Introduction
Employee motivation is now a major issue in organization. The shortage in the labor force, the intensifying war for talents and the view of human resources as a source of competitive advantage has led organizations to value human resources. Now more than ever, organizations are focusing on attracting, retaining and motivating its human resources. Motivation is connected to organizational performance. Motivation is also seen as a factor that makes employee stay in an organization.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
Maslow’s Need Theory is a motivation theory that argues that motivation can be achieved if the needs are met. People according to Maslow seek to satisfy five basic needs. These are psychological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. Physiological needs are those things that human needs in order to maintain and sustain life. These include food, water, and shelter. Safety needs are concerned with protection form danger, risk, uncertainty, or threats to the person. Social needs are those needs such as love, affection, meaningful relationships with other people and acceptance in a group. The esteem needs encompass the desire for status, prestige, recognition, attention and appreciation. The self-actualization needs are concerned about personal growth, realization of potential and intellectual strength.
Example
In the organizational setting, the application of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be observed in compensation. Direct and indirect components of compensation satisfy the lower level needs (physiological and safety needs) while the psychological component of compensation address social, esteem, and self-actualization. These higher-level needs are satisfied using different such as awards and recognitions, continuous learning, job redesign, career development, life-work balance and other programs.
McClelland’s Achievement Theory
According to Achievement theory, people have three basic motivational needs. These are affiliation, power and achievement. A person has a strong desire for individual and group approval and to be accepted socially and to form friendship, this is called affiliation motive. A person also has a desire to be in control – to change events and be able to have influence on others, this is called power motive. The achievement motive is an individual’s need to achieve and to succeed. The achievement motive can be satisfied through challenging tasks or work, establishing goals and succeeding.
Example
In the organizational setting, achievement theory plays an important role in motivating employees and achieving high performance. It is important to consider the three motives of the employees. Employees with a high need for affiliation are suited for jobs that involves teamwork and jobs that with interpersonal contact. These kind of employees also need support and approval from their co-workers, superiors and customers. In order to satisfy the power motive of the employees, an organization can redesign jobs and encourage employee participation in organizational decision-making. Employee empowerment through training and development is important for employees with high power needs. For persons with high need for achievement, must be constantly challenged. Learning, education, and training can stimulate a greater need to achieve.
Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory
The basic concept of Skinner’s reinforcement theory is learning. Learning is considered as relatively permanent change in behavior potentiality that results from reinforced practice or experience. According the Skinner’s theory, behaviors can be strengthened and intensified through reinforcement. The reinforcement theory identifies four different types of contingencies in learning. Two serve to strengthen desired behavior (positive reinforcement and avoidance learning) while the other two serve to weaken undesired behavior (extinction and punishment). A positive reinforcer is a stimulus that strengthens that probability of operant response. Avoidance learning is involves steps that will lead an individual to the desired behavior in order to escape or avoid unwanted consequence. Extinction occurs when a previously utilized positive reinforcer is withheld. The behavior may continue, but the absence of reward will gradually led to the extinction of the behavior. Punishment is a method of influencing behavior.
Example
An example of how the reinforcement theory is applied in the organizational setting is through employee training. Through employee training behaviors are shaped. There are also different types of reinforcers that are at work in an organization. These reinforcers include advancement, praise, recognition, and money. One example of how avoidance learning works in the organization is when an employee receives a criticism from his or her supervisor. In order to avoid the unwanted consequence of an undesired behavior, the employee will avoid the undesired behavior. Extinction is also applied in training. For example, extinction can be used to extinguish the undesired behaviors that a new employee brings to the organization.
Comparison
Each motivation theory has its implications on the organization. All of the discussed theories can be applied in the structuring of compensation packages and training and development programs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs stresses the importance of both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards in motivating employees. Compensation can be divided into three components – direct monetary rewards, indirect monetary rewards and psychological satisfactions. Direct and indirect monetary rewards satisfy the employees’ physiological and safety needs, while psychological satisfactions satisfy the higher-level needs. McClelland’s theory can also be applied in the organizational setting. According to the achievement theory, humans have three basic motives – affiliation, power and achievement. The theory can be applied in the design of work and the structuring of training and development programs. Work can be designed in such a way that both affiliation and power motives can be satisfied. Through training and development, employees can be stimulated to aim for further achievement. Lastly, the reinforcement theory is rooted in the belief that a behavior can be learned through reinforcements. This has an implication on the organizations. Compensation and rewards often serve as reinforecers that encourage employees to continue with the desired behavior while negative consequences of undesirable behavior are used to eliminate it.
Conclusion
Comparing the three theories, I can say that all of them can be applied to organizational setting. Both Maslow’s and McClelland’s theories aim to motivate employees through the satisfaction of their needs. Skinner’s theory on the other hand aims at behavioral change. Behavioral change can be achieved by using the four contingencies – positive reinforcement, avoidance learning, extinction, punishment. The theory of Skinner which is rooted to behavioral psychology takes a different approach from Maslow’s and McClelland’s theories.
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