Daniel Romero Pernia
1. Introduction
The concept of motivation is used in different contexts and with different meanings. Varied the emphasis that is put in trying to define it. Motivation is also a highly complex phenomenon, which one can approach from different perspectives. This paper is an approach to work motivation and its relationship to other critical phenomena of organizational behavior, such as performance and job satisfaction.
2. Attempt to define
In the study of human behavior at work there are few issues as attractive as the motivation. There has always been interested in knowing the reasons why people act a certain way. The theoretical tools to achieve this knowledge is far from consensual. The term motivation has been used in various ways. Define it involves moving between several alternatives that emphasize one or another aspect of the phenomenon. The motivation has been conceptualized as an internal state causing behavior, such as will or disposition to exert effort, as instincts, impulses or reasons that generate behaviors, such as trigger force actions, as process that leads to the satisfaction of needs ... Over time has finally prevailed last two conceptions: the position of those who define motivation as a force or set of forces, and the vision of those who conceived as a process or series of processes. Within these two trends are multiple definitions, some very simple and general, others more complete and accurate. Try to find a concept that is understandable and useful.
As previously announced, some authors conceive of motivation as a force or set of forces. De la Torre (2000, p. 35), for example, notes that motivation is the "force that drives the subject to adopt a certain behavior ". Gibson, Ivancevich and Donnelly (2001, p. 145), within the same perspective, defined as "forces acting on the individual or parts of it to initiate and guide their behavior." In the latter definition are explicitly incorporated the external appearance of the grounds and two important elements of behavior it generates: the initiation and directionality. Hellriegel and Slocum (2004, p.117) introduced in its definition the purpose of the conduct, when they conceive of motivation as "forces acting on a person or inside and cause it to behave in a manner specifically directed toward a goal. "
Other authors prefer to define motivation as a process. It seems more useful to define it that way. The motivation is not directly observable phenomenon. It is inferred from specific behaviors. Therefore, its definition should suggest a sequence of events leading from the initial need to the satisfactory conduct of that need.
Thus, Reeve (2003, p. 5) defines motivation as simply a set of "processes that provide energy and direction to behavior." Robbins (2004, p.155), with a little more precision, conceived as a series of "processes that account for the intensity, direction and persistence of an individual effort to achieve a goal." Kinicki and Kreitner (2003, p. 142) introduced the voluntary nature of motivation when conceptualized as "psychological processes that produce arousal, direction and persistence of voluntary actions and goal-oriented."
From these latter considerations, we will try to develop a definition of motivation at work is widespread and comprehensive, and also incorporates not only the satisfaction of personal needs, but also the achievement of organizational goals.
Let us begin by distinguishing the key elements underlying the previous entries: a.
Motivation can only be inferred from observable behavior that this generates. B.
Being tied to a need and satisfactory conduct, it seems more logical to define motivation as a process consisting of a chain of events ranging from awareness of the need to meet that. C.
The motivation is internal components (needs of the human body) and external factors (pressure from the sociocultural environment in which the individual is immersed) d.
The motivation has three effects on behavior: The initiates, directs and sustains it. E.
All behavior is intended to satisfy a need or a set of requirements that gave it birth.
f. In the workplace, such behavior, and seek to meet the needs and impulses of the individual, seeks to achieve organizational objectives.
Therefore, we define work motivation as a process by which a worker or driven by internal forces acting on it, initiates, manages and maintains a behavior aimed at achieving certain incentives that allow satisfaction of their needs, while simultaneously trying to achieve the goals of the organization.
3. Dimensions of motivation
far
It follows from the foregoing that the motivation has three dimensions. Robbins ( op.cit. , pp. 155-156), Muchinsky (2000, p. 192) and Gibson et alt. ( op. Cit., p. 143) identified these three dimensions: intensity (or force), direction (or orientation) and persistence (or perseverance).
a. The intensity is the amount of effort that the individual invests in performing a task. B.
The address the orientation of the effort towards a specific goal. Involving the choice of activities in which the individual focus their efforts in achieving this goal. C.
The persistence is the continuity of effort over time. The persistence makes the individual more than the obstacles encountered in its progress towards achieving the goal.
4. The complexity of motivation
Motivation, as noted above, is not directly observable. Only inferred from the behavior that initiates, directs and sustains. Moreover, the interplay between motivation and behavior is quite complex.
