TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction 2. Theories of motivation 3. Discussion 4. Role of communication in motivation 5. Leadership style and motivation 6. Conclusion 7. References

INTRODUCTION:

According to PMBOK (2008) “Project teams are comprised of team members with diverse backgrounds, expectations, and individual objectives. The overall success of the project depends upon the project team’s commitment, which is directly related to their level of motivation”.
Role of motivation is very important, when people are working in form of teams, which is an essential practice while working on projects. As stated above in PMBOK, project team members have diversity in their backgrounds, objectives and expectations, so diverse nature of motivational tools and techniques are required for them, for the successful completion of the projects. To motivate people is also difficult in a sense, because different people are motivated with different incentives or motivational tools. Some are motivated only with fringe benefits (Bonus, salary or wages) while for others recognition, working environment and nature of job are main attractions.
Different people are at their different levels of need satisfaction and motivation. Also people are different in their preferences and desires for motivation. According to Maslow’s theory, there are different level of needs, once one level is achieved, it no more serve as a motivational incentive and the motivational levels are shifted to next and higher steps.
Here is a very important question
Why people have desire to do their best for the organisation? * To continue their job * To get bonuses or extra wages * To learn skills * To get recognition inside the organisation and industry * To achieve personal and organisational goals * Is it a leadership or management style, which motivates the people to do their best for the organisation?

THEORIES OF MOTIVATION:
Following theories about motivation help us to understand different types, groups and levels of motivation. These theories also answer the questions about the dilemma of motivation that * Why people are different in their preference and appropriateness of motivation types & levels. * These theories make it easier for project managers to select appropriate motivation techniques, for diverse nature of groups in projects.
McGregor’s Theories X and Y:
Donald McGregor presented his concept about like and dislike of work in people in form of X & Y theories.
Theory X explains that majority of people dislike doing work instinctively, lack innate motivation in their personalities and therefore needs external control, management and effort. Theory Y states that hard motivational techniques are not the only ways to get results, but soft motivational tools like achievement, recognition and affiliation are also very effective to motivate people and getting them ready for their jobs. People also have the ability to learn, accept, adopt and transfer these soft skills to others.

Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory:

Herzberg’s motivational theory includes ‘hygiene factors’, and ‘motivators’.
In organizations, absence of hygiene factors creates dissatisfaction; but their presence did not assure the motivation of people. Most common hygiene factors in organizations are as following; * Company policy and admin procedures, * Level and quality of supervision, * Salary and benefits, * Interpersonal relations * Physical working conditions.
Motivators were achievement, recognition, the nature of work itself, responsibility and advancement. The first three needs in Maslow’s hierarchy bear a similarity to Herzberg’s hygiene factors and the top two to Herzberg’s motivators.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
According to Maslow’s theory of motivation, needs are divided into five different groups, which are laddered in five levels. Basic concept of the theory is that human beings move from bottom to top, when one level of needs is satisfied, it no more serve as a motivating factor and motivation incentive shifts to next level and so on. But sometime employees prefer one level over the other, according to their personalities and surrounding environment (culture, region, religion, personal likes & dislikes, specialized needs, social status and financial condition).

DISCUSSION:
Topic that ‘People are motivated by a desire to do their best for the organisation’ clearly explains that employees within the organisations show best performance only when they are motivated. But how people can be motivated and seeded with a desire to show best performance for the organisation specifically in context of project management. According to (Alan Goodson, Project Leader, The Dow Chemical Company) “Convince the team that the success of the project is mutually beneficial for the company and that it is especially beneficial for them”.
Success and achievement are very effective motivating factors, and if the employees are assured that they will share the success of the project, will feel valued and motivated. According to another senior project manager (Dennis O’Gorman, Fitzpatrick) “If the project is a success make sure all the team participates in its success-don’t grab all the credit and limelight-people remember”.
Harvard University psychologist David McClelland developed a theory of motivation and grouped three main needs as fundamental motivations. These three needs were achievement, affiliation and power. He also described that there are so many other factors of motivation, but these three are main and the intensity of these factors map out the behavioural patterns of people in future. Keeping in account the above mentioned theory, it becomes easy to understand that people could behave in a certain way while working for projects and organisations. They can show best performance or the reverse. It also explains that people with deep seated love for ‘achievement’ will behave in a different way from others who may be more fascinated for power or affiliation. It can also be derived from this theory that the desire to perform best for the organisations is triggered either by need of achievement, affiliation or power.
‘Achievement’ motivated people have certain characteristics in their personalities, which can be described as following. * Try to set high standards of excellence for themselves * Prefer to compete with themselves than others * Always try to show better performance than the previous ones. * Like to have immediate feedback on their performance * Prefer to work alone on assigned tasks
‘Affiliation’ motivated people show these different characteristic from others. * Friendly and gregarious * Have excellent interpersonal skills * Have the ability to develop best teams * Maintain productive and positive relationships with others * Good communicators, team leaders and supervisors
‘Power’ motivated people behave in a certain way in organisations and projects. * Are interested to influence and impact on other people * At best (motivate, help and train others) * At worst (selfish, dishonest, egotistical) * Are interested in job titles, rank and authority * Possess good interpersonal skills
Keeping in mind all these mentioned characteristics, project leaders can understand the people, anticipate their attitudes, and choose appropriate motivational strategies for them. Use of motivational skills in project management or project organisations is different in a sense from other permanent organisations that these are used more frequently in projects. The following diagram will explain the topic of the assignment in context of project management.

