Motivational Theories Essay

Mergers/acquisitions are at the forefront of maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage, which often places management with the challenges of increasing job satisfaction and motivation among the subordinate ranks to insure acceptable levels of individual performance are maintained. An ingenious method of deducing various employees’ motivational triggers that are diverse within an organization is by conducting a motivational survey which identifies specific measures and elements that would yield a qualified primary data set for assessment and synthesis.

The McClelland theory and the Goal-Setting theory comprehensively identify job performance, motivation, and job satisfaction within the organization. A generalized analysis has been spot-profiled, which will show that during a merger/acquisition, the employees’ motivational performance can be identified and utilized by management to maintain the organizations’ focus and goals during such a transition. What is motivation? Well, motivation can be defined as the desired goals and the method chosen to accomplish them. (Johnson ; Johnson, 58)

Having the business related definition of motivation in mind, it could enable management to identify that the applications of the McClelland theory and the Goal-Setting theory will assist in the development of workplace motivation. McClelland’s theory of needs focuses on three requirements: achievement, power, and affiliation. The need for achievement is to achieve in relation to a set of standards, in order to strive to succeed. Also, the need for power is the need to make others behave in a ways that they would not behave otherwise.

Lastly, the need for affiliation is the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships. (Robbins, 162) These key identifiers are paramount with identifying the various personality assessments. The second theory utilized in this analysis, the Goal-Setting theory implies that specific and difficult goals having a goal/feedback mechanism leads to a higher performance. In other words, the Goal-Setting theory implies that when one is given a specific complicated goal, an employee will produce a higher level of output than the generalized goal of simply, “Doing your best.” (Robbins, 162) Read also “

motivation theory identifies which three needs”

The sample set of seven employees have been profiled through various personality assessments, such as, a basic personality test and the Myers Brigg Type Indicator assessment. Additional instruments have been also utilized to measure flexibility, locus of control, and the motivation of the sample set. It is also important to note, that the broad individual backgrounds and cultural differences while assessing the most viable method in sustaining acceptable levels of individual performance throughout the merger/acquisition process should be adhered to.

Also, personality traits influence the way an individual interacts with others in a group sitting and/or solo with an organization. Management must have the foresight and knowledge to grasp the concept that, “Personality traits related to information sharing may correspond with positive perceptions of demographically different people, thereby enhancing their experience and performance in organizations. ” (Flynn, 414)

Understanding this key trait enables the manager to effectively work with different individuals and maintain a clear channel of communication. It is important to know that, “People form impressions of others in their social environments by interpreting information gathered from observation and interpersonal interaction with the focal individual and similar others (Snyder and Swann, 1978). In general, impressions focus on individual attributes that are relevant to the perceiver (Kelley, 1967; Simon, Hastedt, and Aufderheide, 1997).

In organizations, attributes that are associated with the role of an employee in a particular task domain are considered relevant and are, therefore, foundations for impression formation.

In interdependent work teams, for example, members form impressions of one another based on the set of valued attributes that are associated with the role of a team member, such that the guiding question for one member who forms an impression of another member becomes, “Does the target appear to have the set of attributes valued in a team member? “” (Flynn, 414) Value and attitude differences has a differential outcome in an organization, it affects behavior, beliefs and fears, and environment.

With huge diverse groups of people work together or along side of, the impact of intertwining social and psychological components in the work place is a given. To effectively balance out the variances, management must understand that, “a set of values, thoughts and interpersonal styles underlie Type ‘A’ behavior (Friedman and Roseman, 1974; Friedman and Ulmer, 1984). Price’s (1982) social learning view has received some research attention in this regard. Price (1982) suggests that cognitions, or personal beliefs and fears, affect Type ‘A’ components.

Type ‘A’ behavior represents a striving for social approval and material gain reflecting deeper beliefs and fears developed through social learning. These beliefs and fears result from values communicated to children from parents, friends, school and the media during socialization. Price identified three primary beliefs, each accompanied by a particular fear, which led to the development and maintenance of Type ‘A’ behavior. ” (Burke, 520) Besides dealing with different types of behaviors in the workplace, management must realize that, “Changing the way organizations recruit is relatively easy. Changing attitudes isn’t. ” (Calleja, 28)