Organizations Employing and Motivation Theories - Literature review Example

Motivation What motivates people to do their best work? Motivation is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2013) as "the act of process of giving someone a reason for doing something; the condition of being eager to act or work; a force or influence that causes someone to do something." Understanding what those reasons or rewards might be so that workers are eager to do their jobs each day is important for businesses and for individuals. A number of different motivation theories have been developed, beginning with the work of Abraham Maslow. Although many of them are based on Maslow's ideas, there are significant differences between them that change their potential effectiveness. Examining some of the major theories available, I feel Vroom's expectancy theory is the most powerful and helpful in explaining how motivation works because it brings together some of the best elements of the other theories and then gives them a clear focus and direction as demonstrated by Google, Inc. Most of these theories build on the work of Abraham Maslow conducted in the 1940's. His studies into human personality included attempts to understand motivation. He organized a list of five levels of motivation in order of importance from physiological through safety, love, and esteem to the top level of self-actualization. At the physiological level, people are concerned with obtaining their physical needs - food, air, water, and shelter. At the safety level, the concern shifts to protecting and supporting the family. While love can refer to the kind of romantic relationship most people think when they see the work, in Maslow's hierarchy of needs model it refers to the need to be accepted as a member of a group. Esteem and self-actualization may seem like the same thing, but esteem refers to having a sense of self-respect while self-actualization refers to the development of wisdom (Maslow, 1987). “Maslow’s ultimate conclusion that the highest levels of self-actualization are transcendent in their nature may be one of his most important contributions to the study of human behavior and motivation” (Daniels, cited in Huitt, 2004). In most illustrations of this model, the various stages are represented as individual steps on a pyramid of possibility with physical needs at the base and self-actualization at the peak. The reason for this depiction is due to Maslow's belief that all of the elements in one level must be achieved before the individual can move on to the next level. It is important to have this history, because it forms the base upon which or against which later theorist worked. Working in the late 1950's and 1960's, Frederick Herzberg built his two-factor theory from Maslow's model trying to learn new ways to motivate employees. He discovered that employees were not motivated just by having their low-level needs met and suggested employers who wanted to improve performance should work to also address high-level motivators. “Motivator or intrinsic factors, such as achievement and recognition, produce job satisfaction. Hygiene or extrinsic factors, such as pay and job security, produce job dissatisfaction” (Herzberg, Mausner & Snyderman, 1959). Although he renamed and grouped the levels into hygiene and motivator macro-levels, the same basic levels from Maslow can be discovered within as physiology and safety needs become hygiene and esteem and self-actualization become motivators. Organizations employing Herzberg's theory understand pay increases, bonuses, and other inducements related to the job intended to satisfy low-level needs will not motivate workers. Instead, just focusing on meeting these needs tends to encourage employees to seek employment elsewhere. Organisations such as Tesco base their operations on this theory, giving employees a chance to participate in decision-making, holding forums to gain employee input, and encouraging strong organisation-wide communication. These are all strategies designed to meet high-level needs such as belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation. Another theory developed from the base of Maslow's work is the ERG theory brought forward by Clayton Alderfer. Instead of seeing a linear upward progression through the five stages of development identified by Maslow, Alderfer envisioned three classifications of core needs that operate in a shifting order. The three core needs are “obtaining his material existence needs, maintaining his interpersonal relatedness with significant other people, and seeking opportunities for his unique personal development and growth” (Alderfer, 1969). ERG represents these needs in order as Existence, Recognition, and Growth. Within this structure can clearly be seen a regrouping of Maslow's levels as well as some flexibility in their relationships to each other. Just as when working with Maslow's theory, managers employing ERG theory concentrate on satisfying workers' material needs, encourage interactive personal relationships within the workplace, and nurture employees' desire for intellectual and creative growth. Maslow and Alderfer's theories are so similar it is sometimes difficult to understand the differences. One of the major differences between the theories is that Alderfer’s concept of growth needs is more ambiguous than Maslow's, allowing more flexibility and defining more facets of motivations. His concept of relatedness needs is highly ambiguous and his description of existence needs is even less defined. He provides three guidelines in the higher order of his ERG theory. The first is that needs are more wanted the less they have been satisfied. The second guideline is that the desire to supplement lower needs becomes greater in proportion to the extent the higher needs remain unsatisfied. It's almost as if people intuitively take a step back to accomplish something more tangible as a means of coming to the higher level needs from a different perspective. The third guideline is that people will begin finding needs in the higher orders as they begin to satisfy needs in the lower orders. This progression makes sense since people who are not worried about where dinner is coming from have more energy and freedom to explore personal interests and relationships. To illustrate the difference between his theory and Maslow, Alderfer surveyed 110 bank employees of various job titles and duties performed in order to compare. When weighed against ERG theory, predictions of progression were generally