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Management and Organisations in Global Environment

Executive summary

In this report the discussion is based on the motivation and the content theories of motivation. The assignment describes about the various theories of motivation and the critics is shown against it. The whole assignment is based on the motivation and its theories. The motivation is very important in the organisation because it helps the organisation to boost the morale of the employees that in turn will help in the increase in the production and the efficiency in the business. the assignment also gives the brief about the difference between the content theory and the process theory of motivation and how the process theories. The various theories of motivation that have been discussed in this assignment are the Maslow’s theory, Herzberg theory, Mc Greg or theory etc. therefore, it can be said that assignment highlights the detail about content theories of motivation.

Motivation: content theories general framework

Difference between the content theory and the process theory:

The difference between the two theory is that the content theory focuses on the reasons that is based on changing the human needs whereas the process theory focuses on the psychological process that aims to affect the motivation (Aydin, 2018). Both these theories are related to the motivation concept that is used in the organisation.

Content theory gives the reasons for motivating the employees or the individuals whereas the process theory determines the effect of the behavioural patterns in fulfilling the expectations of the employees or the individuals in the organisation.

The content theories include Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Herzberg’s two factor theory etc. whereas the process theory includes the reinforcement theory, expectancy and the goal setting theory.

Various process theories have been reduced to the content theories because Vroom believes that human behaviour are rational. There are certain dysfunctional thoughts that aims to affect decision making process, this can only be achieved when the content theories of needs have been fulfilled by the organisation.

Maslow’s theory of motivation

The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the motivation theory that is used in most of the organisation to motivate the employees. The motivation theory of Maslow is depicted through the five tier model of human needs. The five steps in the Maslow’s theory of motivation are:

Physiological needs 

The physiological needs include the things that are necessary for our survival. These needs include the food, water, breathing etc. (Hattangadi,2015). these physiological needs also includes the shelter and clothing.

Safety needs

The second level of the hierarchy of needs includes the basic security and the safety needs such as the financial security, health and wellness and the safety against accidents and injury.

Social needs

The social needs of the hierarchy model include the love, acceptance and belongings. The various things that satisfy these needs are friendship, family, community group and religious organisations.

Esteem needs

When the three upper level needs are being satisfied then comes the need for the appreciation and respect for the oneself. At this point of time, it become important to gain respect and appreciation of others in the organisation.

Self-actualisation

This level of need is the last level of the Maslow’s hierarchy level. at this pint of time it is assumed that needs of human beings has reached the full potential levels.

(Source: Psychology Today, 2019)

Criticism of Maslow’s theory

The criticism against the Maslow’s theory of motivation are:

Needs do not necessarily follow a hierarchy. It is believed that according to the various research done it is depicted that the levels of needs in this theory is not in the proper hierarchal order.

The second criticismthat is givenagainst this theory is that this theory is very difficult to be tested. The best example is of the testing of the self-actualisation needs, how one can test the last limit of needs of the people (Yusoff et. al., 2013). However, through this it can be said that though the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the powerful motivators of human behaviour, but the hierarchal order that the Maslow described is very difficult to be followed.

Hertzberg’s theory of motivation

The Herzberg theory of motivation was proposed in 1959. According to this theory there are two factors thatresults in the satisfaction and the dissatisfaction of the employees in the organisation. The two job factors classified by the Herzberg are hygiene factor and motivation factor.

Hygiene factor

The hygiene factors are an essential job factor that is necessary for the motivation in workplace. If the hygiene is not present in the organisation, then it may lead to the dissatisfaction among the employees. The hygiene factors are considered as the physiological needs that every individual want and expect to be fulfilled by the organisation. Hygiene factor includes company policies, physical working conditions, interpersonal relations etc.

Motivational factors 

The second factor that is considered to be important for satisfying the employees is the motivational factors. These factors are considered to be important for work. These factors are considered to motivate the employees for the superior performance of the employees. These are the reward giving factor that helps the employees to get motivated and increase their performance. The motivation given by employer to their employees helps in improve the performance of the work and employees also feel that they are been valued.

Criticism 

The critics against this theory is that the Herzberg theory of motivation does not take into account the all the factors that result in the dissatisfaction among the employees. It has been criticised that hygiene and motivator are not only the two factors that cause the dissatisfaction or satisfaction but there are lot more (Alshmemri et. al., 2017). The two factor theory does not consider the situational variances. The Herzberg thought of giving the correlation between the satisfaction and the productivity but the research conducted shows that the theory of Herzberg focused on satisfaction of the employees and ignored productivity. This theory of motivation does not take into consideration blue collar workers, and despite of such limitation it has been broadly accepted.

McGregor’s theory of work motivation

The theory of work motivation was developed by the social psychologist Douglas McGregor in 1960. The two contrasting theory was developed by McGregor that is theory X and theory Y (Rajhans,2012). these two theory of work motivation was explained in his book” The Human Side of Enterprise”.

