Introduction To Business Psychology

Approaches to Motivation
Motivation is process that prompts organisms to behave in certain ways. There are many approaches to explain motivation.

How did Obama fight racism to become the American president? How did Helen Keller graduate college, travel the world and believe in “all world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming”? How did Charlie Chaplin rise against poverty to becoming the finest comedian of all times? The one factor that dominated these powerful figures was their motivation. They were charged to rise above their difficulties and succeed beyond their capabilities. Not everyone faces such severe challenges but each individual is presented with tasks that require some amount of motivation. Studying for a test, signing up for voluntary work, stepping higher on the power ladder or working long hours all require motivation.
What is Motivation and Motive?
Motivation is a process which energizes an individual to behave in a particular way at a specific time in order to achieve a valuable goal. The factors that direct a person to behave in a certain manner are called Motives. Motives are usually non-observable factors that are useful in explaining and predicting behavior. They can be physiological or psychological. Physiological motives or biological motives are based on an individual’s primary needs such as hunger, thirst and sex. Psychological motives include the need for power, affiliation and achievement. They are factors that help people satisfy their psychological needs of love and affection and also their psycho-social needs of forming relations in the society and maintaining a respectable status. There are many approaches to explain motivation. Biologists believe the primary drive behind behavior is instinctual. Cognitive psychologists believe that the goals and values attached to these goals direct people’s behavior.
Read on
• Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs
• Theories of Motivation
• Maslow's Hierarchy and Person-centred Theory
Approaches to Motivation
Instinct Approach
This approach upholds instincts, or inborn patterns of behavior that are biologically predetermined, as the factors that influence behavior. This approach provides an explanation to the food-seeking and mate-seeking behavior displayed by all organisms as hunger and sex are primary instincts. The Psychoanalytic School of Psychology also believes the primary instincts play an important role in determining behavior. However, this approach fails to explain the complex behavioral patterns displayed by humans. The instinct to survive does not influence the behavior of an individual saving a friend from a car accident. Hence, there are factors different from instincts that influence behavior.
Drive-Reduction Approach
Proposed by Clark C Hull, this approach seeks to establish a relationship between needs and the fulfillment of needs. This approach believes every organism has certain Drives or arousals that create a feeling of tension and anxiety. To reduce this feeling, the organism behaves in certain ways, exploring the actions that will cease the anxiety. The tension usually arises from the deprivation of a need, physiological or psychological, and satisfying this need leads to the reduction of the anxiety. This stems from the organisms need to maintain Homeostasis or internal body balance. This approach is similar to the instinct approach, and it too, fails to explain complex behaviors.
Incentive Approach
This approach believes that motivation stems from the desire to obtain valued external goals or incentives. The incentive can be a tangible reward like money, food, grades or in the form of intangible compliments, love and recognition. However, this approach does not determine why certain incentives direct behavior. The value of an incentive cannot be scientifically determined.
Cognitive Approach
This is a modern approach that is widely accepted by psychologists. It focuses on the individuals’ understanding of the world, thoughts, beliefs and perceptions. Toleman, in his Cognitive Theory of Motivation says that, behavior is determined by an individual’s expectation of the behavior and the value attached to its consequences.
Motivation is thus a function of Expectancy and Value.
M= f (E)*V
This theory also seeks to differentiate between Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the process in which people participate in an activity for their own enjoyment. For example, reading a book. Extrinsic motivation is the process in which people participate in an activity for a tangible reward. For example, working long hours at office in order to obtain a higher salary.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow studied leading personalities of his time- Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein to determine the factors that influence people explore beyond their horizons. In 1970, he formulated his theory of Hierarchy of Needs. This theory believes there are five needs that dominate all individuals. They are biological, safety, love and belongingness, self-esteem and self-actualization. He believed that each of these needs is to be fulfilled, in the same order as he proposed to attain self-actualization, which is a state of self-fulfillment in which people realize their highest potential. Although criticized for being unscientific and philosophical, this theory is one of the most popular explanations of motivation. Motivation is universal but its process varies in purpose and pattern while influencing an individual’s behavior.

Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs
A Theory of Motivation and the Desire for Self-Actualization

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory of motivation, whereby people must meet certain biological and psychological needs before they can desire self-actualisation.

