Before the industrial revolution, the main form of ‘motivation’ took the form of fear of punishment-physical, financial or social. “The present concern for satisfaction arose out of the realization that fear no longer supplies the motivation for the worker in industrial society”( Drucker, P. F. 1955,p 297). The traditional approach to motivation, in the early 1900’s, saw pay as a motivator. FW Taylor saw pay as an incentive and believed that workers would be most motivated if companies offered a ‘price-rate’ system (Macall, H., 1997, p30). In the late 1920’s initial efforts where begun to discover why the traditional model was inadequate for motivating people. Elton Mayo’s study at Western Electric Company in the early 1930’s showed that employees are not just motivated by economic means and that social contact can be a very high motivator. (Dixon, R., 1995, p70). Bendix (1956) best summarised this evolution in managerial thinking by noting that the ‘failure to treat workers as human beings came to be regarded as the cause of low moral, poor craftsmanship, unresponsiveness and confusion’ (Steers, R. M. and Porter, L. W., 1991, p17).
Motivation theories can now be split into two main groups Content theories which believe individuals are motivated by a ‘package’ they want to peruse (e.g. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs). The second is Process theories which state people are motivated by an attractive outcome to events (Adam’s Equity theory) (Dixon, R., 1995, p70).
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states that humans are wanting creatures. His theory is based on a hierarchical diagram:
The first stage of the diagram “physiological” is can be satisfied a work, by mangers, by pay, pleasant working conditions and a cafeteria. The second level is “safety”. This can be achieved at work through safe working conditions, company benefits and job security. The third stage is “social”. At work this means a cohesive work group, friendly supervision and professional associates but managers must be careful as some managers are known to regard this as a threat to a company and seek to break up informal groupings. “Esteem” can be for filled by social recognition job title, high status job and feedback from the job itself. This is normally the easiest of all factors for managers to encourage. The final stage is “self-realisation” and is realizing your own potential. This is hard for mangers to help with as individual need to achieve this on their own. Maslow states satisfied needs are not motivators, only unsatisfied needs are motivators and the hierarchy of needs shows when lower needs are satisfied the needs in the next level up act as motivators. (Dixon, R., 1995, p71).
In Herzberg’s two factor theory he asked 200 engineers and accountants which factors improved or reduced job satisfaction (Herzberg, F., 1968, p71). From the results he identified two groups:
Hygiene factors create an environment in which people could be motivated. If these factors where not met it would lead to employees being dissatisfied but having them does not motivate them. Motivating factors motivate people only of all the hygiene factors are present. Herzberg, F., 1968, p72). It was stated by Dixon, R. (1995, p23) that:
“…satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not just opposites so removing the causes of dissatisfaction will not cause satisfaction. This could be very important for managers in that he provision of welfare services may create a better working environment but will not actually motivate people.”
One sub-category of theories is balance theories. Balance theories state that a person’s behaviour is affected if he/she compares themselves to others (Saal, F. E. and Knight, P. A., 1988, p274) .The most well known balance theory is the equity theory. Adam’s equity theory states that perceived inequalities between individuals are more important than actual inequalities. Dixon, R. (1995, p75) tells us “Any perceived inequalities between similar workers… will cause low motivation…”
Mangers learn from this theory that they must monitor reward systems carefully to ensure fairness and assure that incompetence isn’t reward or diligence is punished. E.g. A manager directs work away from an employee with below standard work (incompetence rewarded) and channels it to an employee who carries out the work well (diligence punished) (Macall, H., 1997, p24).
Vroom’s Expectancy theory states “the level of motivation that an individual feels for doing a particular activity depends upon the extent to which the results are expected to contribute to the individuals’ particular needs and goals”. (Dixon, R., 1995, p75) and is calculated by :
Obviously this calculation is not consciously made each time an individual makes a decision but it can be seen as weighing up the points ‘for and against’ a decision.
From this managers can see that to maximise motivation they need to establish clear links between effort, performance and rewards, minimise restraints of performance (by providing appropriate training, support, organisational systems, etc) and try to avoid undesirable outcomes or costs (Macall, H., 1997, p22).
Maccoby (1988) argued that different individuals had to be motivated in different ways depending on their personality type. “He identified five different social character types who have different key drives” (Macall, H., 1997, p24). These types and key drives are as follows:
From this managers can learn they must identify each individuals social charter type offer them different incentives, to achieve there ‘key drive’, in order to fully motivate their workforce (Macall, H., 1997, p25).
The final theory this report will explore is Locke and Latham’s Goal theory (1984). This theory has been put into practice many times and has the highest rate of constant success of all the motivational theories. The basic principles are “difficult goals lead to higher performance than easy goals, specific goals lead to higher performance than general ones and feedback on performance is necessary if difficult specific goals are to show their benefits” (Chmiel, N. ed. 2000, p313). It states if you give people clear and achievable goals they will work harder and be more successful than if you simply encourage them to do their best and just by setting the goals has a positive effect on staff moral (Macall, H., 1997, p25).
Managers can, and do, use this effectively as most companies do set goals and objectives but they must make sure they review to insure they meet with what is said by Macall, H. (1997, p25). She states that managers must “Make sure goals are achievable because if staff perceive them as to difficult they will give up more easily…But they must contain an element of difficulty as striving through and completing a difficult task is the highest motivating factor”
Mullins, L. J. (2005, p503) summed up the relevance of motivational theories to managers by saying:
"These different theories are not conclusive…However it is because of the complexity of motivation that these different theories are important to the manager…They will help demonstrate the many motives that influence people’s behaviour at work…and how best to motivate and reward staff to work willingly and effectively. The manager must evaluate their relevance and judge how best and to what extent they might be applied with advantage in particular working situation”
In conclusion understanding theories of motivation important to managers when they carry out their professional role because “more motivated staff work harder and are more productive than those not motivated by their work” (Dixon, R., 1995, p78). Every theory has the ability to “sensitise managers” (Steers, R. M. and Porter, L. W., 1991, p582) to the different techniques available to them as every individual is motivated in a different way. By studying motivational theories managers can carry out their professional role more effectively with a happier, more productive workforce.
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Chmiel, N. ed. 2000, Introduction to work and organisation psychology- a European perspective, Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford
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Herzberg, F., 1968, Work and the nature of man, Staples press, London
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Maslow, A. H., 1998, Maslow on management, John Weiley and Sons Inc, US
Mullins, L. J., 2005, Management and organisational behaviour, 7th Edition, Financial Times Pitman Publishing, GB
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