EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION THEORIES - Herzberg's two-factor theory
Most theories discuss job satisfaction within the context of motivation (Kian et al., 2014). The Herzberg theory has been used as a method to explore job satisfaction among employees (Lundberg et al., 2009) According to Herzberg's theory of motivation applied to the workplace, there are two types of motivating factors: 1) satisfiers (motivators), which are the main drivers of job satisfaction and include achievements, recognition, responsibility, and work advancement, and 2) dissatisfiers (hygiene factors), which are the main causes of job dissatisfaction (Herzberg, 1966).
In 1975, Rogers summarized Herzberg's two-factor theory as follows: “In other words, adequate salary, good working conditions, respected supervisors and likeable co-workers will not produce a satisfied worker; they will only produce a worker who is not dissatisfied. However, their levels must be acceptable in order for the motivation factors to become operative. In other words, like medical hygiene practices, they cannot cure an illness, but they can aid in preventing it” (Rogers, 1975).
Motivation factors are related to a person’s job satisfaction and include advancement, the work itself, possibility of growth, responsibility, recognition and achievement (Herzberg, 1966).
Herzberg states that the hygiene factors are extrinsic to the job, and if present, lead to preventing job dissatisfaction because hygiene factors react to the environment and workplace for ‘the need to avoid unpleasantness’ (Herzberg, 1966, p. 75).
Figure 01 shows how employee job satisfaction fluctuates according to the behavior of Hygiene factors and the Motivation factors. Similarly figure 02 shows the example for these two factors.
Figure 01
Figure 02
As per the below video 01 Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory, argues that there are two factors that an organization can adjust to influence motivation in the workplace. Further it describes how employee job satisfaction fluctuates according to the behavior of Hygiene factors and the Motivation factors. And what are the four combined behaviors of the two factors.
Video 01
(Source: EPM, 2018)Reference
- Herzberg, F.I. (1966). Work and the Nature of Man.
- Herzberg, F. (1987), 'One more time: How do you motivate employees?', Harvard Business Review, Vol. 65(5), pp. 109-120.
- Kian, T., W. Wan, W., Rajah, S. (2014). European journal of business and social sciences, 3 (2) (2014), pp. 94-102.
- Lundberg, C., Gudmundson, A. and Andersson, T.D. (2009). Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory of work motivation tested empirically on seasonal workers in hospitality and tourism. Tourism management, 30(6), pp.890-899.
- Rogers, R.W. (1975). A protection motivation theory of fear appeals and attitude change1. The journal of psychology, 91(1), pp.93-114.
A great blog article Ishara, I would like to add that in order to have motivated employees, it is important to identify the motivation barriers which hinder employee motivation. Brinkmann (2009), states that employee motivation represents one of the greatest challenges in companies and is determined by a large number of influencing factors, e.g., corporate culture, internal communication, company-specific values, norms, and rules, the job itself and the relationship with superiors and colleagues (Brinkmann, 2009). Therefore, the line manager must have the capacity to identify the demotivation at its beginning and implement relevant actions as prolonged demotivation may lead to ‘quiet quitting’.
ReplyDeleteGreat feedback Afzal. Employee motivation is the enthusiasm, energy level, commitment, and amount of creativity that an employee brings to the organization (Islam and Ismail, 2008). “Work Motivation is a set of energetic forces that originate both within as well as beyond an individual’s being, to initiate work -related behavior, and to determine its form, direction, intensity and duration (Pinder 2008).
DeleteHi Ishara, Agreed with the shared points. Apart from that, given the significance of employee motivation, a study was conducted in the Afghan province of Nangarhar to determine whether workers' perceptions of compensation were accurate. According to the study case, randomly obtained from 350 employees of distinct private and public organizations through a five-Likert scale adapted questionnaire. To obtain consistent study results, the ordinary least square econometric assessment method was used. The results show that rewards have positive and statistically significant impacts on the motivation of employees. Further found the impact on employee motivation is positive on financial and non-financial benefits and strongly recommends both private and public organizations to motivate their employees through compensations (Muneeb and Ahmad, 2020).
ReplyDeleteThank you for the valuable feedback, Ann. Motivation is a multidimensional and complex topic to be discussed under research. Motivation is used in any organization as a powerful management tool. Through theories of motivation, many researches have introduced multiple factors of motivation (Sulaiman et al. 2014).
DeleteThe implication for organizations to use this theory is that meeting employees’ extrinsic or hygiene factors will only prevent employees from
ReplyDeletebecoming actively dissatisfied but will not motivate them to contribute additional effort toward better performance. To motivate employees, organizations should focus on supplying intrinsic or motivation factors (Robbins, 2009).
Thank you for commenting on my blog. Employee Motivation is directly connecting with the organizational behavior and performance as the human capital is one of core asset for any business organization (Yee, et al., 2008).
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