Motivation-Hygiene Theory Adapted for Education

Author(s): Thomas C. Timmreck

Source: The High School Journal, Vol. 61, No. 3 (Dec., 1977), pp. 105-110
Published by: University of North Carolina Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40365315
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The High School Journal

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 Motivation-Hygiene Theory
Adapted for Education
by Thomas C. Timmreck

College of Health Related Professions,

Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho.

As educators, are we stifling learning by using non-motivating,

dissatisfying factors and concepts to try to motivate our students?
According to the work of Dr. Frederick Herzberg, many teachers
may be doing the wrong thing for the right reason.
Dr. Frederick Herzberg, an internationally famous man-
agement consultant and a clinical psychologist with a Master's of
Public Health (MPH), has devoted his professional efforts
throughout his lifetime to try to determine the "nature of man"
and what motivates him to work. A few of the questions he has
asked include: What makes man happy - unhappy? What brings
satisfaction - dissatisfaction? What motivates man to perform? He
came to some simple but profound conclusions. One of these con-
clusions is that man seeks to avoid pain and discomfort and to seek
pleasure or happiness. Many motivation efforts used by teachers,
parents and supervisory personnel cause pain and unhappiness
rather than motivate. This brings to light a point Herzberg sug-
gests concerning society, that is, we are oriented to being either
happy or unhappy. If one is to ask the question, "What is the
opposite of happy?," the general response for most people often is
unhappy or sad. Herzberg points out that there is no word for a
halfway point between happiness and unhappiness. If you were
asked by a friend, "How are you today?," and your response is
"Fine" or "OK," your friend is likely to say "What's the matter?,"
when actually nothing is the matter. In reality, most of us are just
"OK" or "fine" most of the time. If we were extremely high or
happy all the time, or the opposite, sad or depressed, the same
friend might be recommending a mental health counselor. Thus
there is a state in the middle - a "happy" medium to one's mental
health, which most of us function under most of the time with
variations of "highs" and "lows."

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106 The High School Journal [December

Herzberg (1966) suggests that certain factors in life are motivat-

ing or satisfying and other factors are needed just to maintain this
happy medium between happiness and unhappiness - the "OK" or
"fine" state. These maintenance factors or blocks to unhappiness
were given the term hygiene. The hygienic factors are dissatisfiers
which usually describe the environment and are essential to pre-
vent dissatisfaction in school, while at the same time, they have little
effect on a bright positive attitude. The term "hygiene", while
mainly a term currently used for "maintenance" factors is an anal-
ogy to the health/medical term suggesting factors preventive and
environmental in nature. They are the items in life that may have a
small bit of motivation attached to them but for the most part are
used to maintain, to avoid unhappiness and dissatisfaction and are
needed to promote a balance in life so motivation factors can func-
tion and occur. (See chart I)
Hygienic factors need to be provided in the school environment
to prevent discontent with school and the schoolwork, but a posi-
tive hygienic environment cannot lead the individual beyond a
minimal adjustment merely by the absence of dissatisfaction be-
cause the hygienic environment is there.
A positive, satisfying happiness seems to require some attain-
ment of personal and psychological growth. If hygienic factors are
low or missing, an imbalance exists. Then a person seeks to fill
these maintenance factors rather than the factors in life that moti-
vate and satisfy a person or that allow a person personal and
psychological growth.
Factors that have been found to cause unhappiness and dissatis-
faction among students were mostly feelings of being treated un-
fairly or finding a situation unpleasant or painful. All students want
to be treated fairly and decently. This could loosely be compared to
another more familiar theorist in the education field - Maslow
(1973) and his hierarchy of needs. (See Chart II) Maslow's lower
physical and security needs are more important and take prece-
dence until they are filled. Before the higher needs of love, self-
esteem and personal growth to self-actualization are achieved, the
physical and security needs or Maslow or Herzberg's hygiene or
maintenance factors need to be filled. Once the lower factors are
filled, then the factors that motivate become activated. Herzberg
points out in his theory that factors that are maintaining or
hygienic in nature are often misused as motivators or satisfiers. It
has been demonstrated clearly that hygiene factors fail to provide
positive satisfaction because the characteristics necessary for per-

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1977] Hygiene Theory Adapted For Education 107

CHART I

MOTIVATION-HYGIENE THEOPY

<

50% 40 30 20 10 C 10 20 30 40 50%

FACfOftS 111 UNHAPPY EVENTS %$}&&$ /Will Will 3

A. RULES, POLICY & ADMIN. -*- ^-u--u
B.OVER SUPERVISION i
C. INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS
1. PEERS

2.TEACHERS I
3.PRINCIPALS.ETC. |
D. PUNISHMENT & REWARDS I
E. CLASSROOM CONDITIONS I /ncVpnNQTRTl ?TY
f.status I- /ncVpnNQTRTl <Ww?m\r ?TY
G.SECURITY

