25 Theories Of Motivation And Its Application (Herzberg)

Contents

1.   Objectives

2.   Introduction

3.   Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory of Motivation

4.   Application Of Two-Factor Theory

1.   Objectives

At the end of the module, the learner will be able to-

• Explain motivation
• Describe Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory of Motivation
• Explain about the application of Two-Factor theory

2. Introduction

Every organization today faces several biggest challenges such as –

• How does one motivate employees to achieve the goals of an organization and at the same time satisfy the needs of the employee?
• What makes an individual work?
• Why some people perform better than others?
• What pushes an individual to achieve to the fullest of his latent capability? The answer to the above questions is Motivation.

One of the most important factors in affecting human conduct and performance is Motivation. The level of motivation an individual or team wields in their work task can affect all aspects of institutional performance.

The term motivation has being deliberated and conceptualized by various researchers. Some of the definitions are as follow-

• Whiseand and Rush (1988) explained motivation as the willingness of an individual to do something and conditioned by actions to satisfy needs.
• Wregner and Miller (2003) described motivation as something that energized individuals to take action and which is concerned with the choices the individual makes as part of his or her goal-oriented behaviour.
• Fuller et.al. (2008), motivation is a person’s intensity, direction and persistence of efforts to attain a specific objective.
• Saraswathi (2011) defined motivation as the willingness to exert high levels of effort, toward organizational goals, conditioned by the effort’s ability to satisfy some individual need.

The above definitions also highlights three key elements as effort, organization goal, and need.

Motivation is the word derived from the word ‘motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish the goals. In the work goal context the psychological factors stimulating the people’s behaviour can be –

• Desire for money
• Success
• Recognition
• Job-satisfaction
• Team work

One of the most important functions of management is to create willingness amongst the employees to perform in the best of their abilities.

The process of motivation consists of three stages:-

1.    A felt need or drive

2.    A stimulus in which needs have to be aroused

3.    When needs are satisfied, the satisfaction or accomplishment of goals.

Therefore, it can be said that motivation is a psychological phenomenon, which means needs, and wants of the individuals have to be collared by framing an incentive plan.

Motivation is a very significant for an institution because of the following benefits it provides:

a.    Puts human resources into action

b.    Improves level of efficiency of employees

c.    Leads to achievement of organizational goals

d.    Builds friendly relationship

e.    Leads to stability of work force

From the aforesaid discussion, it can be said that motivation is an internal feeling, which propels an individual to take action. Needs, wants and desires are inter-related and they are the driving force to act. We can say that motivation therefore is a continuous process since motivation process is based on needs, which are unlimited.

   As motivation is important to an individual and it is also vital to an organization.

Motivation is important to an individual as:

• Motivation will help him/her achieve his personal goals.
• If an individual is motivated, s/he will experience job satisfaction.
• Motivation will help in self-development of individual.

Similarly, motivation is important to an organization as:

• The more motivated the employees are, the more empowered the team is.
• The more is the teamwork and individual employee contribution, more profitable and successful is the business.
• Motivation will lead to an optimistic and challenging attitude at work place.

3. Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory of Motivation

There are numerous motivation theories that have influenced the way organizations manage employees to achieve a motivated work force. These theories attempt to explain why people behave the way they do and advice on elements and strategies which when employed can get the best out of employees in terms of their commitment to work.

Frederick Herzberg, a behavioural scientist, in 1959, proposed a two-factor theory or the motivator-hygiene theory. According to Herzberg, there are some job factors that result in satisfaction while there are other job factors that prevent dissatisfaction. According to Herzberg, the opposite of “Satisfaction” is “No satisfaction” and the opposite of “Dissatisfaction” is “No Dissatisfaction”.

Herzberg used the data based on the feedback collected from USA based two hundred engineers and accountant to propose the theory. The feedback provided an insight in to their personal feelings towards the working environments of the subject. Based on the data, Herzberg defined two sets of factors in deciding employees working attitudes and level of performance, named the factors as Motivation and Hygiene Factors.

