Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation
Introduction
The success of any business depends on the productivity and satisfaction of its employees. Employees need to be motivated to work. Motivation can be defined as the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals. Motivation can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. For an individual to be motivated in a work situation there must be a need, which the individual would have to perceive a possibility of satisfying through some reward. Intrinsic motivation stems from motivations that are inherent and arise from performing the task of the job itself, which the individual gets a feeling of either positive or negative motivation as a result of successfully completing the task or attaining his or her goals. An employee may feel motivated to perform a task because doing so gives that worker a sense of accomplishment, mastery, or self-fulfillment. On the other hand, extrinsic motivations are those that are external to the task of the job, including things such as pay, work condition, fringe benefits, security, promotion, contract of service, recognition, the work environment, and conditions of work. Such extrinsic, or tangible, motivations are often determined at the organizational level and may be, for the most part, outside the control of individual.
Benefits of Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation is those rewards that can be termed psychological motivations. Examples of this type of intangible motivation are opportunity to use one’s ability, a sense of challenge and achievement, receiving appreciation, positive recognition, and being treated in a caring and considerate manner. In essence, active task participation is its own...
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Intrinsic and extrinsic types of motivation have been widely studied and the understanding of each has led to great changes in how organizations run their businesses. It is clear that hourly employees have many great extrinsic motivators but lack intrinsic motivation in their job assignments which is a characteristic of our work culture. Changing the culture is one of the keys to improving motivation at that level of the organization because the best motivation occurs when employees perform because they want to and not because they are being made to do so.
Intrinsic motivation has several advantages over extrinsic motivation. First of all, intrinsically motivated learners are more likely to select challenging tasks. Second, evidence suggested that learners gain more knowledge when they read material that they consider intrinsically interesting. Third, the conditions that support intrinsic motivation also promote greater creativity and better conceptual learning. Fourth, intrinsic motivation is associated with greater pleasure and more active involvement in activities.” (p.
Sometimes people remain driven to do something because of external reward, or the by the avoidance of an objectionable consequence, as when one obeys the permitted speed limit to avoid a costly speeding ticket. When the motivation directs a conclusion that is outside of the self, it is considered an extrinsic motivation. In extrinsic motivation, a person performs an action because it leads to an outcome that is separate from the person (Ryan & Deci, 2000). For instance, giving a student money for every A grade, proffering a bonus to a salesman for the most contracts signed, or tipping a stylist for a good haircut. The student, salesman, and hairdresser remain motivated to labor for the external rewards. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation is the form of motivation in which an individual implements an action because the deed itself is enjoyable, satisfying, interesting, or rewarding in some internal
Deci and Ryan (1987) proposed that intrinsic motivation stems from drive-like human needs to be self-determining and competent, i.e., to be autonomous rather than externally-controlled. In concrete terms, an intrinsically motivated behaviour is that which appears to be spontaneously initiated by the person in pursuit of no other goal than the activity itself. According to Deci and Ryan, events that foster self-determination or competence will enhance or maintain intrinsic motivation, whereas events that weaken self-determination or competence will decrease intrinsic motivation.(1) Supporting research evidence shows that events that enhance self-perceived autonomous functioning produce increased intrinsic motivation for the target activity. The ability to make choices about how to pursue an activity, for example, has been shown to enhance or maintain intrinsic motivation (Enzle, Roggeveen, & Look, 1991; Zuckerman, Porac, Lathin, Smith, & Deci, 1978), as has positive performance feedback (e.g., Enzle & Ross, 1978; Vallerand & Reid, 1988). Externally-controlling events that are antagonistic to self-perceived autonomy, on the other hand, result in decreased intrinsic motivation and perceptions of external causality. Thus, task-contingent rewards (e.g., Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett, 1973), negative performance feedback (e.g., Enzle & Ross, 1978), and controlling forms of surveillance (e.g., Enzle & Anderson, 1993) have been shown to undermine intrinsic motivation.
Keller, John M. (2006). What Are the Elements of Learner Motivation? Retrieved July 4, 2011
Once stated by Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” The aforementioned ideology places an emphasis on an individual’s internal desires, rather than an outside/external force driving the individual’s consciousness (cognitive evaluation.) Therefore intrinsic motivation is one in which an individual 's own desire comes from within; a relentless and genuine passion for an intended goal. On the contrary, when an individual relies on external factors such as, a reward or any other form of external reinforcement, an extrinsic motivation is exhibited. Although society likes to stress the importance in pursuing an internal motivation, in today 's modern world, an extrinsic factor far outweighs an internal desire to accomplish an objective. As humans, we are too diverse in the way we think and develop, lending the mere classification of an internal motivation to become redundant. Furthermore, as
“Motivation is the process whereby goal-orientated activity is instigated and sustained” (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008. As cited in Eggen & Kauchak, 2010, p.284). Motivation comes in many forms and can be divided into two broad categories - extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivators are external factors which can motivate a student; rewards are an example of this. An issue with extrinsic motivators is that the desire for the learner to participate often lessens, once the rewards are withdrawn (McCullers, 1987). On the other hand intrinsic motivation comes from within - learning for the joy of it - where the desire to learn leads to a higher level of knowledge, and is a reward in itself. Kohn (1996, p.285) states that research suggests, “Rewards actually decrease interest in intrinsically motivating tasks, therefore sending the wrong message about learning” (as cited in Eggen & Kauchak, 2010a)
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum
An intrinsic motivation is characterized as a motivation for the sack of doing it. There is no external reward for completing the specific task in intrinsic motivation. The motivation come from the person 's desire to complete the task because they know the task itself is rewarding enough. An internal motivation differs slightly from intrinsic motivation. Internal motivation is strictly from the desire and willingness of the person to complete the task. External motivation is a motivation factored by outside influences. Whether the outside influence is negative or positive, the motivation comes from money, grades, awards, tokens, criticism, or punishments.
