What Is Motivation?

Motivation can best be described as the internal drive to fulfill a need. Each of us has specific needs. These needs translate into drives which we act upon through specific behaviors. Drives are action-oriented and provide an energizing thrust toward goal accomplishment.

As we act on the behaviors (through drives), we satisfy our needs. As our needs are satisfied, the intensity of the drive subsides. A more succinct explanation is that “people do what they think they have to do in order to get what they think they want.” As supervisors, if we truly want to create motivated individuals, we have to fully understand their needs and goals. If we can understand the needs and goals of our employees, we have a good possibility of showing them the appropriate behaviors that will help them satisfy their needs. And, those appropriate behaviors will be the behaviors that satisfy our needs and goals.

There is a big difference between internally generated motivation and just getting someone to move. Technically, the term motivation can be traced to the Latin word movere, which means to move. Motivation is an inner state that energizes and activates—or moves—a person toward a goal.

Historically, supervisors have been quite effective in providing the external motivation to get employees to move: “If you don’t work faster, you will be fired.” Most likely, the employee will begin working faster because he or she does not want to lose the job. But, is the increase in productivity due to an inner push or an outside threat from the supervisor? The supervisor was able to move, not motivate, the employee. Most likely, the employee will produce just enough not to be fired, but the employee will not produce what he or she would be truly capable of if internally motivated.