MOTIVATION THEORY

Business & Management 2009 A Course Companion 124-126

Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation occurs when someone gets satisfaction from an activity itself without threats or rewards from outside. Employees are more likely to be intrinsically motivated if they:
Can see their success is the result of something they have done: if they put in more work they will achieve more positive outcomes. Have some control over their results they are given a degree of freedom. Are interested in the work they are doing.

Extrinsic Motivation
Rewards are extrinsic motivators motivators that come from outside the individual. In the workplace pay is an obvious example. Extrinsic motivators provide satisfaction that the job itself may not provide and may compensate workers for the pain or dissatisfaction they experience at work.

Source:
http://themamabee.files.wordpress.com/2009 /03/motivation2.jpg Date Accessed: 19th November 2009

Frederick Winslow Taylor

Taylor was a mechanical engineer who observed the phenomenal contribution science had made to agriculture and the industrial revolution. He wanted to apply scientific methods to management to achieve similar results. He often referred to as the founder of scientific management since his ideas on management attempted to apply scientific methods of measurement under controlled circumstances to maximize output.

Frederick Winslow Taylor

Taylor believed that standardization of work methods and enforced adoption of the best ways of working was the way to ensure that output would be maximized in the shortest possible time. It is worth recalling that Taylors ideas were adopted when many poorly educated Americans were leaving agriculture and starting to work in factories. In this situation it is perhaps understandable that managers may have decided to take a more hands on style in decision making. The introduction of his ideas and methods was often resented by workers though, and provoked numerous strikes.

Frederick Winslow Taylor Time & Motion Study

Taylor is perhaps most famous his time and motion study. This involved breaking a job down into its component parts and measuring how long it took to perform each task. One of the most famous studies involved shovels.

Frederick Winslow Taylor Time & Motion Study

Fast Food Restaurant Example

If you watch how a hamburger is prepared in a large and busy fast food restaurant, then you will get some idea of the huge benefits that can arise if each `bit` of the system is managed precisely. The burger is cooked at a given temperature, for a precise amount of time on each side. The fries area also cooked for a precise amount of time. Each worker will have a specific role and will only move a few feet from his or her position to minimize time wasted in movement. The result of this is a consistent fast food cooked quickly and efficiently at low cost. Skill can be largely removed from the system so workers can be employed at low cost with and with little training.

What did Frederick Taylor say about motivation?

According to the system of scientific management developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor, a worker's motivation is solely determined by pay. Workers are motivated solely by satisfying their basic needs. (Food/Clothing/Shelter) Therefore management need not consider psychological or social aspects of work. In essence, scientific management bases human motivation wholly on extrinsic rewards and discards the idea of intrinsic rewards.

Abraham Maslow
Maslow is most famous for proposing a hierarchy of human needs to be explain motivation. Maslow argued that people have a number of needs and arranged these in terms of their importance. The basic needs at the bottom of the diagram are most important and individual will suffer anxiety if they are not met.

MASLOW HIERACHY OF NEEDS

http://dinamehta.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/800px-maslows_hierarchy_of_needssvg.png

Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

The first four levels are considered basic needs. Once these needs are met they go away or no longer cause anxiety. The remaining needs (self-actualization) are growth needs. Once these needs are initially fulfilled they do not go away. In fact the individual will strive to find new ways to satisfy these needs. These needs involve fulfilling your potential; being the best you can be in as many areas as possible.

Hierarchy of Needs & Motivation

One of key issues for management is that once a need is satisfied , providing more of the same will not motivate a worker. So in Taylors factories, workers will have initially been motivated by the need for food, warmth and shelter, but the failure of his factories to satisfy higher level needs may explain why his methods often resulted in labor unrest.

Douglas McGregor Theory X & Theory Y

Theory X A Theory X manager assumes that employees are lazy and dislike work. Workers therefore need to be closely supervised and provided with a stable and disciplined work environment. This close supervision is best achieved through a tall organization structure with clear levels of responsibility. Employees in theory will be motivated by financial rewards that compensate them for the pain of working. If workers fail to deliver they will be punished in the hope of modifying their behaviour.

Douglas McGregor Theory X & Theory Y

Theory Y Theory Y pretty much assumes that the opposite of theory X. A Theory Y manager will assume that employees will enjoy their work and will seek opportunities to take on greater responsibility and do a good job. Employees can be trusted to get on with their work with little direction or supervision because they enjoy the mental and physical stimulation work provides. They have the desire to be creative and forward thinking at work.

Douglas McGregor Theory X & Theory Y

Theory Y With Theory Y assumptions about employees it is far more likely that the manager will adopt a hands-off approach. In some cases, theory Y managers will try to get out of the way and allow workers the freedom to do the job in the best way they see fit. Theory Y managers believe that they do not have all the answers and will try to feed of the pool of ideas their workers can share with the team.

Frederick Herzberg Herzberg (1957) developed a two-factory theory of motivation based on hygiene needs and motivation needs.

Frederick Herzberg Hygiene Needs

Hygiene needs are those factors that provide dissatisfaction at work, if they are not attended to. At school you will probably be less motivated if the classroom is not clean or the air-conditioning malfunctions. If these things are satisfactory, however, it is unlikely to lead to motivation. Hygiene factors are the things that are necessary for you to get started, but they dont drive you to succeed.

Frederick Herzberg Hygiene Needs

Herzbergs Hygiene needs are: Company policy & administration Relationship with supervisor Work Conditions Salary Company Car Status Security Relationship with subordinates Personal Life

Frederick Herzberg Motivational Needs

Motivators are the things that get you working because you get some intrinsic reward from them. According to Herzberg true motivators are:
Achievement Recognition The work itself Responsibility Advancement

Frederick Herzberg
JOB ENRICHMENT & JOB ENLARGEMENT To motivate people at work, managers need to eliminate the causes of dissatisfaction by addressing the hygiene needs. After that the task is to create satisfaction. Herzberg suggests that the could be achieved through job enrichment and job enlargement.

Frederick Herzberg
JOB ENRICHMENT
Job enrichment This involves giving employees opportunities to make use of the different skills they have. An enriched job differs from an enlarged job in that if involves a range of tasks and challenges of varying difficulty, as well as a complete unit of work, so that an employee can have a sense of achievement. On top of this a manger will offer feedback, encouragement and support.

Frederick Herzberg
JOB ENLARGEMENT
Job enlargement Simply increasing the range of tasks a workers has to do. Example: Replacing an assembly line with modular work where an employee (or group of employees) carries out a job from start to finish.