his

existence needs will re-emerge and will regress his level and try to got

more of those needs satisfied i.e. he would feel the need to eat better

live better and satisfy more of the physiological needs. Secondly

Alderfer also suggest that more than one need may be activated at a

time. In other words, individuals may be working towards fulfilling both

their relatedness needs and growth needs or their existence need

simultaneously. Therefore, Alderfer’s theory is more flexible in

describing human behavior than Maslow’s theory.

Murray’s Manifest Needs Theory:

Henley Murray developed a list of twenty eight needs that human

beings have. Among these are the needs for achievement, affiliation,

dominance, aggression, dependence and nurturance. Murray proposed

that our needs are mostly acquired in life rather than inherited and

needs can be activated or made to manifest them by introducing

appropriate cues in the environment e.g. an employee’s needs for

achievement will manifest itself when the individual is exposed to a

challenging job. Since a challenging job requires the individual to

master all the creativity and abilities that are within the person has an

72

opportunity to tap into his/ her needs for achievement. It however, the

individual as continuously exposed to monotones job only this need is

never tapped and the individual becomes bored with the job. Thus,

given a conducive environment our talent needs can manifest them.

McClelland’s Research on Manifest Needs in Work Settling:

David Mc Clellend of Harvard University did extensive research

on the concept of need for achievement and need for power. Studying

the need for achievement of individual in different countries he

concluded that the level of a nation’s need for achievement is highly co-

related to the country’s economic development, i.e. nations high in need

for achievement are more prosperous than those low in need for

achievement. He also stressed the level of need for achievement can

be included and developed in individuals. In other words, the level of

need for achievements can be raised in individuals through training.

Ultimately he recommended theories of each three needs i.e. Needs for

Affiliation, Needs for Achievement and Needs for Power. While most of

us possess all three needs, usually one or the other of the three

dominant than the other. Al three needs can be usefully tapped in

organization setting to achieve higher levels of performance.

Needs for Achievement:

Individuals high in need for achievement exhibit certain

characteristics and can easily be spotted in organization. High need for

achievement individuals like to work on job, which are fairly challenging.

They won’t be turned on by jobs, which have either low challenging or

too high level of challenge. Too little challenge will bore them since

there is no opportunity to satisfy their urge to achieve and too much

challenge would mean that the job is too difficult and hence will reduce

the fear of future in them. Since their need for achievement and

accomplishment are high, high needs for achievement individuals will

73

not try to work on jobs that are too challenging that successful task

accomplishment become doubtful. High need achievement individuals

hence seek jobs that are individuals hence seek jobs that are

moderately challenging. They also like to work ad autonomy to perform

their work. They also desire feedback on how well they are performing.

Thus, moderator challenging job responsibility, autonomy and feedback

motivate individuals high in need for achievement to engage in work

behavior and performance well on the job.

Need for Affiliation:

Individuals in high need for affiliation like to interact with

colleagues in the organization. They have a strong desire for approval

and reassurance from others and they are willing to confirm to the

norms of groups to which they belong. In effect they have needs to

develop affinity and warm relationship with the people in the work

system. They are usually gregarious by native and like to work with

others in a friendly atmosphere. Teamwork, cooperative efforts, joint

problem solving sessions and committed assignments are all well suited

for those high in need for affiliation to perform well. In Alderfer’s

framework, these individuals are in the relatedness needs level and in

Maslow’s frame work they are in the social needs level. People high in

needs for affiliation are said to perform in their job, which they are given

supportive feedback. A cooperative work norm where pressure for

increased output comes from firmness also increased output. Thus,

friendly managers and supervisors can influence individual high in need

for affiliation and motivate them to work.

