Human Motivation

Running head: MOTIVATION CONCEPTS

Motivation Concepts

Michelle L. Murphy

University of Phoenix

Motivation Concepts

Motivation has been studied for hundreds of years. It is what helps people to determine whether or not to act in a specific situation. There are many motivation theories and many of them can be applied to the workplace. Not every motivation theory can explain every reason that a person is or is not motivated, nor can it be applied to different situations at all times and be accurate.

The achievement theory is one often found in the workplace, but is not always the right way to motivate a person. This theory means that motivation is achieved by having ability-testing challenges. A person will basically challenge their own skills as a means to motivate them to see if they can complete the challenge.

This challenge is often found in the workplace when a new procedure or computer program is implemented. For example, a new accounting system was implemented at the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) and some of the employees rose to the challenge of learning this new system in order to challenge their own accounting skills in regards to the new system. This new system also challenged many people’s ability to accept change from one system to another. These employees were motivated to learn the new system and see how the change would affect their jobs.

Some employees however did not like to have their abilities tested and therefore did not want to learn this new system so rather than learn what they needed, they insisted that others should complete the work involved on the system. Many of these employees also did not want to challenge their ability to cope with change, so instead they did not take to the change eagerly. There was no motivation for these particular employees to learn the new system and how it will affect their particular jobs.

In many cases, the implementation of the new accounting system had a...