Motivation is defined as “energetic forces that originate both within as well as beyond an individual’s being that influence the initiation, direction, intensity, and duration of action” (Pinder, 1998, p.11).

Motivation is “the inner force that directs individuals in reaching a target with purposive actions” (Tevrüz et al., 1999, p. 57). When a person becomes thirsty, he or she looks for water (or other substitutes), or he works hard when wants to be successful are counted as examples of motivated behaviors. Based on these two definitions, motivated behavior is said to be a three-level process; • Inner force which directs person towards the goal (intensity) • Purposive actions to attain the goal (direction) • Reaching the goal persistently (persistence) (Robbins and Judge, 2012).

Secondary motives are the core of motivation theories. They are learned needs which should be elaborated clearly. When an employee’s level of motivation is concerned, managers work with secondary motives more than primary ones

Content theories are different from process theories in taking motivation as a concept. Content theories emphasize the significance of individuals’ needs and their impact upon behavior. Process theories on the other side focus on the way motivation takes place

X and Y Theory is important in respect to managers’ different behaviors. Each manager can choose to act in a different way whether focusing on results or process. X Theory focuses on more contingent situations, Y theory on the other hand emphasizes individual needs on motivation.

McClelland (1965) defined motives as “affectively toned associative networks” arranged in a hierarchy of strength or importance within a given individual”(p.322). He and his associates developed three groups of needs; Need for Achievement, Need for Power and Need for Affiliation

Alderfer (1972) is inspired by Maslow’s theory and tried to adopt it into work settings. He defined three needs which reflects the letter of the theory; existence (E), relatedness (R) and growth (G).

Effort (E) to Performance (P) (expectancy)

Performance (P) to Outcome (O)

Outcome Valances

Adams (1963) developed Equity theory based on perceived inequity that individuals experience. According to him, any exchange between two people includes comparison and possible feeling of inequity at least for one party. Adams defined inequity as; “Inequity exists for Person whenever he perceives that the ratio of his outcomes to inputs and the ratio of Other’s outcomes to Other’s inputs are unequal. This may happen either (a) when he and Other are in a direct exchange relationship or (b) when both are in an exchange relationship with a third party and Person compares himself to Other (p. 424)”. The Other should be similar to the Person in terms of demographics, positions and other credentials to make a relevant comparison.

Locke and Latham developed the theory based on their research. Their research is built upon Ryan’s (1970) premise that ‘conscious goals predict action’. A goal is defined as ‘object or aim of an action’ (Locke and Latham, 2002, p.705). They proposed that motivation is related with the intention of the individual to work towards the goal.

Cognitive Evaluation theory is the baseline of Self-Determination theory. It is developed to highlight extrinsic-intrinsic rewards balance determining employee motivation. Self-determination theory than extended it to elaborate the types of needs in identfying extrinsic-intrinsic reward balance.

Enactive (Personal) Mastery

Vicarious Modeling

Social Persuasion

Arousal (Physiological Feedback):

Hackman and Oldham (1976) developed the job characteristics model (JCM) that includes five core job dimensions in designing jobs:

Skill variety

Task identity

Task significance

Autonomy

Feedback

Job enrichment is adding tasks vertically to the job description of the employees. Vertically expanding the job adds supervision authority covering planning, execution and controlling of the work. An enriched job enables individuals to control the whole process of their work, responsibility and ultimately feedback about their results

Telecommuting is an arrangement aiming to decrease office spaces. Employees do their job outside the organization whether at home or other possible places at least 2 working days. It diminishes the requirements which the formal organizations impose for their employees such as start-end time, dress codes, break and lunch time etc. The employee must connect the organization with a computer to follow the job processes and provide information.

Job sharing is a method enabling employees to split a full-day work (40 hours a week). They can share the day (morning to noon and 1pm to 5 pm) or week (Monday-Wednesday and ThursdaySaturday). Individuals can arrange their time schedules based on their availability.

Job rotation is periodic shifting of an employee from one task to another (Robbins and Judge, 2012). The shifted task requires the similar skill requirements in the same level of the organization. For example, manufacturing companies use rotation in different steps of their production processes. This helps employees to see the process from a whole perspective rather than a single one. It also helps to decrease boredom, increase motivation and meaning for the job.

There are three types of justice; distributive, procedural and interactional. Distributive justice is the perceived fairness of the outcomes received by the employees. Procedural justice is the perceived fairness of the procedures and methods used in deciding the allocation of resources. Interactional justice is the perceived fairness of thetreatment individuals receive(Colquittet al., 2001).

The relationship between equity theory and organizational justice provides a significant baseline in understanding employees’ behavior at work. According to research, fair distribution of resources (distributive justice), designing the procedures in a fair way (procedural justice) and act respectfully (interactional justice) bring positive work outcomes. In fair context, employees are motivated to be more satisfied with their jobs, more committed to the company, engage organizational citizenship behavior, behave more customer friendly and intent to leave less as well as opposite results might be received in unfair situations (Aquino et al., 1997; Demir, 2011).