A company needs employees working towards its goals for its success. Employees should also have a desire to remain in the company. Such commitment comes from motivation. Motivation has a direct effect on performance. Motivation is of two types— intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation comes from within and is self-satisfying. External motivators like monetary and nonmonetary rewards cause extrinsic motivation. We used a questionnaire-based survey to examine the intrinsic motivational state of the employees working in companies from the manufacturing sector (both private and public) in India. The respondents of the survey include males and females, married as well as unmarried, in the age group of 20 to 62 years, with varying qualifications. Three intrinsic motivators: perceived competence, perceived autonomy and perceived relatedness were chosen for the study. There are two dimensions of employee performance at the workplace—in role and extra role. In the study, in-role performance has been taken as a measure of overall motivation of employees. Descriptive statistics as well as regression analysis were used to find the effects of intrinsic motivators on the performance of the employees. Our study suggests a strong link between intrinsic motivators and the performance of employees.

People are a valuable resource that may contribute in several different ways to a company's activities, provided that the company gives them an appropriate chance, stated Morgan (1997). According to Molander (1996), in order to be successful, a company needs employees who work towards achieving the goals of the organization and have a strong desire to remain in the company. Such loyalty and commitment may be generated by motivation. Motivation has been defined as the amount, quality and direction of the employees, effort that energizes their behavior within the work environment (Perry and Porter, 1982). Schultz and Schultz (1998) reported that motivation is aimed at achieving higher work productivity and job satisfaction, as highly motivated persons tend to work harder and perform more effectively in their jobs than less motivated individuals.

The individual holds certain personal expectations in terms of form and amount of reward, which he/she should receive for the provided service. The strongest motivator is, according to Wiley (1997), something that people value, but lack. The knowledge about those strong motivators is of great value and may serve as a starting point for the redesign of work in order to increase an employee's motivation.

Organizational Behavior Journal, Intrinsic Motivators, Indian Manufacturing Sector, External Motivators, Autonomous Motivation, Organizational Designs, Organizational Commitment, Demographic Variables, HR Department, Regression Analysis, Education Groups.