Motivation
Blog 1
Explain one of the content
theories on motivation which you feel is particularly relevant to you.
Motivation is a key element
to any person’s psychological makeup and behaviours. Everyone has their own
individual motivations and needs. When looking at what motivates me, Abraham
Maslow’s “Hierarchy of need’s” content theory is most relevant to the way I
behave. Maslow’s theory can be shown as a five tiered pyramid with each level
dependant on the section/sections below when explaining what has and what will
motivate an individual. Maslow believed that a person must first fulfil the
lower levels of the pyramid first in order to reach the top level of self
actualisation. Maslow fully explained his theory in his 1954 book ‘Motivation
and Personality’.
Explain your motivation for
starting your degree course. Why are you here? What has motivated you to get here
and what will motivate you for the next 2 – 3 years? Relate your personal motivation to the theory
mentioned above.
I relate to Maslow’s first
level of the pyramid, Physiological needs as any other person would. These
needs include the basic tools that humans need to survive, such as the air that
we breathe, the food and water we consume and the ability to build and more
importantly sleep within a shelter. Our libido is also found in the
physiological tier of the hierarchical pyramid, but is less important than the
stuff previously mentioned. On a personal level I know full well that I am subconsciously
motivated to respond to my physiological need so to speak. Without water, food,
shelter and sleep I would be unable to function and therefore seas to exist.
This makes my physiological needs the true bedrock of all my other motivations.
As without them I would be unable to peruse further less important needs and
motivations such as safety and social concerns. When looking at why I decided
to take my degree course in relation to my physiological needs I may have
bypassed them as I knew upon my acceptance to Buck’s University that I wouldn’t
have a permanent shelter/home as university accommodation was full. On the
otherhnd I always knew that I had the option to commute to university from
home, which may have subconsciously swayed my decision in picking Buck’s over
the other universities offered to me. I was motivated to attend university as
it had always been set in my mind that you should do well at school then attend
university and therefore get a good job. Other factors that have influenced my
decision in coming to uni are the benefits of the social life uni students are
able to exploit.
The second tier in Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs is an individual’s motivation to find and secure ‘Safety’.
This sifter and security can be seen as our need to find comfort and protection
once we have appeased or earlier physiological needs. Personally I feel most
comfortable/safe when I am with my peer’s having a good time. I enjoy being
social and feel most safe when I have a base group of friends to call on when I
need them. Another way that I feel safe here is the fact that I am working
earning the money I need to survive and enjoy university life. The money that
my job provides allows me to think about later tiers in Maslow’s hierarchy such
as my more social motivations.
The third stage of Maslow’s
theory deals with people’s social need, the need to feel loved and experience a
feeling of belonging to something. Out of the five stages I feel that the
social stage applies less to me than any of the other motivations. I believe
this as throughout my life I have always been able to find new friends easily.
I also know deep down I do feel the need to be like or loved by others but at
the same time am not too bothered by other people’s opinions of me as I like
the person I am in general. As easy as it is to find new friend’s I have
learned you can lose them just as easy. Moving away from home has been a blow
to my feeling of belonging as I am unable to DJ at uni and will miss some of my
best friends who decided to study closer to home. Upon arriving at buck I set
up the squash society in a bid to feel more at comfort here and meet more like minded
individuals such as myself while staying active in a sport I enjoy and am good
at. I have concluded that I have surpassed Maslow’s social stage as I am fully settled
into university life and am now looking forward to achieving my potential here
and gaining as many accolades as I can.
The next stage of Maslow’s
hierarchy are what he calls our esteem needs. “These needs are broken down into
two types, firstly are our concerners for competence effectiveness and
achievement. These show our ability to deal with the world while not being vulnerable
to its external forces. The second section of our esteem needs reflects our
need to seek out respect admiration and attention from others. This is seen as
reflective appraisal.” (David Messick, 2005) Messick is saying we
have objective standards of ourselves to judge our own abilities to cope.
Maslow’s final stage is the
self actualisation stage. Right at the top of the pyramid our self
actualisation motivations are the last we seek having gratified the previous
four stages. I do not feel I have reached this stage yet as I have not
completed my degree yet let alone my masters. Once I have achieved my masters
degree I hope that my own self actualisation will be appeased when I am in the
working world in a job/career that I enjoy and engages me. Maslow’s theory is
never ending in its applicability to most situations I will encounter in my
life as whatever motivates you in the end you are always trying to satisfy the
five tiers of his theory until self actualisation is realised.
Can you think of a time
when you were de-motivated, preferably related to work, either a part-time role
or when you were at school or college? Why did you feel like this? Apply this
to all the theories discussed in the lecture. What happened to get you more
motivated? What would you do differently?
A time when I was
particularly de-motivated at work was when one of my assistant managers was
made redundant due to our company being taken over by a larger more profitable
leisure company. This really disappointed and de-motivated me as this
particular manager was one of my favourite staff colleges at work and was also
a good friend and mentor to me outside of our work environment. I was
de-motivated as the original power structure found I was used to had been totally
dismantled. I was able to re-motivate myself according to Herzberg’s two factor
theory. I myself and the staff as a whole voiced our concerns over the loss of
our manager which in turn caused our new employers to reinstaight him into his
previously held work position.
(Hoat, 2009). The new company
dealt with my hygiene factors as they repaired the relationship I had between
myself and my manager after I voiced my concerns surrounding his dismissal.
This allowed me to then be once again motivated to work to the best of my
ability and achieve personal growth under their own defining company structure.
In summary as the company was able to re-motivate me they also satisfied their
own motivations of advancement to a higher level of operation.
The only thing that I may
have done differently would have been considering McClelland’s theory that my
needs for achievement authority and affiliation may be more relevant in modern
day society and the situations that may or may not motivate me. David
McClelland was quoted as saying, “People who feel the need to achieve are
moderate risk takers as lower risk activities are easy.” I feel this to be true
and I would also say that I am a risk taker in general. This may explain why I
am more motivated than other people around me. (McClelland, 2011)
Conclusion
In conclusion I have
learned that everyone is motivated in one way or another. Also every motivating
factor must be graded and categorised, as some motivations are far more
primitive and therefore more important to an individual’s survival. In a
business context motivation a key aspect in achieving success. Without a
motivated work force a business would be unable to succeed and prosper. If a
business wishes to succeed it would be best for it to study McClelland's theory
as his is the most modern research with the closest relation to running a
successful management team in and organisation/business company. The simple
application of any of these theories to a business would help their overall
moral and success.
Bibliography
David Messick, R.K. (2005) The Psychology of
Leadership: New Perspectives and Research. In: The Psychology of
Leadership: New Perspectives and Research., p.95.
Hoat (2009) biomedcentral
[online]. www.biomedcentral.com. Available from:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/9/49/figure/F1?highres=y [Accessed:
monday october 2012].
McClelland (2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXnc0JmeL7Q
[online]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXnc0JmeL7Q. Available from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXnc0JmeL7Q [Accessed: october 2011].
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