Human Motivations Quarter

Human Motivations Quarter (hereinafter, the Quarter) is the first of four lectures of Operations Quadrivium (hereinafter, the Quadrivium):

• The Quarter is designed to introduce its learners to enterprise discovery, or, in other words, to concepts related to obtaining data needed to administer the enterprise effort; and
• The Quadrivium examines concepts of administering various types of enterprises known as enterprise administration as a whole.

The Quadrivium is the first of seven modules of Septem Artes Administrativi, which is a course designed to introduce its learners to general concepts in business administration, management, and organizational behavior.

Outline

The predecessor lecture is Human Perceptions Quarter.

Concepts

• Self-concordance. The degree to which people's reasons for pursuing goals are consistent with their interests and core values.
• Instrumental value. A preferable mode of behavior or mean of achieving one's terminal values.
• Attitude. An evaluative statement or judgment concerning objects, people, or events.
• Attitude. An evaluative statement, either favorable or unfavorable, concerning objects, people, or events.
• Availability bias. The tendency for people to base their judgments on information that is readily available to them.
• Attribution theory. A theory used to explain how we judge people differently depending on what meaning we attribute to a given behavior.
• Attribution theory. An attempt to determine whether an individual's behavior is internally or externally caused.
• Behavior. The actions of people.
• Behavioral component. That part of an attitude that refers to an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.
• Behavioral component. The behavioral segment of an attitude that constitutes an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.
• Agreeableness. A personality dimension that describes someone who is good natured, cooperative, and trusting.
• Assumed similarity. The assumption that others are like oneself.
• Behaviorism. A theory that argues that behavior follows stimuli in a relatively unthinking manner.
• Big Five Model. A personality assessment model that taps five basic dimensions.
• Big Five Model. Personality trait model that includes extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience.
• Cognitive dissonance. Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes.
• Cognitive dissonance. Any incompatibility or inconsistency between attitudes or between behavior and attitudes.
• Cognitive evaluation theory. A version of self-determination theory that holds that allocating extrinsic rewards for behavior intristically rewarding tends to decrease the overall level of motivation if the rewards are seen as controlling.
• Core self-evaluation. Bottom-line conclusions individuals have about their capacities, competence, and worth as a person. In other words, self-believing in one's inner worth and basic competence.
• Conscientiousness. A personality dimension that describes someone who is responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized.
• Core value (collectively, also known as values). A basic conviction that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence.
• Contrast effect. Evaluation of a person's characteristics that is affected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics.
• Dark Triad. A constellation of negative personality traits consisting of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy.
• Discrimination. Noting of a difference between things; often we refer to unfair discrimination, which means making judgments about individuals based on stereotypes regarding their demographic group.
• Discrimination. When someone acts out their prejudicial attitudes toward people who are the targets of their prejudice.
• Distributive justice. Perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of rewards among individuals.
• Distributive justice. Perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of rewards among individuals.
• Driving force. A force that directs behavior away from status quo (Kurt Lewin).
• Expectancy theory. A theory that says that the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.
• Expectancy theory. The theory that an individual tends to act in a certain way based on the expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness to the individual.
• Equity theory. A theory that says that individuals compare their job inputs and outcomes with those of others and then respond to eliminate any inequities.
• Equity theory. The theory that an employee compares her or his job's input-outcomes ratio with that of relevant others and then corrects any inequity.
• Extraversion. A personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, and assertive.
• Ego strength. A personality measure of the strength of a person's convictions.
• Emotional dissonance. Inconsistencies between the emotions people feel and the emotions they project.
• Esteem need. A person's need for internal factors such as self-respect, authority, and achievement, and external factors such as status, recognition, and attention.
• Emotional stability. A personality dimension that characterizes someone as calm, self-confident, and secure (positive) versus nervous, depressed, and insecure (negative).
• Goal-setting theory. A theory that says that specific and difficult goals, with feedback, lead to higher performance.
• Goal-setting theory. The proposition that specific goals increase performance and that difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher performance than do easy goals.
• Hygiene factor. A factor -- such as company policy and administration, supervision, and salary -- that, when adequate in a job, placates workers. When these factors are adequate, people will not be dissatisfied.
• Hygiene factor. A factor that eliminates job dissatisfaction, but don't motivate.
