How motivation affects career development
Make a 6 page written essay paper about motivation and how it
affects us as a students and how it affects our career lives.
Solution
Introduction
Motivation is a word that is derived from the word motive which means desires and
drives within an individual to accomplish certain goals. Steers, Mowday, and Shapiro (2004, p.
379) explains that people are motivated by different factors in life such as money, success,
recognition, job satisfaction and many more, motivation is also important to students and
employees. In students, motivation leads to success in academics which might help in easy career
accomplishment, motivation in employees helps in creating job satisfaction, increase
performance reduces work stress and many more. There are many motivational theories; they
are, however, divided into two categories content theories and process theories.
Content theories focus on “what”, they have a great impact on the management practice
and policy; they are not relatable to academic goals and therefore cannot be used for academic
motivation. Content theories do not entirely explain what motivates or de-motivates people, they
include; Maslow’s needs hierarchy, Aldefer’s ERG theory, McClelland’s achievement
motivation theory, and Herzberg's two-factor theory. Process theories focus on how motivation
occurs and the kinds of processes that can influence motivation. Main process theories include
Skinner's reinforcement theory, Victor Vroom's expectancy theory, Adam's equity theory, and
Locke's goal-setting theory. The theories provide a basis for the development of techniques for
motivations however; none of the theories provides an explanation on all the aspects of people’s
motives or lack of motives.
Types of motivation
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Benabou and Tirole, (2003, p. 489) indicate that there are two types of motivation,
intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation. Richard et al., (2007, p. 335) points out that
intrinsic motivation represents factors that motivate an individual based on internal factors.
Extrinsic motivation represents motivating factors that are based on external rewards. A good
example of intrinsic motivation is when you are motivated to get a promotion because of self-
learning or self-improvement. Intrinsic motivation can have negative motivational drivers such
as feeling unfulfilled, the result of the motivation might positive but the driving factor is
negative. Extrinsic motivation is used more often than intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation
is based on factors such as fear and expectation. There are over 10 types of motivations each
categorized differently based on the internal or external outcome, the best motivational strategy
is to blend any type of motivation at once to achieve maximum outcome, however, certain
situations require certain types of motivation.
Types of motivation in education
According to Guay et al., (2010, p. 644) students highly rely on motivation to achieve
their academic success; here are some good motivations that can be used by students;
Achievement motivation; this is an intrinsic type of motivation; it states that people are driven
by the desire to pursue and achieve specific goals. People motivated by this kind of motivation
are mostly driven by the achievement of the task itself. Students ought to have achievement
motivation as it makes them self-motivated meaning they should focus more on getting better
rather than the end result. A good example is when a student is always among the least
performers in class, the student can adopt this type of motivation and instead of focusing on
his/her results he/she focuses on the improvements made from the previous result.
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Incentive motivation; this is an extrinsic type of motivation, unlike achievement motivation this
type of motivation focuses more on the end result. People with this type of motivation focus
more on the reward, for example, a student might set a target of 70% in a paper from a previous
50% for the student he/she is willing to do anything to achieve that. Even if the student scores
60% he/she will not recognize the achievement because that was not the targeted reward.
However, incentive motivation can be used hand in hand with achievement motivation for
example the student can look forward to achieving 70% and improving his/her academic learning
which is a win-win situation.
Competence motivation; this type of motivation is also known as the learning theory.
Competence motivation is similar to achievement theory since people are motivated by the
process of achievement rather than the reward. The difference between the two types of
motivation is that people motivated by competence motivation are highly motivated by the
process of learning as they move forward. This type of motivation is relevant in education as
students should focus more on their learning rather than their outcome. The theory improves the
level of competence among students making them highly competent in their education.
Equity theory of motivation; equity theory is an extrinsic motivation theory and it states that
people are not motivated by the reward but by the perceived level of fairness. The theory is
applicable in education since when students feel that their work is equally rated they will feel
motivated to work hard and better to achieve better results which improves their academic
standpoint.
How motivation affects learning behavior
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Motivation directs behavior towards particular goals, this affects the choices that the
students make for example whether to attend a basketball game on a weekend or
complete a school assignment that is due the next day.
Motivation leads to increased efforts and energy. Motivation in a student establishes
whether the student will pursue a task however difficult it is or not.
Motivation increases the initiation or persistence of activities, for example, a motivated
student will choose to continue their learning activities during their free time to increase
their capability and competence in various subjects.
Motivation enhances cognitive processing, motivation highly affects how information is
given, and motivated students are likely to pay more attention and try to understand the
important aspects of their learning rather than going through their courses.
Motivation determines the different types of consequences perceived as punishment by a
student, for example, students with a high level of motivation in class achievement
consider their achievement as getting a grade A and getting a grade lower than that is
perceived as failure and punishment by the student.
Motivation leads to improved performance, motivation is characterized by factors such as
effort, initiation, persistence, and cognitive processing which all lead up to improved
performance (Green, Nelson, Martin, & Marsh, 2006, p. 534).
