What is motivation? Motivation is the “total propensity or level of desire of an individual to behave in a certain manner at a certain time.”(P. 71 Dixon, 1997) Also, it can be defined as the “willingness of an individual to respond to the organisation’s requirements in short run.”(P.71 Dixon, 1997) Motivation is important to productivity. Getting good results in motivating staff can also results in high productivity. Why motivating staff is the most difficult task for any kinds of managers? It is because “individual behaviour is a complex phenomenon”(Davidson et al 2005,p.304)Clearly, A manager must “make motivating workers as an integral part of job “(Harvard Business School Press, 2005, P.3) if they want to build a successful company. By increasing the motivation level of a worker, we must know our workers’ needs and perception. Needs can be defined as unrealized desire and perceptions can be defined as the present and expected impression of workers’ place in the company.(Dixon,1997,p.72) In order to motivate my workers, I must know their needs and perceptions. I would choose Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and Theory X&Y to understand their needs, then to motivate them to perform at his or her highest level.
According to Maslow, a person’s needs are the main motivator that drives a human. He categorized the needs of a person into 5 levels. They are physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self- actualisation needs respectively.( in ascending order) As the needs on lower levels fulfilled, the upper level needs act as motivator and the person would like to satisfy the upper level needs.(Hassan Ali,2005)
Physiological needs: It is the lowest level among 5 levels. These are needs which m ...