Essay On Content And Process Motivation

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Introduction “Motivation often is described in terms of direction (the choice of one activity over another), intensity (how hard an employee tries) and persistence (how long an employee continues with a behavior, even in the face of obstacles or adverse circumstances). Motivated employees work harder, produce higher quality and greater quantities of work, are more likely to engage in organizational citizenship behaviors, and are less likely to leave the organization in search of more fulfilling opportunities” (Sadri and Bowen, 2011 p.44). “Motivation is the desire within a person causing that person to act” (Mathis and Jackson, 2011, p.157). Motivation comes from within each one of us in the form of: thoughts, beliefs, ambitions, and goals; motivation has fascinated researchers since the early 1900’s. There are many theorists and theories that have been documented and studied over the course of time in an effort to define, explain, understand, quantify, and impact workplace motivation. For the purposes of this paper, content and process motivation theories will be compared and contrasted, I will choose the most meaningful theory as it relates to designing rewards, describe intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, personally describe what motivates me and finally, reward practices found to be demotivating. Compare and Contrast – Content and Process Theories Motivation theories can be described in two categories, content theories or process theories. Content theories focus on “what” motivates people and it is concerned with individual needs and goals. In contrast, process theories are concentrating on “how” motivation occurs (Zan, 2011). Content theories include Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, Mu... ... middle of paper ... ... Sadri, G., & Bowen, R.C. (2011). Meeting Employee Requirements: Maslow's hierarchy of needs is still a reliable guide to motivating staff. Industrial Engineer: IE, 43(10), 44-48. Mathis, R. L., & Jackson, J. (2011). Human Resource Management (13th ed.). Mason, Ohio: Cengage. Zan, O. (2011, October). An Introduction To Motivation Theory [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://ozgurzan.com/management/management-theories/theories-about-motivation/ Reitan, A. (2013, January 8). Maslow’s Theory of Self-Actualization, More or Less Actualized [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://brainblogger.com/2013/01/08/maslows-theory-of-self-actualization-more-or-less-actualized/ Ke, W., Tan, C., Sia, C., & Wei, K. (2012). Inducing Intrinsic Motivation to Explore the Enterprise System: The Supremacy of Organizational Levers. Journal Of Management Information Systems, 29(3), 257-290.

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