Advanced Search

The Meaning of Motivation

What exactly is motivation? Let's work back from some basics. Think about all those detective programmes on TV. When a murder is committed, there is always talk of the 'motive'. What they are asking is 'what was the reason for the murder?' - what reason did the murderer have for committing the crime?

Extending this to motivation is relatively easy.

Now think about your personal situation: why are you studying? What is the goal you are aiming for? If it is to get a Business Studies GCSE, for example, then getting a grade with which you are satisfied might be the thing that is driving you. Maybe you need to get certain grades to get into sixth form or to a college and this is what is driving you. Maybe you want to do it for your parents or your teacher; maybe it is simply that you want to prove to yourself that you can do it!

Whatever it is, there will be times when you really don't want to do the work necessary to get the grade you want. There will be sections of the course that really don't grab you. It is at times like these when the motivation seems to dry up.

Sometimes, studying can get just too much - is there a way that you can be motivated to go that extra mile and do the project, finish your homework, do the coursework etc? Copyright: Sanja Gjenero, from stock.xchng.

Is there something that your teacher can do at these times to get you to do the work? Is it something that your parents could do? Or is it ultimately down to you to drive yourself to get things done?

In a workplace environment, these questions happen every day. Some work is very repetitive and boring. Some work might sound glamorous and exciting but in reality it might not be as fulfilling as we might think. The question for many businesses is how to get the best from employees, how to encourage and persuade them to do what they are supposed to be doing to the best of their ability all the time.

Task: Get together in a group of no more than 4 people. Get a large piece of paper (flip chart paper is ideal) and think about why you are studying business. Use the paper to create a mind map showing all the different ways that you might be motivated to do the work that you are set to help you get the grade you all want at GCSE. When you have finished, present your ideas to the rest of the class. Look at the other groups' maps and see how similar or different they are to your own group's ideas. The information contained in the two links below is about fashion models: Crisis on the catwalk - from City University (http://www.city.ac.uk/news/archive/2007/02_february/12022007_1.html) Models 'unhappy' on the catwalk - from Madasafish (http://www.madasafish.com/news/article.asp?aid=18058171&cat=news) Being a model might be the dream job for some young people - is it all that it seems? Copyright: Markus Biehal, from stock.xchng. What does the research by City University tell you about the sort of things that human beings need to feel satisfied and happy? Is being motivated the same as being happy?

| Index | Previous | Next |