Blum and Naylor (1999, pp. 472-475) present an interesting synthesis of the complex facts that make both the phenomenon of motivation as any attempt to study it. Proceed to summarize: a.
In any situation, rarely an individual behaves in a certain way as a result of a single reason. Various reasons, usually operated simultaneously to produce a given behavior. B.
Often individuals are unaware of the real reason for his behavior. People often do things without being aware of the basic motivation for their conduct. C.
The motivation that causes a behavior can arise from within the individual or by factors acting from outside himself. These internal and external factors remain constant interaction. D.
At times, different ways of behavior are caused by the same reason. An individual in the environment options to meet the same need. E.
Different reasons may result in the same form of behavior. The same type of behavior can lead to achieving incentives to suit different reasons.
f. The reasons vary both in type and in intensity, from one individual to another. The individual and the situation make the incentives that motivate a person may not motivate another. Or individuals can generate two different levels of intensity.
g. Los impulsos o motivos varían en un mismo individuo en diferentes ocasiones. Lo que hoy impulsa a alguien a ejecutar una determinada conducta, puede que en el futuro no lo motive.
5. El ciclo motivacional
Antes definimos la motivación como un proceso, es decir, como una secuencia interconectada de eventos que parten de una necesidad y culminan con la satisfacción de la misma.
Diferentes autores han propuesto distintas formas de ver el ciclo de la motivación. Chiavenato (2000, p.70), Kast y Rosenzweig (1996, p. 300), Hellriegel y Slocum ( op. cit. , p. 118), Davis y Newstrom (2003, p.122) y Gibson et alt. ( op.cit., p.147), presented two proposals to illustrate the motivational process.
In an attempt to easily integrate the basic approach of these authors propose a model of seven stages: a.
Awareness of the need
b. Transformation of necessity in a specific desire
c. Id incentive to satisfy the desire
d. Selection of course of action that leads to the incentive
e. Initiation and maintenance of conduct aimed at achieving the incentive
f. Achieving the desired incentive
g. Meeting the need
Motivation begins when the individual becomes aware of any deficiency that must complete or some imbalance to be corrected. Without this psychological experience, even when the need exists objectively, there is no motivation. That need is filtered through culture, offering a range of alternatives to meet it, the spectrum usually ranges from one to another company. Thus, the need becomes a specific desire. With this desire to meet the individual located in the social or organizational environment or incentives that will fill. If no such incentive, the simple desire to not cause any behavior and the motivational process is interrupted. Once stated the incentive or goal to be achieved, the person selects a course of action that will lead to that goal. Then start the conduct directed at the conquest of that incentive and persisted in achieving it. If successful, the individual will satisfy the need that caused the cycle. If an obstacle prevents the goal becomes frustrated.
should be noted that there needs to produce longer cycles than others. Hunger, for instance, is a rapid succession of events, and reappears a few hours after having been satisfied. The need for personal growth (cap a career verbigracia) implies a longer process: your satisfaction is a long investment of time and effort.
6. Type de la motivación
Son numerosos los criterios que pueden utilizarse para clasificar la motivación. En este apartado consideraremos algunas clasificaciones básicas para la discusión general del tema. Se reservan para otro espacio las clases de motivaciones derivadas de teorías particulares.
6.1. Motivación extrínseca y motivación intrínseca.
La motivación puede tener dos grandes fuentes. Puede emanar de las necesidades internas del individuo o puede surgir a partir de las presiones y los incentivos externos. De allí deriva la existencia de dos clases de motivación: la extrínseca y la intrínseca.
La motivación extrínseca is caused by the expectation of external sanctions for their own behavior. Is expected to achieve a reward or avoidance of punishment or of any undesirable consequences. In other words, the conduct is instrumental: it becomes a means to an end. It may, for example, by obtaining an economic reward, social or psychological (a bonus, the approval of peers or an acknowledgment of their supervisor). Or it can be taken to avoid unpleasant consequences (denial of a pay rise, rejecting others, or loss of confidence from his boss). The
intrinsic motivation is caused by the gratification derived from the actual performance of behavior. Is expressive conduct, is both means and end. The realization, for example, a challenging job for which you have the skills, means that the activity is, in itself satisfactory.
