Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory, ERG theory, McClelland's Theory of Needs

Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory

The psychologist Frederick Herzberg was interested in the relationship between employee attitude and job motivation. He was interested in learning what aspects of the job satisfied and dissatisfied people. Herzberg developed the two-factor theory of workplace motivation after spending untold hours interviewing workers about what made them feel both pleased and bad about their jobs. The two-factor theory is predicated on the idea that there are two types of factors that influence motivation at work by either reducing or increasing employee satisfaction.

Frederick Herzberg conducted research to identify the key elements of an employee's workplace that contributed to their contentment or dissatisfaction in order to better understand their attitudes and motivation. His findings were later published in the 1959 book The Motivation to Work.

Employees were questioned in interviews for the study what they liked and disliked about their jobs. Herzberg discovered that the underlying causes of job satisfaction and likely motivation were distinct from those of job unhappiness. The motivation-hygiene theory was eventually developed by him to account for all the data. He referred to the variables that cause dissatisfaction as "hygiene" factors and the motivators that provide satisfaction, using the term "hygiene" in the sense that they are maintenance factors that are advised but not sufficient to cause satisfaction.

Herzberg claims that these elements do not motivate workers. However, hygienic elements can cause significant discontent if they are insufficient or absent. Just imagine how miserable you would be at work if you were underpaid, constantly worried about losing your job, had ineffective leadership, were surrounded by people you detested, and had to deal with gossip all the time. The main goal of hygiene considerations is to give employees a sense of safety, happiness, and comfort. When hygiene requirements aren't met, it seems off or missing, similar to how it would feel if you couldn't take a shower, brush your teeth, or wash your hands after using the restroom.

Motivators or satisfiers make up the second factor. These are related to employee motivation and result from necessary or inherent job requirements. Achievement, responsibility, and acknowledgment, as well as chances for development and advancement, are characteristics that contribute to contentment.

The Two-Factor Theory suggests that there are four possible pairings:

• High Motivation and High Hygiene: The ideal work environment has highly driven individuals who rarely complain.
• When employees have fewer complaints but are not highly driven, the job is perceived as a paycheck. High hygiene plus low motivation.
• Employees are motivated yet have a lot of complaints due to low hygiene standards. The work is tough and fascinating in this setting, however the working environment and pay are subpar.
• Low Motivation + Low Hygiene: The worst scenario is when employees have a lot of complaints and are unmotivated.
• Herzberg and others have provided significant empirical evidence to support the motivation-hygiene hypothesis, in contrast to Maslow, who provided scant evidence to back up his claims; yet, their work has faced methodological criticism.

Implications for Management

If the motivation-hygiene hypothesis is correct, management must provide factors inherent to the work itself in order to ensure employee satisfaction, in addition to hygiene considerations to prevent employee displeasure.

According to Herzberg, work enrichment is a constant management activity that is necessary for intrinsic motivation. To quote Herzberg:

• The work should be challenging enough to utilize an employee's full potential.
• Employees who demonstrate rising levels of aptitude should be given increasing degrees of responsibility.
• The company should think about replacing the employee or automating the task with someone who has a lower degree of expertise if a job cannot be designed to utilize a person's full skills. There will be an issue with motivation.

Herzberg's theory's detractors argue that the two-factor finding is evident because it is human nature for people to attribute happiness to internal variables while attributing discontent to external ones. Furthermore, high levels of drive or production are not always associated with job happiness.

Herzberg's idea has received a lot of attention, and despite its flaws, it has enduring importance since it acknowledges that genuine motivation comes from within an individual rather than from KITA variables.

ERG theory

Alderfer created Maslow's hierarchy of requirements by classifying it according to his Existence, Relatedness, and Growth (ERG) theory. The basic material needs of people are what the existence group is concerned with. They involve what Maslow regarded as the physiological and safety needs. The desire people have to sustain crucial interpersonal relationships is the second category of necessities. The exterior aspect of Maslow's esteem hierarchy and Maslow's social need are aligned with this status and social demands, which must connect with others in order to be satisfied. Alderfer isolates the need for personal development as an innate desire to grow. These include the self-actualization characteristics and the intrinsic traits from Maslow's esteem category.

Safety and physiological demands, which are lower order wants, are included in Alderfer's existence category. Alderfer incorporated Maslow's requirements for love and esteem into the Relatedness category. The needs for self-actualization and self-esteem were included in the growth category. Along with the ERG theory, Alderfer also put up a regression theory. According to him, people increase their attempts to meet lower category demands when higher category requirements are unmet. For instance, people will contribute more to the relatedness category in the hopes of meeting a higher need, such as not having their needs for self-esteem or self-actualization, met.

