How to motivate yourself for a good day?

Social learning theory as developed by Bandura (1977) combines aspects of both behavioral and expectancy theory. It recognizes the significance of the basic behavioral concept of reinforcement as a determinant of future behavior but also emphasizes the importance of internal psychological factors, especially expectancies about the value of goals and the individual’s ability to reach them. The term ‘reciprocal determinism’ is used to denote the concept that while the situation will affect individual behaviour, individuals will simultaneously influence the situation. Robertson and Cooper (1983) have pointed out that there are many similarities between social learning theory and expectancy theory in their joint emphasis on expectancies, individual goals and values and the influence of both person and situational factors’. Money, in the form of pay or some other sort of remuneration, is the most obvious extrinsic reward. Money seems to provide the carrot most people want. Doubts were cast on the effectiveness of money by Hedberg etal (1957) because, they claimed, while the lack of it can cause dissatisfaction, its provision does not result in lasting satisfaction. There is something in this, especially for people on fixed salaries or rates of pay who do not benefit directly from an incentive scheme. They may feel good when they get an increase; apart from the extra money, it is a highly tangible form of recognition and an effective means of helping people to feel that they are valued. But this feeling of euphoria can rapidly die away. Other dissatisfaction from Hedberg’s list of hygiene factors, such as working conditions or the quality of management, can loom larger in some people’s minds when they fail to get the satisfaction they need from the work itself. However, it must be re-emphasized that different people have different needs and wants. Some will be much more motivated by money than others.  Nevertheless, money is a powerful force because it is linked directly or indirectly to the satisfaction of many needs. Money may in itself have no intrinsic meaning, but it acquires significant motivating power because it comes to symbolize so many intangible goals. It acts as a symbol in different ways for different people, and for the same person at different times. But do financial incentives motivate people? The answer is yes, for those people who are strongly motivated by money and whose expectations that they will receive a financial reward are high. But less confident employees may not respond to incentives that they do not expect to achieve. It can also be argued that extrinsic rewards may erode intrinsic interest – people who work just for money could find their tasks less pleasurable and may not, therefore, do them so well. What we do know is that a multiplicity of factors is involved in performance improvements, and many of those factors are interdependent. Money can therefore provide positive motivation in the right circumstances, not only because people need and want money but also because it serves as a highly tangible means of recognition. But badly designed and managed pay systems can demotivate. Another researcher in this area was Jacques (1961), who emphasized the need for such systems to be perceived as being fair and equitable. In other words, the reward should be clearly related to effort or level of responsibility and people should not receive less money than they deserve compared with their fellow workers. Jacques called this the ‘felt-fair’ principle.