As a manager its important to be able to motivate their subordinates. Motivation is one of the three key factors included in the equation to increase employee performance. What exactly is motivation? Motivation is the set of forces that initiates, directs, and makes people persist in their efforts to accomplish a goal. Motivating employees is a lot easier said than done. The three core challenges managers face when trying to motivate employees are satisfying their needs, providing extrinsic and intrinsic rewards, and effort and performance. In order to motivate people one must satisfy their needs first. Needs are the physical or psychological requirements that must be met to ensure survival and wellbeing. An unmet need creates an uncomfortable, internal state of tension that must be resolved. For example, if one loves to play a sport but they’re not very good, their motivation is going to be practicing to become better. Many theories indicate that people are motivated by unsatisfied needs. What needs motivate people? Well it depends on which theory is used. The four theories that we focused on in class were Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, Aldefer’s ERG theory, McCelland’s Learned needs theory, and Herzberg Two-Factor theory. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory says people are motivated by these five factors; physiological: food and water, Safety: physical and economic, belongingness: friendship, love, and social interaction, esteem: achievement and recognition, and self-actualization: realizing your full potential. The second theory is Aldefer’s ERG theory which takes Maslow’s five needs and condenses it to three. These three needs are existence: safety and physiological needs, relatedness: belongingness, and growth: esteem and self-actualization. The third theory is McClelland’s learned needs which says people are motivated needs. These needs are achievement,