Clayton Alderfer rewrote Maslow's need hierarchy theory of motivation in his own words to align it with empirical evidence. The ERG theory of motivation is the name of his revision. Maslow's hierarchy of requirements was reorganized by him into three bigger and clearer categories:

• Existence needs include the need for fundamental material necessities. It encompasses, in essence, a person's physiological demands and physical safety.
• Relationship needs: These include the desire people have to uphold exemplary interpersonal connections (whether with family, superiors, or peers), as well as to achieve fame and public acclaim. This category of need includes Maslow's social requirements as well as needs related to external factors of esteem.
• Needs for growth include the need for career advancement, personal development, and growth. Maslow's needs for self-actualization and the inherent nature of esteem belong under this category of need.

Difference between Maslow Need Hierarchy Theory and Alderfer’s ERG Theory

According to ERG Theory, more than one need may be in operation at any same time. According to ERG Theory, if a higher-level need is not met, there will be a greater desire to meet a lower-level need.

Maslow asserts that until a need is met, a person will remain at that level of need. While ERG theory states that if a higher-level need worsens, a person may switch to increasing the fulfillment of a lower-level need. The ERG theory has a concept known as frustration- regression. As an illustration, if a person's growth needs suffer, this may inspire them to fulfill their relatedness needs, and if they have trouble fulfilling these wants, this may motivate them to fulfill their existing needs. Thus, aggravation/frustration can cause in regression to a lower-level need.

Maslow's theory of need hierarchy is rigid because it assumes that needs are arranged in an orderly hierarchy and that a lower-level need must be satisfied before moving on to a higher-level need. In contrast, ERG's theory of motivation is very flexible because it views needs as a range rather than as a hierarchy. According to Alderfer, a person can focus on their growth needs even if their relatedness or existence needs are still unmet. As a result, he explains how "starving artists" might still struggle to grow even when they are starving.

Implications of the ERG Theory

To boost productivity, managers must be aware of the diverse needs of each person that must be met simultaneously. The ERG hypothesis states that a management cannot effectively inspire an employee if they concentrate just on one requirement at a time. Additionally, the ERG Theory's frustration-regression component has an impact on how motivated employees are at work. For instance, if an employee is not given possibilities for progress and growth inside an organization, he may resort to relatedness requirements such as the need for socialization. If the environment or circumstances do not allow him to meet these needs, he may revert to the need for money. The sooner the management recognizes and accepts this, the more immediate steps they will take to satisfy those needs which are frustrated until such time that the employee can again pursue growth.

McClelland's Theory of Needs

American David Clarence McClelland (1917–1988) received his psychology degree from Yale in 1941 and started working as a professor at Wesleyan University. From 1956 on, he lectured and taught, notably for a time at Harvard, where for 20 years he worked alongside colleagues to specifically study the need for and incentive for performance. He started his McBer consultancy in 1963, where he assisted in staff training and industry assessments. From 1987 until his death, he also taught at Boston University. McClelland's scientific interests included awareness and personality, but he is most recognized for his work on achievement motivation. David McClelland pioneered achievement-based motivational theory and models, improved employee evaluation procedures, and championed competency-based assessments and tests as superior to conventional personality and IQ-based examinations. He also developed achievement-based motivational theory and models. Since then, numerous organizations have adopted his views, which are almost identical to Frederick Herzberg's notion. Abraham Maslow created his theory of needs in the first few years of the 1940s. This established the fundamental wants that people have in the following order of importance: safety needs, physiological requirements, needs for self-esteem, needs for belonging, and needs for "self-actualization."

David McClelland later expanded on this topic, "The Achieving Society," in his 1961 book. He identified the following three motivators: a need for connection, a need for power, and a need for success. Depending on their strongest motivator, people will differ in their characteristics.

McClelland claims that these motivators can be learnt (which is why this theory is sometimes called the Learned Needs Theory). Without regard to our culture, age, or gender, McClelland acknowledges that everyone of us possesses three motivational factors, one of which will be our primary motivator. This primary motivation is heavily influenced by our cultural background and life experiences.

These characteristics are as follows:

Achievement

• Likes to work alone a lot.
• Has a great desire to establish and achieve difficult goals.
• Takes calculated risks to achieve their objectives.
• Likes to get symmetrical feedback on their accomplishments and progress.

Affiliation

• Dislikes ambiguity or high risk.
• Aspires to group membership.
• Favors cooperation over rivalry.
• Goes along with what the rest of the group wants to do because they want to be liked.

Power

• Enjoys winning debates.
• Enjoys respect and rank.
• Aims to influence and control people.
• Like competing and winning.

Although, as was already mentioned, they frequently demand too much of their staff because they prioritize achieving the goal above the many varied needs and interests of their people, McClelland firmly accepted that achievement-motivated people are particularly the ones who make things happen and get results. This acceptance extended to getting results through the organization of other resources and people.

References

McClelland's Human Motivation Theory. MindTools, Ltd. Retrieved November 29, 2013.

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