Page 75 - CMA Journal (Jul-Aug 2026)

A r t ic le S ec t ion
A Case for Intrinsic Motivation
Indeed, motivation has a critical function in regulating maximizing his earnings
our lives and careers. It gives reason to our ambitions, is likely to do so by hook
energy to our pursuits, perseverance to our or crook. It is so because
commitment and courage to face hardships. In short, once rationality is
with motivation we move and without it we let go of hijacked by lust, greed
our lives. The good thing is that everyone is motivated, begins to control
however with a di erent manifestation. Some are cognition. Afterall, greed
intrinsically motivated, while others look for external is at the core of every
stimuli to get their motivation. The former drive unjust and unfair action,
motivation from the inner self i.e. clarity of purpose, for it alters cognition
conscience, values, sense of responsibility, self-esteem from reasoning to
and self-actualization, etc. The latter derive their rationalizing. Sohailuddin Alavi
motivation from their needs and seek satisfaction of Practicing Human Resources
and Organizational
the same in the external environment. Maslow makes On the contrary, an Development Professional
subtle distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic intrinsically motivated
motivation. In his famous Needs’-Hierarchy, he ranked person always remains focused on accomplishing the
lower order motivations like food, security and social task in the best possible manner, remains disciplined
needs as extrinsic, while he ranked higher order and acts responsibly. The outcome is obvious:
motivation like self-esteem and self-actualization as sustained motivation from inside.
intrinsic. Having said, necessity of advancing intrinsic
motivation cannot be over emphasized. Excitement vs. Motivation
Citations from the Noble Quran Another important distinction we need to make in our
pursuit of understanding motivation is excitement vs.
motivation. Often it is di cult to di erentiate between
“Have you ever considered the case of him who has the glittering gold and shining brass, for both are
taken his desires for his god? Can you take similar in appearance yet di erent in kind and
responsibility for guiding him to the Right Way?” properties. Likewise, the manifestation of excitement
Noble Quran, Surah Al Furqan Ayat 43.
could appear similar to motivation, yet the dynamics of
“Competition for more gains diverts you from Allah, the two remain poles apart. Let us explore the
until you end up in your graves”. Noble Quran, Surah di erences.
At Takathur, Ayat 1-2.
Any decision taken or action made impulsively lacks
Allah says, “Do not even cast your eyes towards reasoning. It is so because when excitement becomes
(crave for) the worldly adornments We have granted overwhelming, our cognitive reasoning is e ectively
to different kinds of people, nor grieve over the state eclipsed. For example, impulsive buying decisions,
they are in, but turn your loving attention to the halo e ect in recruitment decisions, compromise on
believers instead". Quran. Sura Al Hijir, Ayat 88.
principles for an exciting reward, etc. are common
behaviors we observe day-in day-out.
Earning livelihood is recognized as a primary Does money really motivate? Frederick Herzberg
responsibility, however, once it becomes purpose in presented Two-factor Motivation Theory. He
life, it tends to alter moral compass and behavior. In the suggested that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are
above citations Allah clearly downplays needs-driven independent of each other. Furthermore, he asserted
motivation. The obvious reason is that our needs (lust that economic well-being of employees a ects the
for gains) turn into our obsession, which e ectively (“Hygiene factors”). Hygiene factors are responsible for
shift our motivation from accomplishing what we have reducing dissatisfaction and employee retention but
to accomplish to satisfying our needs (lusts). For
example, an entrepreneur feeling obsessed with do not cause motivation.
ICMA’s Chartered Management Accountant, Jul-Aug 2026 73
Global research published in Harvard Business Review challenge, we need to use customer satisfaction
(HBR) concluded that money is a poor long-term analogy. We know that customers feel delighted rst
motivator, often failing to boost performance or time they are given an incentive. Quickly, their
response moves to must-be. In a short while customers
engagement. While competitive (fair) pay prevents
dissatisfaction. True motivation comes from inner self. demand even more. Similar is the case with employees,
Financial incentives in fact limit performance, an incentive excites them stat then in a short while
encourage unethical behavior, and undermine intrinsic they begin to consider it nothing unusual. Meaning it
motivation. no longer excite them and if withdrawn they become
Intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is built upon dissatis ed. Consequently, to keep motivating them,
clarity of purpose, conscience, values, sense of they demand even more. The sad part is there is no
responsibility, self-esteem and self-actualization, etc. limit to employees’ yawning expectations.
For instance, a student aiming to advance his career Secondly, it is important to take note that once an
would at his own choice sacri ce his leisure incentive is availed employees no longer feel
opportunities knowing that spending time on his compelled to walk an extra mile. Peter F. Drucker,
education is more important. Having said, intrinsic management writer, once argued that there should
motivation keeps the person focused on his purpose, remain a level of dissatisfaction in order to keep
lets him adhere to his values and entails reasoning employees motivated. Therefore, in extrinsic
before acting and last but not the least does not motivation scenario the need for direct supervision
require external supervision per se. becomes inevitably huge.
