Goal Setting and Motivation in the Workplace

             Today in large corporations, motivation has been for the most part abandoned because of massive restructuring, re-engineering, and downsizing. The explanation for this is that the level of trust and commitment that is required for motivation, and necessary for employees to apply the extra effort, has been greatly damaged. When properly motivated, employees tend to exert an increased amount of effort for longer periods of time towards a particular goal. Companies have begun to realize this and act accordingly to benefit the company and its desired long-term objectives.
             The factors that are believed to motivate an employee greatly differ from person to person, and company to company. There are two main categories that are used to propose motivation theories; they are content theories and process theories. Content theories explain the dynamics of employee needs, and process theories describe the way need deficiencies are translated into behavior. Both of these theories are used to reduce tension. For content theories of motivation, companies recognize that motivation begins with the needs of the individual. Unfulfilled needs tend to create tension and the desire to alleviate them.
             The best-known content theory that explains why people have different needs at different times is the needs hierarchy theory. Developed by psychologist Abraham Maslow, it proposed that by condensing the many needs into five categories and placing them in a hierarchy would provide a much better understanding of the problems that stem from stress. The five categories are physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. All of these needs of the employee are recognized as being motivated simultaneously by several need levels. This type of hierarchy is one of the best-known ways of organizing behavioral theories but does not satisfy the need to explain the dynamic and unstable characteristics of employee needs.
             In motivat...

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Goal Setting and Motivation in the Workplace. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 14:19, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/31648.html