1. People - Theories of Motivation
There are a number of different views as to what motivates workers. The most commonly held views or theories
are discussed below and have been developed over the last 100 years or so. Unfortunately these theories do not
all reach the same conclusions!
Taylor
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 – 1917) put forward the idea that workers are motivated mainly by pay. His
Theory of Scientific Management argued the following:
Workers do not naturally enjoy work and so need close supervision and control
Therefore managers should break down production into a series of small tasks
Workers should then be given appropriate training and tools so they can work as efficiently as possible on one
set task.
Workers are then paid according to the number of items they produce in a set period of time- piece-rate pay.
As a result workers are encouraged to work hard and maximise their productivity.
Taylor’s methods were widely adopted as businesses saw the benefits of increased productivity levels and lower
unit costs. The most notably advocate was Henry Ford who used them to design the first ever production line,
making Ford cars. This was the start of the era of mass production.
Taylor’s approach has close links with the concept of an autocratic management style (managers take all the
decisions and simply give orders to those below them) and Macgregor’s Theory X approach to workers (workers
are viewed as lazy and wish to avoid responsibility).
However workers soon came to dislike Taylor’s approach as they were only given boring, repetitive tasks to carry
out and were being treated little better than human machines. Firms could also afford to lay off workers as
productivity levels increased. This led to an increase in strikes and other forms of industrial action by dis-satisfied
workers.
Mayo
Elton Mayo (1880 – 1949) believed that workers are not just concerned with money but could be better motivated
by having their social needs met whilst at work (something that Taylor ignored). He introduced the Human
Relation School of thought, which focused on managers taking more of an interest in the workers, treating them
as people who have worthwhile opinions and realising that workers enjoy interacting together.
Mayo conducted a series of experiments at the Hawthorne factory of the Western Electric Company in Chicago
He isolated two groups of women workers and studied the effect on their productivity levels of changing factors
such as lighting and working conditions.
He expected to see productivity levels decline as lighting or other conditions became progressively worse
What he actually discovered surprised him: whatever the change in lighting or working conditions, the productivity
levels of the workers improved or remained the same.
From this Mayo concluded that workers are best motivated by:
Better communication between managers and workers ( Hawthorne workers were consulted over the
experiments and also had the opportunity to give feedback)
Greater manager involvement in employees working lives ( Hawthorne workers responded to the increased
level of attention they were receiving)

2. Working in groups or teams. ( Hawthorne workers did not previously regularly work in teams)
In practice therefore businesses should re-organise production to encourage greater use of team working and
introduce personnel departments to encourage greater manager involvement in looking after employees’
interests. His theory most closely fits in with a paternalistic style of management.
Maslow
Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970) along with Frederick Herzberg (1923-) introduced the Neo-Human Relations
School in the 1950’s, which focused on the psychological needs of employees. Maslow put forward a theory that
there are five levels of human needs which employees need to have fulfilled at work.
All of the needs are structured into a hierarchy (see below) and only once a lower level of need has been fully
met, would a worker be motivated by the opportunity of having the next need up in the hierarchy satisfied. For
example a person who is dying of hunger will be motivated to achieve a basic wage in order to buy food before
worrying about having a secure job contract or the respect of others.
A business should therefore offer different incentives to workers in order to help them fulfill each need in turn and
progress up the hierarchy (see below). Managers should also recognise that workers are not all motivated in the
same way and do not all move up the hierarchy at the same pace. They may therefore have to offer a slightly
different set of incentives from worker to worker.
Herzberg
Frederick Herzberg (1923-) had close links with Maslow and believed in a two-factor theory of motivation. He
argued that there were certain factors that a business could introduce that would directly motivate employees to
work harder (Motivators). However there were also factors that would de-motivate an employee if not present
but would not in themselves actually motivate employees to work harder (Hygienefactors)
Motivators are more concerned with the actual job itself. For instance how interesting the work is and how much
opportunity it gives for extra responsibility, recognition and promotion. Hygiene factors are factors which
‘surround the job’ rather than the job itself. For example a worker will only turn up to work if a business has
provided a reasonable level of pay and safe working conditions but these factors will not make him work harder at
his job once he is there. Importantly Herzberg viewed pay as a hygiene factor which is in direct contrast to Taylor
who viewed pay, and piece-rate in particular

