Leadership and Motivation Theories - Part 1

by Ken Valenzuela, BeALeader.Net's Chief Editor

This 3-part article series deals with Motivation Theories and their impact on leadership. This week, we start with the Needs Theories. Take a look at it, the information has been condensed enough in order to let you grasp the essential of the concepts in an easy way.

According to Lussier and Achua (2004) "motivation is anything that affects behavior in pursuing a certain outcome". As usual, It's good to understand a definition before moving on with a subject. In this case the key parts of this definition are:

  1. anything that affects behavior: not much to say here, but you can include the environment, your coworkers, your family, the kind of job you're doing, etc. The list could be almost endless regarding the specific outcome the leader is pursuing.
  2. pursuing a certain outcome: This is fundamental, if you don't have a clear outcome to look for, sometimes you'll feel motivated to do certain things or look after some goals, and other days you'll feel compeled to go for completely different things. You simply drift away like a boat with no helmsman.

There's no doubt that motivation affects behavior. Thus being able to motivate people towards achieving the vision (or goals) is one of the fundamental skills a leader should have. In this article we'll review the several motivation theories and how they relate to each other.

Content Motivation Theories

Content Motivation Theories try to explain and predict people's behavior based on their needs. There are three famous theories: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg's Two Factor, and the Acquired Needs Theory.

Motivation Theory: Hierarchy of Needs

This is one of the famous motivation theories, was developed in 1940s by Abraham Maslow. It's based on four assumptions:

  • a) Unmet needs motivate
  • b) The needs are ordered from basic to complex
  • c) Basic needs have to be met before motivation to meet a complex need shows up
  • d) There are five classifications of needs.

Maslow's Needs Classification

In order of complexity (from basic to complex) the needs are:

  1. Physiological: These refer to food, shelter, sex, pain relief.
  2. Safety: Safety and Security are sought after the physiological needs have been met.
  3. Social: Love, friendship, acceptance, and affection.
  4. Esteem: Ego, status, self-respect.
  5. Self-Actualization: The highest of the needs. When all others needs are fullfiled, it's time to develop one's full potential. Achievement, growth, and advancement.

Motivation Theory: Two factor

This theory divides the needs in two groups (factors), from the basic needs or the hygiene or maintenance needs and the higher needs or motivators. This theory proposes that people are motivated by motivators. In Herzberg's view, maintenance factors are extrinsic. That is, they come from the outside of the person or the job itself. On the other hand motivator factors are intrinsic, they come from within the person through the work itself.

For Herzberg, the maintenance factors range from "not dissatisfied" to "dissatisfied", and the motivator factors move from "satisfied" to "not sastisfied". From this view, it's clear that providing maintenance factors can keep people from being dissastisfied. But to keep them satisfied it's necessary to provide them with motivator factors.

Motivation Theory: Acquired Needs

In simple words, this theory states that "People are motivated by their need of achievement, power and affiliation".The way then to motivate people is to give them the right proportion of each motivator according their needs. Of course, most of the time one can identify the "dominant" motivator for each person. The next list gives some tips on how to motivate someone according his/her motivator.

  • High need for Achievement (nAch): Give them challenging tasks, stay out of their way, give them constant feedback.
  • High need for Power (nPow): Try to include them on decision making, and let them plan their work. They perform best alone rather than as team members.
  • High need for Affiliation (nAff): Make them work as part of a team. Be praiseful and recognize their successes. Let them train the new employees.



Next Part of the article deals with Process Motivation Theories and Reinforcement Theories. After that, we'll see how they interrelate to each other and what specific applications they have for leadership.