The humanist psychologist, Abraham Maslow, developed a theory of motivation which came to be known as "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Maslow believed that human beings are motivated not only by their basic needs, but by other psychological needs and the desire for self-actualisation as well.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs ascends in a series of levels, from the essential physiological and safety needs at the bottom, to the more complex psychological sources of motivation. Psychological needs include the need to belong and be accepted by others, the need for esteem, and the need for self-actualisation. Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be at least partially met before progressing to higher-order needs.
Higher level psychological needs are only important once the more basic needs have been satisfied. For example, the need for esteem will not be significant if a person is still struggling to satisfy his or her necessary food and safety needs. If people don’t have their basic biological needs, they will have little time and energy for needs higher up in the hierarchy.
Physical and Psychological Needs in the Hierarchy
Here are the physical and psychological needs, featured in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:
1. Physiological needs - Physiological needs are at the very bottom of the hierarchy, and include food, water and oxygen. People may not survive if their physiological needs are not met, and if they are operating at this level, they could be panicking, terrified or close to violence.
2. Safety needs - Next on the hierarchy after physiological needs are safety needs, which include the need to feel comfort and security, and be free from danger and fear.
3. Belonging needs - The need to belong is above safety needs, and includes the need to experience the love and acceptance of other people, and feel affiliation with them.
4. Esteem needs - The need for self-esteem is above the need to belong in the hierarchy. A person is functioning at this level when he or she feels a sense of success and achievement, and receives the recognition, approval and respect of other people.
5. Self-actualisation needs - Self-actualisation sits at the top of the hierarchy. Successfully climbing to this level means experiencing self-fulfillment and realising one's potential.
The level in the hierarchy at which a person is operating may change from time to time. For example, once having ascended to the level of esteem, a person may temporarily regress to the level of the need for belonging if he or she no longer feels loved and accepted by others. The lower level needs must still be met even when someone is functioning at one of the higher levels.
The Motivation for Self-Actualisation
The motivation for self-actualisation becomes apparent when a person realises his or her purpose in life and has the desire to fulfill it. To be the best that one can be is to be self-actualised. For example, a poet writes poetry, a musician makes music, and an artist paints, if this is what is necessary to achieve happiness.
Maslow studied famous people who he considered had realised their full potential in life, including Thomas Jefferson, Ludwig van Beethoven, Eleanor Roosevelt and Albert Einstein. Maslow discovered these particular people shared certain admirable qualities including realism, self-acceptance and acceptance of others, tolerance of uncertain situations, problem solving, objectivity, creativity, a good sense of humour and democratic principles.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs proposes that when human beings have met their basic needs to survive, felt a sense of belonging and developed self-esteem, they can become motivated to achieve self-actualisation.
Resources:
• Maslow, A. H. Motivation and Personality, 2nd Ed. New York: Harper and Row, 1970



Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

If motivation is driven by the existence of unsatisfied needs, then it is worthwhile for a manager to understand which needs are the more important for individual employees. In this regard, Abraham Maslow developed a model in which basic, low-level needs such as physiological requirements and safety must be satisfied before higher-level needs such as self-fulfillment are pursued. In this hierarchical model, when a need is mostly satisfied it no longer motivates and the next higher need takes its place. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is shown in the following diagram:
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Self-Actualization


Esteem Needs


Social Needs


Safety Needs


Physiological Needs



Physiological Needs
Physiological needs are those required to sustain life, such as:
• air
• water
• nourishment
• sleep
According to Maslow's theory, if such needs are not satisfied then one's motivation will arise from the quest to satisfy them. Higher needs such as social needs and esteem are not felt until one has met the needs basic to one's bodily functioning.
Safety
Once physiological needs are met, one's attention turns to safety and security in order to be free from the threat of physical and emotional harm. Such needs might be fulfilled by:
• Living in a safe area
• Medical insurance
• Job security
• Financial reserves
According to Maslow's hierarchy, if a person feels that he or she is in harm's way, higher needs will not receive much attention.
Social Needs
Once a person has met the lower level physiological and safety needs, higher level needs become important, the first of which are social needs. Social needs are those related to interaction with other people and may include:
• Need for friends
• Need for belonging
• Need to give and receive love
Esteem
Once a person feels a sense of "belonging", the need to feel important arises. Esteem needs may be classified as internal or external. Internal esteem needs are those related to self-esteem such as self respect and achievement. External esteem needs are those such as social status and recognition. Some esteem needs are:
• Self-respect
• Achievement
• Attention
• Recognition
• Reputation
Maslow later refined his model to include a level between esteem needs and self-actualization: the need for knowledge and aesthetics.
Self-Actualization
Self-actualization is the summit of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It is the quest of reaching one's full potential as a person. Unlike lower level needs, this need is never fully satisfied; as one grows psychologically there are always new opportunities to continue to grow.
Self-actualized people tend to have needs such as:
• Truth
• Justice
• Wisdom
• Meaning
Self-actualized persons have frequent occurrences of peak experiences, which are energized moments of profound happiness and harmony. According to Maslow, only a small percentage of the population reaches the level of self-actualization.

