Organisation and Behavior

Organisation and Behavior

Three theories of motivation

Needs Hierarchy Theory

Abraham Maslow pointed out that human motivation has a hierarchical structure, which he called hierarchy of needs. There are at least five basic needs, which all individuals uphold. These are physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization.  Physiological needs are for instance food, drink, shelter, sex and other bodily requirements. Safety needs deal with the security and protection from physical and emotional harm. Social needs refer to affection and belongingness needs. That means a person will strive for good relationships with people and a place in his/her group. Thereby, special attention is given to friends, wife and children etc. In addition all the individuals hold a need for a stable and high evaluation of themselves, self-esteem and respect given to them by other persons. Esteem needs may be categorised as internal and external factors. Internal esteem factors such as self-respect, autonomy and achievement and external esteem factors such as status, recognition, and attention.

The needs, which Maslow identified at the bottom of the pyramid, are based on basic needs concerned with survival, and these must be satisfied before a person can go to the next level. For example some people may be more concerned with basic needs such as food, than anything else. Although it must be noted that once each need has been satisfied the ones below become less important, with exception to self-actualisation at the top, Maslow argued that although everybody is capable, very few actually reach this level. These motivational theories along with others might give the managers an insight into what motivates their employees and how they supposed to act upon it. 

While Maslow's hierarchy makes sense intuitively, there is little evidence to support its strict hierarchy. In fact, research contradicts the order of needs specified by the model. For example, some cultures appear to place social needs before any others. Maslow's hierarchy also has difficulty explaining cases such as the "starving artist" in which a person neglects physical needs in pursuit of aesthetic needs or spiritual needs. Finally, there is little evidence to suggest that people are motivated to satisfy exclusively one need at a time, except in situations where needs conflict. Maslow addressed some of these criticisms in his paper, Theory of Human Motivation.

Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory

Herzberg theory argues that intrinsic factors are related to the job satisfaction and extrinsic factors are related to job dissatisfaction.Herzberg 's work categorised motivation into two sets of factors: hygiene factors and motivators.

Herzberg identified company policy, supervision, interpersonal relationships ,working conditions, salary, status and security as hygiene factors. Hygiene factors do not motivate employees, however, they may reduce the extent of dissatisfaction experienced by the individuals. That means if these factors are not present, or are mismanaged, they may cause dissatisfaction on the job. In an optimal situation, regarding the presence of hygiene factors, the employee will not experience dissatisfaction, but neither will he/she develop positive attitudes toward the work. Hygiene factors are related to the job ...