1.

Acquired Needs Theory – Need for

Achievement, Power & Affiliation
Acquired needs theory studies individuals’ needs and classifies them into three
motivating drivers, need for achievement, power or affiliation.

In acquired needs theory, McClelland proposes each person falls into one
three types of needs based on personal preference and personal experience of
that person.

David McClelland describes how an individual’s life experiences can change

the type of individual needs over time.

McClelland suggested that regardless of our gender, culture, or age, we all

have three motivating drivers, and one of these will be our dominant
motivating driver.

This dominant motivator is largely dependent on our culture and life

experiences.

David C. McClelland’s acquired needs theory is also known as “human

motivation theory “, “Motivational Needs Theory”. It is used to understand the
need for employees and create a strategy for the motivating process in the
organization.

Acquired Needs Theory Classifies Needs in 3 Types

1. Need for achievement (nAch).
2. Need for power (nPow).
3. Need for affiliation (nAfl).

1. Need for Achievement (nAch)

The drive to excel, to achieve a set of standards, to strive to succeed. The
theory focuses on three needs: achievement, power, and affiliation.

Some people have a compelling drive to succeed. They are striving for
personal achievement rather than the rewards of success per se. This drive is
the achievement need (nAch).

McClelland found that high achievers differentiate themselves from others by

their desire to do things better;

Features of people with Need for achievement (nAch);

 They seek personal responsibility for finding solutions to problems.

 They want to receive rapid feedback on their performance so they can
tell easily whether they are improving or not.
 They can set moderately challenging goals. High achievers are not
gamblers; they dislike succeeding by chance.
 High achievers perform best when they perceive their probability of
success as 50-50.
 They like to set goals that require stretching themselves a little.

2. Need for Power (nPow)

The need to make others behave in a way that they would not have behaved
otherwise.

Need for power (nPow) features are;

 The desire to have an impact, to be influential, and to control others.

 Individuals high in nPow enjoy being “in charge.”
 Strive for influence over others.
 Prefer to be placed into competitive and status-oriented situations.
 Tend to be more concerned with prestige and gaining influence over
others than with effective performance.

3. Need for Affiliation (nAfl)

The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.

Features of Need for affiliation (nAfl) are;

 This need has received the least attention from researchers.

 Individuals with a high affiliation motive strive for friendship.
 Prefer cooperative situations rather than competitive ones.
 Desire relatio

2.Goal Setting Theory of Motivation

Goal-setting theory of motivation states that specific and challenging goals,
along with appropriate feedback, contribute to higher and better task
performance.

Goals indicate and give direction to an employee about what needs to be

done and how much effort is required to be put in. In the 1960s, Edwin Locke

put forward the goal-setting theory of motivation. The theory states that goal

setting is essentially linked to task performance.

In the goal-setting theory, goals must be set based on 5 principles. To

motivate, goals must

Goal-Setting Theory Principles

7 principles of goal setting theory are;

1. Clarity
2. Challenge
 3. Commitment
4. Feedback
5. Task Complexity

3.Self-Efficacy Theory by Albert Bandura

The self-efficacy theory holds that people are likely to engage in
activities to the extent that they perceive themselves to be competent.
sources of self-efficacy are Performance Accomplishments, Vicarious
Experience, Social Persuasion, and Physiological and Emotional States.

Self-Efficacy Theory of Bandura follows the principle that people are

likely to engage in activities to the extent that they perceive themselves
to be competent at those activities.

Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s effectiveness in performing specific

tasks. Albert Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy has important implications
for motivation.

Sources of Self-Efficacy Beliefs
1. Personal assessment information that is based on an individual’s
accomplishments. Previous successes raise mastery expectations, while
repeated failures lower them.
2. Vicarious Experience

Gained by observing others perform activities successfully.

This is often referred to as modeling, and it can generate expectations in

observers that they can improve their performance by learning from
what they have observed.
 3. Social Persuasion
Activities where people are led, through suggestion, into believing that
they can cope successfully with specific tasks. Coaching and giving
evaluative feedback on performance are common types of social
persuasion.

4. Physiological and Emotional States

The individual’s physiological or emotional states influence self-efficacy

judgments concerning specific tasks. Emotional reactions to such tasks
(e.g., anxiety) can lead to negative judgments of one’s ability to
complete the tasks.

4.Reinforcement Theory of Motivation

Reinforcement theory of motivation is based law of effect, where behaviors are selected by their
consequences and overlook the individual’s internal state.