Implications for Management
If Maslow's theory holds, there are some important implications for management. There are opportunities to motivate employees through management style, job design, company events, and compensation packages, some examples of which follow:
• Physiological needs: Provide lunch breaks, rest breaks, and wages that are sufficient to purchase the essentials of life.
• Safety Needs: Provide a safe working environment, retirement benefits, and job security.
• Social Needs: Create a sense of community via team-based projects and social events.
• Esteem Needs: Recognize achievements to make employees feel appreciated and valued. Offer job titles that convey the importance of the position.
• Self-Actualization: Provide employees a challenge and the opportunity to reach their full career potential.
However, not all people are driven by the same needs - at any time different people may be motivated by entirely different factors. It is important to understand the needs being pursued by each employee. To motivate an employee, the manager must be able to recognize the needs level at which the employee is operating, and use those needs as levers of motivation.

Limitations of Maslow's Hierarchy
While Maslow's hierarchy makes sense from an intuitive standpoint, there is little evidence to support its hierarchical aspect. In fact, there is evidence that contradicts the order of needs specified by the model. For example, some cultures appear to place social needs before any others. Maslow's hierarchy also has difficulty explaining cases such as the "starving artist" in which a person neglects lower needs in pursuit of higher ones. Finally, there is little evidence to suggest that people are motivated to satisfy only one need level at a time, except in situations where there is a conflict between needs.
Even though Maslow's hierarchy lacks scientific support, it is quite well-known and is the first theory of motivation to which many people they are exposed. To address some of the issues of Maslow's theory, Clayton Alderfer developed the ERG theory, a needs-based model that is more consistent with empirical findings.
Management > Maslow's Hierarchy


NEED FOR ACHIEVEMENT AND NEED FOR AFFILIATION: THE EXTENT TO WHICH AN INDIVIDUAL MAY HAVE BOTH SIMULTANEOUSLY
Posted by Saif at 6:49:00 PM
Need for achievement is the desire to accomplish difficult tasks and to meet standards of excellence. Need for affiliation is the desire to be with others and have harmonious and satisfying relationships.

Both, need for achievement and need for affiliation, can be very important for any individual. They can work as a guiding force in a person’s life in many ways. A need for achievement gives an incentive to have a sense of accomplishment and a need for affiliation drives a person to be with different kind of people and have many different kinds of relationships. Both help in gaining a sense of satisfaction in their own way.

There are, of course, individual differences when it comes to both need for achievement and need for affiliation. People may be high, low, or even medium in both the needs.

People who are high on need for achievement choose tasks that are moderately difficult for them. They are persistent and do not give up till they have a sense of accomplishment. They are intrinsically motivated. They do things for a sense of pleasure and satisfaction and not for extrinsic rewards like money.

They also prefer to have accurate feedback about themselves. They are clear about their strengths and weaknesses. They attribute their performance to themselves rather than circumstances. They like to take responsibility for their success as well as their failures. They prefer to be alone or with like minded people. They also like to face challenges in their life.

People who are high on need for affiliation like to spend time with others. They like to be with others. They like to form friendships and more and more intimate relationships. They try to seek out pleasure by being in the company of others.

They have a desire for acceptance and approval from others. They have a need to be liked by others. They choose work that enables them to be with more and more people and that requires social interaction. They also tend to conform to others.

Having a look at the characteristics of people who are high on need for achievement and people who are high on need for affiliation, there seems to be quite a contrast between the two. They are seemingly opposite.

Researchers suggest that need for achievement and need for affiliation are inversely proportional in an individual. This means that if a person is high on need for achievement, then he/she is low on need for affiliation and vice versa.

This, to quite an extent, is reflected by the characteristics of both high on need for achievement and affiliation. People who are high on need for achievement are introverted and basically self-involved. They are usually aloof and prefer to be alone. They may also lack in some social skills, especially the skill of cooperation. On the other hand, people who are high on need for affiliation like to be surrounded by people. They are extroverted and highly sociable. They also seem to have good people skills. Obviously, a person cannot exactly be self-involved and sociable at the same time.

Need for achievement and need for affiliation may also quite possibly work as a hindrance for each other. They may come in between one another and thus negatively effect each other.

