What role does motivation actually play in teams?

Motivation is the key concept when it comes to the question of why a person pursues a certain goal and how persistently this person does so. Teams are usually only formed once both, the goals and the time required to achieve them, have been determined. Does this mean that motivation plays only a subordinate role in teamwork?

It is worth taking a closer look at some fundamental aspects of individual performance motivation. The work of US psychologist Bernard Weiner points the way forward. His Attribution Theory of Motivation provides important explanations of the pursuit of success, the associated causal beliefs and the corresponding emotions.

For example, if a team has successfully completed a difficult task, the team members will regularly attribute the success to their own abilities. The associated emotion is pride. If, on the other hand, the task has a low level of difficulty, the team members are more likely to attribute the success to external favorable circumstances and consequently develop no particular pride. Differently high expectations at the start of a task lead usually to different evaluations of the corresponding solution. These evaluations also include the ability to control the working conditions - both external (e.g. a set deadline) and internal (e.g. once own ability to concentrate).

However, a team's motivation is not only determined by task difficulty, expectations and the controllability of working conditions. From a broader perspective, the attitudes of each team member also play a role, regardless of the individual expectation of a specific team result. In other words, does a team member see more the possible risks or bank on the great team success? Although attitudes are time-stable they are also influenced by the individual's intentions and world knowledge, i.e. above all a person's experience and contextual knowledge.

While there is usually sufficient clarity in teams on intentions, the situation is inconsistent when it comes to world knowledge. The experience of an older team member can, for example, contrast strongly with the success orientation of a younger team member who is completely in action mode. Teams often tend to handle such conflicts as pure “material conflicts”. However, as they regularly involve rival attitudes of different people, such conflicts cannot be resolved by applying objective criteria, but require professional conflict management.

The coopartner check-ups offer suitable short-term support, especially for team leaders who want to achieve better motivation of their team through a deeper understanding of their own role. More information at https://www.coopartner.de/en/check-ups