Motivation Theory: Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

-


Motivation Theory: Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
It's the job of a manager not to light the fire of motivation, but to create an environment to let each person's personal spark of motivation blaze - Frederick Herzberg

Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory is another need based content theory introduced by Fredrick Herzberg in 1959, which has contributed managers in reinforcing their organization’s employees to achieve towards their vision by creating a workable environment and Job satisfaction (Amit, 2017). This theory was a result of a closely analyzed survey held by Herzberg among 200 professionals, by conducting a critical interview on what makes them feel positive and negative of their respective jobs. The results concluded that there are two major factors which are “Hygiene” and “Motivation” that caused Job satisfaction and Dissatisfaction (Jannica, 2017).

Many authors have had different opinions and approaches towards job satisfaction. Masooma, Rifat & Fatima (2014) has simply explained that, job satisfaction is an emotional state of happiness, contentment and enthusiasm towards their job which enables them to bind psychologically. This arises when an employee feels that the job best fits him while challenging the employee, with enabling a growth in self-potential, Job security and a perfect work life balance, says Masooma, Rifat & Fatima (2014).

“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the job” said Aristotle. This statement is the key behind the two factor theory, put forward by Herzberg as the theory approaches with the factors that cause job satisfaction and dissatisfaction (Jannica, 2017). As per the findings of the theory, Motivators are intrinsic factors that encourages and enables job satisfaction which leads to increased productivity. The motivators are comprised of recognition, responsibility, work itself, achievement and self-advancement (Mohammed et al, 2014). Hygiene factors on the other hand are the extrinsic natured factors, which would lead to job dissatisfaction in the absence of this factors. The theory insists that the presence of hygiene factors will not influence job satisfaction but will avoid dissatisfaction towards the job (Daniel, 2018). This will allow an organization to perform better, comparing to have dissatisfied employees working around. Hygiene factors are comprised of some basic need elements such as salary, work condition, company policy & administration regulations, status, quality of supervision, job security and Interpersonal relations with managers & co-workers (Atalic, Can & Canturk, 2016). In simple words, providing hygiene factors helps an organization to avoid dissatisfaction and strive to achieve organization goals while motivators increase productivity and enables the organizations to thrive towards its vision (Lynn et al, 2016).


 (Lumen Learning, 2017)


The diagram below, simply illustrates the explanation given above about the Herzberg’s two factor theory.
Herzberg confronts that Job satisfaction, No job satisfaction and Dissatisfaction as three different state of mind. As “No job satisfaction” is referred to a situation where employees have no Interest in the job but still doesn’t feel anything which is not convincing them, to have a negative emotion towards the job (Wan, Tan & Mohammad, 2013). For instance, we all are provided with basic office equipment’s such as desk, chair and a computer. Having these equipment’s doesn’t encourage us to job satisfaction, but the absence of those will definitely drive to dissatisfaction. So this current state of our mind is between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, which is known as No job satisfaction. Therefore the author strongly highlighted the fact that the term “Dissatisfaction” is not the opposite of “Job satisfaction” but is “No satisfaction” and vice versa (Elizabeth & Kwesi, 2016).

This idea became the principal of this theory which enabled the managers to first focus on retaining the trained employees by providing hygiene factors and subsequently stimulate the performance by adding the motivation factors (Mohammed et al, 2014). Each organizations have their own combination of factors depending on the recourses they have, the organization culture they follow and the attitudes of employees working at the organization (Daniel, 2018).

The diagram showed below would illustrate the most common circumstances that an organization can hold with regard to the “Two Factor Theory”.

(Tools hero, 2020)

Analyzing the above situations, it is prudent that a manager or leader always should mold the organization at its very best productivity level, by achieving employee’s potentials in combination of “High Hygiene & High Motivation”. In contrast a manager should never lead to a situation of “Low Hygiene & Low Motivation” as it is considered the worst possible structure for an organization leading to a zero productivity (Tan & Amna, 2011).

As a personnel working for a plantation sector, I feel that our organization has an equal distribution of both hygiene and motivation factors.  The combination varies from head office to other factories, depending on the workforce attitude and the performances. The new management which came in 2018, has implemented some factors of which we were lacking previously that remarked our improving performance. Our organization meets the hygiene factors by, setting competitive wage scales complying with industrial benchmarks, providing comfortable work environment with suitable infrastructure, satisfying employee welfare policies and organization culture, conducting active training sessions and social events to build positive interpersonal relations while also providing some basic fringe benefits such as Insurance and medical benefits.

Our organization also contribute to motivating factors by having an effective rewarding scheme with feasible appraisals, performance bonus, flexibility in working hours, monthly meetings where the best performer of the month shares his experience and other recognitions given by top management, providing more responsibilities by engaging employees in projects according to their capabilities along with the special HR practices. We also recruit people in a friendly manner to identify what the interviewee’s passion is. This helps to choose the best fit people for positions which is a very important motivating factor. These facilities meet employee’s self-esteem and actualization needs which contributes to Job satisfaction.

