The term motivation derives from the Latin word movere, meaning "to move" many definitions are given for the term. Form our perspective of the many definitions of motivation, it seems to represent psychological processes that cause the arousal, direction and persistence of voluntary actions that are goal directed (Michael 1982) The following definitions of motivation were gleaned from sonte psychology textbooks .
- Internal state or condition that refkates baluviour and gives it direction.
- Desire or want that energizes and directs goal-oriented behaviour
- Influence of needs and desires on the intensity and direction of behaviour.
In Motivation, needs produce motives, which lead to the accomplishment of goals. Needs are caused by deficiencies For instance, a physical need exists when an individual goes without food for a long time, a psychological needs exists when an individual has no friends or companions.
A motive is a stimulus that leads to an action that satisfies the need. In other words, motives produce actions Lack of sleep (the need) activates the physical changes inges of fatigue (the motive) which produces sleep (the action). Thus, motivation is a hypothetical internal process, which energizes and directs behaviour toward a specific goal.
Psychologist, recognise the importance of the internal states such as needs and drives. A need is a condition of physiological or psychological imbalance within an individual For example, a young lady who is deprived of food for a long time would have a desire to eat because of the physiological imbalance set up in her body. When a need is aroused in an individual, this sets up a drive to satisfy it. That is drives can be defined as an aroused state or condition within a person which prompts, or results in behaviour to satisfy a need.
Once a person is in a state of drive he does something about it. Drive provides the thrust that leads to motivated behaviour to achieve a goal. The relationship between need drive and goal in motivation is showing below.
Abraham Maslow proposed a hierarchy of human needs ranging from the most basic needs to the most complex needs. He classifies needs into five broad categories.
Physiological needs, safety, belongingness and love, self-esteem, and self actualization.
According to Maslow (1970) people respond to a hierarchy of needs based on their prepotency. The lower needs tends to be more powerful and must be satisfied before a person can progress toward the higher order ones. Once a given level of need is satisfied, it no longer serves to motivate. The next higher level of need has to be triggered in order to motivate the individual. However. Maslow points out that no matter how far up the need hierarchy a person has advanced, if a lower-order need is threatened he will move back to the lower order to get it satisfied.
Maslow classifies human motives into five main categories: ranging from the most basic requirements for survival to the most important for healthy living. They are briefly described as follows:
(1) Physiological Needs: Are the most basic level in the hierarchy. They include hunger, thirst, sleep and sex According to the theory, once these basic needs are satisfied they no longer motivate. Only the next higher level of needs will motivate a person.
(2) Safety Needs: Represent the second level of needs such needs include the need to avoid pain, to obtain bodily comforts and to be free from insecurity and fear.
(3) Belongingness and Love Needs: Are seen as representing the beginning of higher order needs. These correspond with the needs for affection and affiliation People tend to have a desire to identify with group, they also have a desire to establish relationships with people who an give them love and who they can equally give love to.
(4) Esteem Needs: Contain both self-esteem and esteem from others. Esteem needs include needs for power. status, achievement and mastery of the environment. The highest form of self esteem is said to be available to those who are independent.
(5) Self-Actualisation Needs: Represent the highest level of human needs. These includes the need to know about oneself and the world around, the need to be creative, and the need to be a spontaneous, self motivated achiever. Some of the characteristics associated with self actualised people are
STEREOTYPING
This is the tendency to ascribe positive or negative characteristic to a person on the basis of a general categorisation and perceived similarities. The perception of that person may be based more on certain expected characteristics than on the recognition of that person as an individual. It is a form typecasting. Stereotyping is a means of simplifying the process of perception and making judgements of other people instead of dealing with a range of complex and alternative stimuli. It occurs when an individual is judged on the basis of the group to which it is perceived that person belongs. When we see all people belonging to a particular group as having the same characteristics we are stereotyping individuals. Pre-judgment are therefore made about an individual without ever really knowing whether such judgments are accurate, they may be wildly wrong.
Example of common stereotyping may be based on:
- Nationality e.g. all igbo Nigeria a are industrious.
- Occupation e-g. all accountants are boring.
- Age e g. all young people are unreliable
- Physical eg. all people with red hair have a fiery temperament.
