Motivation is the willingness to achieve organizational objectives or go above and beyond. Motivational effort is needed to achieve objectives, and effort has three parts. Initiation of effort refers to how much effort to exert. Direction of effort refers to where to put effort (Do I do job A or B?). Persistence of effort refers to how long effort will be forthcoming (Do I keep pushing or let up?). What is your motivational effort for this course?

Managers need to answer the usually unasked question, “What’s in it for me?” Understanding that people are motivated by self-interest helps us understand how and why they are motivated and to predict their behavior. Through the motivation process, employees go from need to motive to behavior to consequence to satisfaction or dissatisfaction. A need or want motivates behavior. However, needs and motives are complex; people don’t always know what their needs are or why they do the things they do.

Understanding needs will help you understand behavior. Generally, a motivated employee will put forth more effort than an unmotivated one to do a good job; motivation does affect performance.