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WHAT IT TAKES TO MOTIVATE WORKERS
MARCH 02, 1997 -
THE STAR
ARE people motivated to work by money alone or by a
combination of factors?
Ever since the days of Fredericks Taylor in. the 1910s,
management scientists have been looking into this rather
illusive thing called "motivation".
In their book Organisation Behaviour (1984) Jerry Gray and
Frederick Starke define motivation as, "the result of
processes internal or external to the person, that arouse
enthusiasm, desire and the persistence to take a certain
course of action".
Let's look at the case of Jimmy, 24, a management trainee. He
works very hard at his new job. He is determined to be a
competent manager by the time he is 30.
On the other hand, Raymond, 24, also a management trainee,
takes work and life easy. Not only he is not enthusiastic
about learning the ropes of his new job, he behaves as though
he knows more than the rest. Raymond's father happens to be a
successful businessman in Kuala Lumpur while Jimmy comes from
a fishing village in Kelantan.
This brings us to Douglas McGregor's assumptions about human
beings in relation to work. He came up with Theory X and
Theory Y (in the 1950s? which classifies man into two broad
groupings:
1. In Theory X, McGregor sees man as basically lazy, lacking
in ambition and drive, being irresponsible and so on-someone
like Raymond.
2. Theory Y in a sense is just the opposite of Theory X. Jimmy
falls into this classification. He loves to work learn new
things and skills, to take on responsibilities and challenges
and seldom waits to be told that what to do. McGregor's
Theory X and Y are true to a certain extent. But we also know
that we are at times Theory X and at other times very
hardworking, for instance, when we are so engrossed in a
project that we even forget about lunch.
* Basic Assumptions About Man
LET'S take a brief look at the following basic assumptions
about human beings before we go into some of the more popular
motivation theories.
According to management scientist E.H. Schein, the basic
assumptions are as follows:
1. Rational-Economic Man: The view here is that we work to
satisfy our needs for money and material things. We are also
assumed to belong to Theory X and not very rational.
Our actions are based more on feelings and impulse than on
thinking things through. In organisations, individuals who are
highly self-motivated and better in control of their emotions
are put in charge of those who tend to be more Theory X.
2. Social Man: The view of man here is that he is a
social.animal with instinctive belonging needs. We all need to
relate to other fellow human beings. Very few can withstand
loneliness.
In organisations, management must provide as much
opportunities as possible for social interaction. Tea breaks
or after office social sessions help alleviate the boredom in
repetitive work, especially on the assembly line.
3. Self-Actualising: It is assumed that human beings want to
exert their individualism and do things in their own way for
their personal satisfaction.
The extreme example of a self-actualising person would appear
to most of us to be idiosyncratic. But most of us do have a
desire to do things our own way. Organisations recognise this
need of the selfactualising man by empowering them with more
responsibilities and a reduced monitoring of their activities.
4. Complex Man: it is also true that humans are very complex
animals. Moods, likes and dislikes, gentle and aggressive
behaviour and so on, change without warning.
Good managers must, therefore, possess some skills in dealing
with human behaviour. One cannot be a good leader if one lacks
these skills. Many recurring organisational problems are due
to the complex behaviour of man.
5. Psychological Man: Harry Levinson of Havard Business School
believes that human beings have a strong need to achieve their
"ego ideal". They want to be the people they dream about
becoming. Many of us try to emulate the behaviour of our "role
model".
In work, according to Levinson, many try to Achieve their ego
ideal by being totally involved in it. The best musicians
sportsmen, artists, teachers, doctors, etc. have this
psychological calling. This calling provides one of the most
powerful motivating forces in individuals. Their passion to
achieve their dream or ego ideal is so strong that nothing can
stand in their way.
* Theories of Motivation
AFTER more than seven decades of research on work motivation
we now have many different theories, each of which has some
truth. But no one has yet come up with one single theory that
can tell us what really motivates people at work.
We will now look at some of the more accepted motivation
theories and hope they will increase our understanding of why
some people put in greater effort at work than others.
The theories are: (i) Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs,
(ii) Frederick Herzberg's Two Factor Theory; (iii)
McClleland's Need-for-Achievement Theory, (iv) Equity Theory;
and, (V) Expectancy Theory.
(i) Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Maslow groups human needs in
five broad categories and arranges them from lower to higher
need levels.
(a) Physiological or Basic Needs: These are concerned with
basic survival such as eating, drinking and sleeping.
(b) Safety or Security Needs: These keep us from physical or
psychological harm, such as a need to lock our houses or to
behave in such a manner at work that we will not be asked to
resign.
(c) Belonging or Social Needs: Earlier we said that humans are
social animals and have a natural need for love, affection,
acceptance and group membership. People attend social
functions go to temples, churches or mosques to satisfy
partially this need to belong. At work, most people have
their own small informal groups where they can socialise.
Individuals who are aloof or "lone-rangers" are rather rare.
(d) Status or Esteem Needs: Generally speaking, the more the
above three needs are satisfied the more people tend to feel
the need for self-importance (ego need).
People then tend to spend money to enhance their status or
self-image. In a way it explains why People go to work in a
Mercedes or attend parties in Armani jeans and so on to
portray an image of success. "Klasuism" is basically a
reflection of this need.
(e) Self-Actualisation Needs: This reflects the human desire
to do the things we really want to do, in our own special
ways.
For some, self-actualising activities may be community work,
for others, it is scaling Mt Everest or enjoying simple
pleasures like fishing, painting or antique collecting and so
on.
Maslow's need-hierarchy theory has been found to be more
practical in the prediction of human behaviour in general than
individually. We see the application of this theory especially
by marketers when they advertise goods or services in
newspapers on TV or the radio.
Companies such as Mercedes Benz, Christian Dior, Rolex, Gucci,
Bally and so on appeal to our ego needs and our desire for
prestige and an image of success.
The highly-successful slogan by Honda Motorcycles in the 1960s
in America "You meet the nicest people on a Honda"- appeals to
our belonging needs.
The classic example of the use of Maslow's theory is by Volvo.
Volvo has seen the human need for safety and built its entire
marketing philosophy around safety. It realised that if it had
appealed to man's status needs, it would not create a lasting
impression as Mercedesand BMWs have such a strong "status"
appeal.
(ii) Herzberg' s Two-Factor Theory: In the late 1950s,
Herzberg and his team were basically looking for answers to
two questions:
1. What factors cause employees to feel that their job is
satisfying?
2. What factors make employees feel frustrated?
They discovered that professionals like engineers and
accountants obtained job satisfaction from the work itself. In
other words, the nature of the work itself can provide a sense
of satisfaction.
Herzberg used the word "motivators" to describe job-satisfying
factors. He identified motivators as (1) a sense of
achievement; (2) a feeling of recognition by the employer,
and, (3) a feeling of personal growth. Based on this, Herzberg
assumed that motivators provide the driving force m
individuals to put in more effort at work.
On the other hand, the engineers and accountants described the
conditions that made them feel dissatisfied. This group of
factors he called the Hygiene Factors: (1) company policies,
rules and regulations; (2) supervisors' or managers' whimsical
instructsons, (3) office politics; (4) stuffy and noisy work
environments; (5) unequal fringe benefits and, (6) the
presence of things such as executive toilets and executive
parking lots, and so forth.
A word of caution. In the real workplace, this theory is
different if factory workers had answered the above two
questions instead of engineers and accountants.
For instance, money was not considered by the engineers and
accountants as a motivator. But we all know that it is
definitely very much so to most of us. What is not a motivator
to some may be a motivator for others, and vice versa.
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