Leadership and Motivation: Three Cognitive Theories Leaders Must Know

An overview article of the must know and must apply motivation theories useful in leadership.

It's difficult to do things differently as the following story illustrates.

A lead hardware engineer, a lead software engineer, and their project manager are taking a walk outdoors during their lunch break when they come upon an old brass lamp. They pick it up and dust it off. Poof--out pops a genie.

"Thank you for releasing me from my lamp-prison. I can grant you 3 wishes. Since there are 3 of you I will grant one wish to each of you."

The hardware engineer thinks a moment and says, "I'd like to be sailing a yacht across the Pacific, racing before the wind, with an all-girl crew."

"It is done," said the Genie, and poof, the hardware engineer disappears.

The software engineer thinks a moment and says, "I'd like to be riding my Harley with a gang of beautiful women throughout the American Southwest."

"It is done," said the Genie, and poof, the software engineer disappears.

The project manager looks at where the other two had been standing and rubs his chin in thought. Then he tells the Genie, "I'd like those two back in the office after lunch."

Harnessing human motivation is a core competency of the transformational leader. Unlike managers who tend to rely on authority to make things happen inside organizations, the transformational leader harnesses the power inherent in human motivation.

I remember a few years ago sitting in a class on human motivation with a professor who forced us to read about every published theory on motivation published in the scholarly journals over the past 70 years. Finally, toward the end of the class one courageous (and desperate) student went ahead and asked him, "Of the many theories we have covered, which two or three are the most important to learn and to apply?"

The professor gave an ambiguously ambiguous answer which went, "They are all important since each one has been thoroughly researched." While a correct answer, it was also completely useless. This led to my search for a set of theories that one can learn and apply in the real world.

Within the world of psychology, there are two general schools of thought regarding motivation. The first school is called the behaviorist school. Those who hold this philosophy are not interested in black box of the human mind--they focus on observable behavior.

The contrasting school of thought are the motivational theories within the field of cognitive psychology. In this area there are many, many theories that take into account factors such as needs, beliefs, scripts, schemas, volition, attitudes, values etc.

On the cognitive side of things, three models are worth knowing: needs, equity, and expectancy theories. Many have run across Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, but one especially important need theory is known McClelland's Learned Needs.

Need For Power, Need For Affiliation, Need For Achievement

McClelland felt that certain needs are not preprogrammed into the body via the genes, but learned from the environment. We learn to affiliate (or not affiliate) with people, how to exercise power, and how to be achievement oriented. Because these needs are learned, McClelland would teach need for achievement, something associated with success in various fields of endeavor. It’s believed, for example, that need for achievement is one of the primary motive forces driving entrepreneurs to start a business.

Equity Theory

Adam’s lays the groundwork to understand why people perceive something as fair or unfair. This is a most serious issue for management, not to appear to have favorites and treat people the way they want to be treated.

Expectancy Theory

This approach focuses on the beliefs that influence effort and performance. For example, when if one believes that one's efforts result in a certain level of performance associated with a desired reward, likely one will take action. Of course, the exact opposite is also true. A low correlation between effort, performance and reward breeds inaction

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