Motivation

Be a Better Motivator.

Motivated employees drive the success of a business. Learn how to get the best of employees by understanding more about this fascinating subject. Motivation is very simply, a process or mechanism that causes us to act or think in a certain way. It is a general term for any part of the hypothetical psychological process that involves experiencing needs and drives, and the behaviour that leads to the goal that satisfies them.

This is a course which would benefit:

• managers
• supervisors
• workplace trainers
• employers or
• anyone else who is concerned with making a workplace function more smoothly and effectively.

This course complements Leadership, Management and Personnel Management (HR), so enrol in this fascinating course and get the most out of yourself and your staff.

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction
   • How important is the study of motivation
   • What is motivation
   • Maslows theory of motivation
   • Incentives
   • Internal or intrinsic incentives
   • Incentives external to the working environment
   • The relational character of incentives
   • Social reinforcers
2. Awareness
   • Motivation and goals
   • Motivation and distress
   • Reinforcement
   • Classical conditioning
   • Operant conditioning
3. Tangible Rewards
   • Self determination theory
   • Hygiene and motivation theory
   • Tangible rewards
4. Intangible Rewards
   • Intrinsic motivation
   • Security -Cultural, Production of community, Gender, Age, Vocation, Education, etc
   • Ethics
   • Gratitude
   • Belief systems
   • Peer pressure
   • Extringsic and intrinsic reinforcement at work
5. Negative Motivators
   • Punishment
   • Pain
   • Suffering
   • Discipline
   • Threat
6. Initiating Motivation
   • Explain how to initiate motivation with an individual or group for a situation not previously confronted.
7. Maintaining Motivation
   • Goal setting
   • Influence of Groups on individual motivation
   • Social loafing
   • Employee motivation in the workplace by managers
   • Expectations
   • Job design
   • Motivation for a personal trainer
8. Applications
   • Space management
   • Time management
   • Staff appraisals
   • Expectations
   • Vicious and virtuous cycles
   • PBL Project: Create and present a plan with specific strategies for improving the employee’s motivation in the workplace, based on a clear understanding of the person’s needs, values and situation.

Aims

• Describe the nature and scope of motivation
• Identify the differences between people that distinguish the application of motivational skills
• Explain the significance of knowledge and understanding to motivation.
• Explain the effects of Tangible Rewards (eg: Money, Services, Goods) as a major motivator.
• Explain the effect of intangible Rewards (eg: Security, Ethics, Gratitude, Belief Systems/Religion, Peer Pressure) as a major motivator.
• Explain how actions can be motivated by negative motivators such as pain, suffering, discipline, threat), and distinguish this type of motivation from positive motivation.
• Explain how to initiate motivation with an individual or group in a situation not previously confronted.
• Explain how motivation can be maintained or increased in both successful and unsuccessful environments.
• Identify a range of situations where motivational skills can be applied, and determine an appropriate way to initiate and maintain motivation in each of those situations.

Learn to Understand Motivation

Throughout the course of history there have been many attempts to provide a comprehensive answer to the question - What really motivates people? In other words, what is there in the nature of human beings which makes them behave in certain ways. The true answer continues to elude us and the debate about the motivation of people in their work behaviour still continues. In this lesson, different approaches to the question of motivation will be shown, but the main conclusion is that there is no perfect way to design or organise work. Instead, management must be diagnostic and flexible, accommodating events and their subjective interpretation by the participants in any given situation. In this way, a course of action can be decided which is appropriate to the situation.

Before we delve into the differing factors which motivate individuals, it is necessary to define the word WORK. This is defined in a standard dictionary as a mental or physical action carried out with serious object in view. It is necessary in psychology to find a more thorough understanding than this.

It was asked of a cynic "Why do people work"? He replied "For somewhere to sleep and three meals a day." If you consider this statement, is it indeed true? Further thought tells us that there are many more complex reasons for working, and that an individual may have several reasons for working. Some of the reasons why a person works are listed below:

• to live in security.
• to save money
• to obtain the leisure time to do what one wishes, whether these wishes are altruistic or egoistic
• to satisfy ambition or interest
• to satisfy the gregarious instinct
• to express individuality
• to escape from certain physical or mental conditions
• to be active and participating in communal action.

Many people spend time working in order that they may have time and money for "playing" activities. Many people happily put a great deal of effort into playing. They will do this almost to the point of exhaustion, and though there is no financial reward given for the great effort, they obtain immense satisfaction from the results. The reason is that not only is the period of playing a time of mental relaxation, but playing becomes an intense interest which excludes all other things. This gives the individual a feeling of perfect self expression.