SCHOOL & 1CLASS RULES & POLICY TJfj[

'•

SUPERVIS(ON rrrr //![ A.ACHlEVEMeMT

1

RELATIONSHIP WITH TEADO^S L'SpOlSlBiLITY

I I E.ADVANCEMENT
CLASS ENVIRONM^g F-6R0WTH
REWARDS & PUNISHMENT /^jj

HOMELIFTj

RELATIONSHIP WITH ADMl£T ^

STATUTJ

SECURITY^

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108 The High School Journal [December

CHART II

MASL0WfS HIERARCHY OF NEEDS OR MOTIVATION

(Simplified Form)

/ \ \ Lower "needs" need

/ \ \ to be satisfied
/ \ \ prior to being able
/ \ \ to move upward to
/ \ \ higher needs.
/ self- \ \
/ actualization \ \
/ needs \ \

/ Esteem needs \ \

/ Love or belonging needs \ \

/ Safety or security needs \ \

wholeness of the \ \
organism \ \

Psychological/physical drives \

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19771 Hygiene Theory Adapted For Education 109

sonal growth are lacking. To experience personal growth, one has

to achieve through tasks that are meaningful to him individually.
Because hygiene factors do not involve a task, they lack the capabil-
ity to provide meaning to the student. Personal growth is depen-
dent upon achievement which requires a task. Motivators or satis-
fiers are task factors and are necessary for personal growth and
provide stimulation psychologically, meaningfulness is experi-
enced and the student is activated toward his personal growth
needs. Motivators, satisfiers or satisfaction with school are separate
and distinct from dissatisfaction with school. The opposite of satis-
faction with school is not dissatisfaction with school, but rather no
satisfaction with school. A similar circumstance exists, eliminating
the black and white dichotomy with dissatisfaction, that is, dissatis-
faction with school's opposite is not satisfaction with school but
rather no dissatisfaction with school. Satisfaction with school is on
one plane associated with motivating factors or satisfiers. Dissatis-
faction is on another separate plane going in the opposite direction
but a distinct and separate dimension. Through extensive research
and years of development, Herzberg found that hygiene factors
are only good for maintenance or hygiene's sake. Using hygiene
factors for motivators or satisfiers for the most part will not work
and if used for that purpose, they cause student, personal and
organizational problems.
Adapted for education, the hygiene factors include: school
rules and policy, supervision by teachers and administrators, rela-
tionship with the teacher, class environment, rewards and punish-
ment, peers and their influence and relationship, home life, rela-
tionships with the administration - principals, counselors, superin-
tendent, etc. and status and security.
As you view the chart you will notice that there is a certain
amount of slippage into the motivation side on the right. These
factors can motivate the student to a limited extent, but for the
most part are hygienic in nature and are needed for maintenance
of the program or individual. If the student or program lacks in
these items, chances are the student will not be able to grow or
move on to the motivation factors, which include achievement,
recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement and growth.
If the teacher in the school, whether it be K-6 or 7-12, college or
university, will provide the opportunity to achieve, to gain recogni-
tion, to experience success and be allowed to succeed from accom-
plishment by work itself, to be trusting enough to allow students to
assume responsibility and allow social and psychological growth in

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110 The High School Journal [December

the student, then the teacher will become a facilitator of learning

rather than stifling motivation as one does if he is an instructor of
subject matter only and a rigid disciplinarian. This model also
lends itself to the familiar cone of learning in that the more ex-
periential the learning activity, the more meaningful it will be and
because it is usually task oriented, the more motivated the student
will be to learn and achieve. (Dale, 1954)
Herzberg further points out that one of the least desirable con-
ditions that man has to deal with is boredom. If a student is not
experiencing meaningful learning activities then he will be bored.
This condition of boredom then may manifest itself in many ways,
often resulting in discipline problems such as acting out by com-
peting for attention (the lack of a recognition factor).
Herzberg and his associates have demonstrated through re-
search in industrial settings, that motivation occurs when motivat-
ing factors are understood, promoted and given latitude to func-
tion. If one can view the school in the context of it being a work
setting (students as workers, teachers as supervisors), it seems
plausible that the adaptation is viable and has direct application.
This presentation does not present the total motivation-hygiene
theory in its complexity. However, this does present another ap-
plicable and useful model of motivation so that a greater under-
standing of the factors that are motivators may be used as
motivators and the ones that are not as effective and hygienic in
nature can be avoided and recognized as such.

REFERENCES

Dale, E. Audio-Visual Methods in Teaching. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York,
1954.
Herzberg, Frederick. Work and the Nature of Man. Thomas Y. Crowell Company,
New York, 1966.
Herzberg, Frederick and Grigghunas, Ben. Motivation - The Management of Success.
Advanced Systems Incorporated, Elk Grove Village, Illinois, 1973.
Herzberg, Frederick, Mausner, B., and Snyderman, B. B. Motivation to Work. John
Wiley and Sons, New York, 1955.
Lowry, R. J. (Ed.) Dominance, Self -Esteem, Self -Actualization: Germinal Papers of A. H.
Maslow. Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., Monterey, California, 1973.

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