Need for Power:

74

Mc Clelland has also done research on need for power. His latest

work discusses the two faces of power. Mc Clelland differentiates

between personal power and institutional or social power. Individuals

high in need for personal power like to inspire subordinates and expect

the latter to respect and obey them. Such behaviours of gratify their own

need for power in personal sense. Managers, who are high in

institutional power, however tend to exert authority and influence so as

to achieve the goals of the organization rather than to gain any personal

ego satisfaction. Mc Clelland describes the institutional power manager

as “Organizational minded and getting things done in the interest of

organization. That is the institutional power manager exercises the

power in the interests said to be very effective since they are willing to

somewhat sacrifice their own interests for the organization’s overall well

being. Mc Clelland feels that institutional or social power in good for the

organization and personal power is detrimental to the overall interests of

organization. Powers with high need for power would naturally be

turned on by holding positions of authority and influence in the

organization. They like to take charge and be in control of situations.

Placing such individuals in high level position will help them to gratify

their own needs as well as get many of the organizations policies and

orders followed and carried out by employees.

Robert White identified another need that can be effectively

challenged in the organizations. This is the need for affection. More

comprehensively developed the concept to use it in the organizational

settings. Need for affection is a concept, which describes our inborn

drive to explore and gain mastering over our own immediate

environment. Need for affection is manifested even babies who

constantly try to explore their small world. They reaches out for things

crawl and take their steps and feel happy with their explorations. Such

explorations of environment continue throughout human being

75

experience of both successful and unsuccessful experiences and gain

varying degree of mastery over the environment. The history of

successful experience over one life time, offers one sense of confidence

in his/her own competence. White considered this confidence as a

powerful motivator to interact more with the environment so as to

accumulate more business experiences and feel confident about our

competence. White called this confidence in one’s own competence a

‘sense of competence’. Jay Loresch and John Morse a Harvard

Business School used the concept of “sense of competence” to study

the motivation and performance accounted for high level of managerial

motivation and performance in several types of organizations. The

concept of sense competence is important because it can easily make

use of the need for affection that employees have or arouse this need in

the work setting, so that employee’s energies can be advantageously

tapped and their sense of competence enhanced. This in turn will

increase the level of motivation in employees. The need for affection in

individuals, a powerful motivator can be creatively challenged through

proper job assignments and allowing employees to gain mastery over

their environment. Given adequate encouragement and support,

employees will be motivated to engage in work behavior. The more they

interact with their work environment, the in turn, will motivate them to

even more actively engage in their work. Hence motivation and a sense

of competence will mutually influence each other and offer employees

intra-psychic or intrinsic reward.

Designing Motivating Jobs:

Individuals in high need for affiliation like to interact with

colleagues in the employees have needs, which they seek to satisfy.

Obviously some of these needs should be satisfied of the job. Since the

time a person puts into his job represents about thirty five per cent of

his/her working hours. There are ample opportunities for finding

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fulfillment and satisfaction from non-job-related activities. It can be

argued that if job are bore, and there are sufficient opportunities for

finding excitement of the job. On the other hand, it can also be argued

that intrinsically rewarding jobs – those that employees find interesting –

provide motivation in them and require substantially less reliance on

externally initiated motivators. The term job design refers to the way

tasks are combined from complete jobs. Some jobs are routine because

the tasks are standardized and repetitive, others are non-routine. Some

require a large number of varied and diverse skills, others re narrow in

scope. Some jobs constrain the employee by requiring him/her to follow

very precise. Procedures, others allow employees substantial freedom

in how they do their work. Some jobs are most effectively accomplished

by groups of employees working as a team member, others jobs are

best done by individuals essentially acting independently. The point is

that jobs differ in the way tasks are combined and these different

combinations create a variety of job designs.

There are many guidelines available to help redesigning or

setting of job. The most complete frame work available for analyzing a

job design is the “Job Characteristics Mode” (JMC). According to this

model, there are key job characteristics, their inter relationship and their

predicted impact on employee productivity. Motivation and satisfaction,

which is described below:

(a) Skill Variety: The degree to which a job requires a variety of

different activities so the worker can use a number of different

skills and talents.

(b) Tasks Identify: The degree to which the job requires competition

of a whole and identifiable piece of work.

(c) Task Significance: The degree to which the job has a

substantial impact on the lines or work of the people.