- Education e.g. all graduate are clever
- Social e.g. all unemployed people are lazy.
A significant social implication of stereotyping is therefore the perception held about particular groups of people based on for example:
- Gender
- Race
- Dlisability
- Religious belief
- Age.
Attribution:
People make observations all the time of the verbal and non verbal behaviour of those we meet and use these observations to make inferences about what they are like.
Terms like disposition, personality character are often use to explain the more enduring features of people and to summarise the behaviour we observed and judgements we have made and predict from these observation in appropriate circumstances.
Attribution Process:
Attribution is the term used to describe the way in which we make judgements about people's feelings, attitudes and disposition from their verbal and non-verbal behaviour First, we locate the cause of the behaviour - the term used for this is "locus of cause". For example, if a person lurched up to a display cabinet and knocked a piece of China off it, we might imagine that he intended to smash the China (an internal loeus of cause which might imply that he had a temper). But if we know that he had tripped over a rug and put his hand out to save himself, then cause of his behaviour is seen to be outside him (external locus of cause). Heider (1958) called this process the attribution process. Jones and Davis (1965) explored the causes of behaviour and their implications for judgements of personality and identified three factors which tend to be involved.
Intention: There is a distinction made between behaviour which is intended and that which is caused by circumstances outside the individual. Also an assessment has to be made of the individual's power to act. For example when we observe someone performing a task and want to make a judgement about his her intelligence, we need to take into account how difficult the task is.
Norms: It is necessary also to match behaviour against established norms of behaviour e.g. what most people would do in the same situation like if most people get nine out of ten grammatical problems right person who only get four right would be judged to be less intelligent.
The more the behaviour we observe deviates from the norm the confidence we are likely to have in attributing enduring characteristics to the actor.
Social Cues: A politician is expected to appear grave and sincere that is what is expected of him her and so is little indication of what his/her personality really look like We have a good idea of what people in a circumstances, if they do this it does not tell us much given set of about them, it is only when behaviour deviates from this that we can infer what they are really like.
(Study by Jones 1961):
Tape recordings were played to subjects of job interviews, with an applicant and a personnel officer, subjects were told what characteristics the job required. Subjects had to assess the interviewees characters, and say bow much confidence they put in their judgment under two conditions
- Where subjects heard candidates describe themselves in terms highly congruent with the job requirements they described themselves in terms highly congruent with the job requirements they described themselves in a way which matched what was required.
- Where subjects heard candidates describe themselves incongruently with the requirements of the job e.g their description of themselves did not match what was required.
Kelley's Model (1967):
Kelley said three factors are influencing attribution of pesonality characteristics from behaviour.
Distinctiveness: If Bela always wears a white dress when Fadipe comes to dinner and ever otherwise, it could be said that she wears it because Fadipe is there. Her behaviour has a distinctive. "Locus of Cause".
Consistency: If a person always runs away from barking dogs whenever he meets them this might indicate that he/she is a timid kind of person, afraid of dogs. The locus of cause is internal, it says something about this character. If however, he runs away from one particular barking dog on one particular occasion this may be a particular ferocious dog. He tells us little about him.
Consensus: When a person behaves in a particular way it is necessary to consider whether everyone behaves in this way or whether he is the only one. If he is alone in behaving in the way he does, this fact reveals something of his character if on the other hand, everyone behaves like this, then the locus of cause is external. We have learnt no more about his character, but just what everyone does.
A test of Kelley's model was carried out by Me Arthur (1972). Subjects were presented with a number of statements describing the reaction of a particular person to a particular stimulus (for example), Bola laughs at a comedian, these statements were accompanied by three other statements which indicated consensus, distinctiveness and consistency. For each set of information, the subjects were asked to state whether it was probable the person's response was due to:
(1) Something about the person.
(2) Something about the circumstances.
(3) Something about the stimulus.
(4) Something as combination of factors.
An example might be:
A person you know arrives at a formal diner party in jeans and a open-necked sport skirt.
Additional information about this person includes the following statement.
(1) "Old Harry never dresses up for any occasion". This will indicate consistency in Harry's behaviour.
