Executive Summary
This is the main purpose of this report: to demonstrate deficiencies in some motivation theories that were developed in the early stages of management. It aims to remind managers not to blindly apply those theories in modern management. There are two main components involved in this paper: the general framework and the deficiencies of theories.
The first part introduces the general framework and meaning of motivation, which consists of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from within the employee, such as self-actualization, while extrinsic motivation comes from outside the employee, such as monetary rewards.
In the General framework, there are three motivation theories described. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs contains five levels of needs: physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization. McGregor’s Theory X and Y describe employees differently. Theory X describes employees as oversized children who need to be coerced to act, while Theory Y treats employees as adults who can view work as natural. Herzberg’s Two-factor Theory divides motivation into two dimensions. Hygiene factors can satisfy employees and prevent job dissatisfaction, but they cannot lead to higher performance. Motivation factors can motivate employees to higher performance, such as job position promotion.
Deficiencies of these theories are discussed in the second part of this report. In the research, it was found that Maslow’s theory suggests that process models of motivation are less prescriptive because Maslow fails to consider key elements of human motivation. Maslow’s concept of self-actualization was based on a uniquely American concept of the individual, and so on.
The deficiencies of McGregor’s Theory X and Y can be concluded as follows: Firstly, it is outdated. McGregor’s study was conducted too early, and organizations have changed significantly since then. Secondly, Michael and William (2003) have provided persuasive evidence against the idea that Theory Y is better than Theory X. They use new organizations as examples to support their point of view. Lastly, Theory Y has been proven to be invalid in reality. Large organizations like HSBC and Merrill Lynch are examples that demonstrate this truth.
Finally, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory is stated to be outdated as well since the career path and job description are different from the 1950s. Additionally, Herzberg’s Theory is shown to not allow for individual unique responses to motivation or hygiene factors, and it contains the relatively explicit assumption that happy and satisfied workers produce more. To finish reading this paper, readers are able to know much more detailed information than above.
1. Introduction
Motivation is an important thing that managers need to understand in order to motivate their employees to have good performance. By motivating the employees, the organization can benefit in various ways such as increased performance and productivity, increased job satisfaction, increased focus on organizational objectives, and possibly reduced absenteeism of the employees.
Many methods of employee motivation have been developed. The study of work motivation has focused on both managers and employees. Motivation theories are important for managers attempting to be effective leaders.
The research makes connections between involvement in the workplace and the works of Maslow, McGregor, and Herzberg. Finally, the study addresses the importance and weakness of workplace involvement as a means to perpetuate human development, competitive advantage, and the operationalization of the theory of self-actualization. The findings of the study serve as a benchmark or standard of the individual and organizational potential of high involvement in the workplace. This study has implications for theorists as well as practitioners in both the private and public sectors.
Here, we will see the explanation of three theories that have been known to many managers today.
2. General Framework
Motivation in an organization can be defined as the willingness to exert high levels of effort to reach organizational goals, conditioned by the effort’s ability to satisfy some individual need. Motivation consists of intrinsic and extrinsic factors (Wikipedia, 2009).
In a workplace, intrinsic motivation is the incentive that comes from an employee’s nature. Employees enjoy working, and goal achievement can satisfy and fulfill their desires. Extrinsic motivation is the incentive that comes from outside the employee, motivating them to complete work or achieve goals. If the reward meets the employee’s needs, then they will put their efforts into work, for example, a higher job position for those who want to be promoted.
A manager plays an important role in the workplace. The ability and skill of a manager in dealing with motivation affects the performance of employees (Pan, 2008). Employees can achieve goals with high performance if managers are skilled at motivating their subordinates. In contrast, a manager who lacks knowledge of motivation might lead to low performance or fail to meet commitments. Therefore, it is necessary for managers to understand motivation theories and apply them in the workplace.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, McGregor’s Theory X and Y, and Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory are three popular concepts that are widely discussed in the world of motivation. Firstly, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs consists of five different levels of needs. Physiological needs are essential (Wikipedia, 2009), such as water and food. Safety needs are about job security and the working environment. Social needs concern relationships in the workplace. Esteem needs are a person’s overall evaluation, and self-actualization needs are about challenge, accomplishment, and growth. Herzberg believes that if an organization can provide these needs, then employees will meet their commitment with the best performance.
Secondly, McGregor’s Theory X and Y divide management into two dimensions (Wikipedia, 2009). Theory X involves regarding employees as oversized children (Michael and William, 2003, 12). Employees are lazy, incapable of self-direction and autonomous work behaviour, and have little to offer in terms of organisational problem-solving. Thus, managers need to coerce employees to ensure compliance. Theory Y treats employees as adults. Employees see work as a natural part of life. They are self-directed and willing to offer new ideas, and take responsibility. Therefore, employees are easily motivated by rewards and opportunities to participate in decision-making.