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(d) Autonomy: The degree to which the job provides substantial

freedom, independence and direction to the individuals in

scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be

used in carrying it out.

(e) Feedback: The degree to which carrying out the work activities

required by the job results in the individuals obtaining direct and

clear information about the effectiveness of his/her performance.

Theory of X & Y:

Douglous Mc Gregor proposed two distinct views of human

beings i.e. on basically negative labeled. Theory ‘X’ and other basically

positive labeled. Theory ‘Y’ – after viewing the way managers dealt with

employees. McGregor in concluded that a manager’s view of the nature

of human being is based on a certain grouping of assumptions and that

he/she tends to mold his/her behavior towards subordinates.

Under the theory ‘X’ from assumptions are held by the managers:

(a) Employees inherently dislike work and whenever possible, will

attempt to avoid it.

(b) Since employees dislike work, they must be coerced, controlled or

threatened with punishment to achieve described goals.

(c) Employees will shirk responsibilities and seek formal direction

whenever possible.

(d) Most workers place security above all other factors associated with

work and will display little ambition.

In contrast to these negative views towards the nature of human

being Mc Gregor listed four other assumptions that he called theory ‘Y’.

(a) Employees can view work as being as natural as rest or play.

(b) A person will exercise self-discretion and self control if he is

committed to the objectives.

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(c) The average person can learn to accept, even seek responsibility.

(d) Creativity that is the ability dispensed throughout the population

and not necessary the side province of those in management

functions.

Unfortunately, there is no evidence to confirm that either set of

assumption is valid or the acceptance of theory ‘Y’ assumptions and

altering one’s actions accordingly will lead to more motivated worker.

Herzberg’s Dual Factor Theory:

Fredric Herzberg and his associates were the first to identify that

there are two sets of factor in the work setting that affect employees’ job

attitudes. Herzberg stated that certain aspects of the work itself or

specific rewards derived from one’s work. Such as sense of

achievement, recognition, growth and advancement stimulate and

motivate people to work. Other factors in the work setting such as

conditions in the work environment, e.g. supervision and company

policy do not directly motivate or satisfy employees, out the absence of

these factors would cause dissatisfaction to the employees. He called

the first set of factors “Motivator” or ‘Satisfiers” and the second set of

factor ‘Hygiene’ Factor or ‘Satisfiers’. The point made by Herzberg is

that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are different factors (hence, the

name, dual factor theory) in other words, the opposite of dissatisfaction

is not satisfaction. To put it yet differently, a person can be dissatisfied

with working conditions and at the same time, be satisfied with the work.

It is the job contains work (work itself) that satisfies and motivates

people and it is the job context (work environment) that makes people

dissatisfied. Herzberg’s dual factor theory is also known as the

“Motivation Hygiene Theory”. Herzberg used a “critical incidents”

technique in his research, i.e., he asked respondents to identify specific

incidents, events, or situations when

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1. They felt most responses collected by him from over 1600 workers

in various types of jobs in 12 different students, and he developed

his dual factor theory. The motivators and satisfiers that he

identified are listed below:

Herzberg’s Dual Factors or Motivation – Hygiene TheoryHygiene factors relating to the work context (Dissatisfaction)

Motivators relating to the work content (Satisfaction)

Company policy and administration Achievement

Supervision Recognition

Relations with supervisors Work itself

Relation with co-workers Responsibility

Relations with subordinates Advancement

Work conditions, status, security and play Growth

However, Herzberg’s theory has also been criticized for thing

critical incidents techniques. It has been argued that this technique has

biased his results since people usually have a tendency to identify

dissatisfying events (hygiene factors) are being experienced due to

factors in the environment, which are beyond their control such as

company policy etc. people, however, associate – satisfying events

(motivation) as being experienced due to their own efforts and

interaction with the work. Criticism also emanated from subsequent

research, some of which indicate that the same factors that cause job

satisfaction to some cause dissatisfaction to others. It has also been

argued that a given factor can cause both satisfaction and

dissatisfaction to the same group of co-workers. Herzberg has been

able to replicate his original findings. His theory of motivation has

contributed a lot in sensitizing manager to the fact that merely treating

the employees well through good company policies and the like is not

sufficient to get them motivated. Herzberg can be said to be the father

of designing theory, which has been subsequently developed, more

completely by Hackman and his associates.

