Introduction 介绍
The motivation of human beings, particularly at their place of work is one of the issues that have captured the attention of researchers and scholars across the globe. In this regard, most of them have been concerned with gaining insights on the factors that motivate people with the hope that such an understanding will help businesses and organisations implement measures that will motivate employees and enhance their productivity levels. Importantly, researchers and scholars recognise that motivation is categorised as either intrinsic – motivated by the desire to gain inner satisfaction, or extrinsic – motivated by the desire to earn rewards and/or avoid punishment (Chen, 2014). Among the concepts of motivation include the Rational Economic Motivation and the Goal Setting Theory of Motivation. This paper compares and contrasts these concepts of motivation.
人类的动机，特别是在工作场所的动机，是全球研究人员和学者关注的问题之一。在这方面，他们中的大多数人关注的是深入了解激励员工的因素，希望这样的理解将有助于企业和组织实施激励员工并提高其生产力水平的措施。重要的是，研究人员和学者认识到，动机分为内在动机（动机是为了获得内在满足），或外在动机（动机是为了获得奖励和/或避免惩罚）（Chen，2014）。激励的概念包括理性经济激励和目标设定激励理论。本文对这些动机概念进行了比较和对比。Rational Economic Motivation 理性经济动机
To begin with, one of the approaches of considering the motivation of people in society and particularly employees is through the use of rational economic motivation. In reference to Swanepoel, Erasmus and van Wyk (2003), the rational economic motivation perspective argues that employees are rational by nature and as such, the maximisation of their self-interest and self-gratification plays a critical role in motivating them. In other words, employees are motivated by the desire to enhance their economic welfare and as such, they will engage in activities that maximises their material gain. One of the critical aspects to observe about this perspective as far as employee motivation is concerned is the fact that employers need to formulate and implement measures to ensure that employees’ pursuit of material gains does lead them to engage in cheating (Ariely and Jones, 2012). With this in mind, the rational economic motivation perspective promotes the fact that managers or rather employers often employee different control measures to not only ensure that employees maintain high performance levels but are not overcome by their selfish desires that could cause them to engage in dishonest behaviour (Swanepoel, Erasmus and van Wyk, 2003). Such control measures are further motivated by the assumption that employees are lazy and as such, they need to be motivated by external factors such as money and other benefits.
首先，考虑社会中人们，特别是员工的动机的方法之一是通过使用理性的经济动机。参考Swanepoel、Erasmus和van Wyk（2003），理性经济激励观点认为，员工本质上是理性的，因此，他们的自利和自我满足的更大化在激励他们方面起着关键作用。换言之，员工的动机是希望提高他们的经济福利，因此，他们将从事使物质利益更大化的活动。就员工激励而言，观察这一观点的一个关键方面是，雇主需要制定和实施措施，以确保员工追求物质利益确实会导致他们进行欺诈（Ariely和Jones，2012）。考虑到这一点，理性经济动机观点促进了这样一个事实，即管理者或雇主通常采用不同的控制措施，以确保员工不仅保持高绩效水平，而且不会被可能导致他们从事不诚实行为的自私欲望所克服（Swanepoel、Erasmus和van Wyk，2003年）。这种控制措施的进一步动机是假设员工懒惰，因此，他们需要受到金钱和其他福利等外部因素的激励。