Theories That Make Up Workplace Motivation - 3574 Words

Culmination of Theories That Make Up Workplace Motivation Hani Dirani 7/20/2015 Organizational Psychology – Summer 2015 Lawrence Technological University Motivation in the workplace is often an ongoing problem for employers. Proper motivation is a key element in keeping employees driven to do good work and to finish tasks on time. There are several methods of motivation that help employees stay productive within an organization, and the means of motivation can vary wildly from person to person. Simply stated, different methods of motivation drive people differently. Webster’s dictionary says motivation is something inside people that drives them to action. In other words, it is the willingness to work at an†¦show more content†¦Without motivation, one will have no desire or drive to excel and become the best he can be. The study of motivation is ongoing and has several theories on how best to motivate a person. The term motivation did not come about until the Industrial Revolution but the idea of motivation has been around for centuries. The idea that a group of people came together to accomplish a goal is ev idenced by many notable events throughout history. The Chinese built the Great Wall of China, the Romans built massive road and sewer systems and the Egyptians built the great pyramids. â€Å"It took nearly 76,000 square feet, 480 feet high and has over 2 million blocks of stone each weighing 2.5 tons to build the pyramids. It is difficult to imagine the management needed to build these incredible structures. Each block of stone was only 7 inches from being a perfect square long before the advent of the first computers, calculators, or even any advanced system of mathematics.† (accel-team.com) Furthermore, one must keep in consideration the type of motivation that employees or peasants must have had at the time of building the pyramids. They were only offered food and water for the work they had to do. Fast forward to the 18th century during the industrial revolution when division of labor was brought up by Adam Smith who suggested making work more efficient by