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Cognitive or Process Theories of Motivation:

Cognitive models of motivation are based on the nation that

individuals make conscious decisions about their job behavior. Thus,

understanding the process by which individuals make decisions about

how much effort they will put on the job will help managers/

administrators to motivate people better. There are several approaches

for understand the cognitive process discussed below:

Equity Theory:

Equity theory was first advanced by Stasy Adams. The notion of

equity stipulate that justice and fairness should prevail (such as in the

reward system). The process of deciding whether there is equity,

involves social comparisons by organizational members. For instance,

an individual looks at the amount of work that he/she puts in and how

the reward were dispensed for that effort, and compares it with the

efforts and rewards of another person in a similar position. If there is a

perceived equity or fairness, all is well. However, if inequity is

perceived, the person feels unhappy, distressed and restless, since

what he/she thinks is equitable and what has actually happened are

variance. This cognitive dissonance or restlessness and agitation in the

individuals mind will propel the person to take some type of action.

Since felt inequity motivates or moves people to take action. It is a

motivator. Hence, motivation or work behavior could very well be a

function of felt inequity. According to Adams, “Inequity is an injustice

perceived by a person when he/she compares the ratio of his/her

outcomes (rewards) to his/her inputs (efforts) with the ratio of another

comparable person’s outcomes to inputs and finds that they are not

equal”. Inequity exists under two conclusions: (1) when the person feels

that in comparison, he/she suffers a negative inequity, that is he/she

has been rewarded less or his/her efforts thus another hand. (2) when

he experiences a positive inequity that is in competency he/she finds

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himself/herself rewarded more than another for a similar degree of

efforts. Both kinds of inequities provide cognitive dissonance or internal

tensions and propel to action in order to reduce, the dissonance. In

essence Equity theory pre supposes that in putting forth future efforts

an individual asks question “Am I being rewarded fairly for my effort,

especially when I compare myself with another in similar position in the

organization. At least to different consequences are possible as a result

of felt inequity. Adams suggests that people tend to resolve inequity

through the following ways:

a) The person can after inputs (effort) i.e. people who feel. They are

under paid for their efforts may tend to reduce their efforts and who

feel they are overpaid might went to increase their efforts.

b) The person can try to alter outcomes or rewards and union’s effort

to increase wages when the company’s wage level falls short of

industry levels is a cure in point.

c) The person can cognitively distort inputs or outcomes.

d) The person might quit the job.

e) The person could try to influence the other individual to reduce

inputs.

f) The person might change the level of comparison.

Vroom’s Expectancy Theory:

Victor Vroom made an important contribution to our

understanding of motivation and decision process what people use to

determine how much effort they will expend on their jobs. The level of

effort that individuals will extents is based on their perceptions of certain

factors in the work environment and their expectation regarding their

effort resulting in worthwhile rewards Vroom called it the expectancy

theory. There are four important concepts which draw special attention

listed below:

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a) Expectancy: Before an individual decides to put effort into the

performance of task, he/she looks at the various alternatives which

are available to him/her. Of course, everyone has to perform the so

as to stay in the organization, but the level of excellence at which

one would perform the task is one’s own decision e.g. The

individual has at least three alternatives before him/her to do an

excellent job to do an acceptable job or to do a really poor job.

