Clayton Alderfer had a similar theory on motivation, ERG theory, yet he summed the needs in to three categories. The first one was the need for physical well-being, the existance need. The second was the need for satisfactory relationships with others, the relatedness needs, and the last was the need for development of human potential, or the growth need. What characterises both theories is the general way in which both men look at human motivation. (Daft, 1997).
The second of the landmark content theories is Fredrick Herzberg’s Two-factor theory. Herberg interviewed 200 engineers and accountants and found that two factors influence the levels of motivation at work. The first factor was what Herzberg called the hygiene factors (which corresponded to the lower level needs of Maslow hierarchy) which are the extrinsic rewards, such as pay, working conditions. If there was an absence of hygiene factors there was job dissatisfaction, but their sole presence was not enough to arouse sufficient motivation to push people to do their best. The second factors, the motivators corresponded to the high-level needs of Maslow’s hierarchy; recognition, responsibility. Their absence would make employees act neutral to work, but their presence would make them very motivated, and this motivation would have a positive effect on their productivity. Content theories on motivation , thus, study the individual’s needs and hoe these affect his/her behaviour in the organisational context.
Process theories, on the other hand look at how employees select their behavioural actions to meet their needs and determine whether their choices were right. The first theory is J.Stacy Adam’s equity theory which focuses on individual perception of how fairly they are being treated compared to others. (Murrell, 1976). Adam believed that people are motivated to seek social equity in the rewards they expect to get. People evaluate with a ratio of inputs and outcomes to see if their compensation is equal to what others receive. inputs are what a person put s into a job; education, experience and effort. The outputs are what e person gets from a job, that is pay, recognition and benefits. Inequity happens when input and output ratio is out of balance. Inequity can motivate people because in equity creates tension, the tension created being proportional to the magnitude of the inequity, and it will motivate the individual to reduce it. Finally the strength of the motivation is equal to the magnitude of the inequity.
the second large process theory is the expectancy theory which suggests that the level of motivation depends on the individuals expectations about their ability to perform tasks. Victor Vroom, and Lawler and Porter base the expectancy theory on the individual’s effort, performance and reward. (Daft, 1997). The E(ffort) to P(erformance) expectancy is seeing whether effort in a task will lead to high performance. For this expectancy to be high the individual needs the ability, previous experience, and tools to perform. The P to O(utcome) expectancy is seeing whether succesful performance will lead to the desired out come. If the P to O expectancy is high the worker will be motivated to work, on the other hand if it is low he/ she will not be motivated in carrying out the task. However, these expectancies are useless in explaining the level of motivation unless one knows the value of the outcome for the individual, the valence. Thus, if the outcomes from high performance are not valued by the individual, motivation will be low.
Expectancy theory attempts not to define specific needs, but to show they exist and can be different for individuals.
Reinforcement theories look at the relationship between behaviour and it’s consequences. It focuses on changing employees behaviour through the approriate use of immediate rewards and punishment. Managers have four different reinforcement tools to motivate their employees. The first one being positive reinforcement, which is the administration of a pleasant and rewarding consequence following a desired behaviour. this will increase the likelihood of god work behaviour being repeated. The second reinforcement tool is the process of avoidance learning, which is the removal of an unpleasant consequence that followed a desired behaviour. Thus, employees learn to avoid unpleasant situations by doing right. The third tool is the imposition of a punishment for an undesirable behaviour. Negative outcome will be a punishment and reduce the likelihood of this behaviour repeating. The last tool is the method of extinction, which is the removal of a positive reward. The employee will sooner or later realise that his/her behaviour is the catalyst in no longer receiving pay or praise. Reinforcement theories take the emloyee to be a rational human being who will be able to correlate their performance with the consequences of it. (Steers, 1991)
Now we will look at how the theoretical input of social scientists have been practically applied to the structure of work to improve motivation and productivity at work. The first way of tackling this is through job simplification, which was precursed by Taylor. This meant a simplification of the task into simple ones, each worker having one. This resulted in increased dexterity and this improved productivity. However this led to absenteism, sabotage and unionisation. Job rotation is another one of the tools that mangers can use to increase levels of motivation amongst employees. by job rotation we mean that the employees are systematically moved from one task to another thereby increasing the number if tasks that an employee can perform. this also providing the employee with stimulation which is an important in redundant and repetitive tasks such as factory work. The third method of job design enabling a rise in the level of motivation is job enlargement which combines a series of tasks into a broader new job in which the nature of the job changes. Thomas J. Watson (the founder of International Business Machines) discovered a worker waiting in the plant waiting for a tool setter to fix he machine he was operating. Watson soon introduced a scheme to educate workers to set their own tools and later to even have the capability to carry out the function of inspecting the machines. The last, and perhaps the most motivating one is job enrichment, which incorporates high level motivators into work including job responsibility, recognition and the possibility to make decisions that can alter the method of production.
