Motivation theories

Which theory is relevant to me?
When I was doing my A-Levels at school, I was always motivated to complete my course work on time because the teachers always encouraged the students to do the course work properly and spent time with us to explain the work in great detail. If I did a good piece of work, my teacher would always praise me and tell me how good the work is, and this would encourage me to work harder in the future. For this reason the motivation theory that is more relevant to me is Herzberg's theory motivator factor. Herzberg came up with a two factor content theory which are the following:
Hygiene factor were created so a business avoids de-motivated employees. It is very important for a business to keep employees motivated because that way they tend to work harder and take their job more serious. The hygiene factors include:

• Company policy admin
• Supervision
• Work conditions
• Salary
• Relationships
• Status.

Motivator factor is important for the individual employees who work for s business because it gives them the opportunity to aim higher within work, for example by getting promoted. The motivator factors include:

• Achievements
• Recognition
• Work itself
• Responsibility
• Advancement
• Growth
• Challenging

( Tutor2u, Motivation in theory- herzberg's two factor theory, available at: http://tutor2u.net/business/people/motivation_theory_herzberg.asp, accessed at: 05/10/09)

What motivated me to go university?
What motivated me to start uni was mainly my family. Due to the fact that I come from an Asian background, my family believe that it is very important to have some sort of an degree as it will bring a good name to the family and myself. If I want to get married to my boyfriend, his parents will be looking for an educated daughter in law who has managed to achieve something in her life, and therefore I believe that it is important for me to get a degree in the course that I am currently studying.
I also feel that i have a responsibility in the future which is to look after my family and my boy friend's family. In order for me to be able to do that, I need to have a decent job in the future that provides me with a good pay. The reason why I have decided to study accounting and finance is because my parents run their own business and I would like to be part of that in the future by helping them out with their accounts etc. My uncle is also an accountant who has done very well for himself because he has a big house with a swimming pool, nice car and many more, so ever since I met him and saw the life style he was living, I also wanted to become an accountant and earn money so I can provide a better life for my family.
Moving on to the second and third year, the main thing that will keep me motivated is the qualification and degree that I will receive at the end of the course. My motivation is relating to Herzberg theory motivator factor because thinking about the achievements that will be accomplished is what will keep me motivated for the next three years. If I do become a good accountant in the future, the salary and earning potentials will also motivate me.


De-motivated at school
There was a time during my final year of A-level where all the students were finishing up with their final pieces of course work. I remember re doing a piece of course work from the previous year so I could gain a better mark and in order for me to do this piece again, I had to pay for it to be re submitted. As my teacher sat down with me and explained what I had to do in order to improve this better to get at least a grade B, I took down notes as well as my spare time after school just to complete this piece of work. My teacher had a look at my work now and then, and kept on telling me that my work was really good. He gave me brief feedback so I could improve it further and this motivated me even more to do really well. After spending a good week on the piece, I handed in the work. When I was told the mark of the course work, I felt gutted and had the urge to quit everything there and then because I found out that the teacher only improved my work by one mark after all that time and effort I put in. I went up to my teacher and asked him why he only improved my previous score by one mark, and he told me that when it was marked before, the previous teacher was being too generous with your score and that he marked you too high. When he told me that I felt really angry because I just wasted my time on that course work, when I could have done something else with that time. Even though the teacher couldn't really do much about it himself, i disliked him very much and every time I saw him, I would always have an argument with him over the course work. That was until I went up to the head of department and explained the situation. I told her that I put a lot of time and effort in to that piece of course work, and she agreed to re mark the work again. After the work was re marked, my teacher told me that my work was actually a grade A piece of work, which was a big relief for me.


Applying all of the theories discussed during lecture
Maslow's Hierarchy of needs: according to maslow's theory, I was working towards Esteem because I wanted the teacher to recognise all the hard work and effort that I put into the course work, and if he had paid more attention while he was marking the piece the first time round, there wouldn't have been such a big disagreement to begin with and tension between myself and him.
Aldefer ERG theory: Growth would have been relevant to me because I wanted to personally grow and achieve a higher grade than the previous one which is why I re done the course work in the first place. The better grade I got the second time round, the better over all subject grade I would have achieved at the end of the course.
Herzberg two factor theory: sense of personal achievement would have been effective because I didn't let go the fact that my business teacher believed that my work was only improved by one mark, and the fact that I took it further by discussing the matter with head of department, and eventually gaining a better grade than predicted, is a sense of achievement for me.


Conclusion
To conclude this, I think that this topic is understandable and I can relate to a lot of the theorist studied during the lecture. In some way, all three theorists have an impact on my motivation. For example I will be going through maslow's theory, starting from the bottom and then building my way up during the three year course. But mostly I think that Herzberg's theory motivates me the most because recognising achievements and having responsibilities is important to build that motivation during university years.