Motivation, and a critical look at Herzberg's two-factor theory

Meaning of motivation

The word comes from the Latin movere, to move; in management it means whatever energises a person or a group to work. In an organisation, motivation is the process of getting subordinates to act in the desired way so that organisational goals are reached. A motive is an inner state, arising from a need, that moves behaviour towards a goal, while motivators are the means managers use, such as pay, bonus, promotion, recognition and responsibility.

Herzberg's two-factor theory

In the 1950s Herzberg asked about two hundred accountants and engineers in and around Pittsburgh to recall times when they felt exceptionally good or exceptionally bad about their jobs (the critical incident method). Good feelings were generally linked to the job itself, its content; bad feelings were linked to the surroundings of the job, its context. He concluded that two separate sets of factors are at work:

Before Herzberg, motivation and its absence were treated as opposite ends of a single scale; he broke with that view by holding that some job factors mainly dissatisfy, while others act as satisfiers. He described only a general tendency: a factor that dissatisfies one employee may satisfy another. The manager's role, on this view, is to provide a suitable environment and to help rather than boss.

Critical examination of the theory

Strengths. The model gave managers a clearer view of the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic factors, after years of relying on maintenance factors with poor results, and it has been applied widely, especially to managerial, professional and upper-level white-collar staff. It led to job enrichment and attention to the quality of work life.

Weaknesses.

1. Pay and status played down. Critics say the model gives too little weight to the motivating power of pay, status and relations with others, which it files as maintenance factors.
2. One scale, not two. Many critics hold that motivation runs along a single continuum.
3. Tied to its method. Favourable results come most easily with Herzberg's own interview method, and other methods have often failed to repeat them.

In India the first point weighs heavily. For an assembly-line worker in Manesar supporting a family, a wage rise may motivate strongly, whereas for a software architect in Hyderabad more challenging work may matter more. This fits the observation that, given unemployment, lower-order needs still dominate the Indian industrial worker's outlook.

Conclusion

Despite its critics, the theory remains useful because it separates the factors that motivate from those that merely keep employees ready to be motivated, and that helps managers make better decisions about people.