Reeve ( op. cit., P. 130) summarizes the difference: "With the intrinsically motivated behavior, the motivation comes from internal needs and satisfaction provide spontaneous activity, with extrinsically motivated behavior motivation arises from incentives and consequences that are contingent on the observed behavior. " The
extrinsic motivation depends on other than the acting individual. That one can perceive or behavior. Or you can evaluate it according to their own standards. And, moreover, has the power to provide or withhold rewards or punishments. So that there is no guarantee that the behavior that the individual believes will lead right to the goal that promoted such behavior.
Intrinsic motivation, by contrast, dispenses with all externality. Self-sufficient. Therefore, the emerging theories of motivation emphasize the importance and potential of intrinsic motivation. Without wishing to ignore the role of external sanctions enhancer.
6.2. Positive motivation and negative motivation.
behavior that motivation can be oriented to produce an outcome that generates a reward and can be addressed to avoid any unpleasant consequence. This gives rise to the concepts of positive motivation and negative motivation.
The positive motivation is a process by which an individual initiates, maintains & Locations his behavior toward obtaining a reward, whether external (a prize, verbigracia) or internal (the gratification derived from the execution of a task) . This positive result encourages the repetition of the conduct that produced it. Consequences act as enhancers of such behavior.
The negative motivation is the activation process, maintenance and orientation of individual behavior, expecting to avoid an unpleasant consequence, whether it comes from outside (a reprimand, for example) or inside the person ( a feeling of frustration, say) This negative result tends to inhibit behavior that produced it ..
The modern management concepts considered not advisable to use negative motivation (the threat, fear), and usually offer the punishment as a last resort to deal with unwanted behaviors. Hellriegel and Slocum ( op. cit., p.101) destaca que el castigo puede surtir efecto en el corto plazo, pero a largo plazo puede originar recurrencia de la conducta indeseada, reacción emocional no deseada, conducta agresiva destructiva, desempeño apático y falto de creatividad, temor al administrador del castigo y rotación y ausentismo laboral.
6.3 . Micromotivación y macromotivación.
El nivel de motivación para el trabajo que exhibe un individuo a través de su conducta, no solamente es producto de las políticas, planes y condiciones de la organización. Ese nivel también resulta afectado por los valores sostenidos por la cultura de la sociedad en la cual se desenvuelve. Should define and distinguish, then, the macromotivación micromotivación. The
micromotivación
is the process by which organizations create a set of material incentives, social and psychological, to generate the behaviors that enable workers to meet their needs and achieve organizational goals. Is a direct attempt to increase the level of expected effort at work and with them, levels of satisfaction and individual performance. The enrichment of jobs, wage incentive plans and policies of empowerment are part of those attempts. The
macromotivación
is a process, usually unplanned, by which society transmits certain messages that the individual internalizes and to give an idea about yourself and about the work, ideas seriously influencing individual motivation levels. These messages, broadcast both by preaching and by social practice, are part of the cultural content that society transfers to its members throughout their lives, through the socialization process.
macromotivación
When aligned with the initiatives are promoted micromotivación motivational organizations. When the set of values \u200b\u200bin society have an address different from the micromotivación, efforts tend to cancel. A society, for example, leisure and privilege considers work as a punishment, hampering efforts for any organization to do to raise levels of motivation of its members.
7. Motivation, satisfaction and performance.
It is frequently the case that concepts such as motivation , satisfaction and performance are used in a capricious manner. Occasionally, some of these concepts are equivalent is not. Or are intertwined relationships sometimes simplistic. Often, for example, is the motivation and satisfaction as if they were synonyms. Or you think reasoned that a worker is automatically an individual of high performance. Or it is argued that a satisfied employee is always a high-performance worker. It seems that things do not work that way.
Let us, first, a distinction between motivation and satisfaction . In some theories, such as the theory of Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene, both terms are used in the same direction. However, most contemporary authors believes that motivation and satisfaction are concepts that refer to completely different phenomena. For them, motivation is a phenomenon prior to the conduct, and is based on the considerations on the consequences of future performance. Satisfaction, on the other hand, is an attitude that arises from conduct that reflects the feelings of people in relation to the rewards it receives. Hersey, Blanchard and Johnson (1998, p. 84) accurately summarized the difference: "Satisfaction is a consequence of past events, while the motivation is the result ahead of expectations" Let's go now
relations motivation and performance . A motivated worker is not necessarily a productive worker. For a high level of motivation will lead to high performance are needed some additional ingredients: the empowerment of the individual for the position, knowledge of what the organization expects of him ( role perception), the availability of resources for the implementation of the task and the worker identification with the organization . Only the combination of circumstances allows a high level of motivation is materialized in a high performance.
