Motivation

 Miranda Pickering

Motivation is something that drives us to act in a particular way, usually to reach some sort of goal we set with our job or personal life. Motivation in the work place is very important, and it is sometimes hard for employers to motivate employees. I believe in the work place it is important for the employer to keep their employees motivated and enthused about the job in order to produce the best results. There are many different theories of motivation such as; Expectancy theory would be the mental process about choice in the outcome of an event, goal setting theory would mean you set a goal for yourself and that would be the motivation needed to achieve that specific goal, Equity theory is not only what you can do, but also how other people and things can effect the outcome, psychological empowerment is the employee feeling that their affect on the job is meaningful.

One of the most important jobs where motivation is the key would be teaching. As many of us are in school most of our lives, I think the teacher is one of the greatest influences on us. It is up to the teacher to find activities to keep the students interested and motivated to do the required work. As we’ve discussed in class there are many different forms of motivation, generally speaking I believe all of the theories would apply to teaching. However with teacher I believe the one theory that stands out among the rest would be the expectancy theory. As a teacher you try your best to instill knowledge in your students to better prepare them for the future. That is the force that keeps the teachers motivated. They put in the effort of teaching which affects the performance and outcome of the students.

 In an article written by Alexandra Levit in the Wall Street Journal, she writes that if you find yourself lacking motivation or you no longer feel motivated you need to first admit that to yourself. Then look at the big picture, set a goal strive for that goal and give yourself credit. (Levit, 2009) This is the goal setting theory, and once you are able to set that goal for yourself either in your personal life or for work you will find yourself motivated to achieve the set goal.

In a Q&A article written in Time Magazine with Author Daniel Pink, he talks about motivation and what drives it. “Do you think intrinsic motivators are stronger than external rewards?” `I think they're more important for creative, conceptual tasks. If-then motivators — if you do this, then you get that — are really good for routine algorithmic tasks. The problem is fewer of us are doing that kind of work. Now, that doesn't mean that we stop paying people. Intrinsic motivators are clearly the primary root to high performance. In the world of behavioral science that's not even controversial; the idea just hasn't migrated to business (Oloffson , 2010). ` Not only in the business aspect but in every day life people fall into this routine, like Daniel Pink states if we do “this”, we get “this” in return. The mundane tasks of everyday life make it hard to find motivation. What Daniel Pink is we find something that interests us and set our goal around that, then will come the motivation to achieve said goal.

In the Nordic countries there was a survey done stating the effects age, gender, country of origin, etc on work satisfaction and motivation. In the study they found that age has a huge effect on job satisfaction in the Nordic countries compared to gender or race. The survey reviled the older the employee the higher the job satisfaction, and the younger the employee the lower the job satisfaction. This is the same concept we discussed in class previously. Normally job satisfaction and motivation in the job are found to be similar, but in this instance with the Nordic countries they did not find any correlation (Eskildsen, J. ., Kristensen, K., & Westlund, A. 2004). I think that may be because no matter what age if you know the purpose of your work and have the goal set for yourself, you will be motivated to accomplish the set goal. The study also showed that education did not play a role in those whom they found to be more motivated in the work place.  

In some way we have discussed all of these motivation factors in class. I think that everyone at some point in their life finds themselves lacking in motivation either with work or life in general. Students can take this information and apply it to their everyday life at school and at in their work place. The importance of motivation is if you find yourself lacking it, take a step back and see what you are trying to accomplish. Set realistic goals for yourself and accomplish them, them accomplishment of those goals will be enough motivation to keep you setting goals and continuing to motivate yourself.

Eskildsen, J. K., Kristensen, K., & Westlund, A. H. (2004). Work motivation and job satisfaction in the nordic countries. Employee Relations, 26(1), 122-136. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/235199686?accountid=12924

Levit, A. (2009, July 16). How to regain motivation at work . Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124752202512735007.html

Oloffson , K. (2010, Jan 12). Business guru daniel pink on what fuels good work. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1952993,00.html