The aspect of motivation within organizational behavior is perhaps one of the most researched and studied phenomenon in business. There are many theories of motivation that have emerged in organizational behavior literature. In today’s world motivation is seen as being best achieved by a combination of elements within the organization that combine to produce it: needs; job design; satisfaction. One of the most famous theories of motivation was developed by Frederick Maslow. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is a level of five needs that an individual progresses from lowest to highest. The lowest level of needs are physiological (i.e., our most basic needs like shelter and food). The second level of needs are safety needs and include things such as protection from physical harm. As the needs on one level are met, Maslow theorizes that a person will evolve to the next highest level of needs. This occur until the person achieves the highest level of needs, the level of self-actualization, a desire for self-fulfillment and developing into the best overall person one can be.
Job design and enrichment is another theory that promotes motivation. For example, if a job is repetitive and highly monotonous an effective job design can eliminate or reduce theses factors to more effectively motivate employee performance. The goal of job enrichment or job redesign as it is sometimes called is to alter certain jobs or systems of jobs with the goal of improving the quality of employee satisfaction and productivity when performing the job. According to Vecchio (1995: 238) job design may often have drawbacks that prevent it from achieving its goal as a motivator. Some of these problems are as follows; “frequently employees as well as managers are comfortable with the informal power systems that already exist. They thus view job redesign as an intrusion on the existing social order. Unio
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