CHAPTER FOUR

MOTIVATION CONCEPTS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

3.1. Understanding Motivation

Motivation comes from the Latin root word “movere” which means to move. Motivation is the process of
arousing and sustaining goal-oriented behavior. Simply said, motivation is an inner desire to satisfy an
unsatisfied need. In organizational settings, motivation is the willingness to achieve organizational
objectives.

3.2. Theories of Motivation

3.2.1. Early Theories of Motivation
Knowing these theories is important at least for two reasons:

 They represent a foundation from which contemporary theories have grown.

 Practicing managers still regularly use these theories and their terminology in explaining employee
motivation.

1. Hierarchy of Needs Theory

This theory proposes that employees are motivated through five levels of needs: Physiological, Safety,
Social, Esteem, and Self-actualization. Abraham Maslow developed this theory in the 1940s, based on four
major assumptions.

First, only unmet needs motivate. Second, people’s needs are arranged in order of importance (hierarchy)
going from basic to complex. Third, people will not be motivated to satisfy a higher-level need unless the
lower-level need(s) has been at least minimally satisfied. Finally, Maslow assumed that people have five
classifications of needs.

Needs classification is presented here in hierarchy order from low to high level of need along with the ways
used by managers to meet these five needs of employees.

1) Physiological Needs: This category includes people’s primary or basic needs: air, food, shelter, sex, and
relief from or avoidance of pain. Organizations meet these needs through adequate salary, breaks, and
safe working conditions.

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2) Safety Needs: Once they satisfy their physiological needs, people are concerned with safety and security.
Organizations meet these needs through safe working conditions, salary increases to meet inflation, job
security, and fringe benefits (medical insurance/ sick pay/ pensions) that protect the physiological needs.

3) Social Needs: After establishing safety, people look for love, friendship, acceptance and affection.
Organizations meet these needs by providing employees with the opportunity to interact with others, to
be accepted, and to have friends. Activities include parties, picnics, trips, and sports teams.

4) Esteem Needs: After they meet their social needs, people focus on ego, status, self-respect, recognition
for accomplishments, and a feeling of self-confidence and prestige.

5) Self-actualization Needs: The highest level of need is to develop one’s full potential. To do so, people
seek growth, achievement and advancement. Organizations meet these needs by developing employees’
skills, the chance to be creative, achievement and promotions, and the ability to have complete control
over their jobs.

Maslow separated the five needs into higher and lower orders. Physiological and safety needs were
described as lower-order needs and social, esteem, and self-actualization needs are higher-order needs.
Higher-order needs are satisfied internally (within the person), whereas lower-order needs are
predominantly satisfied externally (such as pay, union contracts and tenure).

2. Theory X and Theory Y (DOUGLAS McGREGOR)

McGregor understood people’s motivation using Maslow’s need theory. McGregor grouped the
physiological and safety needs as “lower-order needs” and the social, esteem, and self -actualization needs
as “higher-order needs”.

McGregor proposed/formulated two alternative sets of assumptions about human nature or people at work
based upon which set of needs were the motivators. He labeled these sets of assumptions as Theory X and
Theory Y.
Theory X is a set of assumptions of how to manage individuals who are motivated by lower-order needs.
Theory Y is a set of assumptions of how to manage individuals who are motivated by higher-order needs.

His Theory X assumptions was pessimistic and negative. Assumptions held by managers under Theory X
are:

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  Employees dislike work and will avoid work if they can.
 As employees dislike work, they must be coerced to achieve objectives.
 Employees have little ambition; they prefer to be directed and to avoid responsibility.

 Employees primarily want security.

Theory Y, in contrast, is a modern and positive set of assumptions about people. Assumptions held by
managers under Theory Y are:

 Employees do not inherently dislike work; working is as natural as resting and playing.

 Employees are capable of self-direction and self-control if they are committed to objectives.

 The typical employee can learn to accept and seek responsibility.

 Most employees are able to use creativity to solve problems.

3. The Two-Factor Theory

A departure from the idea of hierarchically ordered needs is given in the theory of Frederick Herzberg and
his associates (1959). In the late 1950s, Herzberg and his associates conducted a study of the job attitudes of
200 engineers and accountants. Herzberg divided the work environment into two major groups: hygiene/
maintenance factors or dissatisfiers, and motivators or satisfiers. This theory was termed the two-factor
theory and proposes that motivators rather than hygiene factors motivate employees. From this research,
Herzberg concluded that job dissatisfaction and job satisfaction arise from two separate sets of factors.

A) Hygiene Factors/Dissatifiers: are features of the work environment rather than the work itself. They
include such things/factors as salary, status, and fringe benefits, working conditions, quality of
supervision, interpersonal relations, and company policy. The most important of these factors is company
policy, which many individuals judge to be a major cause of inefficiency and ineffectiveness.

The word “hygiene” indicates that they stop dissatisfaction from occurring, and work could be very
dissatisfying if they are absent. Positive ratings for these factors did not lead to job satisfaction but merely to
the absence of job dissatisfaction. All the hygiene factors ensure a state of no dissatisfaction exists.

B) Motivators/Satisfiers: include achievement, recognition, responsibility, and nature of the job itself, and
advancement- all related to the job context and the rewards of work performance. If motivators are
absent, this will not actually result in dissatisfaction, so long as the hygiene factors are adequate, because
the opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction, it is merely no satisfaction.

