The emphasis on employee motivation has grown exponentially in the recent past with researchers establishing that motivated employees are more engaged in their work and are more committed to their organizations (Vance, 2006). When researchers such as Ryan & Deci (2000) established that employee motivation takes the general form of Intrinsic motivation and Extrinsic motivation, they went on to argue that the performance of an employee who is intrinsically motivated is different to one that is extrinsically motivated. More recently, researches such as George & Jones (2012) claimed that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are not contradictory since an employee can be both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated at the same time.
The most elementary differences between the two general forms of motivation is that intrinsic motivation refers to doing something purely because that activity is fundamentally enjoyable, interesting and pleasurable. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation refers to doing an activity because it results in a distinguishable outcome (DeCenzo et al., 2016). On the same lines, Ryan & Deci (2000) goes on to establish that doing something because it leads to a separable outcome can be referred to as extrinsic motivation while Giancola (2014) argues that extrinsic motivation is linked to external results of carrying out a task, such as financial rewards and incentives, rather than the pleasure or satisfaction one gets from performing the task.
Despite the cruciality and the importance of intrinsic motivation, is should be noted that most activities individuals engage in are not essentially intrinsically motivated. As the freedom to be intrinsically motivated declines after childhood due to social and other demands, individuals focus on roles that are more extrinsically motivated. This is evident in schools where it appears that the levels of intrinsic motivation in students decline with each advancing grade (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
For an example, if a student forces himself to submit an assignment before the deadline only because he can then avoid the penalty that is brought about by not doing so, can be considered as extrinsically motivated since he is submitting the assignment on time to gain the consequence of avoiding the penalty. Alternatively, if an employee puts in extra hours at work everyday and never calls in sick in an effort to please his superiors and ensure a raise or a promotion, can also be considered as extrinsically motivated since he does this purely to achieve the distinguishable outcome of getting a raise or a promotion and not to gain pleasure or satisfaction doing it.
In a nutshell, we must keep in mind that employees can be either intrinsically motivated or extrinsically motivated or even parallelly both. Employees who are intrinsically motivated tend to value challenges at work, making contributions to important decisions at the workplace and realizing their full potential at their jobs while extrinsically motivated employees tend to value things like earning a good salary, getting promoted and having a high status in society. In this context we must bear in mind that a workplace consists of both these types of employees and motivating them effectively according to their orientation falls on the organisation and its management (George & Jones, 2012).
In the next post we take a closer look at the theories of motivation.
References
• DeCenzo, D.A., Robbins, S.P. & Verhulst, S.L. (2016) Fundamentals of human resource management. John Wiley & Sons.
• George, J. M. & Jones, G. R. (2012) Understanding and Managing Organizational Behaviour, 6th ed, Reading, MA: Prentice Hall, pp.159-60.
• Giancola, F. L. (2014) Should HR Professionals Devote More Time to Intrinsic Rewards? Compensation & Benefits Review, 46(1), pp.25-31.
• 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.
• Vance, R. J. (2006) Employee Engagement and Commitment - A guide to understanding, measuring and increasing engagement in your organization. SHRM Foundation, 1, p.1.
Good post Nilushan. In addition to the comparison of IM & EM, the concept of intrinsic motivation (IM) refers to behaviors performed out of interest and enjoyment. In contrast, extrinsic motivation (EM) pertains to behaviors carried out to attain contingent outcomes (Deci, 1971).
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Kandeepan. Its also interesting to note that critics of dualistic theories such as Reiss (2012) argues that intrinsic-extrinsic dualism fails on at least three counts: construct validity, measurement reliability, and experimental control.
DeleteAgreed with you Nilushan, In addition, one of the key goals for the organization is to increase employee commitment at work, Employees that are not committed to the organization typically perform less than their best, The findings of this study have policymakers thinking about how to help employees while simultaneously enhancing their extrinsic motivation through things like fair promotion, rewards, and a good salary (Siregar, 2022).
ReplyDeleteThanks for your feedback Ann. According to Edirisooriyaa, (2014) a study was conducted which indicated that employee performance is directly influenced by intrinsic rewards as when intrinsic rewards are given to them, they are acknowledged of their performance and end up doing more work to gain appreciation.
DeleteAgreed on your points Nelushan. Initial studies found that if an individual engaged freely in an activity (out of interest) and was subsequently offered an external reward such as money (Deci 1971) or points (Lepperet al. 1973) for engaging in that activity, then intrinsic motivation toward the activity declined. Although these initial findings were controversial because they challenged operant theories of behavioral reinforcement, a subsequent meta-analysis affirmed that when extrinsic rewards are expected and tangible, they indeed undermine intrinsic motivation for an activity (Deciet al. 1999). Extrinsic motivation is governed by reinforcement contingencies. (Deci et al., 1999).
ReplyDeleteThanks for your valuable comment Ishara. Similarly, according to Maslow, Alderfer, McClelland, Hackman and Hertzberg; growth is the most influential motivator for organisations that relay on employees and an undeniable link exists among employee motivation and their job satisfaction and also to organizational commitment. (Basset-Jones & Lloyd, 2005)
DeleteWell written Nelushan, there is an overwhelming evidence that money is a powerful motivator for the majority of people. Furthermore, there is ample evidence that surveys that ask people to rank order money and other motivators do not accurately reflect the significant effects that changes in pay levels or pay determination actually have on people's decisions to join and leave organizations (Rynes, et al.,2004).
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