The two categories of the job factors classified by Herzberg are-

Hygiene factors

Job factors, which are essential for existence of motivation at workplace, are termed as Hygiene factors by Herzberg. These hygiene factors are also referred to as the maintenance factors and comprise of the physiological, safety and love needs from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. They are factors that are not directly related to the job but the conditions that surround doing the job. They operate primarily to dissatisfy employees when they are not present, however, the presence of such conditions does not necessarily build strong motivation. Herzberg mentioned that these factors do not lead to positive satisfaction for long-term. But if these factors are absent or non-existent at workplace, then they lead to dissatisfaction.

In other words, hygiene factors are those factors which when are adequate/reasonable in a job, pacify the employees and do not make them dissatisfied. These factors are extrinsic to work.

Hygiene factors are also called as dissatisfiers or maintenance factors as they are required to avoid dissatisfaction. These factors describe the job environment/scenario. The hygiene factors symbolized the physiological needs, which the individuals wanted and expected to be fulfilled. Hygiene factors include:

• Pay – The pay or salary structure should be apposite and equitable. It must be equivalent and competitive to those in the same kind of work in the same domain.
• Company Policies and administrative policies – The company policies should be fair, clear and not too rigid. It should include flexible working hours, dress code, breaks, vacation, etc.
• Fringe benefits – The employees should be offered health care plans (medical), benefits for the family members, employee help programmes, etc.
• Physical Working conditions – The employees should be provided with safe, clean and hygienic working conditions. The work equipment’s should be updated and well maintained so as avoid any kind of health hazards to the employee.
• Status – The employees’ status within the organization should be familiar and retained.
• Interpersonal relations – The relationship of the employees with his peers, superiors and subordinates should be correct and acceptable. There should be no conflict or humiliation element present in day-to-day interactions in the institution.
• Job Security – The organization must provide adequate job security to the employees.

Herzberg mentioned that the hygiene factors are not direct motivators but are necessary to prevent dissatisfaction and at the same time serve as a starting point for motivation. However, it must be noted that any improvements in these conditions do not necessarily create motivation

Motivational factors

According to Herzberg, the hygiene factors cannot be regarded as motivators whereas the motivator factors pertain to the job content, they are intrinsic to the job itself and do not result from “carrot and stick incentives”. The motivational factors yield positive satisfaction. They comprise the physiological need for growth and recognition. These factors are inherent to work. The absence of these factors does not prove highly dissatisfying but when present, they build strong levels of motivation that result in good job performance. These factors motivate the employees for a high-class performance. They are therefore called satisfiers or motivators. These are factors involved in performing the job. Employees find these factors intrinsically rewarding. The motivators symbolized the psychological needs that were perceived as an additional benefit. Motivational factors include:

• Recognition– Praise and recognition from superiors are vital motivation factors.
• Sense of achievement– The job/work task must provide the employees with a sense of achievement. There must be an inherent satisfaction in doing the job.
• Growth and promotional opportunities- Growth and advancement opportunities in an organization to motivate the employees to perform well.
• Responsibility– Ownership of the work, accountability and minimal control enables the employee to have enhanced motivation.
• Meaningfulness of the work- The work itself should be meaningful, interesting and challenging for the employee to perform and to get motivated.

4.      Application Of Two-Factor Theory

Application of Two- factor theory in educational set ups may be discussed in the following manner:

• The Two-Factor theory implies that the educational managers must stress upon ensuring the sufficiency of the hygiene factors to avoid employee dissatisfaction. Also, the managers must make sure that the work is energizing and recompensing so that the employees are motivated to work and perform harder and better.
• The theory emphasize upon job-enrichment so as to motivate the employees. The job must utilize the employee’s skills and competencies to the maximum. Focusing on the motivational factors can improve work-quality.
• The  theory  further  proposed  the  Intrinsic  and  Extrinsic  Factors  are interdependent on each other. Presence of Extrinsic Factors will only eliminate employees’ work dissatisfaction; however, it will not provide job satisfaction. On the other hand, sufficient supply in Intrinsic Factor will cultivate employees’ inner  growth  and  development  that  will  lead  to  a  higher  productivity  and performance; however, absent of this factor will only neutralize their feeling neither satisfy nor dissatisfy on their jobs.
• Extrinsic Factors only permit employee’s willingness to work while Intrinsic Factors will decide their quality of work.
• The theory also proposes that the two groups of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Factors are not necessary opposite with each other, as opposite of satisfaction are not dissatisfaction, but rather no satisfaction. Similarly, opposite of dissatisfaction are not satisfaction, but no dissatisfaction.
• Hence, organizations should modulate their operations and procedures to satisfy both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors of their employees.

