University of Wales Institute, Cardiff / UK

How are intrinsic rewards used to motivate?

by

Alexandra Kossowski

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

1. Motivation 4

2. Intrinsic Rewards 7

Conclusion 10

Bibliography 11

Introduction

Motivation seems to be a magical thing. No one can exactly explain, where it comes from, why people lack motivation or what motivation can make people do, but it is for sure, that everyone wishes s/he could be "a bit more motivated" for work, university, the gym and so on.

As Winston Fletcher puts it in his article in "Management Today" (1st April 2000: 34): "(…) Laziness is rarely -as most people seem to be believe- a problem of energy. It is instead a problem of motivation". Often managers see employees being "lazy" at work, but then rushing off home and engaging in different leisure activities.

Managers need to know, why employees lose motivation and when they know the reasons, they can start to rebuild it.
But this will be outlined later on in this report.
Firstly, the report will take a closer look at motivation in general, before it attempts to explain the connection between motivation and intrinsic rewards.

1. Motivation

Generally speaking, motivation is what drives an individual to behave in a certain way or to engage in certain activities.

It is the force that makes people continue even with a difficult task where they face problems or obstacles.

It makes individuals pursue a specific aim or goal for which they are prepared to work hard and which will in the end satisfy a need or expectation.

Therefore, motivation is said to be linked to rewards. Rewards can either be extrinsic (for example salaries or promotion) or intrinsic (for example receiving appreciation). 

But one must not forget, that each individual is motivated by different factors for the achievement of different goals. Not every employee will come work highly motivated only because s/he was promised a pay rise. Some employees might get more motivation from social relationships at work or appraisal by supervisors. 

Finally, it depends what sort of job the employee is Furthermore, motivation is determined by criteria such as age or private circumstances of the employee or it can just vary from time to time. V. Vroom is associated with the conclusion that there is no motivation theory that comprises all factors related to motivation (Mullins (1999): 413).

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