3. Herzberg believed that businesses should motivate employees by adopting a democratic approach to
management and by improving the nature and content of the actual job through certain methods. Some of the
methods managers could use to achieve this are:
Job enlargement – workers being given a greater variety of tasks to perform (not necessarily more challenging)
which should make the work more interesting.
Job enrichment - involves workers being given a wider range of more complex, interesting and challenging
tasks surrounding a complete unit of work. This should give a greater sense of achievement.
Empowerment means delegating more power to employees to make their own decisions over areas of their
working life.
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The basic needs model, referred to as content theory of motivation, highlights the specific
factors that motivate an individual. Although these factors are found within an individual,
things outside the individual can affect him or her as well.
In short, all people have needs that they want satisfied. Some are primary needs,such as
those for food, sleep, and water—needs that deal with the physical aspects of behavior and
are considered unlearned. These needs are biological in nature and relatively stable. Their
influences on behavior are usually obvious and hence easy to identify.
Secondary needs, on the other hand, are psychological, which means that they are learned
primarily through experience. These needs vary significantly by culture and by individual.
Secondary needs consist of internal states, such as the desire for power, achievement, and
love. Identifying and interpreting these needs is more difficult because they are
demonstrated in a variety of ways. Secondary needs are responsible for most of the behavior
that a supervisor is concerned with and for the rewards a person seeks in an organization.
Several theorists, including Abraham Maslow, Frederick Herzberg, David McClelland, and
Clayton Alderfer, have provided theories to help explain needs as a source of motivation.
Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory
Abraham Maslow defined need as a physiological or psychological deficiency that a person
feels the compulsion to satisfy. This need can create tensions that can influence a person's
work attitudes and behaviors. Maslow formed a theory based on his definition of need that
proposes that humans are motivated by multiple needs and that these needs exist in a
hierarchical order. His premise is that only an unsatisfied need can influence behavior; a
satisfied need is not a motivator.
Maslow's theory is based on the following two principles:
Deficit principle: A satisfied need no longer motivates behavior because people act to
satisfy deprived needs.
Progression principle: The five needs he identified exist in a hierarchy, which means
that a need at any level only comes into play after a lower-level need has been
satisfied.

4. In his theory, Maslow identified five levels of human needs. Table 1 illustrates these five
levels and provides suggestions for satisfying each need.
TABLE 1 Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs
Higher Level Needs To Satisfy, Offer:
Self-actualization needs Creative and challenging work
Participation in decision making
Job flexibility and autonomy
Esteem needs Responsibility of an important job
Promotion to higher status job
Praise and recognition from boss
Lower Level Needs To Satisfy, Offer:
Social needs Friendly coworkers
Interaction with customers
Pleasant supervisor
Safety needs Safe working conditions
Job security
Base compensation and benefits
Physiological needs Rest and refreshment breaks
Physical comfort on the job
Reasonable work hours

5. Although research has not verified the strict deficit and progression principles of Maslow's
theory, his ideas can help managers understand and satisfy the needs of employees.
Herzberg's two-factor theory
Frederick Herzberg offers another framework for understanding the motivational implications
of work environments.
In his two-factor theory, Herzberg identifies two sets of factors that impact motivation in
the workplace:
Hygiene factors include salary, job security, working conditions, organizational
policies, and technical quality of supervision. Although these factors do not motivate
employees, they can cause dissatisfaction if they are missing. Something as simple as
adding music to the office place or implementing a no-smoking policy can make people
less dissatisfied with these aspects of their work. However, these improvements in
hygiene factors do not necessarily increase satisfaction.
Satisfiers or motivators include such things as responsibility, achievement, growth
opportunities, and feelings of recognition, and are the key to job satisfaction and
motivation. For example, managers can find out what people really do in their jobs and
make improvements, thus increasing job satisfaction and performance.
Following Herzberg's two-factor theory, managers need to ensure that hygiene factors are
adequate and then build satisfiers into jobs.
Alderfer's ERG theory
Clayton Alderfer's ERG (Existence, Relatedness, Growth) theory is built upon Maslow's
hierarchy of needs theory. To begin his theory, Alderfer collapses Maslow's five levels of
needs into three categories.
Existence needs are desires for physiological and material well-being. (In terms of
Maslow's model, existence needs include physiological and safety needs)
Relatedness needs are desires for satisfying interpersonal relationships. (In terms of
Maslow's model, relatedness correspondence to social needs)
Growth needs are desires for continued psychological growth and development. (In
terms of Maslow's model, growth needs include esteem and self-realization needs)
This approach proposes that unsatisfied needs motivate behavior, and that as lower level
needs are satisfied, they become less important. Higher level needs, though, become more
important as they are satisfied, and if these needs are not met, a person may move down the
hierarchy, which Alderfer calls the frustration-regression principle. What he means by this
term is that an already satisfied lower level need can become reactivated and influence
behavior when a higher level need cannot be satisfied. As a result, managers should provide
opportunities for workers to capitalize on the importance of higher level needs.
McClelland's acquired needs theory
David McClelland's acquired needs theory recognizes that everyone prioritizes needs
differently. He also believes that individuals are not born with these needs, but that they are
actually learned through life experiences. McClelland identifies three specific needs:

