Warr’s Vitamin Model

Lesson Objective: To be able to discuss Warr’s Vitamin

Model
To evaluate Warr’s
Vitamin Model (A)
To apply Warr’s
Progress Line Vitamin Model to
workplace situations
(B)
Describe Warr’s
Vitamin Model (C)
Poll -
Challenge:
Where are To consider cross-cultural/ cross industry
you now? research (A*)
 Warr’s Vitamin Model
• Warr is a U.K. based organisational psychologist, interested in the
relationship between work motivation and job satisfaction.

• He held the view that organisations are like living organisms – they need
to be nourished to thrive!

According to this model, people need different kinds of job characteristics or

‘vitamins’, to be fully productive at work. Just like with real vitamins – different
people require different amounts of each type.

Describe Warr’s Vitamin Model (C)

 The ‘Vitamins’
• Supportive supervision
• Opportunity for personal control (autonomy)
• Opportunity for interpersonal contact (quantity and quality interactions between employees)
• Externally generated goals (e.g., job demand, task demands, role responsibility)
• Availability of money
• Variety (task/job variety)
• Opportunity for skill use (showcasing what you’ve got!)
• Physical security
• Environmental clarity (the use of policy and consistent procedures)
• Valued social position (task significance, meaningfulness of job)

(8) TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING - With Tim Marsh - YouTube

Task – consider the list of vitamins… can you rank these in
order of importance to you.

Then compare to your partner’s – any

similarities/differences?

Stretch and challenge – Be prepared to explain your reasoning

 The model
Warr’s Vitamin Model demonstrates the challenges researchers face in
understanding the diverse characteristics that influence well-being at work,
and the interplay between these characteristics. There are simply too many
variables to consider!

However, as much as there are variations in what organizations need to

promote well-being, there are also fundamentals, described by Warr’s job
characteristics, that provide a solid frame for discerning and measuring the
health of an organization.
 Warr’s Vitamin Model
Lesson Objective: To be able to discuss Warr’s Vitamin
Model
To evaluate Warr’s
Vitamin Model (A)
To apply Warr’s
Progress Line Vitamin Model to
workplace situations
(B)
Describe Warr’s
Vitamin Model (C)
Poll -
Challenge:
Where are To consider cross-cultural/ cross industry
you now? research (A*)
Can you suggest a link Between Maslow and Warr?
Vitamin Model

Opportunity for personal control

Opportunity for skill use
Self – Actualisation

Esteem

Social

Safety
Physical security
Physiological / basic Pay and financial support
Opportunities for interpersonal contact

Most of Warr’s Vitamin’s can fit

into one of the levels of the
hierarchy
Even though both theories break down their aspects of needs Warr’s (1987)
model constitutes to generalizability of occupational areas whereas Maslow
(1954) concentrates more towards the nature and the context of the
preservation of life and identification of one’s self (Cambridge Regional
College, 2011) as it was required at the time of Maslow’s theory (1954) due to
the conditions of life as it was created 33 years before the invention of Warr’s
Unique Vitamin Model (1987).
 Warr’s Vitamin Model
Lesson Objective: To be able to discuss Warr’s Vitamin
Model
To evaluate Warr’s
Vitamin Model (A)
To apply Warr’s
Progress Line Vitamin Model to
workplace situations
(B)
Describe Warr’s
Vitamin Model (C)
Poll -
Challenge:
Where are To consider cross-cultural/ cross industry
you now? research (A*)
Evaluation of Warr’s Vitamin Model:
Take one and PEEL it!!
DE JONGE AND SCHAUFELI provide
support for the theory in healthcare
contexts (see link to article on next
page)
Unlike Herzberg for example, it takes
individuals situation or perception into
consideration.
CN – can this really be applied in reality?
The model provides a solid framework
for helping to measure the health of
an organisation and it’s relation to
workers’ well being
There has been a lot of research
conducted to test the
effectiveness of the theory
within work places (see articles
on next slide).
 Challenge:
To consider cross-cultural/ cross industry research (A*)

• Microsoft Word - 20150519_Job_characteristics_and_job_satisfaction_a test of

Warr's_Vitamin_Model_in_german_horticulture_ZBG_SM (uni-hannover.de)

• Job characteristics and employee well-being: a test of Warr's Vitamin Model in health care workers us
ing structural equation modelling (wilmarschaufeli.nl)
DE JONGE AND SCHAUFELI

• pdf-140430-69053 (ijomeh.eu)

• Access and read the journal articles above. What cross cultural and cross industry points can you
make?

• Any further applications of The Vitamin Model?

 Warr’s Vitamin Model
Lesson Objective: To be able to discuss Warr’s Vitamin
Model
To evaluate Warr’s
Vitamin Model (A)
To apply Warr’s
Progress Line Vitamin Model to
workplace situations
(B)
Describe Warr’s
Vitamin Model (C)
Poll -
Challenge:
Where are To consider cross-cultural/ cross industry
you now? research (A*)