Theoretical Considerations on Job Motivation, Job Satisfaction and Work Performance

Job motivation is a very important aspect both for employees - as work represents the central area of human activity, since people spend most of their adult life in a state of employment - and for employers, due to the direct implications of motivation on performance. Viewed in the context of work, motivation can be defined as the degree of availability of the employees to become involved in their work and to make sustained effort in order to meet some professional objectives, which can be defined individually or organizationally. In this context, motivation can be considered a result of the interdependence between the individual and the organizational context where he/she works, rather than a result of the prevailing individual motivations. As concerns performance, it is obvious that there motivation and performance are mutually conditioned. It is believed that, when there is an overlap of individual expectations and organizational requirements, there is also a chance of obtaining professional performance; in the opposite case, performance is more difficult to obtain and/or maintain. It is certain that any manager looks for employees that are involved in their activity, but it is less obvious whether managers also look for properly motivated employees. Another major aspect is the fact that people are not always motivated in their work, although most people look for activities that will stimulate them from the point of view of professional fulfillment. Thus, there are also people who are motivated by many other activities, but not by the work they do as employees in a company. The place given to work may be a secondary one in the hierarchy of their individual motivations, even if work comes first in the order of material needs. This fact is rather generated by the attitude component of human behaviour, which is shaped through education and influenced by culture (the mentality towards work). This is one of the reasons for using some instruments for evaluating motivation in the professional context; these instruments can sense motivational dimensions located rather at the attitude pole of the personality, with a direct influence on individuals' performance. In a company's management, the true meaning of the employees' actions and behaviour can only be discovered based on the knowledge of the reasons and motives that have generated them. Knowing the reasons not only helps increase action efficiency and the possibility of explaining and predicting human behaviour, but it also helps to decode its moral value.