Get Motivated in Just a Minute

Work motivation is one of the most widely research topics in I/O psychology. If you surveyed managers and asked them to list the most difficult aspects of their jobs, odds that the majority would mention difficulties in motivating workers as a particular problem. Look around you at work and in school. You will see some people who seem to put more energy and drive into their work, and others who try to get by with minimal effort. When we begin to infer some underlying process of effort, energy, or drive, we are trying to capture the elusive construct of motivation. Obviously, in any work settings there will be tremendous individual differences in the motivation to work.