...Achievement Motivation Theory Analysis University of Phoenix PHY/320 Elizabeth Riegner December 19, 2012 Achievement Motivation Theory Analysis Every manager has a theory on how to motivate employees to perform his or her job. One of the oldest motivational methods is the Carrot and Stick method, which is a combination of rewards and punishments to bring about a desired behavior. Although this method of motivation can still be found in one form or the other in many organizations today, managers are learning new methods of motivating employees. This paper will analyze two different job positions the author has held, and how the theory of achievement motivation would and would not be applicable to those job positions. The author will also analyze the need to develop and create new theoretical models of motivation in today's changing work environment. Theory of Achievement Motivation Atkinson's Achievement Motivation Theory suggests that some individuals have a greater need for achievement and success than other individuals. Those individuals that have a high need to achieve and be successful will take on more difficult tasks than those individuals that are not highly motivated to succeed. The following two workplace scenarios will show how the theory of achievement can affect employees. Workplace Scenario One One workplace scenario that works well with the achievement motivation theory is the Wal-Mart organization. Employees of Wal-Mart are paid by the hour; however...
Words: 1023 - Pages: 5
...and Differences Edith Woodard Walden University Dr. Chappell PSYC-5240-1 Human Motivation March 13, 2012 Motivational Similarities and Differences 1. Motivational Similarities and Differences Human behavior is something that has become the focus of research all over the world. Everyone who is anyone wants to know what causes us as human beings “to do what we do, and to act the way we act.” Some say that “motivation is also a desire operating on the will and causing it to act.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2010, p.810). It is also considered to be “the primary driver of our behavior.” In times past “motivated behavior has also been studied as a rational attempt to achieve a specific articulated (or accessible) end or purpose, rather than as an attempt to fulfill an underlying emotionally-charged desire.” (Thrash & Elliot, 2001). “Most researchers believe that motivational theories explain the three interrelated aspects of human behavior which is the choice of a particular action, persistence with it and the effort expended on it, leaving it up to motivational psychologists to attest to these findings.” And to us motivation explains the why of our actions, and addresses the innermost parts of us which are our desires, or those buttons that are sometimes pushed that gives us that driving force to tackle things head on or maybe even act out of character. Our motivations say to us that we can make it especially when others tell us that we won’t, which makes...
Words: 1992 - Pages: 8
...David McClelland’s Theory of Achievement Motivation David McClelland (believes that the need for achievement is a distinct human motive that can be distinguished from other needs. One characteristic of achievement motivated people is that they see to be more concerned with personal achievement than with the rewards of success. He believes that they do not reject rewards but the rewards are not essential as the accomplishment itself. Both McClelland and Atkinson’s achievement and motivation theory was based on a personality characteristic that manifested as a dispositional need to improve and perform well according to a certain standard of excellence In order to assess people’s need for achievement, they used a projective instrument called the Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT) that elicits unconscious processes. In this instrument, people are asked to write a story describing the thoughts, emotions and behaviors of a person in an ambiguous picture or drawing (for example, a child sitting in front of a violin). The stories are then coded for achievement-related content including indicators of competition, accomplishments, and commitment to achieve. This technique, labeled the Picture Story Exercise (PSE), was used in numerous studies that tested the relations of nAch with various indicators of performance. McClelland, David C. "The American Psychologist." July 1985. Reviews research that demonstrates the importance of motivation, incentive value, and probability of success...
Words: 522 - Pages: 3
...Achievement Motivation Kathryn Harwick Saint Leo University Psych of Motivation and Emotion PSY-432-DL01 Professor Litman July 20, 2015 Abstract Those who have high levels of achievement motivation desire success and will do anything to achieve the overpowering sensation of external rewards. Research has been completed throughout the years in order to determine what causes human motivation and what effects it can have on the human body. Throughout these studies, confirmation has indicated that challenging tasks and activities increase effort and provide individuals the encouragement to excel and develop. David McClelland’s achievement motivation theory has proven that this form of motivation is indeed key to determining the influence on academic performance, as well as being an important psychological indicator for one’s success and failure in life. Achievement Motivation How each of us develop the will and desire to succeed in certain tasks and activities, or how we concern ourselves with the possibility of failure are both issues surrounding practical and theoretical significance. Motivation is generally defined as the driving force behind all of our actions. It refers to the dynamics of our behavior, while influencing our needs and desires. There are different types of motivation that range from intrinsic, extrinsic, psychological, and achievement motivation. Achievement motivation is one’s need to succeed while attaining their ambitions and aspirations...