6. Need for achievement is the drive to excel.
Need for power is the desire to cause others to behave in a way that they would not
have behaved otherwise.
Need for affiliation is the desire for friendly, close interpersonal relationships and
conflict avoidance.
McClelland associates each need with a distinct set of work preferences, and managers can
help tailor the environment to meet these needs.
High achievers differentiate themselves from others by their desires to do things better.
These individuals are strongly motivated by job situations with personal responsibility,
feedback, and an intermediate degree of risk. In addition, high achievers often exhibit the
following behaviors:
Seek personal responsibility for finding solutions to problems
Want rapid feedback on their performances so that they can tell easily whether they are
improving or not
Set moderately challenging goals and perform best when they perceive their probability
of success as 50-50
An individual with a high need of power is likely to follow a path of continued promotion over
time. Individuals with a high need of power often demonstrate the following behaviors:
Enjoy being in charge
Want to influence others
Prefer to be placed into competitive and status-oriented situations
Tend to be more concerned with prestige and gaining influence over others than with
effective performance
People with the need for affiliation seek companionship, social approval, and satisfying
interpersonal relationships. People needing affiliation display the following behaviors:
Take a special interest in work that provides companionship and social approval
Strive for friendship
Prefer cooperative situations rather than competitive ones
Desire relationships involving a high degree of mutual understanding
May not make the best managers because their desire for social approval and friendship
may complicate managerial decision making
Interestingly enough, a high need to achieve does not necessarily lead to being a good
manager, especially in large organizations. People with high achievement needs are usually

7. interested in how well they do personally and not in influencing others to do well. On the
other hand, the best managers are high in their needs for power and low in their needs for
affiliation.
Motivation theories are presented here to prepare a foundation for learning how to motivate self
and others.
In the page on types of motivation we saw how our mental filters are the core neural networks
that motivate us or drive our energies in a certain direction - toward happiness or pleasure.
Here we will look at some basic theories of motivation that
might help to explain how and why we can have so much
trouble actually motivating ourselves and others.
For example, if one of our mental filters is that we value
working out and being in shape but we can't seem to find the
time or energy to actually do it - what is it that stops us?
Perhaps the following brief summary of Cognitive Dissonance
will help explain.
Motivation Theories - Cognitive Dissonance Theory
A cognition is any element of knowledge - an attitude, emotion, belief, value, behavior, etc.
When two cognitions are in direct conflict with one another a state of anxiety is produced -
dissonance is the term for the anxiety.
Compatible cognitions are consonant - i.e. they are in harmony.
A classic example of Cognitive Dissonance is holding the belief that "smoking is bad for you"
while continuing the behavior of smoking. These two cognitions are in direct conflict with each
other.
The belief that smoking is bad is part of one neural network - perhaps associated with health
and fitness - while the behavior of smoking is part of another network having to do with tension
management, how to hang with friends, or the like.
So, these cognitions exist in different locations in the brain. Both are trying to accomplish
something important for the self - tension management and hanging with friends is important.
When two cognitions are in conflict anxiety (dissonance) is produced and grows until it becomes
stronger than the cognition with the lesser amount of resistance to change.
When this threshold is reached the subconscious mind is compelled to change, ignore, or modify
the weaker of the two cognitions in order to dispel the anxiety.
The processes of generalization, deletion, and distortion are used to acquire, invent, repress, or
modify beliefs to fit better with the behavior - AKA Denial.