Reinforcement theory of motivation was proposed by B.F. Skinner and his

associates. It states that individual’s behavior is a function of its consequences.

It is based on “law of effect”-this law of effect is the idea that behaviors are
selected by their consequences, i.e., individual’s behavior with positive
consequences tends to be repeated, but individual’s behavior with negative
consequences tends not to be repeated.

Reinforcement theory of motivation overlooks the internal state of the

individual, i.e., the inner feelings and drives of individuals are ignored by
Skinner.

This theory focuses totally on what happens to an individual when he takes

some action.

Thus, according to Skinner, the external environment of the organization must

be designed effectively and positively so as to motivate the employee.
This theory is a strong tool for analyzing controlling mechanism for
individual’s behavior. However, it does not focus on the causes of individual’s
behavior.

If and only if the employees’ behavior improves, the reward can say to be a
positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement stimulates occurrence of a
behavior. It must be noted that more spontaneous is the giving of reward, the
greater reinforcement value it has.

Negative Reinforcement
Negative reinforcement implies rewarding an employee by removing
negative/undesirable consequences. Both positive and negative reinforcement
can be used for increasing desirable / required behavior.

Punishment
Punishment reinforcement implies removing positive consequences so as to
lower the probability of repeating the undesirable behavior in future. In other
words, punishment means applying undesirable consequence for showing
undesirable behavior.

For instance; suspending an employee for breaking the organizational rules,

punishment can be equalized by positive reinforcement from an alternative
source.

Extinction
Extinction reinforcement implies the absence of reinforcements. In other
words, extinction implies lowering the probability of an undesired behavior by
removing reward for that kind of behavior.
For instance – if an employee no longer receives praise and admiration for his
good work, he may feel that his behavior is generating no fruitful
consequence. Extinction may unintentionally lower desirable behavior.

5.Cognitive Evaluation Theory of Motivation

Simplified
Cognitive Evaluation Theory is a theory in Psychology that is designed to
explain the effects of external consequences on internal motivation. Cognitive
Evaluation Theory theory suggests that there are two motivation systems;
intrinsic and extrinsic which correspond to two kinds of motivators.

Intrinsic Motivators
Achievement, responsibility, and competence; motivators that come from the

actual performance of the task or job — the intrinsic interest of the work.

Extrinsic Motivators
Pay, promotion, feedback, working conditions — things that come from a
person’s environment, controlled by others. One of the other of these may be
a more powerful motivator for a given individual.

Intrinsically motivated individuals perform for their achievement and

satisfaction.

6.Expectancy Theory of Motivation

Expectancy theory of motivation argues that the strength of a tendency to act
in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be
followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the
individual.
Very simply, the expectancy theory says that an employee will be motivated to
exert a high level of effort when he or she believes that:

1. The effort will lead to a good performance appraisal.

2. A good appraisal will lead to organizational rewards.
3. The organizational rewards will satisfy his or her personal goals.

The key to the expectancy theory is an understanding of an individual’s goals

and the relationships between effort and performance, between performance
and rewards, and finally, between the rewards and individual goal satisfaction.

7.Equity Theory of Motivation

In the equity theory of motivation, employee’s motivation depends on their

perception of how fair is the compensation and treatment for their work input.

Equity Theory states that the employees perceive what they get from a job

situation (outcomes) about what they put into it( inputs) and then compare

their inputs- outcomes ratio with the inputs- outcomes ratios of others.

The equity theory of motivation describes the relationship between the

employee’s perception of how fairly is he being treated and how hard he is

motivated to work. J. Stacy Adams developed equity theory.

This theory shows

 Inputs: Inputs include all the rich and diverse elements that employees

believe they bring or contribute to the job – their education, experience,

effort, loyalty, commitment.

 Outcomes: Outcomes are rewards they perceive they get from their

jobs and employers’ outcomes include- direct pay and bonuses, fringe

benefit, job security, social rewards and psychological.

 Overrewarded: if employees fell over-rewarded equity theory predicts

then they will feel an imbalance in their relationship with their employee

and seek to restore that balance.

 Equity: if employees perceive equity then they will be motivated to

continue to contribute act about the same level.

 Unrewarded: unrewarded who feel they have been unrewarded and

seek to reduce their feeling inequity through the same types of

strategies but the same of this specific action is now reverse.