Practice in Contemporary Organizations Hopping jobs is yet another cost of excessive focus on
extrinsic motivation. Hopping from one employer to
Prevailing culture in organizations are largely driven by another was never so prevalent then today. So much so
extrinsic motivation, while intrinsic motivation has that HR managers who are supposed to reduce
gone in shadows. So much so that fun and excitement attrition in the organization, themselves are the victims
have practically replaced motivation in modern day of hopping culture. People may articulate a host of
social and work settings. Consequently, leaders in reasons but raise in compensation, however
social setting and managers in work setting naively rely insigni cant, is the most recurring factor underlying
on incentives that excite people rather than harnessing the decisions to change jobs. This led to price war in
their intrinsic motivation. For instance, nancial the job market, which is dysfunctional for every
employer in the long run. This has a ected the work
incentives which are generically means of fair
compensation and reducing dissatisfaction, are widely culture basically in two ways: increased incidence of
used to induce excitement under the guise of induced dissatisfaction and encouragement of
motivation. The result is obvious: Externally driven fence-sitting attitude amongst employees.
instrumental behaviors. It is so because it is lot easier Subsequently, employees’ commitment to
and quicker to manipulate extrinsic motivation while performance is practically replaced with their personal
grati cation – they become more motivated for
we remain ignorant of its cost. rewards than performance. Hence, uncertainty at the
That said, employees’ motivation is directly in uenced
workplace increases many folds. The problem is
by organizational practices. Honestly speaking, with generally attributed to low motivation but in fact it is
extrinsic motivation being prevalent in the overall displacement of motivation from intrinsic to extrinsic
environment employees’ perspectives are e ectively orientation. Paradoxically, organizations naively keep
tuned to instrumental (reward-based) behaviors. This raising the level of compensation but for no
results in subtle dilemma: Greed and lust eclipse the sustainable advantage because it does not address the
intrinsic motivation, while organizations become
victims of employees’ persistent dissatisfaction and real problem.
excessive attrition. Much of it goes unnoticed because So, we have basis to conclude that while providing fair
and equitable satisfaction of lower order needs,
it has become neo-normal. So much so that
highlighting it raises eyebrows on both sides. especially economic well-being, e ectively keep
Subsequently, compensation packages have literally employees’ dissatisfaction in control, however, it does
skyrocketed over the last decade, however, not contribute towards augmenting motivation per se.
performance and commitment of the employees are a Thus, we can say lower order needs have inherent
continuing challenge for their work organizations. To limitations in motivating employees. However,
organizations remain blindfolded to this fact and
understand the facts underlying performance continue to focus on lower order needs but to no avail.
If economic rewards fail to motivate employees, then harnessing employees’ overall perspective. It,
what is the alternative? To unravel this ambiguity, rst therefore, entails a holistic strategy taking into
we need to unpack the true concept of motivation. consideration employee’s overall perspective (Belief,
A lot of misnomers surround the concept. For example, values, cognition, needs and expectations, etc.).
it is now common persons’ belief that excitement and To begin with, while recruiting and selecting
fun drive motivation. So much so that, many pseudo employees into the organization, it is imperative to
trainers bank on their mesmerizing talk and fun check the perspective of candidates. Candidates
activities in their so called (“Motivation Training”). The should be evaluated for their intrinsic motivation
orientation. It is often not practical to alter their
big question is, do the participants leave the session perspectives at 360 degree. That said, motivating
truly motivated or simply entertained? The answer is employees who have higher intrinsic motivation
obvious. quotient is more plausible.
Objectively speaking, motivation is a cognitive
readiness to act in a most be tting manner. This Standards of job performance at each position should
demands that an employee should have clarity of manifest organizational vision and core values. Better
purpose, feel his responsibility, demonstrate is to annex the standards in employees’ job
commitment to do the job well, serve the customer descriptions and performance review criteria. For
example, the manager should evaluate employees’
right, and leave the impact. Obviously, all this requires
harnessing overall perspective more than simple performance on basis of demonstrating commitment
excitement. Motivation becomes most important to the vision and living the values. On the contrary, if a
factor in shaping the employees’ (“Psychological manager evaluates his juniors based on how
Contract”). Having said, motivating entails clarifying submissive they are to him then this would make them
the purpose, nurturing positive values – faith, service, focus on building good relations with the manager
rather than performing.
perseverance, discipline, passion and last but not the
least hope and fear – moral compass, mindfulness, Lastly, we know that employees respond to the
emotional well-being, etc. permeable culture: How peers generally behave
resonates across the employees. It is therefore
Recommendations imperative that a dominant organizational culture
must be established that prevails over individuals’
It is pertinent to note that motivating employees has
limitations which one needs to understand before personalities. The culture should proactively
embarking on the role of a motivator. Some pertinent encourage and reinforce intrinsic motivation amongst
limitations include employees’ given motivational the employees. Alongside, the organization should
orientation re ect their unique perspective. In uence demonstrate unwavering commitment to the same.
of emergent relationships on employees’ behavior Organizations that follow pro t maximization as the
usually has precedence. Lack of trust in the relationship sole motivation and give no value to responsible
between the manager and employees a ects business practices should not expect employees to
manager’s ability to motivate. Reward centric cultures demonstrate intrinsic motivation.
are incompatible to nurture intrinsic motivation. Last
but not the least, motivation level and orientation of
the managers may convey a di erent message.
Stimulating fun and excitement could be much simpler
but motivating is rigorous and complex process of