Motivation: Functional Theories for Effective School Management

In every human organization, what induces people to work may differ or change with times. At a time, a worker may perform to the highest expectation, but in another time, the same worker may perform a similar task in a lazy manner. Similarly, in a place of work, a person may always be on time, perform a good day's work and remains even after the office hours. Another person may be less punctual and may tend to get through the day with minimal amount of efforts. Of course, the above working conditions can be attributed to motivation. Within the school organization, motivation can be seen as the totality of the activities of an individual which initiates, sustains and directs the behaviours of staff in response to a situation in the school environment.

The various efforts of managers to motivate workers have led to a number of theories. The effort of the author here is to relate the functional ones to school organization.

Theories of Motivation

Hierarchy of Needs Theory: The hierarchy of need theory is associated with Abraham Maslow (1908-1970). The basic assumptions of the theory according to Mondy, Sharplin & Premeaux (1991) are as follows:

· Unsatisfied needs motivate or influence behaviour;

· Satisfied needs do not motivate behaviour;

· Needs are arranged in hierarchy; and

· Needs at any level of the hierarchy emerge as a significant motivator only when the lower-level needs are reasonably well satisfied.

Self-

actualization

Esteem

Social

Safety

Physiological On the basis of the above assumptions, Maslow hypothesized that within every human being, there exist a hierarchy of five needs. The hierarchy is presented thus:

Table 1: Hierarchy of Needs.

Source: Robbins & Sanghi, (2005)

1. Physiological needs: hunger, thirst, sex and other basic bodily needs;

2. Safety need: Protection from all forms of physical and emotional harm;

3. Social needs: affection, belongingness, acceptance and friendship;

4. Esteem needs: self-respect, autonomy, achievement, status, recognition and attention; and

5. Self-actuation needs: growth, achieving one's potentials and self-fulfillment.