Lastly, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory states that there are two factors that affect job satisfaction (Wikipedia, 2009). The first is hygiene factors, which involve working conditions, the work environment, salary, and so on. These factors cannot motivate employees, but they can keep employee performance at the current level and prevent job dissatisfaction. The second factor is motivation factors, which can be used to motivate employees to higher performance. Examples of motivation factors include recognition of accomplishments and assigning work with reasonable difficulty to challenge employees.
3. Deficiencies
3.1. Deficiencies of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s theory is fine as a way of focusing attention and even feels as though it has some gut merit. However, scholars have pointed out that Maslow fails to consider key elements of human motivation. The process models of motivation are less prescriptive.
This analysis presents four main criticisms of Maslow’s (1934b, 1970) theory of motivation with specific reference to the hierarchy of human needs. First, the implication of the directionality of needs prepotencies in Maslow’s model is explored in light of empirical findings regarding deprivation and gratification. Studies suggest that the theory seems elitist only from the perspective of the psychopathologically average” (MP 147) in Western society. In fact, one of the weaknesses of Maslow’s theory from the perspective of personality theory is that it doesn’t go very far in explaining fundamental individual differences except in terms of need gratification (whether deficiency needs or growth needs). Pearson (1999) argued that Maslow’s concept of self-actualization was based on a uniquely American concept of the individual. Mook (1987) argued that this concept of the individual as the highest good contradicted many cultural constructs in non-Western societies. Related to this is the undercurrent of elitism in Maslow’s writing (BUSS 1979). For example, to make the argument for health as adaptation, one has to take the psychic center point and place it external to the entity whose health is being determined – social psychology taken to an extreme (Sullivan, in TPB 180), thus making the self-determined and denying agency, something which Maslow could not accept given his understanding of self-actualized people as socially autonomous. One could almost draw a comparison with a Skinnerian explanation of what passes as a self-being simply the result of reinforcement history.
Then, the failure of the model to accommodate the role of culture and the dismissal of cultural relativity inherent in the framework proposed by Maslow will be addressed. Third, conflicting results both support and refute Maslow’s original categories of need, so there is no consensus regarding the relative accuracy of Maslow’s categories in the absence of rigorous scientific investigation. Finally, Maslow’s theory is difficult to test because of the nature of the subject matter, the difficulty with defining the concepts, and the high degree of overlap, for example, between love and esteem or physical and safety needs.
Maslow derives values from conditions necessary for health and ‘discovers’ them in self-actualized individuals. He does not differentiate between psychological types like Jung does (Jung, 1971). Maslow expresses outright contempt for reductionism on the level of trait/factor theorists (MP 29). Therefore, even those who are currently ‘psychopathologically’ average can achieve self-actualization, especially in Maslow’s redefinition of self-actualization as episodic, since no special personal prerequisites are required (TPB 174-179).
Lastly, Abraham Maslow has contributed a great deal to modern social welfare. The concept of self-actualisation has revolutionised prevailing opinions about human nature in the social sciences and popular culture. However, human beings are shaped to a considerable extent by their cultures, and cultures differ widely in the sets of values that they emphasise and transmit to their members. While the theory may be limited in some ways, it continues to provide a valuable framework for social work research, policy, and practice. Maslow’s concept of self-actualisation could be useful in working toward a more well-performing society populated by more highly functioning individuals.
3.2. Deficiencies of McGregor’s Theory X and Y
Some critics argue that McGregor’s theories are outdated. Firstly, according to Michael and William (2003, 240), they state that Theory X and Y are based on observations from the 1950s. Theory X represents the situation at that time. At that time, most employees followed commands from their managers to act in organizations. Nowadays, employees are moving from the position of X to Y if they are motivated (Teambuilding, 2009). Secondly, Chowdhury (2005) argues that Theory Y can only apply in small-sized organizations. However, organizations’ sizes are too large to implement Theory Y today because employees may be out of control.
