Theories of Motivation

Since the beginning of industrialization and the advent of factories,

people have been trying to figure out what motivates employees.

One of the very first theories was developed by Frederick Taylor, who
wrote, “The Principles of Scientific Management” in 1911.

More recent theories of motivation include ERG Theory (1972) by

Alderfer and the Equity Theory of Motivation (1963) by Adams.

Unfortunately, most of the theories of motivation differ in what they

think the best way to motivate employees is.

The reason the theories draw different conclusions is that motivation is

somewhat of a black box, where it’s difficult to see what’s going on
inside our heads, and each of us is unique enough to make it very
difficult to draw anything other than very general conclusions.

There are many different theories of motivation in existence, and each

of them is different. However, they can be categorized into two groups,
known as Content Theories and Process Theories.
1. Content Theories
Content theories are also sometimes called needs theories. They look at
motivation from the perspective of our needs and aspirations. The
theories then discuss motivation in terms of filling these needs.
You can think of content theories of motivation as focusing on WHAT
will motivate us.

The main content theories of motivation are – Maslow’s Hierarchy of

Needs, Alderfer’s ERG Theory, McClelland’s Three Needs Theory,
Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory, and McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y.

2. Process Theories
Process theories look at how people are motivated. They are concerned
with the process by which motivation occurs, and how we can adjust
our processes to alter motivation levels.

You can think of process theories of motivation as focusing on HOW

motivation occurs.

The main process theories of motivation are – Skinner’s Reinforcement

Theory, Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, Adam’s Equity Theory, and Locke’s
Goal Setting Theory.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, also known as Maslow’s Theory of
Human Motivation, is a popular motivational theory explaining that as
humans, our actions are motivated by our desire to meet specific
needs.

Maslow focused on the needs of employees in the workplace. His

theory proposes that there are five types of needs that employees need
to have fulfilled in the workplace for them to reach their full potential.

The five needs come in a particular order. When one of the needs is
satisfied, the employee would be motivated by having the opportunity
to meet the next set of needs in the hierarchy.

Maslow’s Theory of Human Motivation

The earliest version of the theory, and still the most popular version
today shows the five motivational needs drawn in a pyramid.
From the bottom to the top, Maslow’s five levels of needs are
physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-
actualization needs.
The pyramid represents a hierarchy. What this means is that only when
a lower-level need has been fully met would an employee then be
motivated by the opportunity to meet the next level of their needs.

A classic example to explain this phenomenon is to consider a person

who is dying of thirst in a desert. They will not be motivated by higher-
level motivators, such as the opportunity to improve their French.
Instead, they will only be motivated by their desire to quench their
thirst, so they continue to live. This basic need must be met first.

The key to understanding Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is to realize that

your needs are continually changing. What motivated you five years
ago will not motivate you today.

Let’s examine each of Maslow’s 5 Levels of Needs in turn.

Deficiency Needs and Growth Needs

The model can be broken down into deficiency needs and growth
needs.
Deficiency needs (D-needs) are those needs that motivate people when
they are unmet. The first four levels in the hierarchy are deficiency
needs.
Note that the longer deficiency needs go unmet, the stronger the desire
to fulfill that need will become, therefore satisfying these needs is vital
to avoid unpleasant feelings. So for example, the longer you go without
water, the more crucial getting water will become to you.
The top-level of the hierarchy concerns growth needs. Confusingly,
these are commonly known as B-needs, which simply means “being”
needs.

The five levels of the hierarchy are:

 »Physiological needs: such as food and water.

 »Safety needs: such as being free from war, natural disasters, and
having job security.
 »Social needs: such as having relationships and belonging to
groups.
 »Esteem needs: such as receiving praise, recognition, and status.
 »Self-actualization needs: such as wanted to be the best we can
be.
When using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a business should offer
different rewards to encourage employees to keep moving up the
hierarchy. This will keep employees motivated.
2. Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
Herzberg argued that there are two factors which are essential in the
motivation of employees. These are motivators and hygiene factors.

 »Motivators: these encourage employees to work harder if

present. They are found within the actual job itself.
 »Hygiene factors: 
The absence of hygiene factors will cause employees to work less
hard. Hygiene factors are not present in the actual job itself but
surround the job.

