Herzberg’s theory is better than Maslow’s theory as an explanation of what motivates workers.
Motivation
Hypothesis:
A- Herzberg's theory is better than Maslow's theory as an explanation of what motivates workers.
Abraham Maslow believed his hierarchy (see appendix 1) of needs explained people's behaviour and answered the question 'Why do people work?' So for employers to achieve greatest efficiency (see appendix 2) from their employees they need to make sure these needs are fulfilled.
But in 1959 Fredrick Herzberg created a new theory (see appendix 3), which stated sources of job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction.
These two theory's are important for employers because for them to achieve 100% efficiency and to achieve the highest productivity (see appendix 4), they need their employees to be motivated and satisfied within their workplace. Both these theory's tell the employer what they need to do and what to achieve in order to accomplish this equilibrium between them and their employees.
To see whether I should accept of reject my hypothesis I must investigate further the two theory's and what motivates workers. To do this I constructed a questionnaire relating to both theory's (see appendix 5).
I then asked 31 people my questionnaire and from these I obtained many results relating to my hypothesis, using these results I have drawn graphs and tables in order to show the appropriate data more clearly (see appendix 6).
I then analysed the results - relating to Maslow's and Herzberg's theory to see which one was a better explanation as to the motivation of workers.
From my results and by using the graphs I drew I can tell that the most popular reason as to why do people work is because they need the money. This ...
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I then asked 31 people my questionnaire and from these I obtained many results relating to my hypothesis, using these results I have drawn graphs and tables in order to show the appropriate data more clearly (see appendix 6).
I then analysed the results - relating to Maslow's and Herzberg's theory to see which one was a better explanation as to the motivation of workers.
From my results and by using the graphs I drew I can tell that the most popular reason as to why do people work is because they need the money. This links to Level 1 of Maslows hierarchy, which states people work to fulfil their basic needs - water, food, shelter etc.
The next most popular reason is because people get to meet other people socially - this links in with Level 3 of Maslows hierarchy.
The least popular answers were; creativeness, challenged, community, helping others, earn respect and being part of a team. None of these answers were given as the main reason why people work but they were all included within the other reasons.
Among the other reasons the most popular was meeting people socially, the least popular was that people work allows them to be creative. These both tie in with Maslow's hierarchy and are also included within Herzberg's theory, as relationships with colleagues are included in the satisfaction side (only just though).
Using the last graph I can tell that the work itself is a major form of satisfaction within the workplace - this does link with Herzberg's theory but the theory shows that the work is half satisfaction and half dissatisfaction.
The least form of satisfaction is the advancement available - this does not link with Herzberg's theory as he has put advancement in the middle and above many of the other choices that could have been chosen.
Using the first two pie charts I can tell that out of he people I asked, most of them were full time - this is important as if people are working full time they will have different motivations than those only working part time. For example; part timers (especially those I asked) were mostly students, of which only really work because they need the money, and they do not really tend to enjoy their work as much as maybe a full timer would. These factors are linked with both Maslow's and Herzberg's theory's, also I think the theory's are mostly concentrated on full time jobs, especially Herzberg's, this could explain why my results do not really match with his theory.
The other pie chart showed me that most the people I asked were skilled workers and that no one was a voluntary assistant. This may affect my results as most the people who are skilled at their job are more likely to enjoy it more and to get more achievement out of it, they will also not just want to go to work for the money, this links with both Maslow's and Herzberg's theory's.
Maslow's theory:
Referring to my results and Maslow's hierarchy I can see that his thoughts about money being the main reason why people work are still correct. But the other levels are not quite relevant, as the second most important reason was to meet people socially - whereas in his theory it was for security needs. This could be because a large majority of the people I asked were part timers, in which case they were not looking for security. Level 4 of Maslow's theory was referring to a person esteem needs - this was answered frequently in my questionnaire as it is also connect to respect, value member of the community, being part of a team, having responsibility, and helping others. These reasons are also connected to level 3 of his hierarchy, which is relating to affiliation.
Herzberg's theory;
From my results I can see that maybe Herzberg's theory is not quite as appropriate as Maslow's hierarchy. I came to this conclusion because Herzberg said Achievement as the highest form of satisfaction and that the working conditions are the lowest form (out of the choices I gave). This does not link in with my results, as salary was the second highest and achievement was only the third highest. I did only really do one question within my questionnaire that linked in with Herzberg's theory so maybe if I did a couple more I may have got a better range of results. Also a lot of the people I asked were part timers of which would not really mind about the advancement or the achievement and would care more about the salary, and maybe the work or conditions. This may be why my results are quite varied compared to Herzberg's theory.
Sarah Batchelder 12GS