For a person who is high on need for achievement, the desire to affiliate may cause a distraction from his/her work and accomplishments. Likewise, for a person who is high on need for affiliation, the desire to achieve success in work may put him/her away from his close relationships.This shows that the researchers may be right and that need for achievement and need for affiliation are not only inversely proportional but they rather should be inversely proportional.

All this gives an indication that need for achievement and need for affiliation are quite unrelated. But an in-depth look at need for affiliation shows that this may not exactly be true. Among all the basic reasons for different people to affiliate, one of them is to have positive stimulation and one is to compare themselves with others.

People affiliate to have interesting and lively interactions that create some sort of positive stimulation. People who are high on need for achievement prefer to be with like-minded people. This enables them to generate positive stimulation, which suggests a desire to affiliate among people who are high on need for achievement.

People affiliate to compare themselves with others to know exactly where they belong in a particular task. This reduces uncertainty among them and they are able to get some kind of feedback about themselves.

Those who are high on need for achievement also require some feedback about themselves from time to time. This shows some kind of relation between need for achievement and need for affiliation. Thus, people who are high on need for achievement can also have a need to affiliate.

There is a lot of subjectivity when it comes to human nature. Each individual differs from the other in their own right. Everyone has their own perceptions and perspectives. The desire to accomplish difficult tasks and to meet standards of excellence are qualities of those of who have a need to achieve. Each person has their own perception of task difficulty and each person might have their own standards of excellence. In this way, a person who is high on need for affiliation might also be high on need for achievement from his/her own perception and perspective.

Need for achievement and need for affiliation are more of common social needs of humans rather than being just personality traits. Everybody, to whatever extent, has the need to achieve and affiliate. There seems to be no reason at all why an individual may not be high on both need for achievement and need for affiliation.

But, as mentioned above, one may come in the way of the other. However, this does not mean that a person cannot be high on both the needs. One of the needs may suffer because of the other or probably even both may suffer, but it does not rule out in any way that a person can be high on both.

Human beings have a tendency to act according to the situation. A person may behave in a certain way in one situation and behave differently in another situation. This makes it difficult to predict the behaviour of an individual. It is quite possible that in one situation a person can be high on need for achievement and in another situation that same person can be high on need for affiliation.

An individual overall has a number of personality traits. Usually some of them are dominant and some are not. The same can be possible when it comes to need for achievement and need for affiliation. It can be that a person is high on both, but either one of them is dominant.

For instance, in an individual need for achievement may be dominant and need for affiliation may be the subordinate. Or need for affiliation may be dominant and need for achievement may be the subordinate. Thus, a person may be high on both the needs but he/she may be a little bit higher in one them. They may not be necessarily inversely proportional. There might only be a slight difference in the degree of either one of them.

Need for achievement and need for affiliation, at first might seem to be quite unrelated. But, a closer look at the two gives a different perspective. They both can be very much related and it is quite possible that an individual may be high on both need for achievement and need for affiliation.


Need for Power (N-Pow) is a term that was popularized by renowned psychologist David McClelland in 1961. McClellend's thinking was influenced by the pioneering work of Henry Murray who first identified underlying psychological human needs and motivational processes (1938). It was Murray who set out a taxonomy of needs, including Achievement, Power and Affiliation - and placed these in the context of an integrated motivational model. In McClelland's book "The Achieving Society" N-Pow helps explain an individual's imperative to be in charge. According to his work there are two kinds of power, social and personal.
People who exhibit N-Pow tendencies are most satisfied by seeing their environment move in a certain direction, due to their involvements. As an example of the need for personal power, most corporate leaders seek high level positions so as to control the direction in which their company is moving. As an example of social power, most people might agree that Nelson Mandela not only has socio-political Power, but uses this influence to bring to light social issues in order to further his desire for peace and equality on earth.
Sex differences affect the way power motive is expressed. While men with more n-POW show high levels of aggression, drink heavily, act in sexually exploitative manner, and participate in competitive sports, women channel their n-POW in a more socially acceptable and responsible manner, being more concerned and caring.
Desire to influence, hold or ruling over others in order to be recognized as powerful individual.
• These types of people prefer to work in big organisations, businesses and other influential professions. • There also exists gender differences among males and females; men are more apt to take challenges and respond quite aggressively irrespective of women who are socially restrained and traditional in her behavior.

