Achievement Motivation

Introduction

Human life can be described as a continuous work at tasks. Individuals may or may not be successful in facing these tasks. The psychology of achievement motivation is engaged to run research projects aiming at a better understanding of individual performance and the nature of human resources as well as at the development of assessment and intervention techniques to increase achievement motivation. Tasks in industrial settings and in service organizations become more and more complex and underlie dynamic changes arising from changing market demands. To keep individuals highly achievement motivated while doing their jobs, tasks have to be designed with high motivating potentials.

From a motivational perspective the action process is divided into two parts. The first part describes the development of achievement motivation as a consequence of a fit between the achievement motive and the achievement-oriented motivating potentials of the situation. Achievement motivation initiating action arises through interaction of achievement-oriented motivating potentials of the task in its situational context and the strength of the achievement motive on the side of the performing person. Personal goals controlling actions result directly from the strength of this achievement motivation (Figure 1). The second part of the motivation process responsible for the translation of motivation into action is often called the volitional phase in the control of behaviour (Heckhausen, 1989); during this phase, goal-oriented action turns into outcomes controlled by the degree of goal commitment. Goal commitment affects the way persons choose to reach their goals and the selection of strategies they pursue (Brandtstädter & Renner, 1990). Examples for such strategies are to pursue a goal persistently even in cases of hindrance or to adapt flexibly to changing aspects of the situation. The translation process works better when more specific and concrete goals are set; the higher the goal commitment the more effective the chosen strategies of goal pursuit (Vroom, 1964; Locke & Latham, 1990; Kleinbeck, 2001).

A goal-oriented course of action immune to disturbances is especially supported by specific and concrete goals (goal characteristics; Figure 1).

Because of the many single concepts subsumed under the label of achievement motivation, it is necessary to develop as many measurement tools as possible to differentiate between the concepts. Outside current research projects, measures of achievement motivation are principally used in industrial settings, in service organizations and in educational fields. Here achievement motivation measurement is used to investigate the motivating [Page 2]potentials of work tasks and work contexts to make full use of individual resources.

Figure 1. Components of achievement motivation.

Instruments to Assess Achievement Motivation

The theory of achievement motivation describes performance as multidimensional and as influenced by many different factors. The main personal factor is the achievement motive; the main task-specific factor is the motivating potential of the situation. For diagnostic information about mode and strength of the achievement motive there are three different sources (see Schneider & Schmalt, 2000: 50–56):

• 1
  Self-judgement
• 2
  Judgement by others
• 3
  Behavioural indices

Assessing the strength of the achievement motive, different strategies are used according to these sources: operant procedures (e.g. the Thematic Apperception Test – TAT) and respondent procedures (e.g. questionnaires), and the grid technique that according to Schmalt (1999) lies in its methodological background between the first two types of measurement. Due to this fact, one can differentiate implicit and explicit components of the achievement motive. Using the material of the TAT with pictorial presentations of situations it becomes possible to penetrate implicitly into the achievement motive system, because this kind of measurement allows one to approach materials of memory relevant for the motive system. Filling out questionnaires requires ego involvement, self-insight and self-reflection, and also explicit memory, because the answers to the questions can only be given with the help of conscious reflection to earlier experiences (Graf & Schacter, 1985:501).

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