Doing a poor job is likely to cost him his position in the organization

and hence the individual may want to choose between the first two

alternatives. He might decide to put forth his best effort and

perform an excellent job or he might decide to put forth a moderate

level of effort and do an acceptable job. The mere fact that he

decides to put in supervisor effort or a moderate level of effort does

not necessarily mean that the final output is going to be excellent or

at the acceptable level as anticipated. For instance even after

putting in supervisor effort the individual may not be able to perform

an excellent job and it might end up being only an acceptable level

of performance. Similarly, if he/she puts moderate effort, the final

performance contingencies, the individuals will attach some kind of

probability, which would range from zero to one e.g. the individuals

might attach a probability of (0.7) that he/she would do an excellent

job if he/she puts in supervisor effort and probability of (0.3) that it

could end up to be only an acceptable job even when he/she puts

in superior performance. Likewise he/she might attach the

probabilities of (0.6) and (0.4) say for acceptable and low quality

performance, if he/she expands moderate effort on the job based

on any given effort level denotes expectancy. Expectancy is thus

the perceived probability assigned to a given level of effort leading

to a given level of performance.

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b) Instrumentality: Refers to the outcome for the individual for each

level of job performance e.g. if through high level effort a high level

of performance is indeed achieved, what will be the consequent

outcomes Instrumentalities) of it? There could be a big bonus and

appreciation from the Boss and there will also be some physical

and mental stream for the job performance. The first two are

desirable but strain is not really wanted. Supposing even with the

high level of effort put in, only an acceptable level of performance is

achieved, the instrumentalities in that case may be a small amount

of bonus and probably a ‘sermon’ from the boss instead of

recognition but the physical and mental strain will be just the same.

Similarly, the instrumentalities for putting in moderate efforts and

performing either an acceptable job or a poor job can be

determined. Thus, instrumentality refers to the probability as

attached by the individual previously assigned probabilities to

various levels of efforts leading to different levels of perception –

Leading different levels of performance (expectancy).

c) Valance: Means attraction or repulsion of an outcome to the

individual. Each of the outcome or instrumentalities will have a

certain degree of attraction or repulsion for the individual receiving

it e.g. under the instrumentality that, the individual will like the

bonus and the praise from the boss but will try to minimize the

physical and mental stress. In other words, the first two are

attractive outcomes. Thus, a series of values can assigned to each

performance leading to instrumentalities for each of the effort

alternatives available. The probabilities assigned to each possible

performance attainment, the probabilities assigned to each

performance. Leading to instrumentalities and the valance

assigned to each effort alternative available. Whichever alternative

offers the highest sum will be the alternative chosen by the

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individuals per the expectancy model. Probabilities are assigned

cognitively by the individuals for the effort leading to performance

and performance leading to outcomes, and he/she will lower

his/her effort in addition, before people put forth effort, they will also

try to assess the probability of a certain level of effort leading to

desired level of performance and the probability of that

performance leading to certain kind of rewards. Based on the

valance of the reward and the effort reward. Probability, people

than decide to put in a certain level of work effort. The effort put in

will lead to the expected level of performance – only if the individual

has the requisite abilities and traits to perform the job. Ability

includes job knowledge, skill and intellectual capacity to perform

the job.

Traits such as endurance perseverance and goal directedness

are also important for many jobs. If these are absent, the effort put in

will not lead to the desired level of performance. This ability and traits

will moderate the effort – performance relationship. In other words, only

those who have the requisite abilities and traits will perform the job well

then they put forth the effort, the other will not. In addition, the individual

performing the job should also have accurate role perception. Role

perception refers to the way in which people define their jobs. Thus,

people may perceive their roles differently. The accuracy of role

perception is another variable that moderates the effort performance

relationship i.e. only those who perceive their role as it is defined by the

organization will be able to perform well when they put forth the

requisite effort e.g. staff nurse who has recently been promoted as

nursing supervisor or shift duty in-charge will not be to effectively get

the job done from other nursing staff if she/he will clings on to her/his

former role as a staff nurse working ward on the patient herself/himself.

Her/his role after promotion is to supervise other staff nurse and get the

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job done from them so that the quality and quantity of nursing core

patient in her/his unit/ward goes up. However, if she/he still extends all

her/his effort in doing the job herself/himself she/he is going to be an

ineffective nursing supervisor/shift duty in-charge will be poor despite all

efforts she/he puts in. Thus, both abilities and traits and accurate role

perception moderates the relationship between effort and performance.

