Introduction

Motivation is the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal and elicits, controls, and sustains certain goal directed behaviors. For instance: An individual has not eaten, he or she feels hungry, and as a response he or she eats and diminishes feelings of hunger. It is a process of energizing behavior.

There are many approaches to motivation: physiological, behavioral, cognitive, and social. Motivation may be rooted in a basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or for a desired object. Conceptually, motivation is related to, but distinct from, emotion. Motivation can be divided into two types: internal, or intrinsic motivation, and external, or extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on any external pressure. Say for example if there is any competition going on then we will participate only for the enjoyment, not for the reward. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation refers to the performance of an activity in order to attain an outcome, which then contradicts intrinsic motivation. For example, if winning the competition will be rewarded then that reward make us participate.

Comparative Account of the Theories

The development of theories in the field of motivation had disparate impact at different points in history. There are many theories of motivation that has been proposed and described by many psychologists many years ago. Now co consider the comparative account of those theories at first we need to know what are the theories and the comparative account of those respective theories.

Incentive theory: A reward, tangible or intangible, is presented after the occurrence of an action or behavior with the intent to cause the behavior to occur again. This is done by associating positive meaning to the behavior. Studies show that if the person receives the reward immediately, the effect is greater, and decreases as delay lengthens. Repetitive action-reward combination can cause the action to become habit. Say for example if you consider in the job field then if any employee is being motivated by incentive (Compensation, benefit etc.) for his/her better performance, then he/she will keep up the better performance again at the next time. The theory is promoted by a psychologist named B.F. Skinner. Incentive theory distinguishes itself from other motivation theories, such as drive theory, in the direction of the motivation. In incentive theory, stimuli "attract", to use the term above, a person towards them and it involves positive reinforcement: the stimulus has been conditioned to make the person happier. Drive Reduction Theory: The Drive Reduction Theory grows out of the concept that we have certain biological drives, such as hunger. As time passes the strength of the drive increases if it is not satisfied (in this case by eating). Upon satisfying a drive, the drive's strength is reduced. Drive theory has some intuitive or folk validity. For instance when preparing food, the drive model appears to be compatible with sensations of rising hunger as the food is prepared, and, after the food has been consumed, a decrease in subjective hunger.

Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Theory: The American motivation psychologist Abraham H. Maslow developed the Hierarchy of needs consistent of five hierarchic classes. It shows the complexity of human requirements. According to him, people are motivated by unsatisfied needs. The lower level needs such as Physiological and Safety needs will have to be satisfied before higher level needs are to be addressed. We can relate Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory with employee motivation. For example, if a manager is trying to motivate his employees by satisfying

their needs; according to Maslow, he should try to satisfy the lower level needs before he tries to satisfy the upper level needs or the employees will not be motivated.

Herzbergs Two-Factor Theory: Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory, concludes that certain factors in the workplace result in job satisfaction, but if absent, they don't lead to dissatisfaction but no satisfaction. The factors that motivate people can change over their lifetime, but "respect for me as a person" is one of the top motivating factors at any stage of life. He has distinguished between Motivation Factors and Hygiene Factors.

Alderfers ERG Theory: In an attempt to line up Maslow's Theory of Needs with empirical studies, Alderfer's ERG Theory elicits three core requirements: Existence,

Relatedness, and Growth. According to Alderfer, the needs aren't in any order and any desire to fulfill a need can be activated at any point in time. The

existence group is concerned with providing our basic material existence requirements. They include the items that Maslow considered to be physiological and safety needs. The second groups of needs are those of relatedness- the desire we have for maintaining important personal relationships. These social and status desires require interaction with others if they are to be satisfied, and they align with Maslow's social need and the external component of Maslow's esteem classification. Finally, Alderfer isolates growth needs' an intrinsic desire for personal development. These include the intrinsic component from Maslow's esteem category and the characteristics included under self-actualization.

Goal Setting Theory: Goal-setting theory is based on the notion that individuals sometimes have a drive to reach a clearly defined end state. Often, this end state is a reward in itself. Goal setting is a powerful way of motivating people, and of motivating yourself. The value of goal setting is so well recognized that entire management systems, like Management by Objectives, have goal setting basics incorporated within them. In fact, goal setting theory is generally accepted as among the most valid and useful motivation theories in industrial and organizational psychology, human resource management, and

organizational behavior.

The comparison table between the theories of Motivation

Name of the Theory

Motivation Factor Proposed

Indications about pay and personal characteristics

Incentive Theory

Drive-Reduction Theory

Need-Hierarchy Theory

A reward is presented after the occurrence of an Pay must be action. included as the motivation factors Certain biological drives such as Hunger. Pay as a biological need is not relevant. Physiological need, safety needs, social needs, Pay as a esteem needs, self-actualization needs. physiological need

Herzbergs Two Factor Theory

Motivators: Achievement, recognition for achievement, the work itself, responsibility and growth or advancement. Hygiene Factor: Company policy, administration, supervision, interpersonal relationships, working conditions, salary, status and security.

is a lower level need. Pay is not a motivator

Alderfers ERG Theory

Three groups of core needs: Existence, Relatedness and growth.

Goal Setting Theory

Skill variety, task identity, task autonomy, task significance, autonomy and feedback.

Pay as an existence need is a lower level motivator Pay might be included as motivation factors

Conclusion
After learning about all the theories, I would like to prefer the goal setting theory. The reason is that, as a business student Goal setting is something most of us recognize as necessary for our success. By understanding goal setting theory, we can effectively apply the principles to goals that me and or team members set. By using clear, challenging goals, anyone can commit himself or herself to achieve those. And if you provide feedback on goal performance, take into consideration the complexity of the task and if you follow these simple rules, your goal setting process will be much more successful, and your overall performance will improve. Goal setting theory is effective enough to perform well especially at the job related organizations where competitions arouse between employees and if the company wants to achieve a target by their employees, they should definitely use the goal setting theory and here the to motivate the employees, payment or compensation is a big factor.