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How A Company Can Strengthen the Achievement Needs of Its Management Team
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NEEDS THEORY 2
How A Company Can Strengthen the Achievement Needs of Its Management Team
Needs Theory is a concept of employee motivation that was developed by David McClelland.
The theory argues that people get motivation from three needs; the need for power, affiliation, and
achievement. According to the learned needs theory, needs can be weakened or strengthened.
Particularly, Daniel Pink, while giving a TED talk on "The Puzzle of Motivation" states, "There is a
mismatch between what science knows and what business does," (“The puzzle of motivation | Dan
Pink,” 05:17). He believes that the traditional system of reward and punishment is not tenable in the
21st century and recommends an extrinsic approach. A company can reinforce the accomplishment
Pink argued that needs can be strengthened by three extrinsic motivators. He chose to talk
about Autonomy as one of the major motivators and defined it as “The urge to direct our own lives,”
(12:43). According to Pink, autonomy allows employees to work independently through their initiative,
unlike the scientific theories which required employees to follow the company rules to the letter. If a
company wants to strengthen the management's team achievement needs, then it has to give the team
the freedom of self-direction. Consequently, the managers will be able to take their own initiatives,
leading to more business solutions and innovative ideas. Pink gives an example of Google Inc. which has
realized much success after giving autonomy to developers. Similarly, the attainment needs of any
management team can be reinforced by allowing self-direction. While rewards and punishment have
been used to strengthen needs in the past, that approach is not applicable in the modern world. In the
Reference
The puzzle of motivation | Dan Pink [YouTube Video]. (2009). Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y&t=47s