Motivation Case

Motivation

Introduction

In this paper I will examine two personal work experiences. The first experience is one when I was very motivated. The second is a scenario when I was not motivated. I will briefly describe each situation and explain why I was motivated and why I wasn’t. Then I will explain how these situations align themselves with various motivational theories. In the motivational case, I will explain what motivational technique was at play and in the case of the demotivated situation I will explain what technique should have been used.

Motivated Scenario

In the case where I was highly motivated, I had just started in my current role as IT Manager for IDD Aerospace. Upon my arrival, the company was in the middle of an ERP system implementation. The project was approximately 50% complete when I arrived. I was put into the technical project lead role. We were moving from an old ERP system to an entirely new system. In addition to the ERP implementation, we were implementing a second system simultaneously. This was an Engineering Product Life Cycle Management system intended to communicate with the new ERP system. Obviously because of my new role I was very excited and highly motivated to be successful. In addition, I wanted to show my new coworkers, I was competent.

How does this scenario align itself with motivational theory? In this case, the motivational theory at play might be McClelland’s Theory of needs. This is the needs theory developed by David McClelland and his associates. It focuses on three needs, defined as:

1. Need for Achievement: The drive to excel and to achieve. Having a strong desire for success.

2. Need for Power: The need to get others to behaving in a way they might not otherwise do

3. Need for Affiliation: the desire for friendly and close personal relationships. (Robbins & Judge, 2011).

In my case, because I was new, I had a strong desire to achieve success and to show my fellow employees I was able to do the job. In addition, I want to develop those interpersonal work relationships. This was my first opportunity to do so. The project encompassed all areas of the company so I was able to communicate with all departments. I would say the need for achievement and the need for affiliation were the two McClelland needs that apply here.

The motivational technique at play in this scenario was my fear of failure. I was desperately afraid to fail. Again, I wanted to prove I could do the job. To this day, failure is a motivator for me.

Demotivated Scenario

In the case where I was demotivated, it was also in my current role. It was a few years later, I was now fully entrenched in my day to