Mc CLELLAND'S THREE MOTIVES

An individual is unpredictable. Psychologists have always worked and studied the complex human behavior - the behavior which he himself often fails to explain.

In the work environment the task assigned to a worker can be repetitive or creative. That may feel as a duty or an accomplishment. Whatever it might be, an individual acts or behaves in multivariate manner in his workplace. And his behaviors are certainly influenced by his motives, experiences, social equations and cognitive functioning.

As, the work of an Industrial Psychologist is to predict and study the employees behavior in his workplace, the cause of the same is also essential to identify.

The human behavior is at least guided by a single motive at a time. So, working upon those complex motivations are one of the important agenda.

Motivation is a complicated phenomenon. And has been described by many psychologists in various forms overtime. In the field of organizational behavior motivation and need theories have always played an essential role. The popular Need theories which we often read about are delivered by Maslow, Alderfer, Herzberg, Mc Gregor and McClelland.

McClelland in his theory of Motivation talked about three forms of motives - power, achievement and affiliation.

Need for Power (n pow): The desire to control others is the key explanation here. The urge to control and manipulate others' behavior and to achieve personalized and socialized power. An individual with high n pow will control others, work to have an impact on people around and will use other people to accomplish his motives.

Need for Achievement (n ach): The need for excellence is the priority of every individual with high n ach. The tendency is to overcome challenges and reach goals either set by others or by the individual himself. They work upon obstacles and persist on their behavior to achieve the predetermined goals.

Need for Affiliation (n aff): The desire to posses satisfying relationships is the core of need for affiliation. The characteristics of forming and continuing close relationships, getting accepted by people around and to belong to them are seen in people with high need for affiliation.