The impact of motivating and hygiene factors is summarized in the

following diagram. Note that you will often see motivators referred
to as factors for satisfaction, and hygiene factors referred to as
factors for dissatisfaction.
Motivating factors include:
 Achievement: A job must give an employee a sense of
achievement. This will provide a proud feeling of having done
something difficult but worthwhile.
 Recognition: A job must provide an employee with praise and
recognition of their successes. This recognition should come from
both their superiors and their peers.
 The work itself: The job itself must be interesting, varied, and
provide enough of a challenge to keep employees motivated.
 Responsibility: Employees should “own” their work. They should
hold themselves responsible for this completion and not feel as
though they are being micromanaged.
 Advancement: Promotion opportunities should exist for the
employee.
 Growth: The job should give employees the opportunity to learn
new skills. This can happen either on the job or through more
formal training.
Hygiene factors include:

 Company policies: These should be fair and clear to every

employee. They must also be equivalent to those of competitors.
 Supervision: Supervision must be fair and appropriate. The
employee should be given as much autonomy as is reasonable.
 Relationships: There should be no tolerance for bullying or
cliques. A healthy, amiable, and appropriate relationship should
exist between peers, superiors, and subordinates.
 Work conditions: Equipment and the working environment
should be safe, fit for purpose, and hygienic.
 Salary: The pay structure should be fair and reasonable. It should
also be competitive with other organizations in the same industry.
  Status: The organization should maintain the status of all
employees within the organization. Performing meaningful work
can provide a sense of status.
 Security: It is important that employees feel that their job is
secure and they are not under the constant threat of being laid-
off.

How to Use The Model

There is a two-step process to use the Two Factor Theory model to
increase the motivation of your team.
1. Eliminate job hygiene stressors.

2. Boost job satisfaction.

1. Eliminate Job Hygiene Stressors

The first step to enhancing the motivation of your team is to ensure
that the hygiene factors are not causing dissatisfaction.

Each person will examine hygiene factors through their own unique
frame of reference. Because of this, it’s important to work with each
member of your team to understand their specific perspective.

Some common steps to remove hygiene stressors are:

 Rectify petty and bureaucratic company policies.

 Ensure each team member feels supported without feeling

micromanaged. You can do this by using servant leadership or
a democratic leadership style.
  Ensure the day to day working culture is supportive. No bullying.
No cliques. Everyone treated with equal respect.

 Ensure that salaries are competitive within the industry. Ensure

there are no major salary disparities between employees doing
similar jobs.

 To increase job satisfaction and status, aim to construct jobs in

such a way that each team member finds their job meaningful.

2. Boost Job Satisfaction

Once you have removed hygiene stressors, the next step is to boost the
job satisfaction of each team member. We can do this by improving the
actual content of the job itself. Again, a unique approach for each
employee will be required.

Three techniques which can be used to achieve this are:

a. Job Enrichment
Job enrichment means enriching a team member’s job by giving them
more challenging or complex tasks to perform. These more complex
tasks should make the job more interesting.

b. Job Enlargement
Job enlargement means giving a team member a greater variety of
tasks to perform. This variety can also make a job more interesting.

Note that with job enlargement the variety of tasks is increased, but
not the difficulty of those tasks. If difficulty increased then that would
be job enrichment.
c. Employee Empowerment
Employee empowerment means deligating increasing responsibility to
each team member. This can be done by slowly increasing the amount
of responsibility you delegate to an employee.

3. McClelland’s Need Theory of Motivation (Three Needs Theory)

provides a way for managers to determine the factors motivating
each of their team members. Managers and team leaders can use
this information to interact with each team member in ways most
likely to motivate them.

Why Is It Useful?
Let’s imagine that you are a manager giving a team member their
annual performance appraisal.

This team member has performed exceptionally well this year, so you’d
like to reward them by allowing them to take the lead on a high-risk
project with potentially great upside for the organization, and also for
them. This new project will be their reward for performing so well the
previous year.

However, upon hearing they’ve been given the project they don’t seem
at all positive. Why? Well, one reason is that you may have misread
their motives.

While they might want to achieve great things in their career, perhaps
they don’t want to take on a high-risk project for fear it could damage
their career prospects should they fail.
Another reason might be that they prefer being part of a great team
and don’t like taking center stage.

In this example, using Three Needs Theory would have been useful.
With it you could have understood the motivations of your team
member in advance of the appraisal, so you could have rewarded them
in a way that would motivate them.

For example, while some people may desire power, not everyone wants
to be powerful at all costs. Similarly, while some people avoid the
spotlight at all costs, most people enjoy a little praise. Most people
don’t exist at the extremes of each need. This is represented by the bell
curve shape in the above diagram.
McClelland’s Three Needs Theory argues that each of us has three
needs to a greater or lesser extent. The three needs are:

1. Need for Achievement

Someone with a need for achievement would:
  Be motivated by achievement and the opportunity for promotion.

 Have a strong desire to complete complex tasks, set records, or

do something not done before.

 Prefer it when results are under their control and based on their
effort rather than external factors.

 Like to receive regular feedback.

