Motivation the Latin Root of

Motivation The Latin root of the word "motivation" means "to move." Thus, the study of motivation is the study of action. Modern theories of motivation focus more specifically on the relation of beliefs, values, and goals with action. There are a number of different theories based on motivation -- its cause and effects. Wigfield (2002) placed these theories into four broad categories. The first category is where competence and efficacy, expectancies for success or failure, and sense of control impact outcomes.

Such beliefs are directly related to the question, "Can I do this task?." In general when people answer this question, they perform better and are motivated to select more challenging tasks. This category has proven to work well in a school setting with students, but it could work just as effectively with adults. The second category deals with task value.

Even though the theories dealing with competence, expectancy, and control provide valuable explanations of the individuals' performance on different kinds of achievement tasks, they do not adequately look at the reasons individuals have for engaging in these tasks. Even if people are certain they can handle a responsibility, they may have no compelling reason to do it. These theories ask why. Thus, this category is intrinsic/extrinsic motivation. In this case, when individuals are intrinsically motivated, they engage in an activity because they are interested in and enjoy the activity.

When extrinsically motivated, individuals engage in activities for instrumental or other reasons, such as receiving a reward. The third category includes those theories that integrate expectancy and value constructs. In this situation, research stresses that the individuals' interpretations of their achievement outcomes, rather than motivational dispositions or actual outcomes, determine subsequent achievement strivings. Research has identified ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck as the most important achievement attributions. The last category focuses on two issues: how motivation gets translated into regulated behavior, and how motivation and cognition are linked.

These theories can provide insights into the leader who is trying to motivate others to follow. It must be understood that no two people are motivated in the same way. For a committee with a small number of members, it may be best to look at each person and define how he or she is best motivated and then put these different individuals into groups and decide what can be the specific motivator for each group.

For example, those individuals who are extrinsically motivated may be motivated if they receive some form of gratitude from the principal. In order to determine the particular motivations of these individuals, it may be necessary to talk one-on-one with each person or fill out questionnaires that elicit the necessary information. By asking certain questions.