Motivation is the drive for which we do what we do. Globally speaking, what drives us can vary from culture to culture. For example, not everyone feels comfortable speaking up in groups or meetings, especially if they are not confident in their English-language skills (How an Employee’s Culture Affects Their Motivation, 2017). Those individuals would probably prefer to look for feedback individually. This blog will focus on various theories of motivation and how managers of global operations can better serve their employees and understand how cultural factors affect motivation.
Content theories are the study of incentives and needs that motivate people to perform in certain ways (Gulati, Mayo, & Nohria, 2016). Several of these theories are listed below.
- Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs:
(a) human beings are motivated by a hierarchy of needs (Mcleod, 2020).
(b) needs are organized in a hierarchy of prepotency in which more basic needs must be more or less met (rather than all or none) prior to higher needs (Mcleod, 2020).
(c) the order of needs is not rigid but instead may be flexible based on external circumstances or individual differences (Mcleod, 2020).
(d) most behavior is multi-motivated, that is, simultaneously determined by more than one basic need (Mcleod, 2020).
A variant on Maslow's theory, proposed by Clayton Alderfer that collapsed the five levels into three; Existence, Relatedness, & Growth (Gulati, Mayo, & Nohria, 2016). Unlike Maslow's theory, Alderfer believes that these needs are not stepped in anyway (Value Based Management.net, 2019).
(Value Based Management.net, 2019)
Frederick Herzberg attempt at testing the above theories resulted in agreeing with higher and lower order needs, but disagreed that they need to be motivators. Instead he felt the lower-order needs were more dissatisfiers and higher-order needs were the motivators (Gulati, Mayo, & Nohria, 2016). He cited these two dimensions as hygiene factors and motivators. The hygiene relating to Maslow's physiological needs and Alderfer's existence needs.
Unlike Herzberg and Maslow, David McClelland believed that certain types of needs are attained over time and shaped through life experiences, such as; need for achievement, need for power, & need for affiliation (Gulati, Mayo, & Nohria 2016).
Theorists Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria agreed with the other motivation theorists in that (1) underlying needs are innate, (2) fulfilling them creates satisfaction, (3) leaving them unfulfilled creates dissatisfaction (Gulati, May, & Nohria, 2016). However, they did not believe there was a requisite hierarchical order in which the needs must be satisfied and further research discovered the drive to fulfill four basic emotional needs including; drive to comprehend, drive to acquire, drive to bond, and drive to defend (Gulati, Mayo, & Nohria, 2016).
Further discussion in the text describes other theories of motivation called Process theories, which in contrast explain how employees select behavioral actions to meet their needs and assess whether these choices were successful (Gulati, May, & Nohria, 2016). The authors of the test describe the major difference in these theories is that they see the individual as the primary decision maker and not someone who satisfies needs according to other predetermined variables. These theories are discussed below.
Founded by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham, this theory describes that for some employees excitement and effort to reach a specific goal is as important as the tangible rewards (Gulati, Mayo, & Nohria, 2016). They describe this done in four ways: (1) goals help motivate employees to pursue activities that support overall objectives of the organization, (2) difficult goals lead to greater effort, persistency, and focus, (3) tight deadlines for goal completion lead to a more rapid work pace, and (4) people automatically use the knowledge and skills they have attained from other activities and apply them to meet new goals (Gulati, Mayo, & Nohria, 2016).
Suggests three variables enter the thought process of employees when considering the amount of effort to expend: linkage from effort to performance, the connection from performance outcome, and valence or perceived value of outcomes (Gulati, Mayo, & Nohria, 2016).
This theory, developed by psychologist J. Stacy Adams, proposes that individuals will compare their situation with those of similar individuals and their motivation is based on fairness and rewards for performance (Gulati, Mayo, & Nohria, 2016).
Image found @ Pixabay @geralt
So, how should managers of global operations consider motivation? The knowledge of how employees are motivated is necessary. A survey of employees can often help ascertain this as well as identify the best types of incentives (How an Employee’s Culture Affects Their Motivation, 2017). Different cultures are motivated by different priorities in their lives such as family, vacation time, and recognition. The above theories are all great, however different cultures will see each motivation differently. An effective manager of global operations will be able to differentiate these motivators based on their employees various cultures and geographic locations.
References
- Geralt. (2020). Business Motivation. Pixabay.
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/business-motivation-businessman-1370953/
- Gulati, R., Mayo, A. J., & Nohria, N. (2016).
Management: An integrated approach. Australia: Cengage Learning
- How an Employee’s Culture Affects Their Motivation. (2017, October 11). Accessible
Translation Solutions.
https://www.accessibletranslations.com/blog/how-an-employees-culture-affects-their-motivation
- Mcleod, S. (2020, March 20). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
- Value Based Management.net. (2019). Summary of ERG Theory
- Clayton P. Alderfer. Abstract. Value Based Management.
https://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_alderfer_erg_theory.html
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