(2)"Old Harry make a point of not dressing up whenever Charles throws a party". This statement would suggest that Harry normally dresses to suit the occasion except when Charles is given the party.
This "non dressing" has an element of "distinctiveness" which says more about Harry relationship with Charles than about Harry's character.(3) "Old Harry knows that Charles dinner parties are always easy going affairs".
This indicates an element of "consensus" Everybody knows that Charles' parties are never really formal even when they are billed as such.As Kelley's model had predicted. Subject stated that the response had been due to something about the person himself. most frequently in cases of low consensus, high consistency and distinctiveness
Errors of Attribution: In some cases, information on consensus. distinctiveness and consistency is not easy to obtain. In such cases observers have to rely on what are known as "causal schemata" i.e. some kind of theory about what the three sources of information would have if they could have got hold of them.
PREJUDICE:
Allport (1954) defines prejudice as an anti-party based upon a faulty and inflexible generalisation directed towards a group as a whole or towards an individual because he is a member of that group. It may be felt or experienced,
Prejudice can be seen as a strong tendency to be unfairly hostile to some one on the basis of his/her racial, ethnic religions, political or even sexual attributes and to act towards him ber in a discriminatory se hostile manner.
ATTRIBUTES OF PREJUDICE:
As with attitudes, prejudice has major three components
(1) Cognitive: Beliefs and perceptions through which we form stereotypes which cause us to over generalised about individuals on the basis of their group membership.
(2) Allective: Feelings of hostility, often intense, which may serve as an ego defense.
(3) Behavioural: A tendency to act in a discriminatory manner towards a person or a group This takes a very broad range of forms from verbal denigration - including racial jokes to the genocide which resulted from prejudice against Jews in Nazi Germany. Prejudice goes beyond discrimination against minority groups and ean închide such things as the problems of introducing farm machinery in India, or the acceptance of contraception for women. Sometimes it involves the dominant minority as in South Africa - showing prejudice against the majority group
CAUSES OF PREJUDICE
Stereotyping: The need of human beings to categorise their envirorument and predict outcomes on the basis of minimal cues leads to the perceptual and cognitive process of stereotyping. We assign certain characteristics to a particular group. On meeting members of that group we expect them to share these characteristics.
This is a neutral process which fulfils an important function in our daily life. The stereotypes we hold of a group may equally he favourable as unfavourable.
This process has been well documented in research Katz and Braly (1933) and later Gilbert (1951) presented Princeton under gratitude with a list of 84 character traits and asked them to indicates which were the most characteristic of several racial or ethnic groups - Jews, Chinese, Negroes etc. There was strong agreement on the perceived characteristics of these groups.
Social Judgement Theory:
Holding extreme views which are important to our self- image causes us to perceive discrepant views as more opposed to our own than in fact they are. Prejudice is essentially evaluative. We make up our minds about the characteristics of those we are prejudiced against and when we come across an individual who does not conform to these characteristics he is regarded as untypical.
Social Attitudes: In some views, prejudice stems from specific traits of personality which predispose an individual to react with hostility towards ethnic, racial, political or religious or other minority groups.
Socio Cultural Determinants: A wide range al sociological factors have been seen to contribute to the establishment and the maintenance of prejudice. These include the following:
(1) Cognitive: Beliefs and perceptions through which we form stereotypes which cause us to over generalised about individuals on the basis of their group membership.
(2) Allective: Feelings of hostility, often intense, which may serve as an ego defense.
(3) Behavioural: A tendency to act in a discriminatory manner towards a person or a group This takes a very broad range of forms from verbal denigration - including racial jokes to the genocide which resulted from prejudice against Jews in Nazi Germany. Prejudice goes beyond discrimination against minority groups and ean închide such things as the problems of introducing farm machinery in India, or the acceptance of contraception for women. Sometimes it involves the dominant minority as in South Africa - showing prejudice against the majority group
CAUSES OF PREJUDICE
Stereotyping: The need of human beings to categorise their envirorument and predict outcomes on the basis of minimal cues leads to the perceptual and cognitive process of stereotyping. We assign certain characteristics to a particular group. On meeting members of that group we expect them to share these characteristics.