Furthermore, Michael and William (2003, 257) strongly suggest that the belief that Theory Y management is inherently better than Theory X management must be reconsidered. In McGregor’s study, he preferred Theory Y over X. He believed that employees are bad” if they are in position X because they are passive in doing their work. Only Theory Y management would satisfy all employees. In reality, McGregor’s thinking is totally wrong. Michael and William (2003) provide some persuasive evidence to support their argument. Technological and ad hoc organizations are the new organizations after the IT revolution in the 1960s. According to McGregor’s Theory Y, people are assumed to be in position Y, and people who work in these kinds of organizations must be self-directed and creative. In fact, Michael and William (2003) find that many employees in technological industries complain that they need more detailed and clearer direction from their managers. The technological industry relies on creation a lot since unique creative innovation always can bring huge profit to the organization. On the other hand, aggressive competition makes employees stress on creative solutions. Ad hoc organization is another kind of organization that still uses Theory X in their management. For example, Dish Network and DirecTV organizations are relatively new in the world. Many people would believe this type of organization would require Theory Y management. However, it does not. Both Dish Network and DirecTV have discovered that to ensure consistent, quality installation, they must require contracted installers to follow specific guidelines and to submit photographic evidence of completed work. Dish Network even requires that customers sign a work form to indicate that installers met their guidelines and requirements.
Furthermore, some critics claim that Theory Y is merely an assumption created by McGregor. Salaman (1979) argues that Theory Y does not work in the real world. Skapinker (2003, 12) also points out this issue in the Financial Times”. In his article, Skapinker states that HSBC (the London-based bank) informed employees that it would begin charging them for personal telephone calls made from the office. A report shows that staff had run up bills of about £36 each month on personal calls. HSBC decided to implement this policy because they believe that staff lack self-restraint when making personal calls. HSBC is not the only company that limits staff’s freedom. Computer records give companies the ability to monitor not only employees’ telephone calls but also their emails and internet browsing habits. For example, staff at Merrill Lynch in the Washington Post are not allowed to access eBay and other websites during working hours. It is amusing that employees are trusted to control million-dollar accounts but cannot be trusted to browse the internet.
3.3. Deficiencies of Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
In Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory, factors such as company policy, work conditions, salary, and relationships with peers and bosses are hygiene factors that lead to dissatisfaction. Achievement, recognition, advancement, and growth are the motivators that lead to one’s satisfaction in the workplace. Herzberg’s theory has recognized some of the points in Maslow’s theory, such as physiological needs that can be fulfilled by money, for example, purchasing food and shelter, and the psychological need to achieve and grow. However, Herzberg presented considerable empirical evidence to confirm his theory, unlike Maslow.
On the other hand, there are some weaknesses in Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory and weaknesses in the research methodology. The theory was based on interviews with 203 American accountants and engineers in Pittsburgh. The participants were asked to relate times when they felt exceptionally good or bad about their present job or any previous job and to provide reasons, as well as a description of the sequence of events giving rise to that positive or negative feeling. In this study, there would be a limitation as all the participants are either accountants or engineers. The results could be altered if workers at different levels from various industries were surveyed. This is because back in the 1950s, the service industry had not developed like it has today. There are also employees who have multiple tasks and unclear job descriptions.
Furthermore, King (1970) argues that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are no longer considered to exist on separate scales. The separation of satisfaction and dissatisfaction has been shown to be an artifact of the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) used by Herzberg to record events. Additionally, it has been shown that the theory does not allow for individual unique responses to motivation or hygiene factors. Another problem is that the theory contains the relatively explicit assumption that happy and satisfied workers produce more. For example, if playing a better game of basketball can satisfy one’s need for recognition, then that person will find ways to play and think about the game more often and may have a lower output at the workplace.
4. Conclusion
Feldman and Arnold (1983, p. 106) state that most of the problems within an organization are motivation problems. Those involved in the study of organizational behavior recognize the importance of motivation as a determinant of effective performance in the organization. Recognizing the level of motivation in the workplace can address many worker-related problems.
This study of a few motivational theories has shown new angles to human behavior that affect a person’s productivity. By considering these aspects, management in the construction industry can improve the productivity of their workers.
A successful application of these theories requires an understanding of the situations and circumstances surrounding construction organizations. For example, according to Maslow’s theory, managers sometimes don’t understand the indifference of employees towards their work. It is possible that even if management is constantly giving recognition for their outstanding work, a part of the problem lies in the inability of these employees to fulfill their lower needs. A manager can say please” and “good work” to a particular employee, and the effect would still be negative. By understanding the weaknesses of these theories, the manager can decide which features of which theory can best be applied in their organization.
Building morale is an important concept in motivating workers, and it will help create productivity. Developing a shared vision is a way to begin building morale. Understanding the needs and expectations of construction workers is basic to motivation. The knowledge of motivational theories can help a lot in this regard. It is important to point out that motivational theories must be used wisely, as misuse of some theories and techniques could result in negative consequences.
5. References
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