What is the importance of understanding motivation?[Urgent]

In psychology, motivation refers to the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of behavior (Geen, 1995). Motivation is a temporal and dynamic state that should not be confused with personality or emotion. Motivation is having the desire and willingness to do something. A motivated person can be reaching for a long-term goal such as becoming a professional writer or a more short-term goal like learning how to spell a particular word. Personality invariably refers to more or less permanent characteristics of an individual's state of being (e.g., shy, extrovert, conscientious). As opposed to motivation, emotion refers to temporal states that do not immediately link to behavior (e.g., anger, grief, happiness).

Maslow's Theory
Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of human needs theory is the most widely discussed theory of motivation.

The theory can be summarized as thus:

Human beings have wants and desires which influence their behaviour, only unsatisfied needs can influence behaviour, satisfied needs cannot.
Since needs are many, they are arranged in order of importance, from the basic to the complex.
The person advances to the next level of needs only after the lower level need is at least minimally satisfied.
The further the progress up the hierarchy, the more individuality, humanness and psychological health a person will show

Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
Frederick Herzberg's two factor theory, concludes that certain factors in the workplace result in job satisfaction, while others lead to dissatisfaction.

He distinguished between: motivation and hygiene

Motivators; (e.g. challenging work, recognition, responsibility) which give positive satisfaction, and
Hygiene factors; (e.g. status, job security, salary and fringe benefits) which give positive satisfaction, although dissatisfaction results from their absence.
The theory is sometimes called the Motivator-Hygiene Theory.

Alderfer’s ERG Theory
Created by Clayton Alderfer, Maslow's hierarchy of needs was expanded, leading to his ERG theory (Existence, Relatedness and Growth). Physiological and safety, the lower order needs, were placed in the Existence category. Love and self esteem needs were placed in the Relatedness category. The Growth category contained the self actualization and self esteem needs

Self-Determination Theory
Self-Determination Theory, developed by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, focuses on the importance of intrinsic motivation in driving human behavior. Like Maslow's hierarchical theory and others that built on it, SDT posits a natural tendency toward growth and development. Unlike these other theories, however, SDT does not include any sort of "autopilot" for achievement, but instead requires active encouragement from the environment. The primary factors that encourage motivation and development are autonomy, competence feedback, and relatedness

Why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival (Smith, 1994). Motivated employees are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces. Motivated employees help organizations survive. Motivated employees are more productive. To be effective, managers need to understand what motivates employees within the context of the roles they perform. Of all the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is arguably the most complex. This is due, in part, to the fact that what motivates employees changes constantly (Bowen & Radhakrishna, 1991). For example, research suggests that as employees' income increases, money becomes less of a motivator (Kovach, 1987). Also, as employees get older, interesting work becomes more of a motivator.

1. Maslow divided into 5 types: Psychology (basic need of living), Safety Need (safe working environment & shelter), Belonging (being part of the group or family), Esteem Need (recognition from others such as ob titles) and Self-Actualization (self-achievement done by challenging work).

2. Theory Y and X: People of Y type are self-motivated, willing to do and learn when compare with people in X who are lazy and not willing to complete their job in time

Theory X
In this theory management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can. Because of this workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed. A hierarchical structure is needed with narrow span of control at each level. According to this theory employees will show little ambition without an enticing incentive program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can.

Many managers (in the 1960s) tended to subscribe to Theory X, in that they take a rather pessimistic view of their employees. A Theory X manager believes that his or her employees do not really want to work, that they would rather avoid responsibility and that it is the manager's job to structure the work and energize the employee. The result of this line of thought is that Theory X managers naturally adopt a more authoritarian style based on the threat of punishment.

One major flaw of this management style is it is much more likely to cause Diseconomies of Scale in large businesses. Theory Y allows a business to expand while making more profit because factory-floor workers have their own responsibility.

Theory Y
In this theory management assumes employees are ambitious, self-motivated, anxious to accept greater responsibility, and exercise self-control and self-direction. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and physical work activities. It is also believed that employees have the desire to be imaginative and creative in their jobs if they are given a chance. There is an opportunity for greater productivity by giving employees the freedom to be their best.

A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want to do well at work and that there is a pool of unused creativity in the workforce. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivation in and of itself. A Theory Y manager will try to remove the barriers that prevent workers from fully actualizing themselves .

3. HERZBERG's motivation divided by hygiene factors and motivators. Hygiene factors are not a motivation but if it is missing is can make people unhappy such as fringe benefit etc. Motivation provides long-lasting motivation for people to struggle their best performance in work. (this is the best theory among all)