Essay on Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation

In any workplace, workers are no doubt the essential mainstay that holds any business or corporation together. Employees achieve important tasks to help the company’s long term vision and goals to be successful and efficient. A business can’t be successful without a proper management that is why it is important for employees to enjoy going to work and they also have maintain a positive attitude while being productive and completing tasks. Motivation is what gives a person the purpose to perform or behave in a certain way with the desire or willingness to gain something. There are two types of motivations, motivation that comes from a person and motivation that comes from materially goals. It is very necessary that employers keep their employees motivated and encourage them to perform above expectations.

Motivation often is classified as intrinsic or extrinsic. Students who are motivated intrinsically have an internal drive to succeed and a personal interest in the material. Students with extrinsic motivation engage in activities to obtain external incentives, such as grades or rewards (Sedden & Clark, 2016). Although, instructors note that intrinsic motivation is best for students, many

Of the many mini theories developed, intrinsic motivation plays a role in workplace situations I have personally experienced. Factors that encourage intrinsic motivation include challenge, curiosity, control, fantasy, competition, cooperation, and recognition. Intrinsic motivation challenges the way we learn, our purpose, interests, and meaning. Intrinsic motivation occurs when there is a generalized interest in a goal and it benefits us when the behavior to achieve the goal is self-imposed (Reeve, 2009).

In a study conducted on motivation in college students, those who displayed a greater level of intrinsic motivation were more satisfied with their college courses and had greater confidence in their overall performance (Trevino et al.,

When a person plans or wants to do something, he or she has a motivation for that specific thing. In other words, when a person does something, that person has a reason why he or she should do that thing. Not always there is a reason to do something, but sometimes may be many reasons that are backing a person to take those actions to do it. This happens not only to humans, or living organisms, but also in nonliving organisms. An example is when a rock which had bounced after it hit the floor while falling down. Scientists may tell some of the reasons why the rock does that kind of action, but they cannot tell all of the reasons that back the rock’s actions. A similar thing, as the scientists, was Alfie Kohn trying to do in his essay, “Why

Intrinsic motivation is the engagement in a behaviour as it is self-rewarding; essentially, executing an activity for its own sake rather than the expectation of a reward. Examples of intrinsic motivation can be applied to various sports and activities, such as: participation in a sport or physical activity because you find it enjoyable, or enjoying the sense of a challenge when completing a puzzle.

Extrinsic motivation it is the motivation brought about by what a person is getting from a certain task, rather than interest in the task. An example of extrinsic motivation is when a student who is not particularly interested in math works hard in order to attain a good grade, and in a working person’s life, it could be working on a task that is not necessarily interesting to him/her, but that is giving a good amount of financial reward. A good example of intrinsic motivation is working as a volunteer in a children’s home because taking care of children is of personal interest and satisfaction, to the person, despite getting no reward.

Intrinsic motivation is gaining more recognition in the workplace. Books like Driven by Daniel Pink talk about the scientific data that supports the notion that humans are not wired to be rewarded with more money, but instead a sense of purpose. The connection between intrinsic motivation and working independently is that by working in a team there is less individual contribution, therefore limiting the sense of ownership in a project. When a person works independently they set their own goals and deadlines (Halvorson) while forced to comprehend the task at hand clearer. The quality of the work is higher in part because the success of the work is left entirely on one person, but also because individuals find reasons to remain motivated and

Dan Pink in Ted Talks gives insight on motivation in the workplace today. Mr. Pink speaks of motivation driven by intrinsic rewards. Intrinsic is an outcome that gives personal satisfaction or fulfillment when the task is done well. Autonomy, mastery and purpose are examples of intrinsic rewards that Mr. Pink states are the driving focus of motivation. His talk was focused on autonomy, the urge to direct our own lives. Mr. Pink reviewed companies that has implemented autonomy and it showed that job satisfaction as well as job retention was high. Studies showed that extrinsic rewards only worked when little cognitive ability is required to solve a task. Extrinsic is an award that is based on something tangible, physical or monetary. Since the

This type of motivation, intrinsic involves being appealing in your behavior only because it’s personal when you are achieving your reward. Normally this person is motivated by ones self-gain knowing that they are reward with knowledge rather than money. For instance, lets use a sport if someone who’s motivated in the intrinsic way they are only playing because they actually enjoy playing the sport. Solving a mystery because you enjoy the rush of adrenaline and the challenge of solving that mystery. Those are all examples of an intrinsic

“Intrinsic motivation is closely allied to the fundamental motivation to learn and acquire new skills. The building blocks, or psychological needs, that underlie intrinsic motivation are the need to determine one’s behavior (what psychologists term self-determination), the need to feel competent, and the need for relatedness, or to have meaningful relationships with other people. When these basic needs are satisfied, high intrinsic motivation results... they strive to learn new skills and improve their performance” (Karageorghis). The intrinsic rewards of attending college or pursuing technical training can help determine success. If a student or employee is finding that their work is intrinsically rewarding, psychology has shown that they are more likely to build work relationships, learn new skills, and be more

This article is very positive, I found it to be a great read. It gives a look at the factors that influence children, thru adolescence. There are many factors that affect how a student acts, and the consequences of these factors. These factors also make it hard to provide great leadership in the classroom.

Intrinsic motivation is when someone wants to complete an action because they think it will be an enjoyable or satisfying experience. Extrinsic motivation is when someone acts a certain way because it will benefit them externally in some

Young children are compelled to learn because of their natural curiosity in life. Older children seem to need a push in the direction to learn. This describes the two types of motivation. Intrinsic motivation describes the young child. It is motivation from within and the desire someone feels to complete a task, including natural curiosity. Intrinsic motivation is anything we do to motivate ourselves without rewards from an outside source. “In relation to learning, one is compelled to learn by a motive to understand, originating from their own curiosity” (Rehmke-Ribary, 2003 p.intrinsic).

The Motivation Theory breaks down into internal or intrinsic motivation and also external or extrinsic motivation. Most individuals are moved by their beliefs, values, personal interests, and even fear. All motivation comes from inside which is known as intrinsic motivation. Several theorist such as Purkey & Stanley (1991), believe there is only one kind of intrinsic motivation and it is described as engaging activities that enhance or maintain a person’s self-image of oneself. Individuals are motivated when working for meaningful goals. These goals can be accomplished by establishing goals that are personally meaningful, goals that are possible and getting feedback on performance. Individuals are also self-motivated by getting recognized. It is important for a leader to recognize an employee who shows self-improvement but also not judging one worker’s achievements to those of others. Doing so might cause confliction within employees or the leader showing