One of the most interesting sections of chapter 8 was the section where they connected motivation to one’s needs. I had never myself made the connection that, “needs are physiological or psychological deficiencies that arouse behavior.” (Org. Behavior, Kreitner) In other words, in order to motivate someone, you need to give them a motive which appeals to their needs. If you are being chased by a lion, you are motivated to run fast because of your need to live. Same thing in the work place, you can be motivated to produce high quality work because of your need to boost your esteem.
All needs can be found on Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Pyramid. From the bottom to the top (bottom being the most essential need) they go in this order: physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. Maslow has suggested that all motivation is a function of these five basic needs.
After doing some outside research on motivation theories and I found one that is very similar to Maslow’s theory. The “Acquired Needs Theory” focuses on every humans underlying hunger to acquire power. I think that this theory is just a small portion of Maslow’s already existing theory, because “power” would fall under the category of “self-actualization”.
“Acquired Needs Theory”, McClelland
http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/acquired_needs.htm
I agree with what Mark is saying. I think that to be motivated you must be passionate about your work or whatever it might be. So often now people do not follow a work path that focus' on what they are truly passionate about, or what meets their needs. Money usually plays the biggest role when choosing a career so that you are able to live a stable lifestyle and fit into the cooperate world, where society and the educational system often funnels us to.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Mark's final statement about power relating to self-actualization. If all humans have an underlying need for power, could that not be motivated by esteem first, rather than self-actualization? Power can be considered the means to self-actualization, but power in itself does not provide fulfillment of the soul. Power certainly does boost esteem, however, and if one finds success in their position of power, then perhaps they will reach self-actualization.
ReplyDelete