This is a neutral process which fulfils an important function in our daily life. The stereotypes we hold of a group may equally he favourable as unfavourable.
This process has been well documented in research Katz and Braly (1933) and later Gilbert (1951) presented Princeton under gratitude with a list of 84 character traits and asked them to indicates which were the most characteristic of several racial or ethnic groups - Jews, Chinese, Negroes etc. There was strong agreement on the perceived characteristics of these groups.
Social Judgement Theory:
Holding extreme views which are important to our self- image causes us to perceive discrepant views as more opposed to our own than in fact they are. Prejudice is essentially evaluative. We make up our minds about the characteristics of those we are prejudiced against and when we come across an individual who does not conform to these characteristics he is regarded as untypical.
Social Attitudes: In some views, prejudice stems from specific traits of personality which predispose an individual to react with hostility towards ethnic, racial, political or religious or other minority groups.
Adorno et al (1950) identified what they called the "authoritarian personality".Exploitation Theory: This has its origins in Marxist philosophy. Prejudice is seen as propagated by an exploiting class to stigmatize some groups as inferior to justify continued exploitation. It fits neatly into a larger theory of social relations, but it is doubtful whether it could stand on it own.
Socio Cultural Determinants: A wide range al sociological factors have been seen to contribute to the establishment and the maintenance of prejudice. These include the following:
- Density of population It has been shown that where population is densest prejudice is most common.
- Community separations - The creation of ghettors, or the separation of minorities into particular areas of cities can foster prejudice.
- Ignorance and barriers to communications.
- Language barriers or ignorance about cultural differences are seen as providing a cause of prejudice.
- Rapid changes in social structure: Changes in society can lead to jockey ing for position.
- Competition for employment: In times of high unemployment, member of ethnic minorities can be seen as competing unfairly for the jobs that the indigenous population consider rightfully to be theirs.
- Importation of cheap labour. Where cheap labour has been brought into fill a need, resentment can grow towards the incomers when that need no longer exist.
Reduction of Prejudice:
Research has focused on reduction of prejudice among rsces.
(1) Increasing contact between members of groups: The opportunity to interact and know each other more, the more they should see each other as similar.
(2) Interdependence of behaviour. This is a common attempt to overcome an external obstacle or enemy by co- operation with others. Star. Williams and Stouffee (1958) showed that soldiers who fought together in the war showed less prejudice towards minority group members. Sherif's (1961) study, identified hostility among young boys was reduced by having them co- operate în removing frustrating obstacles. In this study Sherif and his co-workers investigated the effect upon groups of young boys in a summer camp of artificially manipulating group attitudes. The boys were initially allowed to associate and make friends with others in their own tents. Then their friendships were arbitrarily broken up by the assignment of the boys to groups named "Bulldogs" and "Red Devils" The hostility was eventually reduced by having the boys cooperate in removing obstacles that had I been found to be frustrating.
(3) Legislation: Attempts have been made to reduce prejudice by means of legislation though this tends to tackle the symptoms rather than the root causes of prejudice.
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Organization embrace a culture of shared beliefs, values, and nornis unique to it. Organisational culture is therefore defined as what is important to the organisation, how people behave, interact with one another and what they should be striving for. When these things are present in a group they develop group identity and pride which are important part of an organization. It is also a means through which each employee adopts the core tents of the firms mission as its own guiding passion.
The more a cultures values permeates an organization. the stronger the culture.
FACTORS THAT SHAPE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
These factor can be described in a circular form.
KEY ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESSES
There are processes people feel with regards information, communication and making decisions they are affected by two factors.
(1) External environment, this refers to government policy.
Research has focused on reduction of prejudice among rsces.
(1) Increasing contact between members of groups: The opportunity to interact and know each other more, the more they should see each other as similar.
(2) Interdependence of behaviour. This is a common attempt to overcome an external obstacle or enemy by co- operation with others. Star. Williams and Stouffee (1958) showed that soldiers who fought together in the war showed less prejudice towards minority group members. Sherif's (1961) study, identified hostility among young boys was reduced by having them co- operate în removing frustrating obstacles. In this study Sherif and his co-workers investigated the effect upon groups of young boys in a summer camp of artificially manipulating group attitudes. The boys were initially allowed to associate and make friends with others in their own tents. Then their friendships were arbitrarily broken up by the assignment of the boys to groups named "Bulldogs" and "Red Devils" The hostility was eventually reduced by having the boys cooperate in removing obstacles that had I been found to be frustrating.
