Organizational Team Building

Performance and Productivity

When individuals have an internal desire to perform a particular task, they experience intrinsic motivation. People perform a certain activity because it gives them pleasure, develops a particular skill, or it is morally the right thing to do. When external factors motivate individuals to perform a particular task, they experience extrinsic motivation. These factors include things like money or good grades. According to Maslow, there are five levels of needs. The lower-level needs have to be satisfied before an individual strives to meet the higher-level needs. • Physiological Needs: These are basic human needs such as need for food, water, and shelter. • Safety Needs: These needs refer to the need to feel safe and secure from the threat of physical and emotional harm. • Belongingness Needs: These needs refer to the desire to belong to a group, to feel loved, and to be appreciated by others. • Esteem Needs: These needs refer to the need to feel important. These needs include such things as achievement, reputation, and status. • Self-Actualization Needs: These needs refer to the quest of an individual to reach full potential as an individual. Maslow's hierarchy of needs focuses on intrinsic motivations. While his theory is widely taught, human nature does not have to be linear. Individuals can move and/or jump from one need to another depending on their mental state and current life situation. The theory also presents a few challenges from a perspective of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. Some of the hierarchical levels are extrinsic motivations such as the esteem and belonging needs. Others are intrinsic such as self-actualization. In looking at your team, you as a leader will have to be able to gauge which level of motivation will fit the members of your team. Based on that level of motivation, team leaders can use it to generate key motivators to optimize team performance. If an individual has belonging needs, key motivators such as being part of a special focus group or recognition on a regular basis would influence behavior. If an individual has esteem needs, leaders can use promotions and bonuses to enhance specific behaviors. All of these are extrinsic motivators. If an individual is at the self-actualization stage, extrinsic motivators will have limited impact.