1. Motivation is a psychological phenomenon: the person's activation depends upon the felt needs and expectations. The process of motivation, which is mainly concerned with needs, desires, expectations, confidence, satisfaction, is a psychological phenomenon. The psychology of every individual is different from others and hence it is really difficult to ascertain in practice what devices and incentives will motivate a person towards desired goals.
2. Motivation is dynamic and situational: the motives, behavior and goals all are dynamic in nature. What drive a person today may not drive him tomorrow. His needs, drives, expectations, value judgment remain changing and hence the process of motivation is highly dynamic.
Motivation is also situational. In a set of organizational climate, stricture, physical facilities and nature of work, one may be highly motivated, but any change in them may have an adverse effect on his motivation.
3. Motivation is not easily observed phenomenon: we can observe the actions of a person and then we try to interpret the actions which constitute his behavior in terms of his underlying motives and satisfaction. In this interpretation, there can be a wide error of judgment.
4. Motivation is a goal oriented process: the motivation of a person drive him to achieve goal to relieve his tension.
5. Motivation is influenced by social and culture norms: social and cultural values, customs and attributes play important role in motivation. If society attaches respect, recognition and acceptance to a job or organization. The individual is motivated to that job or organization.
6. Motivation is individual's internal feeling: motivation is a psychological process within individuals. Individual needs/desires are the feelings in the mind of a person regarding the deficiencies. These deficiencies include physical, social and psychological.
7. Motivation is concerned with the total person: individuals are total persons. They are self-contained. Each individual is an inseparable unit and all his needs are interrelated. The individual feelings in the social area affect his physical and psychological areas also. Individual feelings and motivation is continuous process. They result in continuous and interrelated human behavior.
8. Motivation = anticipated values x perceived probability: motivation is the product of anticipated values from an action and the perceived probability that these values would be attained by the action. The anticipated value is called 'valence' and the perceived probability is called 'expectancy.' Thus the
Motivation = valence x expectancy
9. Motivation is the willingness to exert high levels of effort towards organizational goals, conditioned by the effort and the ability to satisfy some individual need,
10. Motivation involves the arousal, direction and maintenance of behavior towards a goal.