Motivation part 2: The motivation continuum

Sources:

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. New York: Guilford Press.

Ryan, & Deci. (2000). Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being. American Psychologist, 68-78.

Deci, E. L., Olafsen, A. H., & Ryan, R. M. (2017). Self-Determination Theory in Work Organizations: The State of a Science. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 19-43.

Vansteenkiste, M., Soenens, B., Verstuyf, J., & Lens, W. (2009). What is the usefulness of your schoolwork? The differential effects of intrinsic and extrinsic goal framing on optimal learning. Theory and Research in Education, 7(2), 155 - 163.

Vallerand, R., Pelletier, L., Blais, M., & Briere, N. (1992). THe academic Motivation Scale: A Measure of intrinsic, extrinsic and amotivation in education. Educational and Psychological Measurement 52(4), 1003 - 1017.

Amabile, T., Hennessey, B., & Grossman, B. (1986). Social influences on creativity: The effects of contracted-for reward. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50(1), 14 - 23.

Baard, P., Deci, E., & Ryan, R. (2004). Intrinsic Need Satisfaction: A motivational basis of performance and well-being in two work settings. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34, 2045 - 2068.

Rigby, C. S., & Ryan, R. M. (2018). Self-Determination Theory in Human Resource Development: New Directions and Practical Considerations. Advances in Developing Human resources, pp. 133 - 147.

In the first article of this 2 part series (at least for now just 2 parts) we looked at our basic psychological needs. From that starting point we can now continue to see how this translates to the quality of our motivation on a day-to-day basis. Within SDT we call this the organismic integration theory but to make it a little bit easier we will speak about the motivation continuum. At least it sounds pretty cool right?

The motivation continuum gives us an overview of where our motivation comes from and focuses on the quality of this motivation. We talked about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation as mentioned in part one, but will also introduce a new term: autonomous motivation. 

If we look into more detail we can distinguish 3 main quality forms of motivation:
- Amotivation
- Extrinsic motivation
- Intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic & Extrinsic we already covered in the first article and we will dive more into detail in a bit. Amotivation means a full lack of motivation. We often speak, especially in the Netherlands, of demotivating (or in Dutch gedemotiveerd), but if you think about it a negative form of motivation does not make sense. You will simply be motivated to do something else.

As already mentioned we will mostly focus on extrinsic motivation since this is where it becomes interesting. Because an intrinsically motivated person will perform the task continuously out of his own free will and an amotivated individual will do nothing no matter what you say. Our level of influence over our motivation and that of others mostly lies in the extrinsic part.

For internalization to work we have to meet these 3 criteria. Internalization in this context roughly means: Making it our own. At first we need to perceive that we are in control which will fulfill our autonomy need. We know that when we see the importance of the goals, values & regulations we will identify with the given tasks as part of our general tasks & work. This gives us a perception of being in control. Even though we cannot decide if we want to do the task, we can decide that we agree with it, and that feels like it is our own.

The environment is also very important because we need to feel effective in it. If we are effective and competent in an environment we will much sooner do things out of our own will because we understand why it needs to be done and can do it. If we do not understand it or don't have the capability how should we act out of our own motivation?

The need for relatedness as such will also play a pivotal role in internalization. Through our need for relatedness, we will assimilate other cultural practices and values faster if we want to belong to that group (Ryan & Deci, 2017).

We call it autonomous motivation when we are mostly internally motivated, and we call it controlled motivation when the initiation comes from the outside. As you can probably guess it is for yourself better if you are in an environment where you are more autonomously motivated. It has been associated with better performance and personal wellness (Deci & Ryan, 2000). 

How can you approach a situation for yourself when you notice you are mostly motivated with control measures? Well let's go back to our basic needs since we know that fulfillment of our basic needs leads to higher quality of motivation.

• Do you feel that you have a certain amount of control? Can you understand why you have to do your tasks at hand and can you see the importance also for you? If you cannot, maybe ask your manager about the reasons or try to find how this benefits you. If this still does not work you need to examine whether this place is your place to be. Maybe the workfield is not interesting for you at all or you think it should be approached differently.