8. In the example of smoking and other addictions repression is a distortion that allows an
offending belief that cannot be deleted - "smoking is bad for you" - to be ignored by pushing it
out of awareness.
When the subconscious mind does this for you without your conscious awareness it's called
repression. When you purposefully and consciously push it out of your awareness it's called
suppression.
Motivation Theories - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
The American psychologist Abraham Maslow devised a six-level hierarchy of needs that motivate
or drive human behavior. I believe that each of these needs must be met in order for one to
achieve happiness.
Maslow progressively ranks human needs as follows:
Physiological - food, shelter, clothing
Security and safety
Love and feelings of belonging
Competence, prestige, and esteem
Curiosity and the need to know
Self-Actualization
Maslow suggests that each preceding need must be met - at least to some degree - before one
can go on to the next level.
For instance, a child may not be motivated to pay attention in class if she is preoccupied with
hunger because she did not get any breakfast that morning.
Maslow refers to the first four levels as deficiency needs and the last two as growth needs.
Deficiency needs that go unmet cause developmental deficits and pain. Unmet needs for growth
cause apathy and stagnation - i.e. a lack of motivation.
Motivation Theories - Alderfer's ERG Theory
Alderfer takes Maslow's theory a little further by suggesting that the first two needs on Maslow's
Hierarchy are Existence needs, the second two are needs forRelatedness and the third pair of
needs are growth-oriented needs.
Alderfer's theory builds on Maslow's hierarchical model and states that these needs are the three
primary motivator's in our lives...Hence, ERG theory.
Existence - Survival Needs
Relatedness - Separateness and Connectedness
Growth - Learning Something New
Motivation Theories - Goal Theory

9. Goal Theory is built upon the assumption that people have drives to meet certain end states.
They are motivated to do certain things as a means to achieve that end.
Goal theory suggests three main elements determine the degree of motivation generated...
Proximity - How much time is between initiation of the behavior and the achievement of
the end state? In kids and teenagers this is especially important because they do not yet
have a good concept of time - this is why playing video games beats out learning
algebra... they get the reward sooner.
Degree of Difficulty - The "doing" of the behavior needs to be challenging yet achievable.
Many kids do not do well in school if they are not challenged enough. Likewise they don't
do well if the challenge seems insurmountable.
Specificity - The end-state needs to be clearly defined and understandable. People need
to be able to get a sense for what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to have reached
the end state.
Motivation Theories - Self-Determination Theory
Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is closely related to Maslow's Theory with the exception SDT
suggests that people do not operate on auto-pilot... Instead, they rely heavily on nourishment
and support from their social environment to function effectively.
SDT presupposes that all people have a built-in tendency toward growth and development...that
they strive to master challenges and to integrate their experiences into a coherent sense of self.
According to Self-Determination Theory there are three concepts that affect motivation:
Autonomy - Separateness... "I can do it myself"
Competence Feedback - Approval and Acknowledgment from significant others
Relatedness - Connectedness... "I'm not alone"
Motivation Theories - Achievement Motivation Theory
David McClelland's Achievement Motivation Theory proposes that the three factors influencing
motivation are the need to achieve, the need for power, and the need for affiliation. Each of these
needs vary in intensity from one person to the next.
Need to Achieve - Varies on a continuum from low to high. This need is related to the
degree of difficulty of tasks that a person chooses.
Someone low in the need to achieve is more apt to choose tasks that are too easy - to
avoid failure...or too hard - to avoid embarrassment if they fail. In either case a fear of
failure is present.
Someone high in the need to achieve is more apt to choose tasks that are of moderate
difficulty so as to be a challenge but not insurmountable.

10. Need for Power - Those who are motivated by a need for power derive a sense of
satisfaction from having an impact on their environment in a way that moves it in the
direction that person would like to see it move.
For example, A CEO feels satisfied by moving his company in a certain direction... or an
advocate for a specific social change feels satisfied by making a contribution that moves
things in that direction.
Need for Affiliation - This need describes those who are motivated primarily by
connecting and interacting with others are happiest when they feel a sense of belonging
and involvement with a social group.
While we all experience each of these needs to some degree, we are usually motivated by one
more than the others. This usually has to do with the rewards and reinforcements we received
from the primary group in our childhood - i.e., Family.