PERSONAL MOTIVATION AND ACHIEVEMENT:Needs and Motivation, Self-discipline and motivation

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Human Relations MGMT611

Lesson 07

PERSONAL MOTIVATION AND ACHIEVEMENT

Every individual can be well motivated to achieve success in work and in personal life. High motivation

facilitates achieving high productivity and quality. It is important for career building and promotion. Self-

discipline can motivate you and help achieve your goals.Motivation is an internal force to do and achieve

personal and organizational goals.

Needs, wants and motivation

Personal needs and wants drive to work towards achieving certain goals. In other words, Motives are linked

with personal needs or desires.

The Need Theory of Motivation

Personal needs and wants motivate people until these are satisfied. The need cycle shows the relationship

with work and achievement:

Need

Drive

Actions

Satisfaction

The need cycle repeats itself, making it difficult to every truly satisfy people.

Needs and Motivation

Work and personal life offer the opportunity to satisfy several needs and wants.

Achievement: Personal achievement of needs lead people to find joy and satisfaction.

Power: The need or want for power compel people to control resources including people and money.

Affiliation: People who value relations tend to be loyal to organizations and also with other people.

Recognition: People with a strong need for recognition wish to be acknowledged for their contribution

and efforts.

Discipline: People with a strong need for discipline and order have the urge to put things in order.

Risk Taking and Thrill Seeking: People with a strong need for risk taking and thrill seeking need exciting

events and stimulation.

There may be a multitude of other needs and wants that drive or motivate people to do different things or

tasks.

Variation of Need

People have different needs based on their different values.

A value is the importance a person attaches to something that influences the personal action.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Human Relations MGMT611

Maslow's hierarchy of needs show that people strive to satisfy the following needs in a sequential order:

(1) Physiological

(2) Safety

(3) Social

(4) Esteem

(5) Self-actualizing

A person is a perpetually wanting animal. The higher the level of need, the less likely it is to be satisfied.

People will make efforts to satisfy those needs which are important for the individual. The first step,

however, is the identification of a need or set of needs.

Goal Setting and Motivation

Success demands identifying goals. Almost all successful people set goals and write them down for personal

reminding.

A goal is an event, circumstance, object or condition a person strives to achieve.

Goals are useful because they: (a) provide a consistent direction, (b) improve the chances for success and (c)

serve as self-motivators and energizers. Combined with self-efficacy, the contribution of goals is even more

important.

Goals create a discrepancy between what exists and personal aspirations. Such a discrepancy leads to

dissatisfaction and turn into a drive or motive to eliminate the discrepancy. From a neurological perspective,

goals arouse the sympathetic nervous system to action. Overly demanding goals, however, may produce

over-arousal; the person becomes over-stimulated and may back away from achieving the set goal.

Goals may be of different types. It may involve learning or doing things or tasks. A learning-goal orientation

means that an individual is focused on acquiring new skills and mastering new situations.

A proving-goal orientation is aimed at wanting to demonstrate and validate the adequacy of one's

competence by seeking favorable judgments about one's competence.

People with a learning-goal orientation are more likely to seek feedback on how well they are performing.

Goal Setting on the Job

Goal setting is important in both profit and nonprofit firms, especially in technical, professional and

managerial jobs.

Executives set strategic goals. Workers at lower levels establish goals that support the top-level strategic

goals. An important part of goal setting, both on and off the job, is priority setting. If you want to lead a

rewarding personal life, you should have goals and plans to achieve them. Personal goals heavily influence

the formulation of career goals as well. Integrating personal and career goals creates balance and stability in

life.

Types of personal goals

Personal goals can be divided into different groups:

Social and family, hobbies and interests, physical and mental health, financial, etc.

Guidelines for Goal Setting

An action plan is needed to achieve goals.

Specify Goals: Vague goals may delay action.

Concise Goals: Use a short, punchy statement.

Set Realistic Goals: A realistic goal represents the right amount of challenge for the person pursuing the

goal. The higher a person's self-efficacy, the more likely he or she may think that a goal is realistic.

Set Goals for Different Time Periods: Include daily, short-range, medium-range, and long-range goals.

Human Relations MGMT611

Include Some Fantasy in Personal Goal Setting: Fantasy goals reflect a vision of the ideal type of life

one would like to lead. Such goals also facilitate relaxation.

Review Goals from Time to Time: Some goals lose their relevance and therefore must be changed.

Problems related with goals

A major problem related with goals is that goals can create inflexibility. They can contribute to a narrow focus,

thus neglecting other worthwhile activities.

Performance goals can sometimes detract from an interest in the task.

Another problem is that goals can interfere with relaxation.

Techniques of Self-Motivation

Identifying your most important needs could enhance motivation. Some other techniques are also important

to learn about.

Set goals for yourself: Goal setting is fundamental to motivation.

Find intrinsically motivating work: Intrinsic motivation refers to the natural tendency to seek out novelty

and challenges, to extend and use one's capabilities.

Get feedback on your performance: Feedback acts as a reward.

Apply behavior modification to yourself: In using behavior modification, remember that self-rewards

may be more effective than self-punishments in sustaining the right behavior.

Improve your skills relevant to your goals: According to the expectancy theory of motivation, people

need confidence in their skills to be motivated.

Raise your level of self-expectation: The Galatea effect is the technical term for improving performance

through raising one's expectations.

Develop a strong work ethic: If you are committed to the idea that most work is valuable and that it is

joyful to work hard, you will automatically become strongly motivated.

Self-discipline and motivation

Achieving goals and staying motivated requires self-discipline.

The ability to work systematically and progressively toward a goal until it is achieved. The components

of the self-discipline are as follows:

1. Formulate a mission statement related to your life.

2. Develop role models of self-disciplined achievers.

3. Develop goals for each task.

4. Develop action plans to achieve goals.

5. Use visual and sensory stimulation. Self-disciplined people form mental images of the act of

accomplishing what they want.

6. Search for pleasure within the task. A self-disciplined person finds joy, excitement, and intense

involvement in the task at hand (intrinsic motivation).

7. Compartmentalize spheres of life. Self-disciplined people have a remarkable capacity to divide up

(compartmentalize) the various spheres of life to stay focused on what they are doing at the moment.

8. Minimize excuse making. Self-disciplined people concentrate their energies on goal accomplishment

rather than making excuses for why work is not accomplished.

References

Dubrin, A.J. (2005). Human Relations for Career and Personal Success. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey,

07458.

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