Some individuals seem driven to succeed. The same young student who struggles to read a textbook for more than 20 minutes may devour a Harry Potter book in a day. The difference is the situation. As we analyze the concept of motivation, keep in mind that levels of motivation vary both between individuals and within individuals at different times.

We define motivation as the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.1 While general motivation is concerned with effort toward any goal, we’ll narrow the focus to organizational goals.

Intensity describes how hard a person tries. This is the element most of us focus on when we talk about motivation. However, high intensity is unlikely to lead to favorable job-performance outcomes unless the effort is channeled in a direction that benefits the organization. Therefore, we consider the quality of effort as well as its intensity. Effort directed toward, and consistent with, the organization’s goals is the kind of effort we should be seeking. Finally, motivation has a persistence dimension. This measures how long a person can maintain effort. Motivated individuals stay with a task long enough to achieve their goals.