Achievement motivation, in vocational psychology dictionary

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Dictionary of Vocational Psychology

Achievement Motivation

Achievement motivation is a habitual desire to achieve goals through one's individual efforts, with an emphasis on establishing realistic goals, mastering the tasks needed to achieve these goals, discovering solutions to problems encountered in striving to reach these goals, and then being open to and even seeking out feedback on one's performance. Individuals high in achievement motivation are at their best when they can maintain a high level of involvement in ensuring the excellence of activities under their coordination or control; thus, individuals high in need for achievement are at their best when leading small teams or when running small, entrepreneurial organizations. However, they do relatively less well when required to manage large organizations or to function in highly political environments. Achievement motivation has its roots in the theory of motivation developed by Henry Murray, whose interpretation system for the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) included scoring for various needs. David McClelland extended Murray's concept of needs into use of the TAT to identify three needs -- need for affiliation (nAff), need for power (nP), and need for achievement (nAch) -- that together served to motivate the successful attainment of goals.

References

some reading

Development of Achievement Motivation, by Jacquelynne S. Eccles

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, by Larry Bossidy