Extrinsic Motivation

In the workplace employees aim at achieving different goals during their time at the job,
while some work on improving their skills and pleasing their superiors others work to make
money or receive the most bonuses. Extrinsic motivation is the type of driving factor that aims at
compensating employees for the work they do. According to Ismail and Al-Nakkache (2014)
extrinsic motivation is the emotional state that employees attain from external rewards such as
bonuses and promotions. In an organization motivation through extrinsic factors can be a helpful
tool that can be used to stimulate employees to achieve an organizations goals. Although
extrinsic motivation can achieve desirable results in the short it can become detrimental to an
organization in the long run. According to most studies conducted on factors of motivation,
successful extrinsic motivation relies on three main aspects: types of extrinsic motivation, forms
of extrinsic motivation, and moderation.
Forms of Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation can be divided into multiple sub-groups; each of these sub-groups
can be used to explain the type of motivational factor affecting the individual doing the task. The
study conducted by Deci and Ryan in 2002, extrinsic motivation can be sub divided into the
following groups: External regulation, Introjection, Identification, and Integration. External
regulation is a type of extrinsic motivation in which individuals perform tasks to receive the
rewards offered or avoid punishment. Introjection is the form of motivation where an individual
undertakes a task out of fear of being judged by others. Both External regulation and introjection
arise from external factors that motivate an individual either positively or negatively. On the
other hand identification and integration are types of extrinsic motivators that arise due to
internal considerations for self-improvement. Identification according to Deci and Ryan occurs

when an individual identifies the personal importance of a behavior and thus accepts its
regulation as his or her own (2002). Integration is a form of extrinsic motivation where the
individual adjusts themselves with their goals in order to achieve something external.
Types of Extrinsic Motivation
In the workplace managers can use multiple tools to motivate their employees and
increase productivity. Monetary incentives include salary bonuses, stock options, benefits, and
pad vacations. These types of motivators are important in the workplace since they show
employees that the firm has noticed their work. By maintaining a uniform level of extrinsic
incentives the firm can continue motivating employees to their threshold without having negative
effects and backfiring.
Moderation
Moderation, an important aspect of life, should be applied wherever necessary to achieve
optimal results. Not only should individuals be moderate in their lives, firms too should be
moderate when it comes to motivating their employees with monetary incentives. Although
monetary encouragements may be a great form of motivating employees, research has shown
that too much of these forms of monetary encouragements can become detrimental to the firms
employing such plans. Through the use extrinsic motivation employees become inclined to do
their jobs in any way possible in order to receive the rewards. Another major consequence of
financial incentives is the creation of inequalities in wages among workers that inevitably harm
the firm or organization. The boy paid for mowing the lawn has not only less intrinsic
motivation to do that work, but also is unwilling to do any other housework for free"(Widdows,

2000). Here Widdows describes how an individuals innate desire for wealth leads them to do the
jobs just for the gains.
Conclusion