Conceptual clarifications
Motivation
Every organisation is concerned with what should be done to achieve sustained high levels of performance through its workforce. This means giving close attention to how individuals can best be motivated through means such as incentives, rewards, leadership etc. and the organisation context within which they carry out the work (Armstrong, 2006). The study of motivation is concerned basically with why people behave in a certain way. In general it can be described as the direction and persistence of action. It is concerned with why people choose a particular course of action in preference to others, and why they continue with chosen action, often over a long period, and in the face of difficulties and problems (Mullins, 2005). Motivation can therefore be said to be at the heart of how innovative and productive things get done within an organisation (Bloisi et al., 2003). It has been established that motivation is concerned with the factors that influence people to behave in certain ways. Arnold et al. (1991) established three components of motivation namely:
1. Direction: what the person is trying to do
2. Effort: how hard a person is trying
3. Persistence: how long a person keeps on trying (Armstrong, 2006)