Motivational Theory and Management

According to Maslow’s Needs theory, based on the fact that a person is justified as long as he still has not reached a certain level of satisfaction, has a better understanding of the fact that human motivation leads to a broad spectrum of their needs we could say that in order to motivate people, the manager has to give employees the opportunity to meet the needs in a way that together lead to the organization's objectives.

Motivation is derived from an internal force that provides an individual the opportunity to achieve their needs or goals. People are motivated by a variety of things and often have different motivating factors. Employers should be mindful of individual motivating factors when attempting to motivate staff to increase performance. While some people may be motivated by money, many are motivated by things like: recognition, promotion, and increased responsibility. Once an employer has identified motivating factors they are able to analyze a variety of motivational theories to design and implement a program that will motivate employees to go above and beyond what is expected of them.

Herzberg’s two factor theory of motivation at the workplace shows the difference between two factors of motivation. The two factors being satisfiers, which are the main causes for job satisfaction (motivation), from hygiene factors which are the main causes for job dissatisfaction (demotivation to stay in the job). Examples of motivating factors are achievement, recognition, responsibility and the work itself. Hygiene factors include: working conditions, salary, relationship with colleagues, supervision, etc. An organisation needs to influence satisfiers through performance management using range of tools such as: job descriptions, supervision, performance appraisals, continuous development/training, rewards and career development.

According to Herzberg, individuals are not satisfied with lower-order needs at work, for example, those associated with minimum salary levels or safe and pleasant working conditions. Theses individuals look for the gratification of higher-level psychological needs such as achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, and the nature of the work itself. Motivation-hygiene theory, based on the presence of one set of job characteristics or incentives lead to worker satisfaction at work, while another and separate set of job characteristics lead to dissatisfaction at work. Moreover he found that job characteristics related to what an individual does is the nature of the work he performs, having the capacity to gratify such needs such as achievement, competency, status, personal worth, and self-realization, leading to satisfaction. However, the absence of such gratifying job characteristics does not lead to dissatisfaction. Instead, dissatisfaction results from unfavorable assessments of such job-related factors as company

Intrinsic factors, such as achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, advancement, and growth seem to be related to job satisfaction. When respondents questioned felt good about their work, they tended to attribute those factors to themselves. On the other hand, when they were dissatisfied, they tended to cite extrinsic factors such as company policy, administration and supervision. Herzberg deduced from these experiments that the opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction, as was believed. He found that removing dissatisfying characteristics from a job does not necessarily make the job satisfying. He thus proposed a dual continuum, where the opposite of satisfaction would be no satisfaction and the opposite of dissatisfaction would be no dissatisfaction (Robbins,1993) According to Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation, organizations cannot begin to motivate employees until that which dissatisfies them has been removed. Hygiene Factors such as salary, working conditions and supervision are not motivators even when they are being met. Other types of hygiene factors include, company policy, poor interpersonal relations and job security. The meeting of lower-level needs of employees is not motivating, but can have a de motivating impact if not met. True motivation only kicks in when an employee’s higher-level needs are met (La Motta,

Motivation in the workplace is one of the major concerns that managers face when trying to encourage their employees to work harder and do what is expected of them on a day-to-day basis. According to Organizational Behavior by John R. Schermerhorn, James G. Hunt and Richard N. Osborn the definition of motivation is "the individual forces that account for the direction, level, and persistence of a person's effort expended at work." They go on to say that "motivation is a key concern in firms across the globe." Through the years there have been several theories as to what motivates employees to do their best at work. In order to better understand these theories we will apply them to a fictitious organization that has the following

Human Resources is dependent on the success, happiness, and contentment of employees that keep the business on course. Motivation is one of the best ways to push employees forward while making sure everyone is in a comfortable position in their job. Motivational theories just attempt to explain what motivates or makes people act the way that they do. The goal of understanding these theories and their outcomes is to ensure a better performance from each employee, and to give each of those employees the best situation they can have in the workplace. Visionaries such as Abraham Maslow, Frederick Herzberg, and Henry A. Landsberger also brought forward new ways of management and ways to handle internal situations that changed the landscape of human resources as a whole. Motivational theories instituted in the workplace have a commonly positive effect on both employees and management, showing that it is important to strive for proven motivational practices.

