Motivating Employees [Part 1]

 Motivation is often described as the unobservable force that directs, gives energy, and sustains behavior over time and across different and changing situations. Motivation can also be defined as the factors impacting behavior that are not due to personal ability or situations. In fact, motivation can be driven by myriad factors: biological processes, needs, values, group norms, personality emotions, characteristics of the job, national culture and many others. There are two principles which work psychology has found support for. First, behavior is always goal-motivated, goals being defined as “internal representations of desired end-states.” Therefore motivation is always driven by the desire to achieve a certain goal. Of course, goals are different – there are action goals (mid-level goals driving behavior at a certain time), superordinate (values, needs, what we desire to be as a person), and subordinate goals (biological). No single goal exists in a vacuum, and the strength/importance of an...