| . |
It appears that the central theme of the satisfiers (also called motivators) is one having to do with the relationship the employee
has with his or her job; job content.
The theme of the dissatisfiers appears to be related to the environment or context of the job. These dissatisfiers seem to have little effect on positive job attitudes (in some
of the literature, these dissatisfiers were called hygiene or maintenance
factors). |
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Two Dimensions |
| JOB SATISFACTION:
"...job satisfaction... and job dissatisfaction are not opposites; they are
completely separate continua, like hearing and vision."
(Frederick Herzberg from a 1971 interview in Management Review) |
At the psychological level, the two dimensions
of job attitudes appear to reflect a two-dimensional need structure:
· one need structure for the avoidance of unpleasantness,
and
· a parallel need system for personal growth
For Herzberg, motivation results from personal growth and is based
on an innate need to grow. In other words, people find satisfaction in work that is interesting and challenging. A desire
to fulfill our potential drives us to seek growth and provides the incentive to achieve.
According to Herzberg, the idea that the work one does is significant leads, ultimately,
to satisfaction with the the work itself. Employees will be motivated to do work that they percieve to be significant.
From a philosophical perspective, it is Herzberg's position
that it is the responsibility of society's dominant institutions to provide for the growth and well being of people. In our
society, one such dominant organization is the business institution. Therefore it is the responsibility of business and industry
to provide the means for growth and self actualization (see Maslow). |
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|
|
KITA
when employees do something
"...to avoid being hurt, that's movement.
I called it
KITA...
when a human being does something,
he's motivated. The intiative comes from within...." |
Herzberg's theory thus posits that there
are two classes of factors that influence employee motivation; intrinsic factors and the extrinsic factors.
The intrinsic factors were also called the motivator factors and were related
to job satisfaction. The extrinsic factors were called hygiene factors and were related to job dissatisfaction.
Motivators (intrinsic factors) led to job satisfaction because of
a need for growth and self actualization, and hygiene (extrinsic) factors led to job dissatisfaction because of a need to
avoid unpleasantness.
The negative or positive KITA or "kick in the a**" approach to employee
motivation yields short- range results, but rarely generates any actual motivation. In fact, to call it an "approach to motivation"
is to clearly misunderstand motivation as Herzberg understood it. KITA yields movement -- the avoidance of pain -- not motivation.
Positive KITA, in the form of raises and incentives reduces time spent
at work, inflates wages and benefits, and overemphasizes human relations.
K-I-T-A techniques fail to instill self-generating motivation in
workers. Job content factors, such as achievement and responsibility, are motivators, while job environment factors are hygiene
or KITA factors. Motivators are the key to satisfaction. |
| . |
HERZBERG APPLIED: |
|
The desire to fulfill our potential drives us to seek growth and provides the
incentive to achieve -- MOTIVATION |
In an era of increasing competition, it is important
for organizations to effectively utilize all available resources; including human resources.
In the workplace, the motivation of employees is important to the organization
as it is one of the variables that affects the employee productivity.
Fundamental to Herzberg's position is the notion that motivation
is a result of personal growth and is based on an innate need to grow. What this means is that people find satisfaction in
work that is interesting and challenging. |
| . |
JOB ENRICHMENT |
| Workers with greater ability have
an opportunity to demonstrate their potential and are better utilized by allowing them to use more of their talents
If you cannot challenge workers, motivational problems will result
If you want people to do a good job for you, give them a good job to do |
JOB ENRICHMENT:
The idea of job enrichment is probably the most significant contribution of Herzberg's theory.
Meaningful tasks allow for growth, and job enrichment is a relatively
simple method for facilitating this growth:
- adding different tasks to a job to provide greater involvement and interaction
with the task.
Adding tasks can raise the level of challenge in any particular job to
a level commensurate with the abilities of an employee. It might be argued that, if a job can not be enriched and it is not
challenging to the person in that position, then that person ought to be replaced by someone who will find the job challenging. |
| . |
JOB LOADING |
Examples of vertical job loading:
- increasing accountability
- removing controls
- making periodic reports available to workers
- granting job freedom
- granting job authority
- introducing new and challenging tasks
- assigning specific or specialized tasks
|
JOB LOADING: There
are two forms of job loading.
- Horizontal job loading: adding tasks to a job but not adding any
responsibility or challenge -- the meaningless of the job is simply increased. Horizontal loading ought to be avoided!
- Vertical job loading: adding meaningful tasks that will lead to
growth -- additional tasks that permit growth and provide motivating factors.
|
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|
| It is the responsibility of management to create an environment that encourages employee growth and self actualization...
|
By providing motivators and removing hygienes,
management can facilitate the growth of employees. This is essential to both the individual and the organization.Growth makes
the employee more valuable to the organization because of his/her ability to perform higher order duties.
...management cannot really motivate employees, it can only create
the environment in which the employees motivate themselves |
| . |
ANSWERING THE CRITICS OF THE THEORY |
| Pay is not the most important
thing in "job satisfaction"; personal satisfaction, feeling appreciated, and a feeling of doing something worth while all
out rank pay as the reason employees stay in their present job. |
Critics of Herzberg's theory argue that the sample population
was small and limited to a group of professionals. Numerous replication studies have been performed to check the validity
of the original results. Mostly, the results are comparable to the results obtained in the original experiment and indicate
that motivators are the primary cause of job satisfaction.
There is also the criticism that the study applies only to middle management
professionals (the original sample consisted of 200 middle management professionals).
However, an application of Maslow's concepts suggests that people work to achieve what they do not have. As such, the set of motivators
can differ from person to person. Instead of saying that Herzberg’s findings only apply to middle level professionals,
it would be more correct to say that Herzberg’s findings apply to people that have needs and wants similar to the test
subjects.
When attempting to motivate employees, it is important to know their
needs. Effective motivation results from a determination of what will motivate employees and then providing the factors
that address those needs.
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