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 Present Absent
Hygiene Factors No dissatisfaction Dissatisfaction
Motivators Satisfaction No satisfaction

4. Carrot and Stick Approach

A very widely known motivational concept is the ‘Carrot and Stick’ approach. Many managers see
motivation in terms of this notion and so their efforts to motivate is limited to asking the question; should I
bribe people or simply threaten them? However when put into practice, this concept is found to be more
complicated than this. To motivate is to change behavior. How can you change the behavior of people, both
as individuals and as a group or team? Using the carrot and stick approach, there are two ways; behavior is
changed by force or by choice through the use of incentives.

The ‘stick’ or fear is a good motivator and when used at the correct times can be very helpful. Fear however
has its weaknesses in that an organization motivated by fear is prone to mutiny. It can also be stressful for
employees. It is extrinsic, which means that the motivation only works while the motivator is present. When
the motivator goes, the motivation also usually goes. Fear is also only useful on a short-term basis, as it
needs to be applied in ever-increasing doses. In a worst-case scenario, fear motivation can backfire and
could even lead to cases of sabotage.
On the other hand, people contribute or become more productive because they are offered incentives i.e. the
carrot approach. The major advantage with this is that it can work very well as long as the incentive is
attractive enough.

3.2.2. Contemporary Theories of Motivation

1) Alderfer’s ERG Theory
ERG theory is a well-known simplification of the hierarchy of needs theory. ERG theory proposes that
employees are motivated by three needs: Existence, Relatedness, and Growth. Clayton Alderfer reorganized
Maslow’s needs hierarchy into three levels of needs: Existence (physiological and safety needs),
Relatedness (social), and Growth (esteem and self-actualization).

Alderfer agreed with Maslow that worker motivation could be gauged according to a hierarchy of needs.
Alderfer maintained the higher- and lower-order needs. He agreed with Maslow that unsatisfied needs
motivate individuals, but disagreed that only one need level is active at one time.
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However, his ERG theory differs from Maslow’s theory in two basic ways. First, Alderfer broke needs
down into three categories: Existence (Maslow’s fundamental needs), Relatedness needs (needs for
interpersonal relations), and Growth needs (needs for personal creativity or productive influence). Second,
and more important, he stressed that when higher needs are frustrated, lower needs will return, even though
they were already satisfied.

Where Maslow saw people moving steadily up the hierarchy of needs, Alderfer saw people up and down the
needs hierarchy from time to time and from situation to situation. This, again, is a phenomenon that is all
too prevalent to people affected by corporate downsizing (layoffs) in recent years.

2) Equity Theory
Equity theory proposes that employees are motivated when their perceived inputs equal outputs. According
to L. Fostinger, the proponent of equity theory, people compare their inputs (effort, experience, seniority,
status, intelligence, and so forth) and outputs (praise, recognition, pay, benefits, promotions, increased
status, supervisors approval, etc) to that of “relevant others”. A relevant other could be a coworker or group
of employees from the same or different organizations, or even from a hypothetical situation.

An unpleasant, dissonating experience arises if the employee perceives an inequity. When employees
perceive inequity, they attempt to reduce it by reducing input or increasing output.

A comparison with relevant others lead to three conclusions: the employee is under rewarded, over
rewarded, or equitably rewarded.

A) Under Rewarded: When employees perceive that they are under rewarded, they may do the following:

They may reduce the inequity by trying to increase outputs (increase in pay).

Reducing inputs (doing less work, absenteeism, long breaks, etc)

Rationalizing (finding a logical explanation for inequity)

Changing others inputs or outputs (more work or less pay), leaving the situation (resigning), etc.

B) Over Rewarded: Generally, employees do not feel any tension in this situation. If so, employees may
reduce perceived inequity by increasing input, reducing output, rationalizing, or trying to increase others
output.

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C) Equitably Rewarded: Motivation exists when inputs and outputs are perceived as being equal.
Employees may believe that “relevant others” should have greater outputs when they have more experience,
education, and so on.

3) Expectancy Theory
It is based on Victor Vroom’s formula: Motivation = Expectancy x Valence. It proposes that employees
are motivated when they believe they can accomplish the task and the rewards for doing so are worth the
effort.
The theory is based on the following assumptions:
Both internal (needs) and external (environment) factors affect behavior;
Behavior is the individual’s decision;
People have different needs, desires, and goals; and
People make behavior decisions based on their perception of the outcome.
Two important variables in Vroom’s formula must be met for motivation to take place.
1. Expectancy: It refers to the person’s perception of his/her ability (probability) to accomplish an
objective. Generally, the higher is one’s expectancy, the better the chance for motivation. When employees
do not believe that they can accomplish objectives, they will not be motivated to try. Also important is the
perception of the relationship between performance and the outcome or reward.
2. Valence: It refers to the value a person places on the outcome or reward. Generally, the higher is the
value (importance) of the outcome or reward, the better the chance for motivation.

3.3. Implication of Motivation for Performance and Satisfaction

Organizations and managers who have the knowledge and skills to motivate employees will always be a
step ahead of their competitors; as well motivated and happy employees are invariably easier to manage and
thus more productive. The question is why is this situation so difficult to achieve? Perhaps the answer is that
most organizations, in the process of motivating their employees have paid more attention to the tangibles
rather than the non-tangibles. The trouble with tangibles is that like the carrot, its attractiveness wanes with
time and you have to provide more and more attractive incentives. At the end of the day, a word of praise
from the Head of Department can mean more than tangibles like paid holidays. If only organizations and
managers can reconcile and complement their tangible rewards with the intangibles? That would surely be a
winning combination. Perhaps herein lies the long sought after secret to motivation.

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