Reflection on Herzberg Motivation Theory
Motivation refers to a force that instigates, guides, and retains individuals towards achieving various goals. Motivation seeks to maximize the value of organizations by offering professional and personal guidelines to the members. Organizations comprise of individuals with diverse culture and personalities; it is essential for the management team to integrate the diverse aspects to unite the staff members to pursue a common organizational goal. Various theories have been formulated to enhance efficiency and motivation among people in the workplace. The theories encourage managers to initiate an inner drive among the employees to works towards maximizing both personal and professional interests. Making work pleasurable tends to increase the productivity of employees. Fredrick Herzberg generated the two-factor theory, which divides the motivation and the job satisfaction aspects in two sections: the hygiene and motivation factors.
Frederick Herzberg formulated the two-factor theory in 1959. He considered six major concepts that affect the motivation component in several organizations. The factors include the nature of work, recognition, achievement, advancement, responsibility, and the chances of growth. The hygiene aspect depends on elements, such as work supervision, conditions at the workplace, colleague relationship, salary, status, manager-workers relationship, personal life, and job security. The two-factor theory has two main aspects: the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. The intrinsic motivators also referred to as job content aspects, describe activities that people undertake at their work places, their roles, goals, and achievements. These factors play a major role in determining the level of job satisfaction on employees. The extrinsic factors refer to aspects that employees lack control over, as they depend on the external work environment. According to Herzberg, the extrinsic factors contribute to the increased cases of job dissatisfaction.
Job satisfaction is an integral part of any organization’s objectives (Herzberg, 2008). Managers should formulate and implement relevant strategies that enhance fulfillment of workers’ interests. The motivation factors enhance job satisfaction since they create a long lasting and positive impact on employees. Adequate provision of the satisfiers contributes to the achievement of organizational goals. Herzberg argued that it is imperative to combine the two different ranges of factors to increase performance in the workplace. Focusing on the intrinsic values increases the workers’ productivity as they acquire job satisfaction from the business entity. Encouraging employees and recognizing their efforts gives them a sense of belonging, which motivates them to work towards achieving the objectives of the organization. Managers can measure the job satisfaction aspect by assessing the level to which job expectations match with the employees’ real awards.
Managers can use the two-factor theory to improve employees’ performance. This measure can be achieved by embracing both the intrinsic and extrinsic values to maximize job satisfaction. Recognizing the workers’ efforts can increase the willingness to participate in the firm’s activities (Herzberg, 2008). Organizing training sessions to improve employees’ skills is vital to ensure that the organization keeps up with the changing needs in the global market. The managers can interact with employees to identify weaknesses at the workplace; workers feel appreciated when employers involve themselves in such affairs. The training sessions improve the professional and personal standards for employees, which gives them a chance to attain growth. The modern professional world requires a highly skilled labor force. Companies should ensure that the workforce acquires relevant knowledge on the emerging trends in the market to maintain competitiveness.
Involving employees in the decision making process is an essential element in promoting job satisfaction (Smythe, 2013). The managers can exchange ideas with the workers to allow innovation and creativity in the working environment. Employees can use this opportunity to give their opinions regarding the organization’s operations. The interaction that occurs during such periods helps to create healthy work relationships. Successful firms, such as Krafts Foods Company employs this strategy to facilitate efficiency in the firm’s activities. The management team in the company incorporates randomly selected individuals from various departments in the corporate meetings. The employees contribute to the plan formulation process to enable the company to realize its goals and objectives. Krafts Food Company is the largest food and beverage company in the United States of America. According to Herzberg, assigning employees challenging tasks motivates them to improve their skills, which increases their performance (Herzberg, 2008). The challenging activities encourage employees to have some sense of responsibility.
Managers should ensure that the compensation schemes match with the nature of the work. Employees should acquire salaries based on their performance (Smythe, 2013). This measure creates fairness and encourages workers to assume more responsibilities with higher returns. Empowering employees to handle the huge task gives them a chance to make independent choices, which are vital for overall development of the firm. The overall performance of the firm is likely to improve with increasing competitiveness among employees. Monetary rewards are a major motivator to employees; it lies under the hygiene factors in Herzberg’s theory. Managers should use a significant proportion of the company’s revenue to reward the employees. It, however, is essential to embrace the fact that hygiene factors do not motivate employees, but they create a conducive environment for work. The two-factor theory analyzes the impact of sequence on employee turnover, attitude, and performance towards a firm’s operations. Maintain a positive attitude among workers in a company helps to maintain a significant performance rate among workers. Negative attitude towards work creates unhealthy relationships, which may damage a company’s reputation. The firm loses its turnover in case the employees generate a negative attitude towards their roles. Managers should note that job satisfaction determines the level of employee loyalty. Satisfied workforce focuses on achieving the firm’s objectives for their personal and professional gain.
