The word motivation comes from the word “motive”. Motive can be described as means the needs or the desires within an individual. Motivation is a process that is used to help individuals to achieve their goals. In a working environment, examples of this include the desire of money, or even recognition for the work an individual has achieved. Motivation is important for business because if an employee is not motivated, this might lead to an increase in absenteeism or even lower rates of labour
One of the earliest theories of motivation was the theory of human relation management put forward by Elton Mayo (1930). This was based on the principle that workers would be more motivated and therefore perform better when working conditions and social needs are a key incentive. Mayo believed that having someone take an interest in another’s work, in itself, leads to better productivity. What he also believed in was that employees respond to changes in the working environment. The theory states that the workplace is a social system and that employees like to work in groups. Mayo’s (1930) theory has many real life applications. For example, Tesco, have seen to be operating Mayo’s theory throughout the whole company. In 2009, Tesco employed 3000 new managers. With these new managers, Tesco hold a daily team meetings, in which managers update staff …show more content…
Four of these theories have been discussed in this essay, namely Mayo’s (1880-1949) human relation management, Herzberg’s (1923-2000) two-factor theory, Maslow’s (1908-1970) hierarchy of needs theory, and McGregor’s (1906-1964) theory X and theory Y. In my opinion, I believe that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the best classical theory of motivation. The reason for this is because the theory covers most of the important factors that lead to