Define and explain motivation and its forces

Motivation and its forces

Motivation is a defined set of energetic forces that originates both within and outside an employee; initiates work-related effort; and determines its direction, intensity, and persistence. Motivation is a critical consideration because job performance is largely a function of two factors: motivation and ability (Greenberg, 2013). Motivation is not one thing but rather a set of distinct forces. Some of those forces are internal to the employee, such as a sense of self-confidence, whereas others are external to the employee, such as the goals an employee is given. Motivation also determines a number of facets of an employee’s work effort. Motivation determines what employees do at a given moment. Once the direction of effort has been decided, motivation goes on to determine how hard an employee works and for how long.