Blog One: Motivation

After studying three of the main content motivational theories, including Aldefer’s ERG theory, Herzberg’s two-factor theory, and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it was Maslow’s theory of a hierarchy that interested me and lead me to carry out some more personal research of my own, which further proved that I felt I could relate to this theory slightly more than the other two theories that I had looked at.

Maslow’s theory is based on a hierarchy of needs; he believes that a person must meet certain basic needs before they can move on and achieve other goals, such as being socially content and reaching self-actualisation. The hierarchy is made up of 5 sections, or stages.

Fig. 1: Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs (mbaknol.com)

These stages start with the most basic needs at the bottom, with more complex needs at the top of the hierarchy.

These include Physiological needs, Safety needs, Social needs, Esteem needs and Self-actualisation.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (2011) The basis of Maslow's theory of motivation is that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs, and that certain lower needs need to be satisfied before higher needs can be addressed. 

The theory outlines that once the basic needs have been met, the individual will be motivated to move further up the theoretical hierarchy.

Physiological needs, according to Maslow’s theory, has one main element, basic pay. He believes that if an individual is not receiving a basic wage, they will not be motivated to achieve anything more and will therefore not move any further up the hierarchy.

Maslow’s theory also says that safety needs are a big factor in motivation, he argues that if an individual does not feel secure in their job, or feels literally unsafe they will not be motivated to do more than is absolutely required of them.

According to Maslow, once the first two stages of the hierarchy and the needs within them have been met, an individual will be motivated to get more socially involved at work which in turn should have a positive affect on their self-esteem.

The elements within the social needs include socialising with colleagues, social activities within the workforce, and other activities including ‘away days’, which should all make an individual within a company feel like a valued part of a team.

Meeting these social needs will have a positive impact on attitude and esteem, and therefore once the social needs have been met, an individual is already moving further up the hierarchy into esteem. Whilst social interaction will boost self-esteem, it is also important that an individual feels good about the job they are carrying out. Maslow says that the elements that should be met within the esteem section include praise from an employer, the job title and responsibility given to the individual.

Maslow’s theory states that once an individual is happy with their wage, environmental surroundings, job security, social status or involvement within the workforce and their role and responsibility, they will have the motivation to achieve self-actualisation and will therefore be at the top of the hierarchy.

I think Maslow’s theory is as relevant in today’s current economic climate as it has ever been. I feel that due to the recession and it’s impact on many organisations and companies, people are more and more concerned about job security, which fit into the safety needs section of Maslow’s hierarchy. I agree with Maslow’s theory that an individual will not be motivated to socially get involved until they feel secure and safe.

Although job roles and responsibilities differ, and it could be argued that Maslow’s theory does not fit everyone, for example someone who is working more for pleasure than stability or because they have to may not be worried about the security of their job but will still socially interact with others within the organisation of company, I feel it is a theory that is relevant to me in my place of work.

Within my place of work, in retail, I moved up the hierarchy stage by stage in an extremely similar way that Maslow’s theory outlines. Once I was comfortable with my pay, and felt safe within my place of work I began to socially get involved, which very quickly boosted my self-esteem and confidence. Once my confidence had developed further, the company saw the potential within me and provided me with training to provide me with an number of different responsibility within the company which further boosted my confidence and helped me realise my full potential, even if I haven’t yet achieved it.

I decided to do a degree in Business Management for a number of reasons, including interest in the business world, my passion for working as part of a team, but most of all due to the extreme self-esteem boost I received when my place of work trained me to carry out some very important tasks that carried great responsibility. This helped me realise my full potential and gave me the confidence to believe that I could gain a degree and get to where I want to go in life.

Like many other people studying for a degree, a large part of my motivation is to make my parents and family proud. Throughout my A – levels I had a great deal of support from my family and I am confident that that support will continue throughout my degree and will help motivate me to achieve good grades and gain my degree.

On a more personal level, I feel that getting my degree in order to get a good, highly paid job is also a strong motivator for me, which reflects back to Maslow’s theory that pay is a very important, and very strong motivator for most people.

De-motivation

I was fourteen when I experienced de-motivation at work. I had been working at the pub for 9 months when it got taken over by a large chain organisation, the pub closed down for a month for refurbishment and once it re-opened, all staff had to be re-interviewed to get their job role back. I got the job, however I was then told my pay was being decreased from £6.50ph to £3.35ph because I was so young. This de-motivated me greatly as I was still carrying out the same tasks as everyone else, and doing the same job as I had previously been doing but I was getting almost half the pay.

I had gone from a boosted ego and self-esteem, in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, all the way back to below physiological, with less than satisfactory pay and therefore I was no longer motivated within the company or job role.

Relative to Aldefer’s ERG theory, before the decrease in my pay I was balanced on the scale, maybe nearing the growth end, however as soon as I discovered by pay had been decreased, the change in circumstance tipped the scales back to existence needs.

Herzberg’s theory states that hygiene factors must be met before motivators can be achieved. All my hygiene factors were met, until my pay decreased significantly, which also affected how I felt about my status within the company and the relationships I had with people in company. I was no longer motivated to achieve or grow within the job because these hygiene factors had been taken away.

Once I had established there was nothing I could do, I decided to motivate myself to find a new job, with a respectable wage. My experience in the pub boosted my self-esteem and confidence, and therefore I felt extremely capable of finding a new job. I created a CV, handed out it out in a number of different places and found a new job within 10 days.

After relating the three content theories back to my experience of de-motivation, I feel that it is clear that the rules of the theories still work.

Although each of the theories are different, and the principles all work in altered ways, they all base on the fact that if basic needs or wants are not being met, an individual will not be motivated to do any more than is required of them.

References:

• Simpson, M. (2011) Motivation [PowerPoint]

• (2011) Maslow's hierarchy of needs [online] Available from: http://www.abraham-maslow.com/m_motivation/Hierarchy_of_Needs.asp [Assessed: October 2011]

• Fig 1 sourced: 
• Thoeries of motivation [online] Available from: http://www.mbaknol.com/management-concepts/theories-of-motivation-abraham-maslow%E2%80%99s-need-hierarchy-model [Assessed: October 2011]