• Do you find that you are competent enough to function in your environment? Do you understand everything and can you function on your own. If not, try to find coaching or training that can help you to the next level. For this point you will need to be able to take ownership of yourself since for a lot of people it is difficult to admit that you cannot function in this environment.

• And finally, can you relate to the people around you? I often see it with people who try new sports that they will not stick to it because they cannot relate to the people at their club or team. Maybe a different club or location is better for you with a different approach and different people? In the workplace this also comes down to company values and how people treat each other. Do you feel comfortable with this?

If you are a leader you will have a much better functioning team when the team members are autonomously motivated. Higher motivational quality has been associated with greater learning (Vansteenkiste, Soenens, Verstuyf, & Lens, 2009), persistence (Vallerand, Pelletier, Blais, & Briere, 1992), creativity (Amabile, Hennessey, & Grossman, 1986), and performance (Baard, Deci, & Ryan, 2004), among other positive outcomes (Rigby & Ryan, 2018). 

Deci & Ryan worked together with Olafsen(2017) to build a model for the workplace:

They figured out that the highest impact an employer can have is to facilitate the general needs of the employees in the workplace. They have to create a workplace context where autonomy, relatedness, and competence are supported. In the first article, we gave several tips for this. 

Next to this, we need to look at the individual differences within our team. Not every person is going to be motivated by a general workplace context in the same way. There are a lot of factors like personality, life phases, experiences, and how a person is feeling that particular day which can influence how you should approach an individual. Based on this you need to look at increasing their Perceived Locust of Control by properly explaining the reason why, increase their competence by coaching or offering training or see how you can improve their interactions with the team and make them feel part of this team. This will all lead to higher workplace performance and increased wellness (so also lower sickrates). 

We can see that the model speaks of regulation, introjection, identification and integration. This means that when we are not fully intrinsically motivated we are trying to internalize and integrate the social regulations (of the group we are in) of that group. In simpler words: We will try to make the rules of the group our own to function within this group. The reason why we focus mainly on groups is because if we are not intrinsically motivated to do it, why would we do it if there was no benefit for us in a group? 

The level of internalization is determined by a couple of factors:
- Our Perceived Locus of Control (How much autonomy do we have)?
- The environment in which we function:
- The people interacting in this environment.

This is all on motivation for now. Perhaps in the future, we will come back to the topic to discuss other mini theories or the connection with consciousness and mindfulness.

Are you interested in finding out more about these topics or have any questions, feel free to reach out.

As mentioned, intrinsic motivation comes from within ourselves and extrinsic motivation from the outside. Intrinsically motivated people will move, out of their thoughts and actions, towards new challenges, seek stimulation, and test limits for themselves (Ryan & Deci, 2017).

We can all think of the most obvious reason why being intrinsically motivated feels better since you are moving out of your own accord rather than being pushed or steered by others. Since this is not always the case we can use the motivational continuum to look into how we can elevate our quality of motivation and as leaders look into methods of motivating our team members. We will use a task that we don't want to do as our main example but think of it on a longer timebase. A part of your job that you don't like but have to do over and over or the workout that you dread every week and sometimes skip because you are not motivated.

When we are being motivated by others or are motivating others ourselves we will mostly likely do this based on social or formal rules that are wanted or needed within a group of people. For example: Doing a boring task at work is necessary for the company (social or formal rule) and doing this task will most likely not bring you fulfillment or joy. Now a single task in a day is not so interesting, but how do we keep this up motivation for a long period in a sustainable way?

We can look at the bigger picture and understand that it is necessary for the company, or understand that it is good for ourselves to also do the boring tasks since it belongs to our job. If we cannot motivate ourselves our manager might address us to do the task as promised or in the end might even threaten to punish us.

All of these can be reasons that will motivate you to perform the task that is necessary within your social group (work in this case). You can probably imagine that if you understand that you have to do this task it will be done more efficiently and with higher quality than if your manager has to address you on the topic. This is the basis of the motivational continuum as presented above. 

The self-determination continuum (Deci & Ryan, 2000)