There are many motivational theories out there. I will summarize a few important ones:

1) Maslow's Hierarchy of needs:

This is a famous theory of motivation with explains that people search firstly to fulfill their physiological needs such as food and shelter before they can climb up the ladder. The next steps would be to fulfill safety needs, social needs, and then esteem needs. Only once these are all satisfied, a person can then try to satisfy their need to self-actualize which means for them to have morality, creativity, problem solving skills.

This can be translated to a person finding a challenging career which will help them feel worthwhile and that their job brings them self-worth.

Weakness: Some studies show that people do not rank their needs. Other theories say that not all people search for self-actualization - so the theory would fall apart since the goal of the motivation theory is for a person to keep on bettering themselves so that they could reach this ultimate goal. His theory is also very complex
Strength: It tries to encompass all types of traits in this theory, and it helps show how people can grow and become stronger, more self-assured and confident people.

2) ERG Theory
Clayton Alderfer extended and simplified Maslow's Hierarchy into a shorter set of three needs: Existence, Relatedness and Growth (hence 'ERG'). Unlike Maslow, he did not see these as being a hierarchy, but being more of a continuum.

Existence means that the person wants to stay alive and safe. Relatedness helps people cover their social needs. Growth is the highest level and when a person seeks to grow, they want to be creative and they then feel a sense of achievement and fulfillment.

Strength: This is a much simpler model, and the model is not hieratical in nature, but it is circular, you don't have to achieve one need before you can move on to the next level.

Weaknesses: The definitions of needs are vague so it is difficult to assess to what extent they are satisfied. As well, individual differences mean the theory cannot predict which of the many strategies an individual will select to satisfy a particular need.

3) Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Theories of motivation

These are very psychological in nature, but have a large impact on the way that people behave.

The extrinsic theory states that people will work hard to please others. There are external threats that the person must overcome, and they work hard to get over these obstacles. For example, if an employee is slacking, their boss might give them a warning saying that they could get fired. Thus, the employee has extrinsic motivation to work harder so that they do not lose their job.

Extrinsic could also be positive - an employee is working towards getting a big bonus, so if they work hard, they will get money.

Intrinsic theory of motivation is different, because it places the person's reasons for working hard internally. For example, an employee will work hard and put in many hours on a project because they want to feel self-worth, and they want to prove to themselves that they can do it.

Strengths: this theory works to explain why people act in the way they do, and it very logical and follows human nature.

Weaknesses: There is a paradox of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is far stronger a motivator than extrinsic motivation, yet external motivation can easily act to displace intrinsic motivation.

4) Goal setting theory of motivation

This theory states that humans create goals for themselves that fall into 3 categories:
? Clear (not vague) and understandable, so we know what to do and what not to do.
? Challenging, so we will be stimulated and not be bored.
? Achievable, so we are unlikely to fail.

If we set our own goals, then we will be motivated to set challenging goals that we work hard to fulfill. If a manager sets a goal for us that we find reasonable, it is also challenging and causes an employee to work hard. As we go along trying to fulfill the goals, we receive feedback. This is very motivating - if we receive positive feedback then we know that we are on the right track, and that we are working towards competing our goal.. If we receive constructive negative feedback, then we know how we can improve ourselves, and what we can do to eventually reach our goals.

Strengths: these goals come internally, and since they are set by the person, it becomes a personal challenge to complete the goals. This is very motivating, and encompasses many human traits.

Weaknesses: some people are very lazy, and do not even set goals for themselves. The theory does not speak to these people.

For a manager of training and development, maybe the intrinsic motivational theory would work. People in this role want to feel good about themselves, and feel worthwhile that they can make a difference. Trainers work hard to help to teach skills to employees, and if the trainers can feel good about themselves that they trained an exceptionally difficult employee, or that they made a breakthrough with an employee who was having issues, it would be very fulfilling for them. It would be a great motivational factor. Especially if the trainers are well paid, then the extrinsic factors will be only an undercurrent.

Another good theory would be the goal setting theory. The manager is trying to motivate their employees. If the manager asks the employees to set their own goals (i.e help a new employee learn how to use product yyy) then the employee will be motivated to fulfill this goal. As well, if the manager provides feedback (both positive and negative) during the process then the employee will feel motivated to continue completing their goal. In turn, the trainers can then motivate the common employees in the same way, buy giving them goals (figure out how to use component 1.2 before the next seminar).