Psychologist Fredrick Herzberg asked a basic question to 200 accountants and engineers in firms in and around Pittsburg-“What do people want from their jobs’? He used the critical incident method of obtaining data for analysis.
“Think of a time when you felt exceptionally good or exceptionally bad about your job, either your present job or any other job you have had”.
The responses obtained were fairly consistent in that, good feelings were associated with job content and bad feelings with job context. The ones on the right side of the table are intrinsic factors leading to job satisfaction and acted as motivators and ones on the left side lead to job dis-satisfaction and were termed as hygiene factors.
Hygiene Factors:
One has to understand that hygiene factors need not always cause dis-satisfaction; when the managers handle the situation in an amicable manner in terms of company policy, supervision, working conditions, salary and administration, things will be in the right direction but, even if they are adequate, people are never satisfied. These are called Hygiene factors and managers must try to eliminate factors that create discontent among the workers.
If we want to motivate people, the real motivators are achievement, recognition, responsibility and growth. We must change the job design in such a way that the work arising out of the job should be challenging, exciting and should offer them a sense of achievement, recognition and growth.
HYGIENE FACTORS | MOTIVATORS |
Company policy | Achievement |
Relationship with superiors | Recognition |
Working conditions | Work itself |
Salary | Responsibility |
Relationship with peers | Advancement |
Personal life | Growth |
Relationship with subordinates | |
Status | |
Security |
CRITICISM:
The factors which one particular group of individuals finds to be dis-satisfying may not be applicable for everybody. Factors which are beyond the scope of employees such as policy formulations cannot be considered as hygiene factors.
VICTOR H. VROOM’S EXPECTANCY MODEL
Valency*Expectancy=Motivation
By increasing the positive value of the outcomes through such means as better communication about the outcomes, values and actually increasing them, i.e., the rewards and also by increasing the expectancy of the person by making him believe that the work will really lead him to the desired outcome, organizations can make a strong connection between the work and the outcome.