Achievement
Affiliation
Power

Motivate
People
Needs
Best performance
Motivation

Desire

Create

To perform best for organisations Output

Working environment
Wages & salary
Job incentives
(Bonuses & other benefits)

(Diagram-1)
According to this diagram project managers can break down the motivational process into following steps.

* Identify the distinct and individual needs of project team members. * Match these needs along with (knowledge, skills and experience of employees) to their job titles and responsibilities. * (Assign people tasks and responsibilities according to this match up, and also deploy the people accordingly where they fit best inside the project). * This matching up manoeuvre will create motivational desire inside the employees and in result they will try their best to show quality performance.

Role of communication in motivation:

Effective communication transfers exactly the vision and mission of the project leaders to their team members. It is the quality of the communication which determines the intensity of the impact of motivation on people. Most of the project failures had only one main common reason ‘lack of effective communication’. Effective communication tells the people that their extrinsic and intrinsic needs are being assessed, valued and addressed in a way, to motivate them.
Without effective communication skills, no body can be motivated. It is very similar to how successful organisation market new and innovative product. If business organisations have excellent products to sell, but do not have marketing competencies (telecasting the product and its features with quality communication to its target & potential customers), the product will fail badly at the end. Very similar is the case of motivating people through effective communication. If the project leaders have best plans for the well being of employees, but they do not communicate all effectively to them, the result will be de-motivated workers and failed projects.

Leadership style and motivation:

Leadership and motivation both have very close relationship to each other. Leader can not be a true leader without a skill to motivate people.
“People can not be managed, inventories can be managed, but people must be led”. (H. Ross Perot).
People management is a very difficult subject, because it needs project managers to be equipped with a wide range of motivational skills. People can not be managed, but can be motivated to complete the projects successfully. In future, project management needs project leaders instead of project managers, who are good at effective communication, negotiation and motivational techniques. Projects can not be successfully completed with the availability of non human resources, but needs motivated team members, who are only possible when the projects are being led by project leaders.
“Leadership appears to be the art of getting others to want to do something that you are convinced should be done”. (Vance Packard) “The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision”. (Theodore Hesburgh).
“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible” (Jonathan Swift).

Here is an example how the project leaders dream, create a clear vision, and transfer their dreams and visions to their team members through effective communication and motivational skills.
John F Kennedy had a clear vision of a project to send an American on the moon by 1969. His simple and clear vision motivated all the concerned team members, and they started working hard to achieve a goal apparently impossible. Here in this example there are some common motivating factors, which are as following

* The mission was challenging. * It provided the team members a chance to make difference. * It was beyond the normal existing capabilities, but was not unrealistic as to be hopeless. * It was unique. * It provided the chance to learn and develop new skills.
All these above mentioned factors have a high motivational potential inside. These factors (Unique, new, challenging) developed a motivational desire inside the team members, which pushed them to make the impossible possible. Project contractors reported that they noticed amazing changes in working attitudes and intensity, when the staff started working on the project.

“Pass the pride down. People like to create when they can earn recognition for their ideas” (James L. Hayes)

“Do not neglect gratitude. Say thank you. Better still, say it in writing. A simple note of thanks is money in the bank and you will be remembered”. (Princess Jackson Smith).

“There are two things people want more than sex and money…recognition and praise” (Mary Kay Ash).
Praise and recognition are very effective motivational tools, used on a large scale by successful organisations. Annual award nights with gifts, certificates, and rewards, titles like ‘Employee of the month’, ‘World footballer of the year’ are examples of recognition and praise, which people value more than other extrinsic incentives.

The famous football coach Paul Bear Bryant stated that how he learnt to hold a team together by just saying three sentences.
If anything goes bad, I did it.
If anything goes semi-good, then we did it.
If anything goes real good, then you did it.

Conclusion:

Motivation in projects can be exemplified like an engine inside the automobiles. Without motivated team members, but with all the availability of necessary resources, technology and skills, any project can not be completed successfully. Specifically these skills have subtle importance in project management, because projects are temporary in nature and are bound to a time framework. So project manager without motivational skills (understanding the individual motivational needs of team members and choosing appropriate strategies) can not complete projects success.

REFERENCES

Culp, G. & Smith, E. (1992) Managing People (Including Yourself) for Project Success. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Class Handouts, HRM (Project Management), University Of Salford.
Elbeik, S. & Thomas, M. (1998) Project Skills. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Holland, M (2009) Agile Leadership and the Management of Change: Project Lessons from Winston Churchill and the Battle of Britain, Oshawa: Multi-Media Publications Inc. http://www.hr-china.com/2011/05/19/motivating-people-in-the-work-place-through-communication/ (assessed 26-04-2012)
Project Management Institute, Inc. (2008) A Guide To The Project Management Body Of Knowledge, 4th edition, Pennsylvania, Exeter: Author.