Theory X 

The first theory developed by McGregor is theory X. in this theory it is assumed by managers that the employees are unmotivated and they are not willing to complete their task. This theory considers the reward or punish netmethod that can be used by the mangers to make sure that work is complete. This style of management assumes that the workers:

  • Dislike their work.
  • The employees need proper direction.
  • Have to be controlled and threatened to complete the work.
  • Need to be guided at every step of their work.
  • Needs to get reward to achieve the goals so that the employees get motivated.

this theory of work motivation developed by McGregor has gone out fashion but it is adopted nowadays also. This theory considers the reward or punishmentmethod that can be used by the mangers to make sure that work is complete.  This because the big organisations find it difficult to avoid this theory because of the large number of people in the organisation and the strict deadlines needs to be followed by them. to achieve this the mangers needs to reward or threatens the employees so that the work in the organisation is complete and the deadlines have been meet in the organisations.

Theory Y

According to this manager have the positive attitude towards the people working in the organisations.  The decentralized and participative approach is being used by the managers in organisation. This helps in building the more collaborative and trust based relationship among the mangers and the team members (Sailer et. al., 2014). The people of the organisation are motivated to develop their skills and to improve their abilities so that the employees can do their work without any guidance. This theory of motivation gives the employees opportunities for promotion. Through this approach the managers show the full faith in the employees and believe that work will be done on time with full efficiency and productivity. This style of management assumes that the workers are:

  • Involved in the decision making.
  • Happy to work on their own.
  • Self-motivated to complete the work.
  • Have the ability to solve the problems creatively.

The theory Y of motivation is very much popular in organisations. This approach helps employees to get the meaningful career along with the money (Mayer,2014). Therefore, it can be said that the theories of Mc Gregor are very essential and are used as the best approach to build the effective relationship between the employees and the managers. The people of the organisation are motivated to develop their skills and to improve their abilities so that the employees can do their work without any guidance. This theory of motivation gives the employees opportunities for promotion.

Behavioural science research expects

It is believed that better understanding of the science on the pay and reward structures can help in increasing the employee’s motivation. The behavioural science of reward report shows that the money always does not help in motivating the employees. The report also shows that:

By taking into consideration the reward structure, organisation can built the more control over factors that helps to motivate employees.

The various alternative forms of rewards can be used by the mangers to motivate the employees such as employee award scheme (Ganta, 2014). There are varioustheir factors for motivation such as support from management, incentives, appreciation that helps the employees to feel valued in the organisation.

Therefore, it can be said that as per the behavioural science research money rewards are not everything they are not only the motivating factors that motivate the employees but this also depicts that the financial incentive is the thing that can dissatisfy the employees. Therefore, the organisationshould have the proper reward structures in the organisation that can help to build more control to motivate the employees.

Criticism

The criticism on the behavioural science research expect is that it takes into consideration only money as the motivating factor. The various other factors are not taken into consideration. It’s not only the money that helps to motivate the employees. If employees have been given the handsome amount of salary but are not been motivated or encouraged the they will not be able to work in the organisation (Kaur, 2013). This will lead to creating problem in improving the efficiency of employees. There are variousother factors for motivation such as support from management, incentives, appreciation that helps the employees to feel valued in the organisation.

Implication of Hofstede’s work:

According to the Hofstede’s culture is an essential element for motivating the employees. It is believed that dimensions of Hofstede’s are considered to be better, therefore, various motivation theories mentioned above should consider these dimensions to motivate the employees in an alternative way. There are variousother factors for motivation such as support from management, incentives, appreciation that helps the employees to feel valued in the organisation. For example, if the employee wanted to be motivated in the organisation to work in group can not only be achieved by the self-achievement and independence but this also needs the good corporate culture that will help to motivate the employees. Therefore, it can have said that Hofstede’s theory needs to be considered to find an alternative way to motivate the employees in the organisation. 

References

  • Alshmemri, M., Shahwan-Akl, L. and Maude, P., 2017. Herzberg’s two-factor theory. Life Science Journal14(5), pp.12-16.
  • Aydin, O.T., 2018. The impact of theory x, theory y and theory z on research performance: An empirical study from a Turkish university. IJAME.
  • Ganta, V.C., 2014. Motivation in the workplace to improve the employee performance. International Journal of Engineering Technology, Management and Applied Sciences2(6), pp.221-230.
  • Hattangadi, V., 2015. Theory x & theory y. International Journal of Recent Research Aspects2(4), pp.20-21.
  • Kaur, A., 2013. Maslow’s need hierarchy theory: Applications and criticisms. Global Journal of Management and Business Studies3(10), pp.1061-1064.
  • Mayer, R.E., 2014. Incorporating motivation into multimedia learning. Learning and Instruction29, pp.171-173.
  • Psychology Today, 2019. Our Hierarchy of Needs. [Online] Psychology Today. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201212/our-hierarchy-needs. [Accessed: 11 September 2019].
  • Rajhans, K., 2012. Effective organizational communication: A key to employee motivation and performance. Interscience Management Review2(2), pp.81-85.
  • Sailer, M., Hense, J., Mandl, J. and Klevers, M., 2014. Psychological perspectives on motivation through gamification. Interaction Design and Architecture Journal, (19), pp.28-37.
  • Yusoff, W.F.W., Kian, T.S. and Idris, M.T.M., 2013. Herzberg’s two factors theory on work motivation: does its work for todays environment. Global journal of commerce and Management2(5), pp.18-22.