Motivation

MOTIVATION

Motivation relates to a process which elicits, controls, and sustains certain behaviors. For example : when an individual has not eaten, he or she feels hungry, as a response he or she eats and diminishes feelings of hunger. According to various theories, motivation may be rooted in a basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, goal, state of being, ideal, or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism, selfishness, morality, or avoidingmortality. Conceptually, motivation should not be confused with either volition or optimism. Motivation is related to, but distinct from, emotion.

At one time, employees were considered just another input into the production of goods and services But this changed after the Hawthorne Studies. The Hawthorne studies were conducted by Elton Mayo at Hawthorne Plant in the 1920s. The researches were studying the effect of different working environments on productivity. They used lighting as an experimental variable (the effect of bright lighting and dull lighting). Initially they noticed that employees were working harder but it was not because of the lighting. They concluded that productivity increased due to attention that the workers got from the research team and not because of changes to the experimental variable. Hawthorne studies found that employees are not motivated solely by money but motivation is linked to employee behaviour and their attitudes. The Hawthorne Studies began the human relations approach to management, so the needs and motivation of employees become the primary focus of managers.

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Work–life balance is a broad concept including proper prioritizing between "work" on the one hand and "life" on the other. Related, though broader, terms include "lifestyle balance" and "life balance".

The work-leisure dichotomy was invented in the mid 1800s. In anthropology, a definition...