The term motivation is derived from the word motive and motives are expressions of a person’s needs and hence they are personal and internal and in this context, the term need should not be associated with urgency or nay pressing desire for something and it simply means something within an individual that prompts him to action and motives or needs are ‘whys’ of behaviour and they start and maintain activity and determine the general direction of the person and motives give direction to human behaviour because they are directed towards certain goals which may be conscious or sub-conscious. Motives are directed towards the achievement of certain goals which in turn determine the behaviour of individuals and this behaviour ultimately leads to goal-directed activities such as preparing food and a goal activity such as eating food and in other words, unsatisfying needs result in tension with an individual and engage him in search of the way to relieve this tension.

INTERRELATED TERMS

While discussing motivation, we need to understand three interrelated terms- Motive, Motivation, and Motivators.

1. Motive- A motive is an inner state or desire which energies an individual to move o to behave towards the achievement of goal and motive arises out of needs of an individual and it causes restlessness as he wants to fulfil his motive.

2. Motivation- It is a process of inducing people to perform to their best ability to accomplish a goal and it is a psychological phenomenon which arises from the feeling of needs and wants of individuals and it causes a goal-directed behaviour.

3. Motivators- Motivators are the incentives or techniques used to motivate the people in an organization and common motivators used by the mangers are increment, bonus, promotion, recognition, respect etc. 

 Motivations may be defined as the complex of forces inspiring a person at work to intensify his willingness to use his maximum capability for the achievement of certain objectives. According to Koontz and O’Donnell “ Motivation is a general term applying to the entire class of drivers, desires, needs, wishes and similar forces and to say that managers motivate their subordinates is to say that they do those things which they hope will satisfy drives and desires and induce the subordinates to act in the desired manner”

FEATURES OF MOTIVATION

1. Motivation is an internal Feeling/ instinct

Motivation is a psychological phenomenon which generates from within an individual and needs are the feelings arising in the mind of a person that he lacks certain things and such feelings affect the behaviour of that individual and causes him to do work and hence, motivation is the process of making an individual feel his needs.

2. Motivation produces goal-directed behaviour

Motivation is a power which leads the employees to the achievement of their goal and the behaviour of the motivated employees clearly shows that they are inclined towards the achievement of their goal.

3. Motivation can either be positive or negative

Positive motivation provides positive rewards like an increase in pay. Promotion, recognition etc. Negative motivation uses negative means like punishment, stopping increments, threatening etc., which also may induce a person to act in the desired way.