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

1. Personality trait. An enduring characteristic that describes an individual's behavior.
   • 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.
   • 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.
   • Extraversion. A personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, and assertive.
   • Dark Triad. A constellation of negative personality traits consisting of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy.
   • Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. A personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into one of 16 personality types.
   • 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.
2. Trait activation theory. A theory that predicts that some situations, events, or interventions "activate" a trait more than others.
   • Situation strength theory. A theory indicating that the way personality translates into behavior depends on the strength of the situation.

1. Psychological stress. In psychology, a feeling of strain and pressure. This feeling emerges as a response to one or more stressors or a lack of those. The reaction can possibly be pleasant, but the term, psychological stress, is usually used to describe unpleasant ones because constant and unpleasant reactions can cause serious health conditions. Some researches argue that human beings need some level of psychological stress in order to function normally.
   • Stressor. A factor that causes stress. The factors may include demands, constraints, or opportunities.
   • Hindrance stressor. A stressor that keep you from reaching your goals (for example, red tape, office politics, confusion over job responsibilities).
   • Challenge stressor. A stressor associated with workload, pressure to complete tasks, and time urgency.
   • Stress administration. Practice and a set of concepts, based on that practice, that define culture of coping or dealing effectively with psychological stress.

1. 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.
   • 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.
   • 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.
   • McClelland's theory of needs. A theory that states achievement, power, and affiliation are three important needs that help explain motivation.
     1. Three-needs theory. The motivation theory that says three acquired (not innate) needs -- achievement, power, and affiliation -- are major motives in work.
     2. Need for achievement. The drive to excel, to achieve in relationship to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed.
     3. Need for achievement. The drive to succeed and excel in relation to a set of standards.
     4. Need for affiliation. The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.
     5. Need for affiliation. The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.
     6. Need for cognition. A personality trait of individuals depicting the ongoing desire to think and learn.
     7. Need for power. The need to make others behave in a way in which they would not have behaved otherwise.
     8. Need for power. The need to make others behave in a way that they would not have behaved otherwise.
   • 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.
     1. Psychological need. A person's need for food, drink, shelter, sexual satisfaction, and other physical needs.
     2. Safety need. A person's need for security and protection from physical and emotional harm.
     3. Social need. A person's need for affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship.
     4. 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.
     5. Self-actualization need. A person's need to become what she or he is capable of becoming.
   • Operant conditioning. A theory of learning that says behavior is a function of its consequences.
   • Self-determination theory. A theory of motivation that is concerned with the beneficial effects of extrinsic motivation.
     1. Theory Y. The assumption that employees are creative, enjoy work, seek responsibility, and can exercise self-direction.
     2. 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.
   • Self-efficacy theory. An individual's belief that he or she is capable of performing a task.
   • 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.
   • Reinforcement theory. A theory that says that behavior is a function of its consequences.
     1. Reinforcement theory. The theory that behavior is a function of its consequences.
     2. Theory X. The assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy, avoid responsibility, and must be coerced to perform.
     3. Reinforcer. A consequence immediately following a behavior, which increases the probability that the behavior will be repeated.
   • Two-factor theory (also known as motivation-hygiene theory). A theory that relates intrinsic factors to job satisfaction and associates extrinsic factors with dissatisfaction.
     1. Two-factor theory (motivation-hygiene theory). The motivation theory that intrinsic factors are related to job satisfaction and motivation, whereas extrinsic factors are associated with job dissatisfaction.
     2. 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.
     3. Hygiene factor. A factor that eliminates job dissatisfaction, but don't motivate.

• 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.
• Assumed similarity. The assumption that others are like oneself.
• Behaviorism. A theory that argues that behavior follows stimuli in a relatively unthinking manner.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Informational justice. The degree to which employees are provided truthful explanations for decisions.
• 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-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.
• Randomness error. The tendency of individuals to believe that they can predict the outcomes of random events.
• Interpersonal skill. The ability to work well with other people individually and in a group.
• Locus of control. A personality attribute that measures the degree to which people believe they control their own fate.

Practices

The successor lecture is Human Decisions Quarter.