Words: 2375 - Pages: 10
...STUDY HABIT AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION STUDENTS OF O LEVEL AND MATRICULATION STUDENTS SESSION 1 INTRODUCTION The aim of the present study is to find out the difference between study habit and achievement motivation among O levels and matriculation students. The aim was to determine the various aspects of study habits including homework and assignments, time allocation, reading and note taking, study period procedures, concentration, written work, examination and teacher consultation and their effects on achievement motivation level among the two categories of students i.e. O - level and HSSE i.e. What are the study habits of O-Level and HSSE and their thinking’s about their live motives. Education is a nation building and globally inter-related activity that unlocks the door to modernization. It is imparted through formal, informal and non-formal ways. For this purpose,there is a need of interaction among the students, teachers and study material. Usually, educational system at the primary level follows the medium of instructions in the national language or mother tongue. In Pakistan, there are two parallel system for functioning SSC and GCE O-level. Both the systems have their own controversial arguments to stand upon. In the United Kingdom the education reforms authorized to provide Secondary Education of grammer or academic type. In 1944, the Education Act were enforced the fundamental principle of the education Act 1944, which inspired the education system...
Words: 4167 - Pages: 17
...EMPLOYEE BEHAVIOUR AND MOTIVATION CONTENTS Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 4 2.0 Employee Behaviour 5 Performance Behaviour 5 Organisational Citizenship 5 Counterproductive Behaviours 5 3.1 Motivation 6 3.1 Motivation Theories 6 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Teory 6 Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory 7 Achievement/Acquired Need Theory 8 4.0 Techniques of Motivation 9 5.0 Conclusion 10 6.0 Annexure 11 7.0 Refernces 12 1.0 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this assignment is to understand the Employee behaviour and how the employee gets motivated. Furthermore, Employee behaviour has changed in many years, for an instance, there are different ways an individual handles and responds to a situation, One Individual can handle the stress situation in a calm and quiet way, but another individual would be having a very difficult time facing the challenge and the stress in a working environment. In this assignment the employee behaviour would be explained and the different types of employee behaviour be covered. With that the individual differences among employees such as personality and attitudes, how it affects their jobs would be explained as well. And in this assignment I will be also talking about the People who are suitable for the job, in other words matching people and jobs and with that how an individual is motivated and what can an organization do to motivate employees like providing attractive incentives, recognition, rewards...
Words: 1837 - Pages: 8
...Leadership Scholar Digest David McClelland is a world renowned academic, scholar, and author of psychological behavior and motivation theory with over a dozen books and articles to his credit. This essay will make no attempt at enumerating or discussing all of Dr. McClelland’s contributions to the scientific community; rather my intent is to present a critique of his conceptualization of leadership, outline his theoretical grounding, and discuss the key features of his theories. Contributions McClelland’s contributions to leadership are centered on human motivation and how these motivations affect people in the managerial context. In 1961, he published “The Achieving Society” in which he identified three motivators that were common to everyone in varying degrees: 1) Achievement 2) Power 3) Affiliation (McClelland, 1977) According to McClelland, each of these motivators exists to varying degrees in each of us, and are learned, or socially developed. Individual action is to a significant degree driven by the combination of these attributes. In “The Achieve Society”, McClelland point out that in most cases people aren’t normally aware of what drives them, despite the fact that the combination of these motivators significantly impacts how they work with others and the types of roles that best suites them (McClelland, 1961). Achievement Achievement oriented people are driven to master complex challenges, to overcome goals, find solutions, and they enjoy positive feedback...
Words: 1308 - Pages: 6
...PSYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Chapter 13 MOTIVATION AND EMOTION Section 1: The Psychology of Motivation Section 2: Biological Needs: Focus on Hunger Section 3: Psychological Needs Section 4: Emotions 1 HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON Chapter 13 Section 1: The Psychology of Motivation PSYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Question: What are the four theories of motivation? FOUR THEORIES OF MOTIVATION Instinct Theory – behavior patterns are genetically transmitted Drive Reduction Theory – people act to reduce drives and their associated tensions Humanistic Theory – people act out of the desire for growth and fulfillment beyond basic survival needs Sociocultural Theory – individual needs and motives are influenced by culture and society 2 HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON Chapter 13 Section 2: Biological Needs: Focus on Hunger PSYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Question: What is the hunger drive, and what are the causes of obesity? HUNGER DRIVE The hunger drive is the urge to eat arising from the need to supply the body with food. 3 HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON Chapter 13 Section 2: Biological Needs: Focus on Hunger PSYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Question: What is the hunger drive, and what are the causes of obesity? CAUSES OF OBESITY Biological – obesity seems to run in families and genes help determine the number of fat cells a person has Psychological – people tend to eat more when they are under stress or...