On this issue it is worth further consideration. Assuming that all conditions are optimal identified (capacity, role perception, resources, and identification), how is the relationship between motivation and performance? A sustained increase motivation also produces a sustained increase in productivity? Research seems to reject this linear relationship. McClelland, Vroom cited in Vroom and Deci (1999, p.214) states: "as motivation increases in intensity, first it causes an increase in efficiency of instrumental activity, and then decreases."
Vroom (idem ) forward two possible explanations to account for this decrease in performance when very high levels of motivation. The first is the narrowing of the field understanding que se produce cuando el individuo, altamente motivado para alcanzar una meta, fija su atención en las indicaciones específicas que conducen al resultado, y pasa por alto información importante. La segunda posible explicación es que elevados niveles de motivación tienden a asociarse con fuertes estados emocionales (como la ansiedad) que perjudican el desempeño.
La relación entre satisfacción y desempeño tampoco parece clara. Gibson et alt. ( op. cit., p. 124) establecen lo que tradicionalmente han sido las tres posibilidades de relación entre estas dos variables: 1) la satisfacción produce rendimiento or performance, 2) generates satisfaction performance and 3) no direct relationship between performance and satisfaction . The research showed a preference for the latter assertion. Although the situation varies, supporting the latter relationship, when taking into account the rewards. Thus, a reward productive behavior assessed followed by the performer increases satisfaction.
relations between these three concepts could be conceived as a circular set of influences. The motivation produces high performance when accompanying the skills, knowledge of the paper, the availability of resources and identification with the organization. good performance can lead to s extrinsic rewards and intrinsic satisfaction generated. The satisfaction achieved fueling expectations for future performance, increasing motivation for the new performance.
8. In conclusion
motivation at work can be seen as a process which is activated, is maintained and directs behavior toward the achievement of certain goals that meet important needs of the individual while allowing the achievement of organizational goals. Motivation, in general, is a complex phenomenon because of the variety of ways and the reasons expressed and combined to produce a given behavior. The motivational process can be seen as a cycle from the consciousness of a need to achieve the incentives that meet. Motivation can be approached from different perspectives. Can be seen from the forces that energize (extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation) from the expectations that the angle (positive motivation and negative motivation), or the source of the messages that influence (and macromotivación micromotivación). Between motivation and other factors such as satisfaction and performance is a circular network of influences, very different from simple deterministic connections sometimes down.
9. Basic Bibliography
Chiavenato, I. (2000). Human Resource Management (5 th ed.) Bogotá: McGraw Hill Interamericana.
Davis, K. and Newstrom, J. (2003). human behavior at work (11 ª. Edition). Mexico: McGraw Hill Interamericana.
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Gibson, J., Ivancevich, J. and Donelly, J. (2001). Organizations: behavior, structure, processes (10 th ed.). Santiago de Chile: McGraw-Hill.
Hellriegel, D. and Slocum, J. (2004). Organizational Behavior (10 th ed.) Mexico: Thomson Learning Publishers.
Hersey, P., Blanchard, K. and Johnson, D. (1998). Organizational Behavior Management: Situational Leadership (7 th ed.) Mexico: Prentice Hall Inc.
Kast, F. and Rosenzweig, J. (1996). Management in organizations: a systems approach and contingency (4 th ed.). Mexico: Editorial Trillas.
Kinicki, A. And Kreitner, R. (2003). Organizational Behavior: concepts, issues and practices . Mexico: McGraw Hill Interamericana.
Muchinsky, P. (2000). Psychology applied to work . New York: Thomas Learning Editors / Auditorium
Reeve, J. (2003). Motivation and Emotion (3 rd ed.) Mexico: McGraw Hill Interamericana
Robbins, S. (2004). Organizational Behavior (10 th ed.) Mexico: Pearson Education.
Vroom, V. and Deci, E. (Compilers). (1999). Motivation and senior management. Mexico: Editorial Trillas.
Zepeda, F. (1999). Organizational Psychology. Mexico: Addison Wesley Longman
November-2005.
