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Types of Employee Motivation

 Employee motivation could be identified as two different types in the workplace, and they include extrinsic employee motivation and intrinsic employee motivation. Identification of the difference between these two types is highly important for the management of the business as they could create strong support in defining employee motivation management strategic initiatives and measuring the performances of them as well. (Bell, 2019)

The intrinsic motivation is mainly referred as the motives which originate internally from the employees. It is the deep-rooted desires of the employees and they need to fulfill them to drive them in motivated manner. There could be employees who are having higher level of desire to perform a task mainly due to fact that the skill set of the employee is matching with the outcome expectation. (Bernard, et al., 2005) In that context, the intrinsic motivations are mainly connected with the outcomes of the engagement which may not connected with any sort of external rewards. This may create opportunity to employees to explore, learn and actualize their potentials and showcase their value towards the business organization. In the workplace context, the employees are having expected engagements which would not be able to value through money and they are not expected to get a monetary return through the engagement of such activity. The management of the business required to understand such areas of the employees and motivate them to engage with activities which could create strong employee satisfaction whilst driving the best outcomes to the business organization. (Eggleton, 1992) Furthermore, it is required to understand that the motivation arises only when the employee engage with the task as it is satisfying themselves. Accordingly, the intrinsic motivation could be considered as a major motivation type which required to assess in more appropriate manner in any organization and deploy relevant strategies accordingly (Mata, et al., 2012). For example, there could be employees who willing to teach other people where the company could use them to drive internal training programs with the support of learning and development team of the company.

The extrinsic motivation is mainly connected with the external rewards where the people motivate to engage with an activity as they are getting tangible benefits such as money, fame, praise etc. (Rynes, et al., 2004) Hence, identification of such motivations and define the in the workplace, the employers are mainly focused over extrinsic motivation management through the rewards and recognition strategy which is essentially have a quantifiable benefit to drive better level of motivation among the employees. (Raaij & Wandwossen, 1978)

However, it is understood that management should not focus only on one motivation type where it is required to have strong understanding about both types and level of impact of both motivation types over the human capital of the company. (Lambrou, et al., 2010) This could drive a higher-level satisfaction for the employees of the company in order to drive employee motivation is more practical and effective manner from the organizational context. Furthermore, this could support in identification of most impactful area to improve and make necessary initiatives to manage the employee motivation in more effective and efficient manner.

References

Bell, B., 2019. Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Motivation with Examples of Each Types of Motivation. [Online]
Available at: http://www.psychologyandsociety.com/motivation.html
[Accessed 13 11 2022].

Bernard, L. C., Mills, M. E., Swenson, L. & Walsh, R. P., 2005. An Evolutionary Theory of Human Motivation. Genetic Social and General Psychology Monographs, , 131(2), pp. 129-184.

Eggleton, P. J., 1992. Motivation: A Key to Effective Teaching. The Mathematics Educator, , 3(2), p. .

Lambrou, P., Lambrou, P., Kontodimopoulos, N. & Niakas, D., 2010. Motivation and job satisfaction among medical and nursing staff in a Cyprus public general hospital. Human Resources for Health, , 8(1), pp. 26-26.

Mata, M. d. L. E. N., Monteiro, V. & Peixoto, F., 2012. Attitudes towards Mathematics: Effects of Individual, Motivational, and Social Support Factors. Child development research, , 2012(), pp. 1-10.

Raaij, W. F. v. & Wandwossen, K., 1978. Motivation-Need Theories and Consumer Behavior. ACR North American Advances, , (), p. .

Rynes, S. L., Gerhart, B. & Minette, K. A., 2004. THE IMPORTANCE OF PAY IN EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION: DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN WHAT PEOPLE SAY AND WHAT THEY DO. Human Resource Management, , 43(4), pp. 381-394.

 

 

Comments

  1. Christeena ManoharanDecember 7, 2022 at 1:00 AM

    Totally agreed Thilini. Work motivation is typically divided into two types: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, indicating that different incentives have a varied impact on employee motivation. Whereas intrinsic motivation is concerned with the action itself, extrinsic motivation is concerned with external controlling variables such as explicit rewards (e.g., money, danger) (Herzberg, 2003; Cameron & Pierce, 2002).

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  2. Malshani JayaneththiDecember 7, 2022 at 5:21 AM

    Great article Thilini and adding furthermore, In relation to intrinsic motivation, there are negative, positive, and non-significant effects of performance-based extrinsic rewards. In relation to performance, effects are either non-significant or positive. Cerasoli et al.’s (2014) meta-analytic results suggest that individuals can be both intrinsically motivated (i.e., doing the work because it is enjoyable) and extrinsically motivated (i.e., doing the work to attain financial rewards) at the same time (see also Howard, Gagné, Morin, & Van der Broeck, 2016), and that both intrinsic motivation and extrinsic rewards positively influence employee performance.

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  3. Tharaka De VisserDecember 8, 2022 at 4:24 AM

    Agreed on the above content Thilini Wijesundara, there are two types of motivation intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. An example of intrinsic motivation is when someone is motivated solely by the satisfaction of solving a task (Job satisfaction). Extrinsic motivation comes from sources other than the individual and frequently entails material benefits like medals, cash, accolades, or social recognition. (Cherry, 2022)

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  4. Hemantraj Joel RanushanDecember 8, 2022 at 7:22 AM

    I agree with your content and i would like to add that there are four drives for motivation which are the drive to acquire, the drive to bond, the drive to comprehend and the drive to defend (Nohria, Groysberg &Lee , 2008)

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  5. Nelushan GunewardenaDecember 10, 2022 at 6:19 AM

    While agreeing with your content Thilini, would like to add that Ryan & Deci (2000) explained that the type of motivation at work, whether intrinsic or extrinsic, has a direct correlation to the underlying attitudes and objectives of the motivated individual while George & Jones (2012) established that an employee can be intrinsically as well as extrinsically motivated at the same time.

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  6. Dulakshi PereraDecember 10, 2022 at 9:06 AM

    A very clear post, Thilini. The Hawthorne Studies began the human relations approach to management, whereby the needs and motivation of employees become the primary focus of managers (Bedeian, 1993). If a company hold a self-motivated team to work, achieving the strategic corporate goal will not be an issue.
    Understanding what motivated employees and how they were motivated was the focus of many researchers following the publication of the Hawthorne Study results (Terpstra, 1979). Vroom's theory is based on the belief that employee effort will lead to performance and performance will lead to rewards (Vroom, 1964). Rewards may be either positive or negative. The more positive the reward the more likely the employee will be highly motivated. Conversely, the more negative the reward the less likely the employee will be motivated.

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