Theories of Motivation

EXERCISE 1 Complete the text using the verbs in the box:

achieve               actualize             avoid                    earn
exist                     expect

maximize           perform              pursue                                 require
                   reward                                set

One of the most important elements of any manager’s job is to motivate his or her subordinates to
do their jobs well and to be productive. Two very well-known theories of motivation among managers
are those of Abraham Maslow and Frederick Herzberg.

motivation.jpg

ln Motivation and Personality (1954), Maslow identified what he considered to be a hierarchy of
basic human needs and classified them under five headings. First come physiological needs such as
food, water, air and sleep. If these needs are not satisfied, people will not (1) ...............
other needs. The second category is security needs: clothing, shelter, the necessity to be free
from danger and physical pain, and — most relevant to management — to be free from the threat of
losing one’s job.

 Where these first two categories of needs are satisfied, people feel social needs: to belong to a
group, to be liked and loved and accepted by others. Next come esteem needs: people do not only
want to be accepted, they want to have self-respect and to be esteemed by others. Maslow believes
that people all (2).............. power and status, respect and self-confidence.

The fifth and highest category concerns self-actualization needs: the desire to develop as a
person, to (3).............. one’s potential, and to (4) ..............the goals one has (5)
.............. for oneself.    According to Maslow, employees will only be motivated if they are
able to realize their goals (concerning creativity, responsibility or whatever) through their
work.

As a need is satisfied, it becomes less important. For example, the more money one has, the less
motivating it is to (6).............. more — although of course this doesn’t stop people wanting
it! In fact, pay becomes a social or psychological matter rather than an economic one. When needs
are satisfied, their capacity to (7).............. and to act as an incentive diminishes. In Work
and the Nature of Man (1966), Frederick Herzberg argued that things like good salaries and fringe
benefits, job security,    status, good company administration and labour relations, cannot
motivate workers. They are merely ‘satisfiers’ or, more importantly, ‘dissatisfiers’ where they do
not (8) .............. . ‘Motivators’, on the  contrary, include things such as having a
challenging or interesting job, recognition, responsibility,  promotion, and so on. ·

Clearly, not everybody in manufacturing industry or routine service industry jobs can (9)
...............    challenging and interesting work or promotion to the highest positions of
responsibility. For this    reason, many people have disputed Maslow’s theory. For example,
self-realization and self-actualizing needs are probably far more prominent among university
graduates and at higher levels of a company than at lower levels, where social and security needs,
and even a desire to (10).............. responsibility, might be dominant. Not everybody can
(11).............. himself or herself at work. Yet even workers  who cannot be, or do not want to
be, involved in planning, decision-making, controlling and   organizing, can be given a variety of
tasks, rather than be expected to (12) ......... the same boring,    repetitive, mechanical task
eight hours a day or more.

Exercise 2

According to the text, are the following statements TRUE or FALSE?

1. The possibility of losing their job generally motivates people to work harder.
                       TRUE/FALSE

2. Workers need to be accepted and respected by their colleagues and
superiors.                                      TRUE/FALSE

3. After a certain point, people are no longer motivated by money.
                                  TRUE/FALSE

4. According to Maslow, a good working environment will motivate and fulfil
employees.                     TRUE/FALSE

5. According to Herzberg, providing good working conditions is
unnecessary.                                                TRUE/FALSE

6. Educated people are more likely to want to achieve things in their
jobs.                                                     TRUE/FALSE

7. Managers have to ensure that everybody has an interesting job.
                                  TRUE/FALSE

8. Switching among several boring, repetitive tasks is better than doing only one.
                     TRUE/FALSE