A Brief Look At Employee Motivation Theory

Many modern insights on employee motivation theory drew ideas from the works of earlier psychologists like Abraham Maslow, Frederick Herzberg and Douglas McGregor. These three supported the general employee motivation theory that it takes more than financial rewards to truly motivate a person to excel. According to them, employees' motivation increase when they are provided with the opportunities to achieve and succeed and are allowed to participate in decision making.

Perhaps the most widely used employee motivation theory is the one based on Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" theory, in which Maslow categorized five needs that are universal in humans – physiological (basic) needs, safety, belongingness or love, esteem and, lastly, the need for self-actualization.

It is in this same order that, Maslow theorized, people aim to satisfy theirneeds. In other words, a person will try to meet his physiological (basic) needs first before working towards his need to belong. When applied to an employee motivation theory, this means that the basic needs of an employee is the first thing that a company must address and then onto the higher level needs. However, Maslow indicated that once the needs in the bottom four categories have been met they will cease to become motivating factors. Providing your workforce the opportunities to achieve the highest-level of need, self-actualization, is the best way to keep them motivated because this need continues throughout life.

Another popular employee motivation theory is Frederick Herzberg's "Motivation-Hygiene Theory" or "Two Factor Theory", wherein he formulated two sets of factors in the workplace – the Hygiene category and the Motivation category. The first one consists of factors that employees expect in the workplace such as salary or status, which when not met will cause dissatisfaction but these factors do not necessarily motivate the workforce. The Motivation category consists of factors that are not often expected by employees such as recognition and a challenging work environment but if present greatly improves employee satisfaction and motivation. Herzberg noted that Hygiene factors must be satisfied first before Motivating factors can be put in place.

Douglas McGregor also offered his own employee motivation theory in 1960 with the book "The Human Side of Enterprise", wherein he developed two behavioral models in the workplace simply called Theory X and Theory Y. The assumptions in the first theory is that people has a natural dislike towards work, would need to be persuaded first to work and would prefer to receive instructions rather than responsibility. Companies that operate under this theory manage their employees with rewards/penalties and strict supervision. Theory Y states that work comes natural to people and employees will take initiative and responsibility if they have the commitment towards the company's goals. A business that follows this theory motivates employees by encouraging them to become involved in the problem-solving and decision-making in the company.