What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? What would you do as a future teacher to enhance intrinsic motivation in your students?
According to Robert E. Quinn(p.205) there are two types of motivation (extrinsic and intrinsic). Extrinsic motivation refers to the source of motivation in which the behavior concern external factors such as money, praise or rewards. Whereas intrinsic motivation is the behavior which is internally concerning an individual.
In daily life, we need motivation to improve our performance in our job or in studies. Motivation is an internal force, dependent on the needs that drive a person to achieve. In the other words, motivation is a consequence of expectations of the future while satisfaction is a consequence of past events (Carr, 2005). We need to give reward to our self when we did correctly or we has achieve our target. Reward is something that we are given because we have behaved well, worked hard, or provided a service to the community. Theories of motivation can be used to explain the behavior and attitude of employees (Rowley, 1996; Weaver, 1998). The theories include content theories, based on assumptions that people have individual needs, which motivate their action. Meanwhile according to Robbins (2001), motivation is a needs-satisfying process, which means that when a person's needs are satisfied by certain factors, the person will exert superior effort toward attaining organizational goals. Schulze and Steyn (2003) affirmed that in order to understand people’s behavior at work, managers or supervisors must be aware of the concept of needs or motives which will help “move” their employees to act.Theories such as Maslow (1954), McClelland (1961), Herzberg (1966) and Alderfer (1969) are renowned for their works in this field. The intrinsic reward or also be known as motivators factors is the part of Herzberg motivation theory. Motivators are involve factors built into the job or the studies itself such as achievement, recognition, responsibility and advancement. Hygiene factors are extrinsic to the job such as interpersonal relationship, salary, supervision and company policy (Herzberg, 1966. There have two factors that are called hygiene fac...
Theorists believe that motivation within the classroom has its benefits when able to produce work from students. Some students have the ability to work without much motivation. This is known as intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is where students are able to motivate themselves and produce work at high standard. The students have to be determined to strive and have the self-ability to do the work that is needed (Brewer, Dun, Olszewski, 1988). Students who need more praise and encouragement to produce work come under the category of extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is about rewarding the students for their work. If a student is able to get done what they have been asked, they will be rewarded with for example a sticker or a lucky dip. Extrinsic motivation for some students means the reward is...
December 2009). Researchers from various organizations unequivocally agree that managers can use an employee’s intrinsic motivation to gain the maximum output from that employee as well as support the employee in achieving his personal career goals as stated by (George N. Root III 2016). According to (Thomas, K) managers should help their employees understand self-management process that involves four steps to increase intrinsic motivation. Those steps may perhaps be nominated as a sense of meaninglessness, of choice, of competence and as a sense of progress. One of the successful strategies that managers can take into consideration is to clearly define strategic visions and goals set by an organisation. Moreover, by providing a broad vision of a company, managers demonstrate a warm sense of meaningless for an employee that makes him feel like there is an opportunity for him to accomplish something of real value, something that matters in the big picture as said by (Thomas, K 2009). In addition, Managers should make employees feel like their job is a choice, not a requirement in order to encourage employees to demonstrate intrinsic willingness to perform better. Nevertheless, some organisations emphasize that managers can experience numerous issues in increasing intrinsic motivation. For instance, an intrinsically motivated employee will only be able to do the particular task depending on “interesting, challenging, and has personal meaning based on the satisfaction they receive from performing the activity itself” (Giancola, 2014, p. 25). Essentially managers would face issues with increasing an employee’s performance when an extremely vital task has been assigned to the employee that has no interest in undertaking the given task. Although In my mind,
Mullins (2002) also classifies motivation into Intrinsic and Extrinsic types. Intrinsic motivation involves psychological rewards to enhance job satisfaction, such as the opportunity to use one's ability, a sense of achievement, receiving appreciation and positive recognition or being treated in a considerate manner (Mullins, 2002:P490). Such methods ensure employees are constantly motivated while being engaged in activities that are enjoyable and rewarding.