 Avoid high-risk and low-risk situations. Low-risk situations offer no

sense of achievement, and high-risk situations are too much
outside of their control.

Team members with very low achievement needs tend to avoid

situations where they can fail. Conversely, people with too high an
achievement need will want to win at any cost and will want to receive
all of the praise.

2. Need for Affiliation

Someone with a need for affiliation would:

 Be motivated by achieving and retaining acceptance as part of a

group. They like to be liked.

 Follow the social norms of an organization for fear of rejection.

 Enjoy collaboration but dislike competitive situations.

 Avoid high-risk and low-risk situations.

team members with very low affiliation needs tend to be loners, often
introverts, with little desire to socialize at work. Conversely, people
with too high an affiliation need will demand blind loyalty, and be
intolerant of any disagreement.

3. Need for Power

Someone with a need for power would:

 Want to be in charge of others.

 Enjoy winning and competition.

 Place a high-value on discipline.

 Enjoy having status and motivating others.

Team members with very low power needs tend to be subordinate and
dependent. Conversely, people with very high power needs can be
rude, exaggerate their own abilities, and want to control everything.

Using the Three Needs Theory

Three Needs Theory can help you identify the key motivators driving
each member of your team.

You can then use this information to help you get the most out of each
team member. You can do this by changing the way you give feedback,
set goals, adjust your leadership style, and the approach by which you
try and motivate them.

It’s important to realize that when we change our approaches to best

suit each team member, we are not trying to coerce them in any way.
Rather, we are trying to create win-win situations. This means that your
team member’s needs are being fulfilled (they win), and as a result,
they are motivated to do their best to deliver (you win).
There are just two steps to perform to use Needs Theory:

1. Determine Needs
You can use a table similar to the following one to understand the
needs of each team member. For each entry in the table, score each
team member from -5 to +5. Were +5 indicates a very strong need and -
5 a very strong aversion.

To complete this table you can think about the actions and behavior of
your team members in the past. Do this by asking yourself some
questions. For example:
 Do they seek praise?

 Do they push to achieve deadlines?

 Do they like to be in charge?

 Are they introverted or extroverted?

 Do they enjoy being part of a team?

If you’re new to your job or just simply don’t know your team that well
you could get them to score themselves for each of the three needs.

2. Determine How You Will Adjust your Style

All that now remains to be done is to determine how you will adjust
your style and approach with each team member. The Three Needs
Theory diagram below has been updated to reflect this change.
You can then use this table as a reminder as to how to approach each
member of your team. Remember to update the table from time to
time as new insights about your team members come to light.

Summary
Need Theory of Motivation provides a mechanism for team leaders and
managers to understand what motivates each of their team members.
 Need Theory of Motivation provides a mechanism to understand
what motivates each of your team members.
 You can then use this information to adjust how you interact with
each team member.
 Motivated team members create a win-win for the team member
and the manager.
4. McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y puts employees into two broad
categories.
a. Theory X
Theory X assumes that team members are intrinsically lazy and
unmotivated, and will avoid doing work if any opportunity presents
itself.

Because of this, management must work tirelessly and continually to

build systems of control and supervision over employees.

b. Theory Y
Theory Y assumes that team members are ambitious and self-
motivated. A Theory Y manager holds the view that if provided with the
right conditions, team members will perform well.

McGregor himself was in favor of adopting a Theory Y style of

management in most cases. Employers looking to use Theory Y might:

 »Use job enlargement to increase job satisfaction.

 »Use a collaborative style of management, so employees feel they
are a crucial part of decision making.
 »Set targets that encourage employees to challenge themselves.
5. Alderfer’s ERG Theory
You can think of the ERG Theory of Motivation is being a simplified
version of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
In ERG Theory, there are three needs which are also arranged in a
hierarchy.

As can be seen from the diagram, ERG theory is an acronym for

Existence, Relatedness, and Growth.

These are the three basic needs that employees will try to satisfy. In the
model, as one need is filled, this will provide motivation for the
employee to want to fulfill another need. All three needs must be
satisfied simultaneously in order for an individual to feel motivated.

Let’s examine what each of these terms means in turn.

1. Existence (E)
Existence refers to our basic survival needs as humans.

In this category are food and water, shelter, good health, and feeling
safe. These needs can be broadly described as our basic physiological
and safety needs.

If you can’t satisfy your basic survival needs then it impossible to focus
on other, higher needs. For example, if you don’t have enough water to
drink, and you don’t have ready access to clean water, then your life is
in immediate peril and finding water will occupy most of your thoughts,
at the expense of almost all other needs.

2. Relatedness (R)
Relatedness refers to our need to relate to other people, that is, it
refers to the relationships we have.

