Introduction
Intrinsic career self management is closely linked with motivation, inspiration, and the opportunity to communicate with other team members. The aim of this paper is to analyze the key elements of career motivation defined by Quigley and Tymon (2006), and analyze the effectiveness of these components from the perspective of personal experience.
Four Components of Intrinsic Career Motivation
These components involve meaningfulness, choice, competence, and progress. The importance of these components is explained by Quigley and Tymon (2006), and it should be emphasized that it is often hard to meet the requirements of all four values. In general, the effect of these factors involves the increase of working effectiveness, as well as the desire to increase the effectiveness level. (Kipp, Amorose, 2008)
Meaningfulness component involves understanding of the aims and purposes of the work, and defines the proper direction of working development process. This also defines the trust to the managerial team, and the belief in the high aim of the entire process. (Dembo, 2000)
Choice component is the existence of the freedom of actions in achieving the goal. This may be regarded as one of the necessary components for effective working performance. Competence is the sphere of search: any business task is resolved by dividing it into smaller questions, and competence is the sphere, where workers search for the answers.
Progress is the final, and one of the most important motivators. Even if the previous components are absent, progress in resolving the stated problem motivates, and shows the effectiveness of the efforts applied.
The meaning of these components for me is based on the fact that intrinsic motivation is a matter of personal attitude towards the problem. As a rule, these four components are totally individual, as most are able to work without choice, while competence may be achieved by trainings, seminars, qualification improvement courses etc. As for me, meaningfulness and progress are the largest motivators, and if they are strong enough, the other components are secondary. ( Miller, 2010)
Strategies
It has been already emphasized that motivation is the matter of individual attitude towards the performed task. Therefore, the individual approach towards creating a motivation strategy is the key to the success. As a rule, career self-management principles, applied in the motivation strategies may help to improve motivational factors. However, general aspects of motivation strategy should be based on the intrinsic factors that are stated by Quigley and Tymon (2006). Hence, the basics of the self-motivation principles are associated with the statement that a motivated worker has enough skills, or desire for self-direction, he/she enjoys the work done, and a particular responsibility level may be imposed upon him/her. The strategy that I could be engaged in is based on the general motivation principles, and, considering the fact that to my mind progress and meaningfulness are the key motivational factors, the most effective self-management strategy will be based on explaining the goals of the assignment, and showing the progress of the achievements. The most important and effective will be the teamwork. The other team members can define the values of the assignments and missions, and the progress is assessed better within the team. It is considered that peer pressure, and the competition moment factors are rather effective for motivation, additionally, this helps manager to regulate the process, hence, the progress will be higher.
Another strategy is the personal involvement into the working process. This does not mean solely mechanical involvement, as clear understanding of the goals is the first component of the self-management. In the light of this fact, it should be stated that this strategy will be ineffective without proper definition of the goals, and effectiveness of motivation will be essentially higher if the range of achievement tools is increased.
The strategies that have been already implemented for increasing the intrinsic motivation are based on the same four components; however, choice and competence elements are modified. Hence, choice is not offered, as the achievement tools are restricted essentially, while initiative is useless. Therefore, this component is improved by dividing the responsibility spheres, and the opportunity to join any group. Hence, the opportunity of choice is still available. As for competence, young team workers do not have sufficient experience for solving most of the tasks; however, everyone is encouraged to increase the competency by attending seminars, communicating with colleagues, or just collecting web-available information.
Another strategy is based on mutual exchange motivation. This is less effective, as it is not simply intrinsic motivator: this involves some extrinsic factors such as interaction with the top-manager, as well as the involvement into the fine-reward system. In the light of this fact, it should be stated that the actual importance of self-motivation strategies is explained by the opportunity to increase self-discipline level.
Conclusion
Self motivation is based on four main components: meaningfulness, choice, competence, and progress. In general, meaningfulness and progress may be regarded as the most effective, while the others should be either modified, or complemented with additional motivational factors. Therefore, the strategies implemented involve all the four components in various proportions.
Reference List
Dembo, M. H. 2000. Motivation and Learning Strategies for College Success A Self-Management Approach. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kipp, L., & Amorose, A. J. 2008. Perceived Motivational Climate and Self-Determined Motivation in Female High School Athletes. Journal of Sport Behavior, 31(2), 108.
Miller, J. W. 2010. Motivation to Self-Regulatory Associations: Controlling the Effect of Anxiety. College Student Journal, 44(2), 433.
Quigley, N.R. & Tymon, W.G. 2006 Toward an Integrated Model of Intrinsic Motivation & Career Self-Management. Career Development International, 11:6, pp. 522-543.