Types of work/career motivations
Güngör (2011, p. 1510) indicates that career motivation enhances increased productivity
in an organization or an individual, motivation encourages the adaptation of necessary skills to
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work and develop one's career. Various types of motivation can be used to enhance one’s career,
they include;
Achievement motivation, this type of motivation can assist employees to improve their skills
and competencies in their work by working towards their development rather than the rewards.
Incentive motivation, this type of motivation is incited by the rewards provided from an
achievement, it might not be the best type of motivation for an employee or career development
but it helps in reaching the specified goals by the employee which is the main goal in
employment.
Fear motivation, this type of motivation uses consequences to drive people into action. Many
see this as a negative motivator but as an employee, it helps you develop your career by avoiding
the punishments invoked by the organization.
Power motivation, this type of motivation indicates that people are controlled by their own lives
and their desire to increase their overall life options. As an employee taking control of your own
life and career goals can be a benefiting factor in developing the necessary requirements to make
you a competent employee.
Competence Motivation, people using this type of motivation are motivated by their desire to
learn new skills and abilities. Employees who have this type of motivation overlook their
rewards and work towards improving their goals, this leads to career development which is a
good factor in employment.
Expectancy theory motivation, this is a psychological theory of motivation it states that people
are motivated by their expectation on specific outcomes as a result of their efforts and actions.
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Employees aiming at developing their careers can set clear goals that they expect to achieve at
the end of a certain period, these goals will help them work towards achieving them.
Attitude motivation, this type of motivation is cultivated by the desire to change the way people
think or feel. People with this type of motivation engage inactions and interactions with the
intent of making themselves and people around them feel better. This type of motivation
develops a good working condition for all employees which help in developing one's career
(Shahzadi, Javed, Pirzada, Nasreen, & Khanam, 2014, p. 159).
How motivation affects career development
Motivation in employment enhances job satisfaction which is a good factor in
developing one's career, people who are satisfied with their jobs fell the need to put more
effort into the development of their careers which makes them competent employees.
Motivation increases work skills and abilities, when an employee is motivated to work
they are encouraged to learn more ways in which the can be more competent in
delivering their services which helps them acquire more skills and knowledge in a
particular task.
Motivation improves career efficiency, employees efficiency is not only based on their
abilities and qualifications but their good balance between their ability to perform and
their willingness to perform. The balance leads to improved productivity and
development in an employee’s career competency.
Motivation increases the valuation of an employee's contribution to the organization's
overall performance. When employees value their work it helps them, pay more attention
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to how they deliver their services in the organization, this helps them develop their
careers for future or current use.
Conclusion
Motivation is a factor that is highly significant in the practice of many activities around
major areas. Motivation is highly associated with career development and academic excellence;
many organizations have placed initiatives and policies to enhance employee's motivation as it
improves work performance which increases the productivity of the organization. Many theories
have been developed to explain the aspect of motivation in different setups like home, work, and
school. All these theories provide relevant information in different ways to enhance motivation.
Academics is an important aspect in the development of careers and employment opportunities,
motivation in academics leads to academic achievements and the first step to develop a career is
to first achieve academic success. Success can be achieved in everyday activities and motivation
can be used as a strategic factor to ensure that the success is achieved.
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References
Benabou, R., & Tirole, J. (2003). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The review of economic
studies, 70(3), 489-520. http://www.w-t-w.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Intrinsic- and-
Extrinsic-Motivation.pdf
Green, J., Nelson, G., Martin, A. J., & Marsh, H. (2006). The Causal Ordering of Self-Concept
and Academic Motivation and Its Effect on Academic Achievement. International
Education Journal, 7(4), 534-546. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ854309.pdf
Guay, F., Ratelle, C. F., Roy, A., & Litalien, D. (2010). Academic self-concept, autonomous
academic motivation, and academic achievement: Mediating and additive effects. Learning and
Individual Differences, 20(6), 644-653.
https://corpus.ulaval.ca/jspui/bitstream/20.500.11794/13847/2/Guay-Ratelle-Roy-
Litalien-2010.pdf
Güngör, P. (2011). The relationship between the reward management system and employee
performance with the mediating role of motivation: A quantitative study on global
banks. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 24, 1510-1520. shorturl.at/vyBUY
Richard, M., Christina, M. F., Deborah, L. S., Rubio, N., & Kennon, M. S. (2007). Intrinsic
motivation and exercise adherence. Int J Sport Psychol, 28(4), 335-354.
https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/1997_RyanFrederickLepesRubioShe
ldon.pdf
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Shahzadi, I., Javed, A., Pirzada, S. S., Nasreen, S., & Khanam, F. (2014). Impact of employee
motivation on employee performance. European Journal of Business and
Management, 6(23), 159-166.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/messages/downloadsexceeded.html
Steers, R. M., Mowday, R. T., & Shapiro, D. L. (2004). The future of work motivation theory.
Academy of Management Review, 29(3), 379-387.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Debra_Shapiro/publication/274354988_Introduction
_to_Special_Topic_Forum_The_Future_of_Work_Motivation_Theory/links/00b7d52974
ca9076d2000000.pdf
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