• Hindrance stressor. A stressor that keep you from reaching your goals (for example, red tape, office politics, confusion over job responsibilities).
• Hierarchy of needs theory. Maslow's theory that human needs -- psychological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization -- form a sort of hierarchy.
• Hierarchy of needs. Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of five needs -- physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization -- in which, as each need is substantially satisfied, the next level becomes dominant.
• Informational justice. The degree to which employees are provided truthful explanations for decisions.
• Machiavellianism. A measure of the degree to which people are pragmatic, maintain emotional distance, and believe that ends justify means.
• Machiavellianism. The degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means.
• McClelland's theory of needs. A theory that states achievement, power, and affiliation are three important needs that help explain motivation.
• Motivation. The process by which a person's efforts are energized, directed, and sustained toward attaining a goal.
• Motivation. The processes that account for an individual's intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.
• Motivators. A factor that increase job satisfaction and motivation.
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. A personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into one of 16 personality types.
• Narcissism. The tendency to be arrogant, have a grandiose sense of self-importance, require excessive admiration, and have a sense of entitlement.
• Need for achievement. The drive to excel, to achieve in relationship to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed.
• Need for achievement. The drive to succeed and excel in relation to a set of standards.
• Need for affiliation. The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.
• Need for affiliation. The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.
• Need for cognition. A personality trait of individuals depicting the ongoing desire to think and learn.
• Need for power. The need to make others behave in a way in which they would not have behaved otherwise.
• Need for power. The need to make others behave in a way that they would not have behaved otherwise.
• Openness to experience. A personality dimension that characterizes someone in terms of imagination, sensitivity, and curiosity.
• Operant conditioning. A theory of learning that says behavior is a function of its consequences.
• Personality trait. An enduring characteristic that describes an individual's behavior.
• Personality. The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to interacts with others.
• Personality. The unique combination of emotional, thought, and behavioral patterns that affect how a person reacts to situations and interacts with others.
• Proactive personality. A personality trait that describes individuals who are more prone to take actions to influence their environments.
• Proactive personality. People who identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs.
• Psychological need. A person's need for food, drink, shelter, sexual satisfaction, and other physical needs.
• Safety need. A person's need for security and protection from physical and emotional harm.
• Self-actualization need. A person's need to become what she or he is capable of becoming.
• Self-determination theory. A theory of motivation that is concerned with the beneficial effects of extrinsic motivation.
• Self-efficacy theory. An individual's belief that he or she is capable of performing a task.
• Social need. A person's need for affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship.
• Theory X. The assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy, avoid responsibility, and must be coerced to perform.
• Theory Y. The assumption that employees are creative, enjoy work, seek responsibility, and can exercise self-direction.
• Three-needs theory. The motivation theory that says three acquired (not innate) needs -- achievement, power, and affiliation -- are major motives in work.
• Positive affect. A mood dimension that consists of specific positive emotions such as excitement, enthusiasm, and elation at the high end.
• Positivity offset. The tendency of most individuals to experience a mildly positive mood at zero input (when nothing in particular is going on).
• Self-efficacy. An individual's belief that she or he is capable of performing a task.
• Self-esteem. An individual's degree of like or dislike for herself or himself.
• Self-monitoring. A personality trait that measures an individual's ability to adjust his or her behavior to external, situational factors.
• Self-monitoring. A personality trait that measures the ability to adjust behavior to external situational factors.
• Type A personality. People who have a chronic sense of urgency and an excessive competitive drive.
• Type B personality. People who are relaxed and easygoing and accept change easily.
• Trait activation theory. A theory that predicts that some situations, events, or interventions "activate" a trait more than others.
• Terminal value. A desirable end-state of existence; the goal a person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime.
• Values. Basic convictions about what is right and wrong.
• Randomness error. The tendency of individuals to believe that they can predict the outcomes of random events.
• Values system. A hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual's values in terms of their intensity.
• Reinforcer. A consequence immediately following a behavior, which increases the probability that the behavior will be repeated.
• Situation strength theory. A theory indicating that the way personality translates into behavior depends on the strength of the situation.

Practices

The successor lecture is Human Decisions Quarter.