The latest addition to the theory on job design is the input of Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham who produced the job characteristics model which showed hoe five dimensions determine the motivational potential of a job. Skill variety is the number of skills that compose a job and the skills needed for its completion. Task identity is the degree to which an employee performs a total job from beginning to end. task signifigance is the degree to which the goal is perceived to be important or having effect on consumers. Autonomy is the degree to which the worker has freedom, discretion and self-determination in planning and carrying out tasks. Finally feed back is the extent to which the employee is provided information on his/her performance. If these five dimensions are met the employee feels responsibility and experiences meaningfulness, which increases motivation and quality, all which positively affect the organisational performance.
Following the increasing trend in organisations of improving employee satisfaction and, thus, the effectiveness of reaching organisational goals management are increasingly using the concept of empowerment. In practice this involves a delegation of power or authority to a subordinate in an organisation (Daft 1997). The employees motivation for task accomplishment rises as a result of increasing power because people improve their own effectiveness, choosing how to do a task and by usig their own creativity. In line with this, Ralph Stayer, CEO of Johnsonville Foods, stated: “Real power comes from giving it up to others who are in a better position to do things than you are”. To empower an employee one must give him/her four elements that enable him/her to move more freely in accomplishing their job. These elements are information, knowledge, power and rewards.
Indeed, employees receive information on the companies performance. There should be no secrets an d this is reflected in the recent tend of giving each employee access to all the financial information of the organisation including executives salaries. Secondly, employees have knowledge and skills to contribute to company goals. Companies use various teaching and training programs so that employees gain the knowledge and skills they need to contribute in reaching organisational performance targets. Moreover, as the name empowerment suggests, employees have the authority or power to directly influence work procedure sand the performance of the organisation. This is usually happens through quality circles, small groups of voluntary workers who gather on a regular basis to discuss such issues as quality improvement, improvement of working conditions, and the reduction of costs. In the 1970’s the Chrysler Tarryton assembly plant introduced a similar form of regrouping workers to discuss the quality of work life (QWL meetings) where the employees had the possibility to change their work environment. (Steers, 1991). This can also be done by introducing self directed work groups who decide how the job is to be done, and autonomously, for example, assign tasks to team members. The final dimension is to reward employees with rewards based on the companies performance. if the employees receive a reward ( a percentage of profits, for example) when the company is performing well, they will soon correlate that good personal performance results positively on the companies performance, which is relative to the size of their reward. When employees have these elements, their heightened motivation will positively reflect on their performance, which in turn improves organisational performance.
We have now seen that work motivation theories can be classified into three main categories: content, which studies how humans are motivated by needs of hierarchical order, process theories, which explain how workers select their behavioural actions to meet the their needs and see whether their choices are right, and reinforcement theories, which studies the relationship between behaviour and consequence. Moreover, we have seen how job design is the practical application of work motivation theories and how empowerment was an effective tool in raising employee motivation and performance. In the organisational context we can say that motivation is a social process as it affects the way an individual will choose to behave within as work environment and how this affects his/her fellow employees and ultimately the organisation. WORD COUNT:2143.
References
D.Buchanan and A.Huczynski. Organisational Behaviour. Prentice Hall, 1997.
R.Steers and L.Porter. Motivation and Work Behaviour. McGraw-Hill, 1991.
J.Guilford and D.Gray. Motivation and Modern Management. Addison-Wesley, 1970.
H.Murrell. Motivation at Work. Methuen, 1976.
R.Daft. Management. The Dryden Press, 1997.