Words: 475 - Pages: 2
...WHAT IS MOTIVATION? 1. It has two component A. Direction - making choices, where you direct your energies B. Intensity - how much energy you have toward that motive Definition - Motivation is a process of arousing, sustaining and regulating a pattern of activity. 2. Achievement Motivation Theory A. Motivation is conceptualised differently by cognitive vrs. Behavioural psychologists S-R (Behaviourist) No intervening construct S-C-R (Cognitive Psychologist) Cognitions (thoughts) determine action ATKINSONIAN THEORY 1. Interaction Theme AM = the person interacting with the environment The person has 2 motives MS = motive to succeed MAF = motive to avoid failure How they interact with the environment also depends on 2 factors P = probability of attaining a goal I = incentive value of that goal 2. The components make up equations which form the theory. Ts = Ms x Ps x Is (The tendency to approach an achievement situation = the motive to succeed x the probability of success x the incentive value of success) Taf = Maf x Pf x If (The tendency to avoid an achievement situation = the motive to avoid failure x the probability of failure x the incentive value of failure) 3. Competition is an achievement situation involving both approach and avoidance conflicts. 3. Each individual possesses both personality dispositions (Ms & Maf) 3. Resultant tendency to approach an achievement (TR = Ts-Taf) 4....
Words: 740 - Pages: 3
...literature review As pointed by Vroom [1964], motivation is derived from the Latin word “movere”, which means “to move”. It is an internal force, dependent on an individual’s needs which derive him/her to achieve. Shulze and Steyn [2003] affirmed that in order to understand people’s behavior at work, managers or supervisors must be aware of the concept of needs or motives, which will help ‘move’ their staffs to act. According to Robbins [2001], motivation is a need-satisfying process which means that when an individual’s needs are satisfied or motivated by certain factors, the individual will exert superior effort toward attaining organizational goals. People primarily do what they do to meet their needs or wants. Understanding that people are motivated by self-interest is the key to understanding motivation. Theories of motivation can be divided to explain the behavior and attitude of employees. These include content theories, based on the assumption that people have individual needs which motivate their actions, and theorists such as Maslow [1954], McClelland [1961], Herzberg [1966] and Alderfer [1969] are renowned for their works in this field. In contrast to content theories, process theories identified relations among variables which make up motivation and involve works from Heider [1958], Vroom [1964], Adams [1965], Locke [1976], and Lawler [1973]. In addition, reinforcement theory [B.F.Skinner, 1938] that proposes the consequences of the behaviors that motivate the...
Words: 1994 - Pages: 8
...MOTIVATION Millionaires may be motivated to make even more money, movie stars to become even more famous, politicians to achieve even more power, daredevils to seek even more thrills. Such motives seem not to diminish when they are fed. The more we achieve, the more we may need to achieve. As you might expect from their persistence and eagerness for realistic challenge, people with high achievement motivation do achieve more. When achievement motivation increases, so does achievement. SOURCES OF ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION Highly motivated children often have parents who encourage their independence from an early age and praise and reward them for their successes. Such parents encourage their children to dress and feed themselves and to do in school, and they express delight when their children achieve. Theorists speculate that the high achievement motivation displayed by such children has emotional roots, as the children learn to associate achievement with positive emotions. They may also be cognitive roots, as children learn to attribute their achievements to their own competence to their own competence and effort and to develop higher expectations. The Need to Belong As social creatures, we are deeply motivated not only to eat, to procreate, and to achieve, but also to bond with important others. There now exists wide-ranging evidence of our need to belong. WANTING TO BELONG The need to belong colors our thoughts and emotions. People spend much time thinking about their...
