Introduction

Work is important in people's lives for a variety of reasons:

• Money- Employees receive a paycheck in return for their labor.


• Social interaction- Many employees spend more time interacting with co-workers than with their families because of how much time is spent at work. Being downsized may mean the loss of a social network in addition to the loss of income and position.


• Status or rank- A person's job may be a source of status or rank in society (e.g., the president of a company is generally considered to be of higher status than a custodial worker).


• Personal identity- Some people answer the question, "Who am I?" in terms of their job or occupation (e.g., "I am an engineer"; "I am an elementary school teacher"). Even upon winning the lottery, some individuals choose to keep their jobs because it is an important source of life fulfillment (Steers & Porter, 1991).

Another way of looking at this is that work can meet various needs in a person's life. Need-based approaches are one of the earliest ways of examining motivation in psychology. Needs refer to deficiencies that a person experiences. The source of motivation for need theories is unmet needs. That is, unmet needs motivate a person to engage in behaviors that will meet the unfulfilled need. The basic framework is that inner states lead to behaviors, which then lead to outcomes. For example, if you are hungry (inner state), you go to a restaurant or cook a meal (behaviors) in order to feel satiated (outcome). Note that if you are not hungry (e.g., after eating Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma's house), you are not going to initiate behavior to get food (e.g., saying that you are not going to eat for three days). Again, it is the unmet need that motivates action, not a need that is satisfied. Hunger is a physiological example, but this also applies to psychological needs. For instance, if you have a need for social interaction (inner state), you may hang out with friends or go to a company picnic (behaviors), which temporarily satisfy that need (outcome).

There are three specific need theories that we are going to address in this lesson:

1. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
2. Alderfer's ERG Theory
3. McClelland's Need Theory