Motivational Theories Historically, motivational theories were concerned with three things:
1. What mobilizes or energizes human behavior
2. What directs behavior toward the accomplishment of some objective
3. How such behavior is sustained over time
The usefulness of motivational theories depends on their ability to explain motivation adequately, to predict with some degree of accuracy what people will actually do, and, finally, to suggest practical ways of influencing employees to accomplish organizational objectives. Motivational theories can be classified into at least two distinct groups: content theories and process theories.