Characteristics of Motivation

1. Psychological Process: Motivation is a psychological process that drives individual needs, desires and motives. It is an internal state that guides the individual behavior.

2. Complex and Unpredictable: Motivating an individual is a complex process and it is also difficult to predict behavior due to individual differences.

3. Continuous process: Motivating individuals is a continuous process. Once an individual is motivated, another one emerges.

4. Situational: Motivation depends on the situation and may differ from person to person and time to time.

5. Pervasive: Motivation is the task of all levels of managers. They need to motivate subordinates for higher productivity.

6. Goal Oriented: Motivation always leads to action. It involves effort to achieve goals.

7. Positive or Negative: Motivation can be positive as well as negative. Positive motivation is based on incentives and reward for better performance. Negative motivation is based on punishment for poor performance.

8. Intrinsic or Extrinsic: Motivation is intrinsic if it is self-generated. It is extrinsic if generated by external incentives such as money or generated by external influences.