An employee with a perfect job satisfaction is created by providing appropriate motivating factors to an employee who already has hygiene factors. The motivating factors given to an employee who lacks his basic hygiene needs, will not satisfy him but rather disappoint him (Mohammed et al, 2014). This condition is similar to the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, where the needs are to be satisfied in a hierarchical structure (Adiele & Abraham, 2012). Authors also explain that the first three tiers of need in Maslow’s theory which are the psychological, safety and social needs are considered as hygiene factors in Herzberg theory, while the self-esteem and self-actualization need of Maslow’s represent the Motivating factors of Hertzberg’s theory (Wan, Tan & Mohammad, 2013). Although both the theories looks relative, Herzberg distinguish his theory by enforcing the need of hygiene factors to avoid dissatisfaction.

As many authors believed Job satisfaction is something which has a positive psychological bounding as previously mentioned, which would contribute a “Significant sustainable competitive advantage” (Elizabeth & Kwesi, 2016).  Which is not possible by any other recourses, other than an engaged employee who has a best job satisfaction.  With no doubts Herzberg’s two factor theory has given the guidelines to create one beyond criticisms which enables the organization to get the best output from such employees while reducing the turnover of the talented and trained employees.


References

·         Adiele, E.E. & Abraham, N.M. (2012) Achievement of Abraham Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory among Teachers: Implications for Human Resource Management in The Secondary School System in Rivers State. Journal of Curriculum and Teaching, 2(1), pp. 140 – 144.

·         Amit, S. (2017) EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION: A STUDY ON MODERN WORKPLACE MOTIVATION.  International Journal OF Engineering Sciences &Management Research, 4(4), pp. 68 – 77.

·         Atalic, H., Can, A. and Canturk, N. (2016) Herzberg's Motivation- Hygiene Theory Applied to High School Teachers in Turkey. European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 1(4), pp. 90 – 97.

·         Daniel, T.B. (2018) Herzberg's Two Factor Theory of Motivation: A Generational Study. Honors Theses, Eastern Kentucky University.

·         Elizabeth, B.K.M. & Kwesi, A.T. (2016) Employee Motivation and Work Performance: A Comparative Study of Mining Companies in Ghana. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 9(2), pp. 255 – 309.

·         Jannica, A.R. (2017) Employee Motivation and Engagement as a Business Strategy. Bachelor’s Thesis, Haaga – Helia University of applied sciences.

·         Lumen Learning, (2017) Organzation Behaviour/ Human Relations: Motivation in Workplace - Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory. Lumen Learning, [Online].Available at: <https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-organizationalbehavior/chapter/herzbergs-two-factor-theory/> .[Accessed on 28th April 2020].

·         Lynn, D.V., Antonio, B., Brenton, B., Marc, C. and Bahaudin, G. M. (2016) Employee Motivation based on the Hierarchy of Needs, Expectancy and the Two-Factor Theories Applied with Higher Education Employees. International Journal of Advances in Management, Economics and Entrepreneurship, 3(1), pp. 20 – 32.

·         Masooma, J., Rifat, B. and Fatima, H. (2014) Determinants of Job Satisfaction and its Impact on Employee Performance and Turnover Intentions. International Journal of Learning & Development, 4(2), pp. 120 – 140.

·         Mohammed, F.H., Mohammed, A.H. and Shamimul, I. (2014) Motivational Theories – A Critical Analysis. ASA University Review, 8(1), pp. 61 – 68.

·         Tan, T. & Amna, W. (2011) Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory and job satisfaction in the Malaysian retail sector: the mediating effect of love of money. Asian Academy of Management Journal, 16(1), pp. 73 – 94.

·         Toolshero, (2020) Herzberg Two Factor Theory of Motivation. Toolshero, [Online].Available at: < https://www.toolshero.com/psychology/two-factor-theory-herzberg/>. [Accessed on 29th April 2020].

·         Wan, F.W.Y., Tan, S.K. and Mohammad, T.M.I. (2013) HERZBERG’S TWO FACTORS THEORY ON WORK MOTIVATION: DOES ITS WORK FOR TODAYS ENVIRONMENT? Global Journal of Commerce & Management Perspective, 2(5), pp. 18 – 22.

Comments

  1. Sathyapriya19 June 2020 at 10:25

    Agree Kobigah, Herzberg's theory of motivation-hygiene has widespread attention received as having a practical approach towards employee motivation and is considered as the highest rated motivator for achievement (Winer and Schiff, 1980).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kobigah Kanagendran20 June 2020 at 07:58

      As you correctly stated, the theory is still considered to be immensely contributing to the management due to its practical application. As John (2003) stated, the significance of this theory was to identify the hygiene factors which could cause dissatisfaction. This is considered to help creating a better working environment which is the very first step to satisfy employee, to stimulate performance further by adding motivating factors (Jannica, 2017).