realised. However, "none of the satisfaction scales, formed by summing the individual items, showed significant correlations… in the direction predicted by Maslow’s theory” (Campbell & Pritchard, 1976). According to the ERG theory, the manager’s responsibility within a corporation is to provide the proper resources and support to enable his workers in this pursuit. The Vroom expectancy theory works a little against earlier theories in its suggestion that employees are motivated based upon rewards. According to Vroom, an employee's performance is based on a general scale in which high rewards equal higher motivation and greater punishments or lower rewards equal lower performance. However, he acknowledges the rewards must be in keeping with meeting the various level needs identified by the other theories (Vroom, 1964). According to Vroom's studies, workers are more ready to take up positive actions at work when they can reasonably expect to receive positive rewards that function to satisfy their multi-level needs even within the workplace. The theory moves away from tendencies to substitute pay raises with more employee functions when adopting Alderfer or Herberg's theories as it emphasises the importance of true employee reward. Within Vroom's theory, it is the expectation for reward that drives the employee's decision regarding how much actual effort to give to the company. The equation Vroom developed to explain how employees develop this expectation can be stated as motivation equals expectancy times instrumentality times valence. The expectancy part of this equation refers both to what the employee expects and how clear they are regarding what the manager expects. If an employee expects to gain access to the executive bathroom equipped with a full-time masseuse, they may be highly motivated to attain the next level of management; however, if they discover that the expectations for that position include working 80 hour weeks with no breaks long enough to enjoy that massage, their motivation may take a nose dive as they recalculate. Instrumentality refers to how much effort the employee estimates will be necessary to complete the required tasks assigned. Only when the expectancy is clear can instrumentality be reasonably estimated. Another element of this factor is the employee's belief that the manager will follow through by delivering the expected reward. Valence is probably the most unfamiliar term in the equation and it refers to the emotional value the employee places on the rewards offered. Therefore, what they expect as their rewards in exchange for identifiable duties, what they understand their effort to entail, and how much emotional value they place on those rewards will determine how motivated the employee will be on the job. What Vroom's theory adds is an extra layer that influences all of the motivations previously identified. While low and high level needs must be addressed within the employee's rewards for performance, they need to be linked to clear expectations of effort for reward so that the worker can complete this additional equation. If the employee really wants those massages and they know the job expected of them isn't much more than what they're doing now, but they don't really believe that the manager will provide the masseuse, the worker will not be very motivated to do their best job. Innovative companies such as Google employ this theory in order to encourage the best, most innovative performance from their employees. Recognizing employee needs exist on multiple levels, the company offers numerous rewards to their employees just because they work there, such as outside swimming pools, bringing pets to work, making on-site child care available, and offering free food for the taking. Other needs are met by providing employees with relaxing environments in which to work and unique teamwork environments in which small entrepreneurial groups are encouraged and supported. "Leaders must study companies that promote free thinking, empowering employees to work together as autonomous entrepreneur groups, and provide work areas that are comfortable and do not take away employees’ humanity, unique individualism or personal freedom" (Cook, 2011). With such measures, the company ensures employee's low level needs are met with the free food and secure child care for their children while also appealing to their high level needs of companionship, esteem and self-actualisation. Vroom's theory, building and expanding on Herzberg's two-factor theory and Alderfer's ERG theory which was itself a refinement of Maslow's theory, is highly effective in providing employees with a practical means of meeting their needs in the workplace. To attract top performing employees, companies must be sure to offer them the kind of lifestyle they envision for themselves and offer rewards that more than compensate them for their efforts. These rewards have to be widely varied and address the various levels of development, such as in Google's encouragement small entrepreneurship groups. By understanding how employees measure overall job satisfaction as a combination of expectancy, instrumentation, and valence which are themselves established by which needs the employee must meet as described in the other theories, companies can create highly motivating environments with top level performers and a high degree of retention. References Alderfer, C P. (1969). “An Empirical Test of a New Theory of Human Needs.” Organizational Behavior and Human Performance. Vol 4, pp. 142-175. Campbell, J P & Pritchard, R D. (1976). 'Motivation Theory in Industrial and Organizational Psychology.' Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. M D Dunnette (Ed.) Chicago, Rand McNally. Cook, Joshua. (2011). 'How Google Rewards their Employees.' Thinking Leaders. Available from < http://thinkingleader.hubpages.com/hub/How-Google-Motivates-their-Employees-with-Rewards-and-Perks> Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. B. (1959). The Motivation to Work. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Huitt, W. (2004). 'Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.' Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Available from Maslow, A. (1987). Motivation and Personality. 3rd Ed., Vol. 1. New York: Harper Collins. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (2013). 'Motivation.' Available from < http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motivation> Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and Motivation. New York: Wiley. Read More