Introduction
The building blocks of self-determination theory include autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This theory postulates that people are inherently curious and look for choice in their pursuits. Of the three fundamental needs, relatedness has the most substantial contribution to the motivation of individuals compared to autonomy and competence.
Autonomy
The difference between autonomy and independence is that independent people strictly prefer to work alone, while autonomous people either perform tasks alone or work with others in a team. Autonomy enables one feel a sense of ownership of their behavior, making the individual creative to performs better at work, and has positive psychotherapy outcomes (Wang et al., 2019). A task becomes meaningful to a person if they have the autonomy to execute the task in their inventive ways. Autonomy is unfavorably related to job-family dispute, work instability, role stressors, duty, and psychological clamors.
Competence
Most of the time, individuals look for ways to control outcomes, and this control enables them to have mastery over a particular task. There is a direct relationship between competence and positive feedback in that provision of unexpected positive feedback results in an increase in the intrinsic motivation to complete a task. Competence makes one feel capable of achieving set goals, and it also breeds self-confidence (Wang et al., 2019). It is also negatively related to work-family conflict, role stressors, job insecurity, emotional demands, and workload.
Relatedness
Human beings are inherently social beings, and they tend to interact with other people. Social connections and caring for others demonstrate the concept of relatedness. According to self-determination theory, relatedness is essential for individuals, contributing to intrinsic motivation (Wang et al., 2019). For instance, studies have found that cold and uncaring teachers to children in school make them lack intrinsic motivation to study and perform well in the classroom and extracurricular activities.. Relatedness is negatively related to work-family conflict, job insecurity, and role stressors. An individual’s behavior is determined by their psychological health, which is influenced by the fulfilment of the desire for relatedness, autonomy and competence.
Assessment of the Importance of Acquired Needs
The first one is the need for achievement, the second one is the need for power, and the third one is the need for affiliation. The acquired needs theory is used to comprehend employees’ needs and formulate a strategy for motivating employees in the organization (Bhattacharya & Mittal, 2020).Knowing the acquired need of an individual enables a reasonably accurate prediction of how that person will perform in a specific job. For example, people with an elevated desire to achieve prefer occupations with personal responsibility, criticism, and an intermediate degree of peril (Bhattacharya & Mittal, 2020). High achievers will be highly motivated when these characteristics are present.
This is especially true in large consortiums where persons with a big achievement need are captivated by how deftly they do personally and not inspiring colleagues to do well. Management success is most of the time associated with the need for affiliation and power. The top managers are soaring in their desire for power and stunted in their need for affiliation (Bhattacharya & Mittal, 2020). Ultimately, workers have been sufficiently trained to invigorate their achievement need. Additionally, trainers have been effective in instructing people to contemplate in terms of attainments, winning, and success.
The ability of each individual to make their own choices independently and take charge of their own life plays a significant role in well-being and psychological health. Self-determination influences motivation, enabling persons to feel like they have unlimited control over their lives and choices. People are constantly driven by the desire for growth, and this desire for growth drives behavior. In conclusion, according to self-determination theory, people need to feel autonomy, competence, and relatedness to achieve psychological growth that drives behavior.
References
Bhattacharya, S., & Mittal, P. (2020). The impact of individual needs on employee performance while teleworking1. Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal, 14(5), 65-85. Web.
Wang, C. K. J., Liu, W. C., Kee, Y. H., & Chian, L. K. (2019). Competence, autonomy, and relatedness in the classroom: Understanding students’ motivational processes using the self-determination theory. Heliyon, 5(7), e01983. Web.