Define motivation.

 Concept of Motivation

The term motivation is derived from the Latin word movere which means "to move". In simple words, it is the will to work. Hence, motivation may be defined as the set of forces that leads people to behave in a particular way. It is the most difficult factor to manage. The performance of an employee is a function of his abilities and motivation. Motivation is basically a psychological process. It is one of the most complex and important concepts or functions of managers.

Motivation involves inspiring the employees to perform their best for the accomplishment of organizational goals. It is the outcome of individual needs, drives, tensions, discomforts and expectations.

Motivation has been defined by different scholars differently. Some of them are:

William G. Scott

Motivation means a process of stimulating people to action to achieve desired goals.

Fred Luthans Motivation is a process that starts with a physiological or psychological deficiency or needs that activates behavior or a drive that is aimed at a goal or incentive.

Decenzo / Robbins

Motivation is the willingness to exert a high level of effort to reach organizational goals, conditioned by the effortability to satisfy some individual need.

Koontz and O'Donnell

Motivation is a general term applying to the entire class of drives, desires, needs, wishes and similar forces that induce an individual or a group of people to work.

From the above definitions and discussions, it may be concluded that motivation is a process of creating willingness among the employees to do the works in the best possible way for achieving organizational goals.

Maslow's need priority (hierarchy) theory is one of the most popular theories of motivation in the management literature. His theory is based on the human needs comprising a five-tier model depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. The needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can attend to the needs higher up.

He/She believed that once a given level of need is satisfied, it no longer serves to motivate a person. Then, the next higher level of need emerges. There are five different levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Each of them is discussed below.