Matching the job description with the employees’ capability is an essential element in achieving organizational targets. An organization should have relevant structures that describe the chores and objectives of each department. Managers should plan the firm’s chores to enable workers arrange their daily tasks; this measure ensures efficiency in the working environment (Kleinbeck, Quast, Thierry, H"cker, & Quast, 2013). Employees should set realistic goals and formulate strategies to enable them increase firm’s productivity. Ensuring that the organization has both the intrinsic and extrinsic factors helps to create balance in the working environment. The extrinsic factors affect employees indirectly; failure to include them in the work place affects people’s performance.
The Herzberg’s two-factor theory may be ineffective in case the nature of the job does not focus on job satisfaction. Employees may have individual challenges, such as the negative perception towards their work. This situation makes the motivation process ineffective, as the company’s resources are wasted in the process. Motivation towards accomplishing certain goals comes from within; a company’s effort to motivate unwilling employees may have negative results to the management team. A successful firm does not only concentrate on motivation of workers, but also on effective performance in the workplace. This is achieved by ensuring the company’s interests match with the stakeholders’ values. The means used for communication may affect the motivation process in an organization. Ineffective communication tampers with employees’ performance, which derails them achieving their set goals. An organization should set its plans according to the motivation objectives to achieve the desired goals.
Managers should have alternative strategies to enhance efficiency in case the Herzberg theory of motivation fails. One of the strategies includes rewarding employees according to the output produced. This measure will encourage employees to improve their productivity levels to maximize their revenue. Managers can embark on hiring highly competent workforce to replace the unproductive employees. The competitive nature of the modern world requires employees who can work with minimum supervision to deliver the expected results. Encouraging healthy competition in the workplace increases the need to achieve the set objectives in pursuit of recognition. The Herzberg two-factor theory excludes some elements that cannot be solved by the hygiene and job factors. The individual’s perception and knowledge towards work cannot be determined by the motivation theory.
The management team can embark on external tactics, for instance those used by successful competitors to motivate employees (Stack, 2013). Integrating the Herzberg’s policies with other theories can help supervisors to formulate a comprehensive motivational plan. The needs of employees and the organizational culture should determine the alternative strategy to employ in ensuring the effectiveness. The organizational culture should represent the interests of employees from diverse cultural backgrounds. International businesses incorporate different cultures into the workforce to encourage the exchange of ideas among employees, and to promote the corporate social responsibility aspect. Appointing managers to supervise and play exemplary roles to the employees increases the overall productivity of the company. The employees can use the managers as mentors, which encourages them to improve their performance and to make the work pleasurable.
Motivation is the force that initiates an individual to put effort in a task to achieve the desired goals. Firms seek to motivate employees to enhance job satisfaction and maximize the profitability margins. The Herzberg motivation theory comprises of two main strategies: the motivation and hygiene factors. The motivation factors affect employees’ directly, and it, therefore, is essential to focus on these factors to maximize the motivation initiative. The hygiene factors consist of job factors that managers should ensure they exist in a working environment to encourage healthy working relations among employees. Recognizing the employees’ efforts and rewarding them accordingly motivates them to adopt creativity and innovation measures, which play a crucial role in developing the company’s operations. Job security enables employees to concentrate fully and contribute towards achieving organizational objectives. Managers should ensure that employees’ welfare is well catered for; this is accomplished by engaging in workers’ activities to identify the emerging needs in the work place. Herzberg motivation theory has some limitations, which may affect its application in the workplace setting. Failure to recognize the different perceptions and opinions among employees may affect the success of the motivation theory. The strategies used in motivating employees should match up with the attitude of workers and the nature of work. Managers should acquire tactics from competing firms to enhance successful implementation of motivational strategies. It is essential to assess the effect of various motivational strategies in a specified duration; this helps to determine the appropriate approach to employ in an organization.
References
Herzberg, F. (2008). One more time: How do you motivate employees. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Press.
Kleinbeck, U., Quast, H.-H., Thierry, H., H"cker, H., & Quast, H. H. (2013). Work Motivation. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
Smythe, J. (2013). The velvet revolution at work: The rise of employee engagement, the fall of command and control. Farnham, Surrey: Gower Pub. Ltd.
Stack, L. (2013). Managing employee performance: Motivation, ability, and obstacles. Highlands Ranch, CO: Productivity Pro.