Emotions:
“Emotions are feelings that generally have both physiological and cognitive elements and that influence behavior.”
Emotions are those feelings which come out in different situations and according to them human beings behave. Emotions start in brain which we call cognitive elements of emotions. Person internal changes are the physiological elements and the movement of body organs is the behavior which is due to emotion.

Perceiving any stimulus a person shows different type of emotions. It means that our life is fully saturated with emotions. If we find something which has been done according to our will then we feel happiness. If we face a person who is rude to us, then we feel anger. Emotions play a very important role in our life, because with out them we would be nothing more then robots. Think of a life without pleasure and displeasure. We can live a better life in pleasure. However having displeasure in life is somewhat bad thinking but without them there is no joy of life. Emotions have three aspects as discussed in definition.

• Cognitive Aspect of Emotion:
Cognitive aspect of emotion involves the thoughts the person has when they are experiencing a particular emotion. E.g. When you feels happy you say to yourself “What a wonderful day it is today.”




• Physiological Aspect of Emotion:
Physiological aspect of emotion refers to the disruption of the homeostatic baseline. E.g. when you experience the emotion of fear, your heart beat rate increases and Gooves pimples & Gooves Bumps are experienced.



• Behavioral Aspect of Emotion:
Behavioral aspect of emotion involves the action people take when they are experiencing an emotion. (How they behave). E.g. if you are feeling very happy you might hug the person next to you. Or feeling afraid of something you might run away from it.

As you can see from these descriptions. Experiencing an emotion has an effect on the way you think, the functioning of your body and the way you behave. Therefore by knowing what sort of emotional state a person is in you may somewhat be able to predict what they are thinking and what they are likely to do.






Ranges of Emotions:
Ranges of emotion refer to the person ability to show an appropriate range of emotions. In other words show happiness in pleasurable situations and show anger when hostility is shown. A person shows different ranges of emotions in life. For example let’s look at the following range of emotion.
Starts from Despair ends with Elation. Let explain it by an example. When a person’s in any situation feels very sad for example on his only son’s death he feels DESPAIR. As time passes he is now trying to forget the tragedy and he moves to STRESSED. Now he is normal but as well feels the love of his died baby. As time passes he moves gradually to CALM. This is the emotion which is shown by the man in which he is neither happy nor stressed. Now say, if her wife tells that your 2nd baby is going to born he will be HAPPY and forget almost everything of the past. When the baby born, this will be the most enjoyable movement for him and he will show ELATION as he is very happy.
This was the simple range of emotion which a man showed. Ranges of emotions are showed according to situations.

Roots of emotions:
The mainstream definition of emotion refers to a feeling state involving thoughts, physiological changes, and an outward expression or behavior. But what comes first? The thought? The physiological arousal? The behavior? Or does emotion exist in a vacuum, whether or not these other components are present? There are five theories which attempt to understand why we experience emotion.

• James-Lange Theory

The James-Lange theory of emotion argues that an event causes physiological arousal (to excite) first and then we interpret this arousal. Only after our interpretation of the arousal can we experience emotion. If the arousal is not noticed or is not given any thought, then we will not experience any emotion based on this event.

EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. You notice these physiological changes and interpret them as your body's preparation for a fearful situation. You then experience fear.




• Cannon-Bard Theory

The Cannon-Bard theory argues that we experience physiological arousal and emotional at the same time, but gives no attention to the role of thoughts or outward behavior.

EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. At the same time as these physiological changes occur you also experience the emotion of fear.


• Schachter-Singer Theory

According to this theory, an event causes physiological arousal first. You must then identify a reason for this arousal and then you are able to experience and label the emotion.

EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens. Upon noticing this arousal you realize that is comes from the fact that you are walking down a dark alley by yourself. This behavior is dangerous and therefore you feel the emotion of fear.



• Lazarus Theory

Lazarus Theory states that a thought must come before any emotion or physiological arousal. In other words, you must first think about your situation before you can experience an emotion.

EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and you think it may be a mugger so you begin to tremble, your heart beats faster, and your breathing deepens and at the same time experience fear.



• Facial Feedback Theory

According to the facial feedback theory, emotion is the experience of changes in our facial muscles. In other words, when we smile, we then experience pleasure, or happiness. When we frown, we then experience sadness. it is the changes in our facial muscles that cue our brains and provide the basis of our emotions. Just as there are an unlimited number of muscle configurations in our face, so to are there a seemingly unlimited number of emotions.

EXAMPLE: You are walking down a dark alley late at night. You hear footsteps behind you and your eyes widen, your teeth clench and your brain interprets these facial changes as the expression of fear. Therefore you experience the emotion of fear.