Two-Factor Theory of Motivation free essay sample

Introduction: The two-factor theory (also known as Herzbergs motivation-hygiene theory and dual-factor theory) states that there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job satisfaction, while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction. It was developed by psychologist Frederick Herzberg, who theorized that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction act independently of each other. According to Herzberg, intrinsic motivators such as challenging work, recognition, and responsibility produce employee satisfaction, while extrinsic hygiene factors, including status, job security, salary, and fringe benefits – if absent – produce dissatisfaction. Herzbergs theory appears to parallel Maslows needs hierarchy. Individuals look for the gratification of higher-level psychological needs having to do with achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, and the nature of the work itself. However, Herzberg added a new dimension to this theory, including factors that cause dissatisfaction as well, such as company policies, supervision, technical problems, salary, interpersonal relations on the job, and working conditions. We will write a custom essay sample on Two-Factor Theory of Motivation or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This two-factor model of motivation is based on the notion that the presence of one set of job characteristics or incentives leads to worker satisfaction, while another and separate set of job characteristics lead to dissatisfaction. Thus, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on a continuum with one increasing as the other diminishes, but are independent phenomena. 2. Two-factor theory fundamentals: 2. 1 Research by Herzberg: Attitudes and their connection with industrial mental health are related to Abraham Maslows theory of motivation. His findings have had a considerable theoretical, as well as a practical, influence on attitudes toward administration. According to Herzberg, individuals are not content with the satisfaction of lower-order needs at work; for example, those needs associated with minimum salary levels or safe and pleasant working conditions. Rather, individuals look for the gratification of higher-level psychological needs having to do with achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, and the nature of the work itself. This appears to parallel Maslows theory of a need hierarchy. However, Herzberg added a new dimension to this theory by proposing a two-factor model of motivation, based on the notion that the presence of one set of job characteristics or incentives leads to worker satisfaction at work, while another and separate set of job characteristics leads to dissatisfaction at work. Thus, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on a continuum with one increasing as the other diminishes, but are independent phenomena. This theory suggests that to improve job attitudes and productivity, administrators must recognize and attend to both sets of characteristics and not assume that an increase in satisfaction leads to decrease in unpleasable dissatisfaction. The two-factor theory developed from data collected by Herzberg from interviews with 203 engineers and accountants in the Pittsburgh area, chosen because of their professions growing importance in the business world. Regarding the collection process: â€Å" Briefly, we asked our respondents to describe periods in their lives when they were exceedingly happy and unhappy with their jobs. Each respondent gave as many sequences of events as he could that met certain criteria—including a marked change in feeling, a beginning and an end, and contained some substantive description other than feelings and interpretations The proposed hypothesis appears verified. The factors on the right that led to satisfaction (achievement, intrinsic interest in the work, responsibility, and advancement) are mostly unipolar; that is, they contribute very little to job dissatisfaction. Conversely, the dis-satisfiers (company policy and administrative practices, supervision, interpersonal relationships, working conditions, and salary) contribute very little to job satisfaction. † —Herzberg, 1964 2. 2 Analysis by Herzberg: From analysing these interviews, he found that job characteristics related to what an individual does — that is, to the nature of the work one performs — apparently have the capacity to gratify such needs as achievement, competency, status, personal worth, and self-realization, thus making him happy and satisfied. However, the absence of such gratifying job characteristics does not appear to lead to unhappiness and dissatisfaction. Instead, dissatisfaction results from unfavourable assessments of such job-related factors as company policies, supervision, technical problems, salary, interpersonal relations on the job, and working conditions. Thus, if management wishes to increase satisfaction on the job, it should be concerned with the nature of the work itself — the opportunities it presents for gaining status, assuming responsibility, and for achieving self-realization. If, on the other hand, management wishes to reduce dissatisfaction, then it must focus on the job environment — policies, procedures, supervision, and working conditions. [ If management is equally concerned with both, then managers must give attention to both sets of job factors. Two-factor theory distinguishes between: Motivator Factors Motivator factors are based on an individuals need for personal growth. When they exist, motivator factors actively create job satisfaction. If they are effective, then they can motivate an individual to achieve above-average performance and effort. Motivator factors include: Status Opportunity for advancement Gaining recognition Responsibility Challenging / stimulating work Sense of personal achievement personal growth in a job Hygiene Factors Hygiene factors are based on the need to for a business to avoid unpleasantness at work. If these factors are considered inadequate by employees, then they can cause dissatisfaction with work. Hygiene factors include: Company policy and administration Wages, salaries and other financial remuneration Quality of supervision Quality of inter-personal relations Working conditions Feelings of job security Essentially, hygiene factors are needed to ensure an employee is not dissatisfied. Motivation factors are needed to motivate an employee to higher performance. Herzberg also further classified our actions and how and why we do them, for example, if you perform a work related action because you have to then that is classed as movement, but if you perform a work related action because you want to then that is classed as motivation. Unlike Maslow, who offered little data to support his ideas, Herzberg and others have presented considerable empirical evidence to confirm the motivation-hygiene theory, although their work has been criticized on methodological grounds. 