Having good relationships and interactions with other humans is a need

we all share, although obviously, this need isn’t as strong as our basic
survival needs.

o feel happy and content most humans need to interact with others
and for those interactions to be positive in nature.

3. Growth (G)
Growth refers to our need for personal development, to be creative
and to perform meaningful work. Growth allows us to explore what our
potential might be within our current environment.
It’s easy to see why you might lack motivation if you are stuck doing the
exact same job every day without variety. Conversely, if your job
provides interesting and varied challenges, it’s easier to be motivated
as you’re being presented with growth opportunities each day.

Difference from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

There are several differences between the ERG Theory of Motivation
and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

 Unlike in Maslow’s theory, needs at multiple levels can be

pursued at the same time.

 In ERG Theory, if a higher-level need isn’t satisfied then the

person may regress to seeking to satisfy lower-level needs
(Frustration-Regression principle).

 In Maslow’s theory needs must be satisfied in sequence from the

bottom to the top of the pyramid, one at a time. This is not the
case with ERG Theory, where different levels of needs can be
satisfied at any time. For example, an individual can feel that they
are having their growth needs met whilst still feeling unsatisfied in
their relationships.

Managerial Implications of ERG Theory

Let’s now examine how the ERG Theory of Motivation applies to the
workplace.

To boost motivation, managers should look to promote all elements of

ERG Theory simultaneously. According to the theory, limiting your focus
to just one or two aspects of the theory will fail to motivate your team.
The aim is to action before Frustration-Regression starts to set in.

1. Existence
Employees won’t be happy if their basic needs are not met.

Rember that safety is one of these basic human needs. If employees

don’t feel safe in their work environment they are unlikely to be
motivated.

Ask yourself:

 Are you doing everything you can to make your employees feel
safe?

2. Relatedness

We all want good relationships. If we don’t get on with our boss it’s
going to be difficult to feel motivated. Likewise, if we have negative
relationships with co-workers then our motivation is likely to be low.
We’ll look forward to leaving the office each day so we can get back to
our homes and switch to having more positive relationships with our
families.

sk yourself:

 Are any of the team working isolated or working alone all day?

3. Growth
In the workplace, we have a need to grow. If we work hard year after
year and everything stays exactly the same we’re going to find it
difficult to stay motivated. We need growth. This could mean
recognition of our achievements, respect from peers, pay raises,
increases in responsibility, or increased respect from peers.

Ask yourself:

 Do any of your team feel they are stuck in a dead-end job?

 Is each member of your team aware of the growth opportunities

available to them?

 Do you tend to hire internal or external candidates for new

positions? Preferring internal candidates can provide growth
opportunities to your existing team.

Summary
The ERG Theory of Motivation is a simplified but more flexible version
of Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs.

It proposes three needs that must all be satisfied in order for an

individual to be motivated: existence, relatedness, and growth.
Managers can use the theory to ensure that the conditions within their
organization are right to allow each team member to be motivated.
.

11. Mayo’s Motivation Theory

Mayo determined how well a group would perform in terms of two
factors:

 »Norms: Refers to whether the members of the group encourage

positive or negative behavior.
 »Group cohesiveness: The comradery of the group.

There are four positions in the matrix:

• Groups with low cohesiveness and low norms These groups are
simply ineffective in terms of productivity. A team like this
wouldn't last very long. This is because nobody would be
motivated to be productive in any way.
Groups with high cohesiveness and low norms These types of
teams have a negative impact on productivity. Here the tear gets
on great, but negative behaviors are encouraged rather than
positive ones. Gangs are often cited as examples of this type of
group.
 Groups with high norms and high cohesiveness These are
the teams that can make the greatest positive impact on
productivity. In this type of team, each team member
supports each other to succeed. People are personally
committed to their success and also to the team's success. A
strong support network forms within this type of team.
 AGroups with high norms but low cohesiveness This type of
team can have a limited positive impact on productivity. This
is because each team member will be working towards their
own success rather than that of the team. If one team
member does something great, then good for them, but it
doesn't really improve the productivity of the rest of the
team.

Conclusion •
The Hawthorn Effect states that your productivity increases when
someone is watching you. Example – nag aaral pag Nandyan
nanay
• Mayo not only identified the Hawthorn Effect, he was also the
first to identify the importance of the psychological element of
workplace motivation.
• He recognized that if you treat an employee well, they might be
more productive for the organization.
• Workers are motivated by having social needs met.
• Workers should work in teams.
• Managers should have greater involvement in employee's
working life.
• More two-way communication between managers and workers
can help motivate the workers, thus resulting in an increase in
productivity.