Describe self-determination theory and discuss its implications for motivating employees.

Self-determination theory is a theory of motivation that considers whether people's motivation is autonomous or controlled.The theory argues that people have three basic psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness.The extent to which these three needs are satisfied determines whether motivation is controlled or autonomous.When motivation is autonomous, individuals are engaged in a task because they choose to be, and their actions are internally regulated.People are self-motivated by intrinsic factors.When motivation is controlled, individuals feel they have no choice and they have to engage in a task, so their behaviour is externally regulated.People are motivated to obtain a desired extrinsic reward.Autonomous motivation has been shown to facilitate effective performance, especially on complex tasks.It is also related to positive attitudes and psychological well-being.The implications of the theory for motivating employees is ensure that the work environment will satisfy employees' needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness so that their motivation will be autonomous.In addition, autonomy support from one's supervisor is also a key predictor of the three basic psychological needs as well as autonomous motivation.Thus, managers should provide employees with autonomy support as well as jobs that are interesting and challenging and that allow employees some choice in the performance of their job.