Words: 3160 - Pages: 13
...Motivation Introduction This essay is about defining Motivation and how it affects employees. Also an explanation of the main the types are to be given. A research on popular Theorist was done to support the definition and types. The researcher recognized what impact motivation has on the workplace and seek to discuss the importance. Theory Motivation is a psychological feature that arouses an individual to act towards a desired goal and elicits controls and sustains certain goal directed behaviors. It can be considered a driving force, a psychological one that compels or reinforces an action towards a desired goal. In other words, a person may have certain needs or wants, and this causes them to do certain things (behavior), which satisfy those needs (satisfaction). Motivation theories can be classified broadly into two different perspectives: Content and Process theories. Content Theories deal with “what” motivates people and it is concerned with individual needs and goals. Process Theories deal with the “process” of motivation and is concerned with “how” motivation occurs.(Ozgurzan, 2013). For this paper the researcher would focus Content Theories. Developing out from the Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET- Deci 1975) it was stated motivation can be divided into two types: extrinsic (external) motivation and intrinsic (internal) motivation . Extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are two opposing ways to motivate people. Extrinsic motivation deals with motivations...
Words: 1276 - Pages: 6
...Date: Managing into the future Oxford dictionary defines motivation as the desire or willingness to do something or having an enthusiasm to do it. It comes from the word motivate which Webster dictionary defines as to provide something with a motive. Motivation is therefore the act of inspiring or stimulating someone to do something. In his book “Great Motivation Secrets of Great Leaders”, John Baldoni says that motivation is that art of getting somebody do what you want them to do because they want to do it (Baldoni 7). Managers have a duty of motivating their employees so that they can achieve not only the goals of the organization, but also to meet their own personal goals. This is the trend with the modern organizations where the policies implementation boards in these organizations, seek ways to support this aspect (McClelland 467). There are various factors that influence why employees may be motivated. It is these factors that researchers have used to develop what is referred as the motivation theories. For example, in incentive theory, rewards may act as an incentive to motivate an employee. However, the real motivation comes from within and this factor has been used to develop what is commonly referred as the intrinsic theory of motivation. This paper examines differences between content and process theory. In examining these theories, it is important to look first at how they are developed. Process theory focuses sequence of events referred as the state process...
Words: 1456 - Pages: 6
...Siew Table of Contents: 1.0 Introduction ………………………………………………………………….……… 3 2.0 Definition …………………………………………………………………….……... 4 3.1 Types of Motivation …………………………………………………………. 4 3.2 Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory …………………………………………... 5 3.3 Herzberg’s Motivational Theory …………………………………………….. 7 3.4 McClelland’s Need Theory ………………………………………………….. 8 3.0 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………….. 9 4.0 References …………………………………………………………………………. 10 1.0 Introduction In the past decades, there has been a very high growth of employment in every sector and industry. Employees, workers and staff usually carry out their specified task on regular basis to meet certain goals and targets the company is aiming at. They are known to be an essential part of the organization as they play a key role in determining the organization objectives. As the employees play an important part in the company, the employers, supervisors and administrators must ensure that the employees are productive and efficient when it comes to fulfilling their duties. The question that arises from this topic is how to make these employees productive and effective towards carrying out their daily tasks and why is it that important? The answer is Motivation and this will be the topic of this assignment. 2.0 Definition Motivation is the state of willingness which mainly acts as a driving force for an individual to put better and exert higher effort levels towards a specific objective...
Words: 1873 - Pages: 8
...employee motivation affects employee retention and other behaviors within organizations. In addition to explaining why it is important to retain critical employees, the author will describe the relevant motivation theories and explain the implications of employee motivation theories on developing and implementing employee retention practices. At the end of the paper, an illustration will be provided with explanation on how effective employee retention practices can be explained through motivation theories and how these efforts serve as a strategy to increase organizational performance. In today’s highly competitive labor market, there is extensive evidence that organizations regardless of size, technological advances, market focus and other factors are facing retention challenges. Given the large investments in employee retention efforts within organizations, it is rational to identify, analyze and critique the motivation theories underlying employee retention in organizations. Low unemployment levels can force many organizations to re-examine employee retention strategies as part of their efforts to maintain and increase their competitiveness but rarely develop these strategies from existing theories. The author therefore describes the importance of retaining critical employee and explains how employee retention practices can be more effective by identifying, analyzing and critiquing employee motivation theories and showing the relationship between employee motivation and employee...
Words: 2322 - Pages: 10
