Motivation is an integral part of human
behavior in organization. Without motivation workers in organization would not
be able to function properly. So what motivates them to work hard and to
achieve their goals? Early motivational studies points to money as their prime
motivational instrument, then their need to belong and their need for
responsibility.
The motivational process contains three
interacting and interdependent elements namely: Need, Drive and Incentive. A
need is a psychological imbalance that needs to be satisfied; a drive pushes an
individual towards achievement of a goal or task. An incentive is something
that can lighten a need and decrease the intensity of the drive. For example, a
worker needs to earn so that he can pay for the basic necessities of living, so
the need to earn is the imbalance that must be satisfied.
The psychological drive will push this
worker to achieve the goal of earning money for his basic necessities.
Due to his hard work he will now receive money, this in now the incentive that
will alleviate his needs and somewhat decrease the intensity of his drive to
earn. This motivational process is a cycle that stops for a while and is
reignited again the moment an individual or group of individuals finds a vacuum
that needs to be satisfied.
Another Motivational tool is Abraham
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, this is a five step ladder hierarchy which says
that a lower level need must be satisfied first before it proceeds to the next
higher level.
This is illustrated by a triangle, the
lowest or the first level need that occupies the triangle is the Physiological
needs or Basic needs. These are needs to sustain life such as: air, water,
food, sleep etc… according to Maslow if such needs are not satisfied then one’s
motivation will arise with the aim to satisfy them. Higher needs are not felt
yet until he is fully satisfied with his basic needs.
Assuming that physiological needs has been
satisfied we will now come to the second higher order need that occupies the
triangle it is called Safety and Security needs, this is the need to be free
from the threat of physical and emotional harm. These needs would be meet by
working or living in a safe place and by having job security.
The third need in the hierarchy is the
Need to belong or Social needs, this is the need of individuals to interact. As
they say no “man is an island” we cannot exist by ourselves we need to interact
because we are social beings. We need friends to whom we can trust our
emotions, we need to be in a group wherein we will feel comfortable.
The fourth need is Esteem needs, this is
the need to be respected by your peers, subordinates and Managers it is human
nature for us to want respect and recognition. Esteem needs fulfills this
wants.
The last and the highest need in the
triangle is Self-Actualization needs, this addresses our need for purpose in
life. The need to be honest and truthful in all of our dealings with our co
workers. The need to have a job that fully satisfies an employee’s purpose in
his organization.
Closely looking at Maslow’s Hierarchy of
needs we will find out that these stepladder needs somewhat goes hand in hand
with the progression of an employees life in an organization. A young and newly
employed individual will first try to satisfy his Physiological needs or Basic
needs then as he matures in the organization his needs goes up one at a time
until such time that he reaches the Self-Actualization level.
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs tells
us that if we want a well Motivated Human Resource we need to provide them with
their basic needs such as reasonable salary scheme to help them defray for
their physiological needs. There’s a need also to create a safe and secure
working environment.
A need to create an environment of
community amongst workers to address their need to socialize. A need to respect
the individual rights of workers regardless of their standing in the
organization so that their Esteem needs are addressed. The last need is to
ensure that workers will eventually reach their full potential in the
organization so as to have the feeling of fulfilment. (Self-Actualization) -
Marino J. Dasmarinas