When it is discovered that a worker can fulfill the requirements of their job, but are experiencing shortcomings in doing so, many times it is believed that worker motivation may be the root of the problem (Laird 95). What, though, is work motivation? According to Laird (2006), “motivation is a fundamental component of performance “ and “is the reason that someone chooses to do some things and chooses not to do others”. In other words, work motivation is what energizes workers to the level of output required to fulfill a task, directs their energy towards the objectives that they need to accomplish, and sustains that level of effort over a period of time (Steers et al., 2004). In essence, worker motivation is what gets the job done.

Frederick Herzberg first published his motivational theory in his book, The Motivation to Work which was authored in 1959. His theory focus’s around the idea that “satisfaction and dissatisfaction at work nearly always arose from different factors” (Businessballs, 2016). He cites several motivating factors for both satisfaction and unhappiness with a particular job. These factors include achievement, recognition, growth, the actual work itself, pay, benefits and relationships. In short, Hertzberg observed that factors which lead to satisfaction usually are centered on those that directly result from doing the job or task, while factors that led to dissatisfaction were more closely tied to what he deemed “Hygiene Factors”. As an example, a sense of achievement, recognition within the organization, personal growth and the quality of the actual work itself are what he refers to as motivators. Consequently, interpersonal relationships with superiors or peers, company policies, working conditions and a balance with personal life

This paper discusses the Herzberg theories of motivation also known as the two factor theory, or motivator-hygiene theory. Intending to discuss how the theory was developed, how reliable it is in the work place today, and if it plays a role in the motivation of people in the workforce.

Two prominent theories – Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory and Herzberg’s dual-factor motivational theory have been widely cited in the management literature. Though very straightforward and simple Maslow’s theory reveals a fundamental structure of human motivation. Many researchers have developed motivational theories, which provide guiding frameworks to understand the retention issues of employees such as Maslow, 1943. From lower to higher levels, employees seek to satisfy five levels of needs from their jobs. They are the physiological, safety and social needs at the bottom, and the needs for self-esteem and self-actualization at the top (Maslow, 1943).

The subject of motivation has been an important component in both theoretical and applied literature. There are many reasons why the motivational theories have generated so much discussion. In an organization motivation has been considered an important factor because employee motivation is considered essential for an organization 's status within the business environment and the community. The two motivation theories selected for this paper is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg hygiene factors.

According to Herzberg, the factors leading to job satisfaction are distinctly different from those that lead to job-dissatisfaction. Therefore, the managers who seek to eliminate factors that create job-dissatisfaction can bring about peace at the workplace but cannot motivate the employees. These factors are termed as hygiene factors comprising administration, supervision, working conditions, salary and wages etc. While absence of hygiene factors will lead to dissatisfaction, mere presence of these factors will not satisfy (i.e. motivate) the employees. In order to motivate the employees, managers must resort to ‘motivators’ (those factors that motivate the employees towards better performance) such as recognition, challenging assignment, responsibility, opportunities for growth and self-fulfillment etc.

Herzberg’s two-factor theory Psychologist Frederick Herzberg developed a ‘two-factor’ theory for motivation based on ‘motivators’ and ‘hygience factors’. Hygience factors are basic human needs at work. It do not motivate but failure to meet them causes dissatisfaction. The hygience factors

In any job setting, it is important for employees to be motivated to work hard and produce the best product or service they can for the consumer. This motivation is either intrinsic (coming from inside the person) or extrinsic (an external motivator). The Herzberg Hygiene-Motivator Theory makes clear the necessity of using these factors to ensure your employees feel enriched and fulfilled while at work. The “hygiene” aspect of this theory refers to external motivators that can be encountered at the work place. This can include an employee’s supervision while at work, salary, job security, and working conditions. Oppositely, intrinsic factors can include the actual work the employee is doing, their growth, and responsibility (Brody & Nair, 2014). While internal factors tend to have a larger influence on motivation within the job, it is likely that an employee will be dissatisfied if there is a lack of either of these factors.