The major problems facing modern organization are primarily human, not technical, in nature. Motivation is needed to adopt the human being to formal organization. Much attention has been given to motivation theory and research without much success. This paper proposes to make an attempt to describe, analyze and evaluate the theories or models of motivation to work from 1900 to date in order to find out the theoretical foundation for organizational research in schools. First, in the classical view, so-called Taylor's scientific management, motivation is a fairly simple concept, essentially that of “economic man”; that is people work for an organization because they need money. Workers were seen as motivated by economic rewards. Second, the Human Relations approach to motivation started at about the time of the Hawthorne studies conducted by Mayo and his associates between 1927 and 1932. In contrast to classical motivational theory, Human relations emphasized the emotional, unplanned, non-rational elements in organizational behavior. But, unfortunately this approach to motivation did not work out in practice and fell far short of providing a meaningful solution complex motivational problems facing management. Third, McGregor's theories X and Y, with the stark contrast between the old(X) and the new(Y) serve as the point of departure for the new behavioral approach to management. The mordern theories of motivation influenced by behavioral approach started in the middle 1950s with Maslow's need hisrarchy. Five levels in hierarchy of needs are physiological needs, safety needs, love needs, esteem needs and need for selfrealization. When the lowest order of needs in the hierarchy is satisfied, a higher-order need appears. His need hierarchy has had a tremendous impact on the modern management to motivation. Herzberg's two-factor theroy is closely related to Maslow's need hierarchy. The Hygiene fators, like the medical term, are preventive and environmental in nature. Hygiene factors prevent dissatisfaction but they don't lead to satisfaction. By themselves the hygiene factors don't motivate. Only the motivators motivate humans on the job. Overally he added much to the better understanding of job satisfaction but fell short of a comprehensive theory of work motivation. More recently. Vroom formulated the most recent widely known theory of work motivation. The force(motivalion) on a person to perform an action will depend on the algebraic sum of the products of the valences of all first-level outcomes and the stength of his expectancies that the action will be followed by the attainment of these outcomes. In his model, valence refers to the strength of an individual's preference for a particular outcome. Instrumentality indicates an individual's perception of the relationship between a first-level outcome(organizational objectives) and a second-level outcome(personal goals). Expectancy is the probility(ranging from 0 to 1) that a particula reaction or effort will lead to a particular first-level outcome. This motivational model, unlike the theory of Maslow and Herzberg, stressess the individual differences in motivation and makes possible the examination of very explicit relationships between motivation and the accomplishment of organizational goals. Porter and Lawler propose the multivariable model to explain the complex relationships that exists between job attitudes and job performance. In their model, effort refers to the amount of energy exerted by an employee on a given task. Performance represents the pragmatic result that organizations are able to measure objectively, Satisfaction is derived from the extent to which actual rewards fall short, meet or exceed the person's perceived equitable level of rewards. Smith and Cranny propose a more simplistic three-way relationship between effort, satisfaction and rewards in contrast to the comparatively complex Proter and Lawler's model. In their model, performance is effected only by effort and can influence rewards and satisfaction. This model recognizes the complexity but in a simple way relates the relevant variables so that practical application can be made. More research must be done before we can apply modern models of motivation to school organization. And modern theories of motivation make much contribution building of administrative theories in education.