Performance leads to certain outcomes in the shape of intrinsic

and extrinsic rewards. Intrinsic rewards are those feeling of joy, self

esteem and sense of competence and individuals feel when they do a

good job. Extrinsic rewards provide satisfaction to the individuals.

However, the rewards – satisfaction relationship is moderated by

perceived equitability of reward i.e. satisfaction will be experienced only

when the person feels fairly and justify rewarded for her/his efforts, not

otherwise.

Porter and Lawler’s model is of great significance to managers/

administrators since it sensitizes them to focus attention on following to

keep their subordinates motivated.

(a) Put the right person on the right job (nation abilities and traits of

individuals to the requirement of the job).

(b) Carefully explain to employees that their role is, and make sure

they understand it.

(c) Prescribe in concrete terms the actual performance levels expected

of the individuals and

(d) Make sure that the employee values that rewards dispensed i.e.

find output what rewards are attractive to the employee and see if

such rewards can be given to them.

(e) If high level of motivation are to be induced, managers/

administrators should ensure that employee perceive a direct link

between performance and desired rewards. If significant changes

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in performance levels desired, the rewards dispensed must also be

significant and valued enough by the employees to change their

effort levels.

Goal Setting Theory:

Edwin Locke perceived behavior to be determined by cognitions –

values and intentions or goals e.g. if a person has a high work ethics

value, he or she is likely to set a high performance goal and work

rewards a high level of performance. Actual work behavior then

becomes a function of values and goal set by the individuals.

Managers/administrators can motivate employees by setting goals,

which are jointly decided by both. Latham and Yukl indicated that four

important requirements should be met in the task goal setting process, if

employees are to be motivated to perform on their jobs. They are goal

specification, goal difficulty, goal acceptance and feedback.

Recent development in this direction has provided SMART

approach. Let us discuss as what should be an effective goal.

(a) Specific Goal: In goal setting process emphasis should be on

clarity of goal, it should be very much focused.

(b) Measurable Goal: It should be assessable against any standard

so that the performance of the employee to be measured and it can

be used as a feed back for employee as how much more work is to

be done.

(c) Attainable Goal: Goal should neither be too high to achieve nor

too close to put any effort in achieving it. It should be set in such

way that employee has to put forth his/her moderate effort to

achieve it.

(d) Realistic Goal: Unrealistic goal can never be achieved and it will

create frustration and dissatisfaction in the employee.

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(e) Time Bound Goal: Goal must be achieved within a prescribed

time limit. This technique of motivation is also known as

Management by objectives, which is very commonly used in

corporate sector.

Reinforcement Theory:

Reinforcement theory suggests that it is possible to predict

employee’s behavior without trying to understand the internal thought

process of individuals. It believes that environmental consequences

mould the behavior of people, e.g. a ward attendant perform dusting in

the ward and medical director of the hospital comes on round and

appreciates his effort and give him Rs. 100/-. Next week then medical

director comes on visit and find him dusting the ward gives him Rs.

100/- again. Ward attendant likely to exhibit two kind of behavior i.e. he

may perform his duty more seriously on regular basis or he may follow

the visit schedule of medical director so that he will be given more

money and praise from medical director. Such behaviour is

automatically exhibited due to the environment stimuli. Reinforcement

theory describes that human behavior is a function of individual’s

responses to environmental stimuli. This theory was first described by

Eward Thorndike when he explained the “Law of Effect” as follows

“Behaviours that result in pleasing outcomes are likely to be repeated

and behaviours which result in unpleasant outcomes are likely be

repeated”. Thorndike Law of effect has implications for the behavior of

employees at the work place. Behaviours that are reinforced by

administrators or managers will tend to be repeated and those that are

not, are likely to be substantially reduced or totally eliminated. Thus,

reinforcement theory can be applied in the work setting as managers/

administrators learn how to use ‘behaviour modification’ through

reinforcement.

