Theories of Human Motivation - Essay Example

 Human resource management is a multivariate concept that has many directional approaches. Two main theoretical approaches do exist scientific management and human relations movement. Scientific management seeks to understand the potentiality of each individual in expanding assigned duties. Therefore, work processes should be structured such that all human resource potential is optimized and work output maximized. On the other hand, the human relations movement advocates for the study of human resource as a group concerning motivation, socialization, and gratification in the endeavour of improving work productivity.

Managers study motivation behavior in order to optimize human resource towards achieving organizations’ set objectives. Different workers respond differently to motivation. This makes management a complex endeavor since different workers will follow different motivational patterns or fall under different motivational theories. This necessitates managers to study motivational behavior (Gupta n.d).