Effect of Intrinsic Motivation on Employee Retention of Indian Gen Y Software Professionals

Employee motivation has played a central role in management-both theoretically and practically and at the same time provided a foundation to the realm of industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology. The study of motivation permeates many of the subfields in management such as including retention, leadership, teams, performance management, managerial ethics, decision making and organizational change. Organizations (public or private) face the challenge to manage the twin demands of corporate objectives for effectiveness and productivity and employee motivation. A sense of urgency therefore exists within organizations to understand what motivates their employees because of globalization, economic trends, competitive labor market, market forces, and other variable forces. Today’s workplace is characterized by a short-term focus, a multigenerational and diverse workforce, time as a critical performance variable, transitory career trajectories, increasing interdependence among employees, and an increase in value and motive conflicts in employees. Hence motivation is the mainstay of any credible model of human performance.