Through the years many renowned scholars have done numerous studies on the topic of Employee Motivation. Frederick Herzberg (1959) was one such academic who gave an overall definition to employee motivation as an individual performing some form of work-related action voluntarily, rather than being coerced to do so.
Later on, researchers such as Ryan & Deci (2000) carried out further studies in to the subject and established that there are two general types of motivation - Intrinsic motivation and Extrinsic motivation and went on to argue that the type of motivation at work has a direct correlation to the underlying attitudes and objectives of the motivated individual. Furthermore, they concluded that the quality of performance when an employee is intrinsically motivated as opposed to being extrinsically motivated can differ from one another while George & Jones (2012) established that an employee can be intrinsically as well as extrinsically motivated at the same time.
Intrinsic motivation
Ryan & Deci (2000) defines intrinsic motivation as carrying out a task for its inherent satisfactions rather than for some separable consequence and points out that an intrinsically motivated person is driven to do a specific task for the fun of it and/or the challenge it poses, rather than for external pressures, coercions, or possible rewards.
They go on to say that intrinsic motivation in children takes the form of learning, undertaking challenges and solving problems while in adults it takes the form of spending time and doing things like drawing, gardening, writing poetry, playing sports, mountaineering, and other things which does not give any tangible form of rewards (Deci & Ryan, 1985). In addition, they establish that employees are intrinsically motivated to carry out some activities while they are not motivated to do others and also adds that observations have been made which indicate that not everyone is motivated by the same activities (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
In view of the workplace and employees, DeCenzo et al., (2010) explains that intrinsic rewards are the personal satisfactions that an individual receives from doing the task/job. Further, they go on to explain that these are all self-initiated rewards such as taking pride in one’s work, a feeling of accomplishment, or enjoying being a part of a team. On the same lines, Amabile (1993), argues that an individual is considered intrinsically motivated when he or she looks for enjoyment, interest, satisfaction, or personal challenge in the work they do.
Other researchers have gone on to establish that behaviours, which can lead to strategic differentiation and are of great value to an organisation, such as being innovative, committed, adaptable and enterprising, are initiated by intrinsic motivation (Hansen et al., 2002). Furthermore, scientific research done through the years shows that intrinsic motivation is a powerful driver of learning and positive development (Larson & Rusk, 2011).
References
• Amabile, T.M. (1993) Motivational synergy: Toward new conceptualizations of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the workplace. Human resource management review, 3(3), pp.185-201.
• DeCenzo, D.A., Robbins, S.P. & Verhulst, S.L. (2010) Fundamentals of human resource management, 10th ed, John Wiley & Sons, p.262.
• Deci, E.L. & Ryan, R.M. (1985) Conceptualizations of intrinsic motivation and self-determination. Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior, Boston, MA: Springer, pp.11-40.
• George, J. M. & Jones, G. R. (2012) Understanding and Managing Organizational Behaviour, 6th ed, Reading, MA: Prentice Hall, p.159.
• Hansen, F., Smith, M. & Hansen, R.B. (2002) Rewards and recognition in employee motivation. Compensation & Benefits Review, 34(5), pp.64-72.
• Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. B. (1959) The motivation to work. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
• Larson, R.W. & Rusk, N. (2011) Intrinsic motivation and positive development. Advances in child development and behavior, 41, pp.89-130.
• Ryan, R.M. & Deci, E.L. (2000) Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary educational psychology, 25(1), Academic Press, pp.54-67.
Good article Nilushan. Furthermore, if an employee is rewarded through the organization their behaviour is not affected when it comes to knowledge sharing among employees. However, if an employee is motivated intrinsically they are more likely to share their knowledge, attitudes, and intentions to a better work place environment (Lin, 2007).
ReplyDeleteThanks and agree with your comment Miyuru. According to Shahzadi et al., (2014) intrinsic rewards basically deals with the satisfaction the employee experiences from the pleasure of working.
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