So, where to start? You can try looking up motivational theories. Unfortunately, there are rather a lot of them. Here’s a very short list: Incentive theory, Drive-reduction theory, Cognitive dissonance theory, Content theories (eg Maslow), Temporal motivation theory, Achievement motivation, Cognitive theories, etc. The fact that there are so many, I think, goes to show that no-one is quite certain how motivation works – which doesn’t help – although self-determination theory (SDT) seems pretty good (see later).
What has kept humans – and all the creatures that preceded humans in the evolution of life on this planet – alive is that they have a strong drive away from danger, and a much smaller drive towards rewards. A consequence of that is when you talk to mainframers about work. the universe, and everything, their first answers are always about what they don’t like or don’t want. In psychology terms, this is described as being problem focused. Once they’ve got that off their chest, it’s important to turn things around and get them to focus on what they do want – to make the conversation goal focused.
And, as all good managers know, once you have a goal or target, it’s usually very useful to express it as a SMART target. Firstly, the goal has to be specific. They can’t simply say that they will do something, they need to say exactly what they will do differently or exactly when a particular task will be performed. That makes it easy to see whether a particular target is being achieved. The letter M stands for measurable. That’s another reason vague targets are no good – they must be easily measurable. The A stands for attainable. It’s no good someone setting themselves a goal that they can’t possibly achieve. The R stands for relevant. The person needs their goal to be something that they are interested in doing and something relevant to their job. And, finally, the T means time-bound. And that means the goal will be achieved within a specified period of time.
Goals are often divided into intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Intrinsic goals are all about doing or chasing something that’s personally meaningful to an employee. They have come up with the idea of achieving something, eg taking a particular exam. Extrinsic goals are usually set by someone else. If a person wants to achieve them, it’s often about obtaining the other person’s validation and approval. Intrinsic goals are usually the best ones for a person to have if they are going to be successful. Extrinsic goals might be ones set by their boss. These can be very effective, but not always and the changes may not always last.
The great thing about people who are self-motivated (rather than doing something for someone else) is that they have:
- Greater confidence
- Improved vitality
- More interest
- Enhanced performance
- Increased persistence
- Greater creativity
- Higher self-esteem
- Increased general wellbeing.
Self-determination theory (SDT) is very popular at the moment as a way of looking at motivation. Edward Deci and Richard Ryan are the two people most closely associated with self-determination theory. They were originally looking at intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. They proposed autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as the three basic psychological needs to motivate a person to initiate a behaviour and they are essential for individual psychological health and wellbeing.
So, let’s see what those three things actually mean:
Autonomy – this is the desire to be a causal agent in one’s own life and to experience freedom. An autonomously motivated person will find their performance, wellness, and engagement is heightened compared to a person who is extrinsically motivated.
Interestingly, Deci (1971) found that offering people extrinsic rewards for behaviour that is intrinsically motivated undermined the intrinsic motivation, and a person becomes less interested in the activity. It seems that the intrinsically motivated behaviour becomes controlled by external rewards, which undermines the person’s autonomy. Amabile, DeJong, and Lepper (1976) found that external factors such as deadlines restrict and control an individual, which decreases their intrinsic motivation.
On the plus side, increasing a person’s options and choices increases their intrinsic motivation. It also seems that satisfaction or frustration about their autonomy not only impacts a person’s motivation, but also their growth. High levels of autonomy lead to optimal wellbeing.
Competence – this is where a person seeks to control the outcome and experience mastery.
Deci (1971) found that giving people unexpected positive feedback on a task increases their intrinsic motivation to do it, because the positive feedback fulfilled their need for competence. Giving positive feedback on a task not only increases intrinsic motivation but decreases extrinsic motivation. Not surprisingly, Vallerand and Reid (1984) found negative feedback had the opposite effect.
Relatedness – this is the will to interact with, be connected to, and experience caring for others. This is what we might think of as positive interactions with others.
According to self-determination theory, extrinsic motivations and the motivations of others, such as a manager, may be beneficial. However, it is more important for individuals to find the ‘why’ behind their desired goal within themselves.
We can conclude from this that if we want to motivate other mainframers, we should recognize when they do good work and tell them so. We should allow them to come up with their own targets or goals. And we should organize times or events when they can interact with each other in a positive way.
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