      Delete
  2. Bimal Koralage20 July 2020 at 23:05

    I agreed and the Herzberg’s Theory of Motivation tries to get to the root of motivation in the entire workplace. You can leverage this theory to help you get the best performance from your team. The two factors identified by Herzberg are motivators and hygiene factors. The presence of motivators causes employees to work harder and the absence of hygiene factors will cause employees to work less hard. Hygiene factors are not present in the actual job itself but surround the job (Alshmemri and Shahwan, 2017).

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Motivation Theory: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

-
Image
Motivation Theory: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Contribution of “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory” to Employee Motivation Added to the fact, that it is the responsibility of line managers to bring the best out of the employees in order to achieve the Organizational goals; it is only capable by them to accomplish (Ovidiu, 2013). To achieve goals, managers should apply the art of management by encouraging the exact Interest of the Individual which is known as Motivation (Mahalakshmi & Franklin, 2015). Motivation theories which were brought in and developed by many scholars, have been assisting many practicing managers to date. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is one such initial theory proposed by a psychologist named Abraham Maslow, in 1943 (Joko & Sri, 2017). Need, is the basic concept that keeps the world actively exist (John, 1970) and with no doubt this has been the principal for Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory. A need of specific element can be satisfied at a...
Read more

Importance of Employee Motivation

-
Image
Importance of Employee Motivation Why Employee Motivation should be the first concern in Organizations? Despite the high competition in this globalized world of business, an organization’s goal is to strive the survival while enhancing themselves to thrive towards the vision, enabling and sustaining the success of the organization. Here adoptability is the key to survival and competitive advantage is the need to success which can only be applied by the effective and efficient human resource that an organization hold. So it is prudent that employees are the assets which organizations stand by, to have a competitive edge (Chandrakant, 2017). Ioan, Larisa & George (2013) explains that Hawthorne studies is the initial phase which highlighted that employees’ work is influenced by their attitudes, apart from the money they get paid. This concept proved that employees are keeping themselves occupied with their jobs not because of the involvement, but because they had to. Th...
Read more

Introduction to Employee Motivation

-
Image
Introduction to Employee Motivation: A Key to Success The present era of Artificial Intelligence has led to expeditious growth in global economy, resulting high competition among businesses beyond borders through the concept of Globalization. Every business seeks to win the competition apart from striving through the rivalry, with the resources shared among them. Saloni & Ramesh (2012) explains that the ‘Competitive Advantage’ hold by a business would lead its way to success with the key resource of ‘Human Capital’ while DeFillippi & Arthur (1994) highlights the unique ability of the man power which is to apply a sensible competency of ‘Knowing-How’ with concern to the knowledge, skills, technology & abilities which are related to the business context. The other resources fail to comply with this unique feature even though it contributes in many other ways. Sarah et al. (2007) further adds that the Human capital creates an economic value according to the colle...
Read more

Employee Motivation vs. Employee Engagement

-
Image
Employee Motivation vs. Employee Engagement “You don’t build a business. You build people, and people build the business.” – Zig Ziglar Building up a strong employee engagement which is a key, linked up with employee motivation and job satisfaction has been proposed as one of the top five global business strategies (SHRM, 2020). As previously discussed, although we live in a digital era, artificial intelligence is nowhere near to the human resources which have been the key to determine the success of a business with the personnel capabilities and traits along with much sapience. Employee motivations and employee engagement has been the buzzwords in the recent contemporary emerging business environment. Though it sounds similar and together effects in improving the productivity of the organization, the factors distinguish themselves with ordinary and extraordinary. It is important to understand the subjects before analyzing the relativity. As mentioned earlier, motiv...
Read more

Modern Approaches in Employee Motivation

-
Image
Modern Approaches in Employee Motivation - Cash matters in people’s lives, but it’s not all that matters - As we have been discussing throughout, Saloni & Ramesh (2012) confronts that the strategy to prevail International competition is to acquire the ‘Competitive Advantage’ with the application of “Human Capital” which is value adding, unique and sapient. Though the strategy was clear, the execution needed to be more pragmatic. That’s how the concept of motivation started to restyle itself towards the adaptation to the age of Globalization. It all started with the Hawthorne’s studies which drastically changed the view on the employees from just an input to the production, to the key asset of an organization which determines the sustainable competitive advantage to the success of any organization (Ioan, Larisa & George, 2013). Magnus & Rune (2006) describes that the Hawthorne effect is the initial study which revealed the relationship between performance ...
Read more