Combining the hygiene and motivator factors can result in some scenarios namely:

• The ideal situation where employees are highly motivated and have few complaints = High hygiene + high motivation
• Employees have few complaints but are not highly motivated and they perceive the job is a paycheck = High hygiene + low motivation
• Employees are motivated but have a lot of complaints where a situation the job is exciting and challenging but salaries and work conditions are not = Low hygiene + high motivation:
• The worse situation unmotivated employees with lots of complaints=hygiene + low motivation

The theory sought to explain that the managers should not be one-sided in considering factors to motivate employees but rather should consider both the factors in order to optimally motivate and satisfy employees to get the best out of them.

How do Managers eliminate job dissatisfaction?

According to Herzberg (1987) managers need to eliminate the dissatisfaction by doing the following:

• Fix poor and obstructive company policies;
• Provide effective, supportive and non-intrusive supervision;
• Create and support the culture of respect and dignity for all team members;
• Ensure that wages and salaries are competitive;
• Provide job security;
• Build job status by providing meaningful work for all positions.

The managers are to be aware that just because someone is not dissatisfied does not mean one is satisfied either. It is crucial in the work environment to identify conditions for job satisfaction.

How do managers create conditions for job satisfaction?

Herzberg (1987) reinforced the role of job enrichment as motivating factor. His premise was that every job should be examined to determine how it could be made better and more satisfying to the person doing it. Hence, managers need to contemplate and incorporate the following in the job:

• Providing opportunities for achievement; for example- if the manager recognises that a teacher has a certain potential, s/he may be given a platform to show her potential which in turn is going to increase the chances of the teacher being more successful.
• Recognizing workers contributions; for example- a teacher’s contribution in helping an academically backward child by waiting back after school hours-should be generously be appreciated, which in turn will motivate the teacher as well as others too to consciously contribute in a more meaningful manner.
• Creating work that is rewarding and that matches the skills and abilities of the employee; for example- placing the right person in the right place at right time will enable the individual to do the allotted task successfully, hence increasing opportunities for better achievement. The task will be meaningful and as per the needs of the individual.
• Giving as much responsibility to each team member as possible; for example-providing responsibilty is one way of recognising that the person has the ability to do the task and also a way of conveying faith and confidence in their potential.
• Providing opportunities to advance in the company through internal promotions; for example- internal promotions also comes with increased authority and increased responsibility. This in turn motivates an individual to own the responsibility of the task and perform to the best of their ability.
• Offering training and development opportunities so that people can pursue the positions they want within the organization. For example- internal promotion may require enhanced competence, which maybe fine tuned through training. Such training enables the individual to undertake new responsibilities and allows the individual vertical mobility in their workplace.

Herzberg theory is largely responsible for the practice of allowing people greater responsibility for planning and controlling their work, as a means of increasing motivation and satisfaction. The relationship between motivation and job satisfaction is not overly complex. The problem is many employers and managers look at the hygiene factors as a way to motivate when in fact, beyond the very short term, they do very little to motivate. Perhaps managers like to use this approach because the thinking is that people are more financially motivated than they are, or it takes less management effort to raise wages than it does to re-evaluate company policies and redesigning jobs for maximum satisfaction. In seeking to motivate people, first management in organizations must identify and address things that make workers unhappy about the workplace environment. Furthermore management has a responsibility to ensure that workers are treated fairly and with respect including helping workers to grow within their jobs and giving them opportunities for achievement.

Although Herzberg’s theory was generally accepted, there are some criticisms that it applies least to people with largely unskilled jobs or those whose work are uninteresting, repetitive, monotonous and limited in scope. He was also accused of assuming a correlation between satisfaction and productivity though his research stressed satisfaction and ignored productivity. Recent research indicates that employee satisfaction does not necessarily contribute directly to productivity. Satisfaction may be viewed as a passive attribute, while more proactive measures such as motivation levels are viewed as more closely linked to behavioral change and performance Despite such criticism, there is still evidence of support for the continuing relevance of Herzberg’s theory.

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