# What is Motivation?

## Overview

Motivation is an interesting area to deal with. You are looking at what makes someone want to do something. Part of this is looking at how people react to their environment, which can get quite complicated.

Motivation is a very broad topic. Perhaps you'd like to find out more?

### Performance

Some management writers believe that performance is a function of ability, motivation, and the environment. This can be stated as Performance = Ability × Motivation × Environment

This suggests that if somebody is to perform well:

- they need to have the right knowledge and skills (ability)
- they need to be motivated to perform
- the environment must enable good performance.

Environment can include systems, support, policies, leadership, and work conditions.

Note the multiplication signs in the equation above. This means that if just one of the factors is low, performance will be poor. So, a highly skilled and well-motivated person who works with inadequate business systems will perform poorly.

Have you ever been in a situation where your environment was poor? Has your motivation gradually (or rapidly) declined? Or has it improved dramatically? What would be the reason for that?

Human motivation is very complex. It can't be explained by one simple theory. So far, no single theory answers the question, 'What motivates people?'

### Definitions

Here are three definitions.

1. 'Motivation is the force that energises behaviour, gives direction to behaviour, and underlies the tendency to persist.' Bartol, Kathryn, and Martin, David (1991). Management. New York: McGraw-Hill.
2. 'Motivation is that set of processes that arouse, direct, and maintain human behaviour toward attaining some goal.' Greenberg, Jerald, and Baron, Robert (2000). Behaviour in Organisations (7th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
3. 'Motivation is the forces within the individual that account for the level, direction, and persistence of effort expended at work.' Schermerhorn, John (1989). Management for Productivity. New York: Wiley.

Think about these definitions. Do you agree with one or more of them? The words vary but perhaps the key ideas are energy, direction, and persistence. Motivation is not the equivalent of job performance. It is one of several determinants of job performance.

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