BUSS2000 · Leading And Influencing In Business
Motivation & Goal-Setting
Motivation is 'what gets you started and what keeps you going,' and this chapter gives you the unit's flagship lens — self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci) — alongside goal-setting (SMART), self-efficacy, the power of small wins, and meaningful work. In the reflective exam, self-determination theory is the instructor-named exemplar for diagnosing a team-motivation slump: name the three needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness), show which were missing, and map each to a fix. It is examined by application — using the theory as a lens that generates actions, not a definition to recite.
What this chapter covers
- 01Motivation = direction, intensity and persistence of effort
- 02Goal-setting theory → SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)
- 03Self-efficacy (Bandura lineage): mastery, vicarious experience, persuasion, physiological state
- 04Self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci): the intrinsic–extrinsic continuum
- 05The three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, relatedness
- 06Autonomous extrinsic motivation — why 'this work matters' still counts
- 07Power of small wins (Amabile & Kramer 2011); meaningful work / job crafting (Wrzesniewski & Dutton 2001)
Diagnose a motivation slump with self-determination theory
- +1Name the lens and the three needs: "Self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci) says self-determined motivation depends on autonomy, competence and relatedness — so I checked each."
- +1Diagnose autonomy: tasks had been dictated top-down, so he had no control. Fix → let him pick the sub-task he most wanted to own (restores autonomy).
- +2Diagnose competence: he was unsure how to do the data analysis. Fix → pair him with a stronger member for a quick early result — the power of small wins (Amabile & Kramer 2011) rebuilds competence.
- +1Diagnose relatedness: he was working alone and disconnected. Fix → schedule a shared working session so he feels part of the team again (restores relatedness).
- +1Evaluate: once all three needs were met his engagement returned — and the lesson is that a 'lazy' teammate is often an unmet-needs problem, not a character flaw.
Key terms
- Motivation
- What gets you started and keeps you going — the direction, intensity and persistence of effort. BUSS2000 treats it as something a leader can shape by changing conditions (needs, goals, progress), not just an individual's fixed trait.
- Goal-setting theory → SMART
- Specific and difficult-but-attainable goals, with feedback and commitment, drive higher performance (Locke & Latham lineage), operationalised as SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. Vague goals ('do my best') under-motivate.
- Self-efficacy (Bandura lineage)
- Your belief in your capacity to execute a specific task. It is built from mastery experiences, vicarious experience (seeing similar others succeed), verbal persuasion and physiological state, and it drives effort and persistence in the face of setbacks.
- Self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci)
- The unit's flagship motivation theory: motivation sits on a continuum from amotivation through external, introjected, identified and integrated to intrinsic. Self-determined motivation arises when three basic needs are met.
- The three basic psychological needs
- Autonomy (control over what you do), competence (feeling effective) and relatedness (belonging). Meet all three and motivation becomes intrinsic and durable; starve any one and motivation collapses — which makes the triad a ready-made diagnostic.
- Power of small wins (Amabile & Kramer 2011)
- Visible progress on meaningful work is the single biggest day-to-day booster of intrinsic motivation. Engineering an early small win is a practical lever for rebuilding a teammate's (or your own) competence and momentum.
Motivation & Goal-Setting FAQ
Why is self-determination theory the go-to motivation lens in this unit?
Because it is both well-evidenced and immediately actionable: its three needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness) turn 'why is someone unmotivated?' into a checklist that generates fixes. The Week-13 webinar names it as an exemplar theory for the reflective exam, and it applies cleanly to the BUSS2000 team experience that Q1 asks about.
Isn't extrinsic motivation always worse than intrinsic?
Not necessarily. Self-determination theory distinguishes controlled extrinsic motivation (doing something only for a reward or to avoid punishment) from autonomous extrinsic motivation, where the work feels personally important even if it is not inherently fun. Autonomous extrinsic motivation is still beneficial — so the goal is to move motivation along the continuum toward autonomy, not to demand pure intrinsic motivation.
What can and can't money do for motivation?
Monetary rewards (Aguinis, Joo & Gottfredson 2013) can support performance when designed well, but they do not reliably create intrinsic motivation and can undermine it if they feel controlling. The more durable levers are meeting the three needs, setting good goals, building self-efficacy and engineering small wins — money is a tool with limits, not a substitute for those.
How do SMART goals and self-determination theory fit together?
SMART goals give direction and feedback (the goal-setting layer), while self-determination theory explains the energy behind pursuing them (the needs layer). A good answer often chains them: a goal that the person chose (autonomy), that stretches but is achievable (competence), and that ties to people they care about (relatedness) is both SMART and self-determined.
Exam move
Anchor this chapter on self-determination theory because it is the highest-yield motivation lens for both the exam and the team experience. Memorise the three needs as a diagnostic and practise the need → diagnosis → fix chain on real situations until it is reflexive. Keep goal-setting (SMART) and self-efficacy as supporting moves you can chain in, and keep 'power of small wins' as your go-to lever for rebuilding competence. For Design the Future YOU and the exam, rehearse one personal motivation slump you can narrate with all three needs. On the A4 sheet, write 'SDT: autonomy / competence / relatedness → fix each' plus a trigger phrase for your example.