(3) Legislation: Attempts have been made to reduce prejudice by means of legislation though this tends to tackle the symptoms rather than the root causes of prejudice.
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Organization embrace a culture of shared beliefs, values, and nornis unique to it. Organisational culture is therefore defined as what is important to the organisation, how people behave, interact with one another and what they should be striving for. When these things are present in a group they develop group identity and pride which are important part of an organization. It is also a means through which each employee adopts the core tents of the firms mission as its own guiding passion.
The more a cultures values permeates an organization. the stronger the culture.
FACTORS THAT SHAPE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
These factor can be described in a circular form.
KEY ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESSES
There are processes people feel with regards information, communication and making decisions they are affected by two factors.
(1) External environment, this refers to government policy.
(2) Employees and other tangible assets: employees populations, plants and offices, equipment, tools, land, inventory and money.
COMMUNICATION IN ORGANIZATIONS
Three quarter of our working hour are spent communicating either through reading, writing, listening or talking with others. The success of business largely depends on communication skills. The problem with communicating is the measurement and the development of skills involved. Laboratory experiments have been used to measure communication that go on within an environment. People modify and enhance relationships by communicating. However, the basic problem in communication has to do with meaning or information received by the other persons vis-a-vis the intention of the sender. People tend to interpret information based on their experiences or individual parameters. The way communication is as well as it is maintained and ended is of utmost important.
Communication is in two perspective: verbal (formal) and non verbal (informal). According to Foltz (1985) most people get their information from supervisors. people don't give respect to grapevine information, however, most of the information received are derived from unverified rumors. It is called unverified rumors because it passes from one person to another. It has two functions.
(1) It could become wider and more elaborate.
(2) It could become simplified and easier to control.
When the information involves an individual. it becomes more elaborate and when it is ambiguous, people try to find a solution to it. The essential reasons a person studies communication is
(1) To know whether the communicative messages represent an organisational.
(2) Status barrier, such as superior/subordinate.
(3) Interpersonal hostility barrier not admitting your competitor has a good idea or keeping your ideas from him.
(4) Parliamentary method barrier: not contributing until one is recognized.
(5) Cultural barrier: people are not encouraged to tell others what they think about them, languages used include "stick to the fact" "lets be businesslike" "don't be emotional"
(6) Allegiance to rule group interpretation.
COMMUNICATION IN ORGANIZATIONS
Three quarter of our working hour are spent communicating either through reading, writing, listening or talking with others. The success of business largely depends on communication skills. The problem with communicating is the measurement and the development of skills involved. Laboratory experiments have been used to measure communication that go on within an environment. People modify and enhance relationships by communicating. However, the basic problem in communication has to do with meaning or information received by the other persons vis-a-vis the intention of the sender. People tend to interpret information based on their experiences or individual parameters. The way communication is as well as it is maintained and ended is of utmost important.
Communication is in two perspective: verbal (formal) and non verbal (informal). According to Foltz (1985) most people get their information from supervisors. people don't give respect to grapevine information, however, most of the information received are derived from unverified rumors. It is called unverified rumors because it passes from one person to another. It has two functions.
(1) It could become wider and more elaborate.
(2) It could become simplified and easier to control.
When the information involves an individual. it becomes more elaborate and when it is ambiguous, people try to find a solution to it. The essential reasons a person studies communication is
(1) To know whether the communicative messages represent an organisational.
(2) Status barrier, such as superior/subordinate.
(3) Interpersonal hostility barrier not admitting your competitor has a good idea or keeping your ideas from him.
(4) Parliamentary method barrier: not contributing until one is recognized.
(5) Cultural barrier: people are not encouraged to tell others what they think about them, languages used include "stick to the fact" "lets be businesslike" "don't be emotional"
(6) Allegiance to rule group interpretation.
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