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B.F. Skinner, the well known Psychologist used the term “operant

conditioning” to describe the process of controlling behavior by

manipulating its consequences. Operant conditioning is actually

“Lelarning through Reinforcement”. The term operant conditioning was

used with respect to shaping the behavior of animals. Skinner, for

instance, used operant conditioning when he taught pigeons to play

“ping pong” by rewarding them with food whenever they exhibited

behaviours that were appropriate to game. When operant conditioning

techniques are used to control the behavior of human being, the term

bechaviour modification is used.

Reinforcement Strategies:

There are four basic strategies of reinforcement used in

Organizational Behaviour Modification. They are positive reinforcement,

negative reinforcement, punishment and extinction. In addition, shaping

– a method of introducing new described behaviours in

employees is also a technique which uses reinforcement principles.

1. Positive Reinforcement: Positive reinforcement is used to

increase the frequency and strength if desired work behaviours by

making the positive reinforcement (i.e. the consequence desired by

the employee) contingent on the occurrence of the desired

behavior in the employee e.g. head of department of any medical

department may express appreciation to an under training medical

student who has assessed the patient’s condition accurately.

Positive reinforcement involves rewarding a desired behavior with

some form of recognition and approval, which makes the

employees happy and encourages them repeat the same behavior.

2. Negative Reinforcement: Negative reinforcement increases the

frequency and strengths of desired behavior by making it

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contingent upon the avoidance of undesirable consequences for

the employees. For instance a house keeping staff has been

reprimanded by the supervisor for not moping the wards properly.

Here in this case, something that was unpleasantness in the future,

the person will try to exhibit the desired work behaviours. Thus,

negative reinforcement implies that the mere anticipation of

noxious stimuli from the environment by the employee will reinforce

the desired behaviours.

3. Punishment: Punishment is used to decrease the frequency or

weaken an undesired behavior by making it contingent on the

occurrence of an undesired consequence for the employee. For

instance, if an employee comes late to more than two times a

month, the manager might count each additional late attendance as

a day’s earned leave lost. The employee is thus punished which

serves a lesson for not coming late at least for the rest of the

month. Such punishment meted out would make employees think

before they repeat the mistakes. The difference between

punishment and negative reinforcement is that, in the former,

noxious consequence is applied to decrease the frequency or

strength of an undesired behavior, whereas in the latter, a noxious

consequences or strength of an undesired behavior is exhibited.

Punishment can have undesirable side effect if administered too

frequently or for a considerable length of time. Strong emotional

reactions such as anger, hatred, or fear may ensure, and may

result in aggressive behavior at the workplace. Assaulting an

officer, hitting the supervisor, engaging in acts of sabotage, and

such other dysfunctional and detrimental behaviors can result in

extreme cases.

4. Extinction: Extinction refers to the weakening and ultimate

elimination of an undesired behavior by making it contingent on the

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removal of desirable consequence for the employee. Extinction

involves three things (1) Identifying the behavior that needs to be

eliminated, (2) Identifying the reinforces which encourage the

behavior that is desired to be eliminated, (3) Stopping the

reinforces.

5. Shaping: Shaping is the creation of new target behavior, which is

desired, but is currently beyond the existing capabilities of

employees. This behavior is shaped by rein forcers successive

approximations of the final target behavior, i.e. by reinforcing small

incremental steps taken by an individual towards reaching the

desired goal e.g. a nursing superintendent who want her

supervisors supervise 12 nursing staff during their shift duties

without compromising with the quality of supervision, she can

reinforce her supervisors by giving them rewards, appreciation of

their work, giving them incentives when they supervise 8 nursing

staff in the respective shift and gradually they can be given the

target 10-12 and so on in the same way by nursing superintendent

for supervising nursing staff in the respective shifts. In this way

reinforcement will continue till desired goal is achieved.

Before discussing as which theory of motivation is best

applicable, one has to first recognize that the traditional concept of the

“economic man” who works for money alone, is no longer true for at

least today’s educated and professionally trained work force at global

level. Secondly one also needs to remember that without employee

cooperation and support no organization can be productive or function

effectively. Cooperation flows from motivated employees and motivation

stems from how the work system is arranged. If monetary rewards are

not always possible to dispense, there are several other supplementary

ways in which many of needs of people at the work place can be met.

