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PSY/320

Human Motivation

3 credits

Total credits

5 weeks

Course length

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Take this course on its own, or as part of a degree or certificate program.

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Please Note: Attendance and participation are mandatory in all University courses, and specific requirements may differ by course. If attendance requirements are not met, a student may be removed from the course. Please review the Course Attendance Policy in the Catalog for more information.

University of Phoenix reserves the right to modify courses. While widely available, not all programs are available to residents of all states. Please check with a University Enrollment Representative.

Course level: Upper Division

This course seeks to synthesize the many theories of human motivation with the practical application of motivating employees. To this end, the course will examine historical theories as well as recent developments in the field of motivation and their relationship to management practices. The primary concepts of goals, quality of work, and rewards will be examined and applied to the workplace.

Please Note: Attendance and participation are mandatory in all University courses, and specific requirements may differ by course. If attendance requirements are not met, a student may be removed from the course. Please review the Course Attendance Policy in the Catalog for more information.

University of Phoenix reserves the right to modify courses. While widely available, not all programs are available to residents of all states. Please check with a University Enrollment Representative.

What you'll learn

Course skills and outcomes

  • Define motivation.
  • Analyze how motivation is expressed by employees.
  • Describe how motivation affects productivity in the workplace.
  • Apply the effects of motivational theory across workplace situations.

  • Contrast various types of needs, explaining how they affect workplace behavior.
  • Identify how incentives, consequences, and rewards for behavior can affect workplace attitudes.
  • Assess acquired needs such as achievement, affiliation, and power, as well as how they affect workplace performance.

  • Evaluate how plans of action, goal setting, goal striving, and the factors that lead to goal disengagement affect the workplace.
  • Explain how self-efficacy, mastery beliefs, and learned helplessness affect employees.
  • Apply goal setting in the workplace.
  • Assess the effects of goal setting on employee motivation.

  • Describe the basic and complex emotions humans experience and the role they play in people's lives.
  • Analyze the key biological and cognitive factors that affect emotion and how they influence worker productivity.
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of theories on emotion in explaining various behaviors in the workplace.

  • Explain the positive psychology approaches.
  • Discuss four state-of-the-art interventions.
  • Synthesize motivational theory into practical business applications.

Why UOPX

Why take courses at University of Phoenix

Accreditation that matters

We’ve been accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (hlcommission.org) for more than 40 years.

Real-world instructors

Learn from instructors who bring an average of 25 years of working experience to the classroom.

Affordable and potentially reimbursable

Our tuition and fees are competitive and fixed. Also, check to see if your employer will cover you for this course.

Next Steps

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Transfer Credits

Credit Transfer

Need to transfer credits to another college or university?

Before you enroll in a course, check with your school of choice to make sure they will accept our transfer credits and to understand any requirements or limitations. Then you can complete your course, and request your official transcript be sent to your school. That’s it!

How to request your transcripts

Transferability of credit is at the discretion of the receiving institution. It is the student’s responsibility to confirm whether or not credits earned at University of Phoenix will be accepted by another institution of the student’s choice. If you have a question contact us at (866) 354-1800.

The University of Phoenix reserves the right to modify courses. Although our continuing teacher education courses are accepted by some state agencies in the United States toward teacher certifications and endorsements, this may not be the case in all states or foreign jurisdictions. If you plan to use courses for certification or endorsement, please check with your own state agency and your school district for applicability. Continuing teacher education courses are not eligible to apply to degree programs at University of Phoenix. These courses are not eligible for federal financial aid. Transferability of credit is at the discretion of the receiving institution. It is the student’s responsibility to confirm whether or not credits earned at University of Phoenix will be accepted by another institution of the student’s choice. While widely available, not all programs are available to residents of all states. Please check with a University Enrollment Representative. If you have a question contact us at (866) 354-1800.