3. Workarounds: Herzbergs theory concentrates on the importance of internal job factors as motivating forces for employees. He designed it to increase job enrichment for employees. Herzberg wanted to create the opportunity for employees to take part in planning, performing, and evaluating their work. According to Herzberg, the factors leading to job satisfaction are separate and distinct from those that lead to job dissatisfaction. Therefore, if you set about eliminating dissatisfying job factors you may create peace, but not necessarily enhance performance. This placates your workforce instead of actually motivating them to improve performance. The characteristics associated with job dissatisfaction are called hygiene factors. When these have been adequately addressed, people will not be dissatisfied nor will they be satisfied. If you want to motivate your team, you then have to focus on satisfaction factors like achievement, recognition, and responsibility. To apply Herzbergs theory, you need to adopt a two stage process to motivate people. Firstly, you need eliminate the dissatisfactions theyre experiencing and, secondly, you need to help them find satisfaction. 3. 1 Step One: Eliminate Job Dissatisfaction: Herzberg called the causes of dissatisfaction hygiene factors. To get rid of them, you need to: Fix poor and obstructive company policies. Provide effective, supportive and non-intrusive supervision. Create and support a culture of respect and dignity for all team members. Ensure that wages are competitive. Build job status by providing meaningful work for all positions. Provide job security. All of these actions help you eliminate job dissatisfaction in your organization. And theres no point trying to motivate people until these issues are out of the way! You cant stop there, though. Remember, just because someone is not dissatisfied, it doesnt mean he or she is satisfied either! Now you have to turn your attention to building job satisfaction. 3. 2 Step Two: Create Conditions for Job Satisfaction: To create satisfaction, Herzberg says you need to address the motivating factors associated with work. He called this job enrichment. His premise was that every job should be examined to determine how it could be made better and more satisfying to the person doing the work. Things to consider include: Providing opportunities for achievement. Recognizing workers contributions. Creating work that is rewarding and that matches the skills and abilities of the worker. Giving as much responsibility to each team member as possible. Providing opportunities to advance in the company through internal promotions. Offering training and development opportunities, so that people can pursue the positions they want within the company. 4. Validity and criticisms: In 1968 Herzberg stated that his two-factor theory study had already been replicated 16 times in a wide variety of populations including some in Communist countries, and corroborated with studies using different procedures that agreed with his original findings regarding intrinsic employee motivation making it one of the most widely replicated studies on job attitudes. While the Motivator-Hygiene concept is still well regarded, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are generally no longer considered to exist on separate scales. The separation of satisfaction and dissatisfaction has been shown to be an artefact of the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) used by Herzberg to record events. Furthermore, it has been noted the theory does not allow for individual differences, such as particular personality traits, which would affect individuals unique responses to motivating or hygiene factors. A number of behavioural scientists have pointed to inadequacies in the need hierarchy and motivation-hygiene theories. The most basic is the criticism that both of these theories contain the relatively explicit assumption that happy and satisfied workers produce more, even though this might not be the case. For example, if playing a better game of golf is the means chosen to satisfy ones need for recognition, then one will find ways to play and think about golf more often, perhaps resulting in an accompanying lower output on the job. Another problem is that these and other statistical theories are concerned with explaining average behaviour, despite considerable differences between individuals that may impact ones motivational factors. For instance, in their pursuit of status a person might take a balanced view and strive to pursue several behavioural paths in an effort to achieve a combination of personal status objectives. In other words, an individuals expectation or estimated probability that a given behaviour will bring a valued outcome determines their choice of means and the effort they will devote to these means. In effect, this diagram of expectancy depicts an employee asking themselves the question posed by one investigator, How much payoff is there for me toward attaining a personal goal while expending so much effort toward the achievement of an assigned organizational objective? The expectancy theory by Victor Vroom also provides a framework for motivation based on expectations. This approach to the study and understanding of motivation would appear to have certain conceptual advantages over other theories: First, unlike Maslows and Herzbergs theories, it is capable of handling individual differences. Second, its focus is toward the present and the future, in contrast to drive theory, which emphasizes past learning. Third, it specifically correlates behaviour to a goal and thus eliminates the problem of assumed relationships, such as between motivation and performance. Fourth, it relates motivation to ability: Performance = Motivation Ability. That said, a study by the Gallup Organization, as detailed in the book First, Break All the Rules: What the Worlds Greatest Managers Do by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, appears to provide strong support for Herzbergs division of satisfaction and dissatisfaction into two separate scales. In this book, the authors discuss how the study identified twelve questions that provide a framework for determining high-performing individuals and organizations. These twelve questions align squarely with Herzbergs motivation factors, while hygiene factors were determined to have little effect on motivating high performance. 5. Conclusion: The relationship between motivation and job satisfaction is not overly complex. The problem is that many employers look at the hygiene factors as ways to motivate when in fact, beyond the very short term, they do very little to motivate. Perhaps managers like to use this approach because they think people are more financially motivated than, perhaps, they are, or perhaps it just takes less management effort to raise wages than it does to revaluate company policy, and redesign jobs for maximum satisfaction. While motivating people, firstly it’s needed to get rid of the things that are annoying them about the company and the workplace. Making it sure that theyre treated fairly, and with respect. Once this is done, it’s needed to look for the ways in which people can be helped to grow within their jobs, giving them opportunities for achievement, and praising that achievement wherever it’s found.