Some of these may include involving staff in generating ideas to

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manage their own work, and offering risk support to innovative

employees who are eager to try new methods and systems. These are

relatively expensive ways in which people at work can be motivated.

However, there is nothing more immediate and powerful than

distinguishing and differentially rewarding superior performer in terms of

merit raises, promotions and career development opportunities.

Motivating employees at work requires reorientation in our way of

thinking and embedding new values and philosophy in the organization

system. We have to come to terms with fact that unless merit is

awarded, we will not be able to improve our productivity. Such a

reorientation will not only motivate the younger employees, but the

senior ones is well, since they will also once again begin to apply their

abilities. It is not merely enough to attract employees to organization,

but it is also important that managers/administrators should motivate

their employees to perform well and keep them interested in remaining

in the organization. That is managers/administrators must create

conditions at work place that will enable the worker to sustain their

interest in the organization and motivate them to contribute beyond they

routinely perform. Various cognitive, content and reinforcement theories

of motivation discussed so far, among which Porter and Lawler model

seems to be most comprehensive model. This far which takes several

moderating variables in the consideration for predicting the effort –

performance – satisfaction relation. However, it is impractical to say that

any of the techniques discussed above can be applied universally in

isolation irrespective of context. Beyond these models of motivational

techniques, effectiveness of techniques depends on the factors like

manager’s own abilities, skill and traits such as personality attitude,

leadership quality and relationship with subordinate and supervisors etc.

It is the time to think in new direction. Intellectual growth and

nourishment are as important as physical growth and nourishment for

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today’s educated employees. Hence it is time to work towards satisfying

the higher order meals of employees through job design, equitable

reward system; innovative work, group arrangements and creative ways

of managing a talented work force which can perform high order the

right conditions. In order to keep employees motivates and high

performer, it is essential for employer, administrator, manager and

supervisor to materialize following steps.

a) To know employees well and indentify their need pattern. This

would not be time consuming as every manager/administrator/

supervisor usually has direct responsibility for only a limited

number of people.

b) To set goals for employees and follows the principles of goal

setting.

c) To develop reliable performance appraisal systems and give

feedback to employees on their strength and weakness on periodic

basis.

d) To match the individuals to the job in terms of abilities and trait.

They should be exposed to the expectation of management as

what exactly is expected from employees in terms of performance

and final outcomes.

e) To give support to get the job done – training, help, understanding,

and creating a sense of competence among the employees.

f) To set equitable reward systems in the organization, employees

will not put forth their best effort if their effort is not rewarded

equitably. Employees must perceive reinforcement timely as

warranted by their behavior.

g) To be fair, focused and act as a role model for the employees so

that they have an idea of what their behavior should be like role,

modeling would be particularly effective motivational technique.

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Where capable managers/administrators have referent power and

are likely to be emulated by their employees. The new ethos will

have to be reflected in the organization’s culture system.

h) To success of private firms could be benchmarked by public

institutions to bring about similar changes to enhance

organizational productivity and better quality of work life for the

employees.

In addition to above explained theories and their effectiveness, it

is really untapped area till date in such a way that none of the free

group of techniques as described above have firm relationship with

factor associated with the motivate such as age, socio-economic status

and psychosocial status. Considering the labour laws prescribed by

ILO, Reinforcement theories are likely to be more effective in shaping

the individual during childhood, cognitive theories in motivating and

making more productive to highly professionally trained with advanced

age group of employees and content theories in motivating and getting

more work done from the low socio-economic, low psychosocial profile

employees irrespective of their age group. However, there is a need for

further in-depth studies in this area.

Motivation is gaining importance in administration and

development. The performance of government employees are affected

by motivation, morale, and communication. The changing paradigms of

development and governance are demanding committed bureaucrats

while the degrading values in administration call for attention. The

efforts for bringing transparency and accountability in administration are

leading towards good governance; however, administrative reforms are

essential for rejuvenating bureaucracy in India.

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