The Three Theories of Motivation - Essay Example

Whitmore emphasized that self-esteem and self-actualization are areas where a human being can be coached while the remaining areas are particularly dictated or influenced by culture. Self-actualization seems to be the best thing that mostly helps increase my motivation at work because it is through this that I see myself becoming a boss while someone else continues to impart to me all the essentials needed before becoming one.

On the other hand, human needs are classified by McClelland into three and these involve achievement, affiliation, and power. These needs are what motivate people in their jobs and in the areas where they are. McClelland’s theory is also known as the ‘three need theory’ or ‘learned needs theory’. In my workplace where power seems to motivate the higher rank, there is no reason to believe that McClelland was not right about his theory.

Herzberg identified six top factors that will lead to dissatisfaction: company policy, supervision, relationship with boss, work conditions, salary, and relationship with peers. On the other hand, the identified top six factors that will lead to satisfaction among people are achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement, and growth. These are specific factors but in reality, this is real and existing in my workplace because many employees were dissatisfied with the management due to poor company policy and low standard supervision.

When these three theories are to be compared, there is one single commonality that can be identified in them. These three try to consider the human needs. These needs are assumed to be what will motivate humans most possibly. The three theories are all able to pinpoint the basic and general human needs in life and they all imply satisfaction when experienced to the fullest. This satisfaction in general results in motivation to work and continue doing things that fulfill satisfaction. In short, the three theories do not eliminate the possibility of experience as tantamount to identifying what seems to be pleasing and ensuring satisfaction.

What differentiates these three theories from each other is their level of identification of human needs. The identification of Maslow seems to be specific and hierarchical while the idea of Herzberg is two dimensional and involves a great deal of clustering human needs. Finally, the idea of McClelland seems quite general but it still encompasses all levels of human needs. It is therefore clear that the difference lies in how these three theorists try to substantiate the issue of satisfaction and motivation.

Part II. The cultural dimension of motivation definition   When humans arrived on the planet, everything did not start in an instant. The man is required to understand his experience to create a series of normal patterns on how to live. It is also through experience he was able to understand his needs. It is clear therefore that the development of culture is based on the idea that experience has to exist before the creation of lifestyle, food to eat, occasions to celebrate, language to use, and more. Amazingly, all of these are encompassed by culture.    By looking at it from the perspective of Maslow, apart from self-esteem and self-actualization, other needs are substantially defined and influenced by culture.  These needs are all externally defined and it means the impact of this to someone else is from the external into internal processing. This only means that people are motivated based on what they experience from external and internal sources. The external source is highly cultural considering that it consists primarily of consensus experience common to mankind. Thus, deviating from this norm is considered outside of the cultural dimension of existing needs.    However, since there are different experiences there are different perceptions of things. For instance, the picture provided can be interpreted differently because of a particular experience. In a developing country for instance this may be defined as the major theme of everyone’s existence while in a highly developed country, the picture may trigger an alarming action to consider lifestyle and other related information.    In general, it is the experience that defines perception and consciously tells someone to give meaning to what he perceives.  Read More