Needs-based theories emphasize the needs that motivate people. As illustrated ear- lier in Exhibit 8.1, needs are the source of an internal drive that motivates behavior to fulfill the needs. An individual’s needs are like a hidden catalog of the things he or she wants and will work to get. To the extent that leaders understand follower needs, they can design the reward system to direct energies and priorities toward attainment of shared goals.
Hierarchy of Needs Theory
Probably the most famous needs-based theory is the one developed by Abraham Maslow.13 Maslow’shierarchy of needs theoryproposes that humans are motivated by multiple needs and those needs exist in a hierarchical order, as illustrated in Exhibit 8.4, wherein the higher needs cannot be satisfied until the lower needs are met. Maslow identified five general levels of motivating needs.
• Physiological: The most basic human physiological needs include food, water, and oxygen. In the organizational setting, these are reflected in the needs for adequate heat, air, and base salary to ensure survival.
• Safety: Next is the need for a safe and secure physical and emotional environ- ment and freedom from threats—that is, for freedom from violence and for an orderly society. In an organizational setting, safety needs reflect the needs for safe jobs, fringe benefits, and job security.
• Belongingness: People have a desire to be accepted by their peers, have friend- ships, be part of a group, and be loved. In the organization, these needs influ- ence the desire for good relationships with coworkers, participation in a work team, and a positive relationship with supervisors.
• Esteem: The need for esteem relates to the desires for a positive self-image and for attention, recognition, and appreciation from others. Within organizations, esteem needs reflect a motivation for recognition, an increase in responsibility, high status, and credit for contributions to the organization.
• Self-actualization: The highest need category, self-actualization, represents the need for self-fulfillment: developing one’s full potential, increasing one’s competence, and becoming a better person. Self-actualization needs can be met in the organization by providing people with opportunities to grow, be empowered and creative, and acquire training for challenging assignments and advancement.
230 PART 4 THE LEADER AS A RELATIONSHIP BUILDER
Hierarchy of needs theory
Maslow’s theory proposes that humans are motivated by multiple needs and those needs exist in a hierarchical order
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According to Maslow’s theory, physiology, safety, and belonging are deficiency needs. These lower-order needs take priority—they must be satisfied before higher- order, or growth, needs are activated. The needs are satisfied in sequence: Physio- logical needs are satisfied before safety needs, safety needs are satisfied before social needs, and so on. A person desiring physical safety will devote his or her efforts to securing a safer environment and will not be concerned with esteem or self- actualization. Once a need is satisfied, it declines in importance and the next higher need is activated. When a union wins good pay and working conditions for its members, for example, basic needs will be met and union members may then want to have social and esteem needs met in the workplace. In some Chinese factories, leaders have gone beyond financial incentives to try to meet belongingness and esteem needs of employees with work contests, American Idol–type singing contests, karaoke rooms, speed dating, dinners with managers, and more communications about the greater purpose of employees’ contributions.14
Two-Factor Theory
Frederick Herzberg developed another popular needs-based theory of motivation called the two-factor theory.15Herzberg interviewed hundreds of workers about times when they were highly motivated to work and other times when they were dissatisfied and unmotivated to work. His findings suggested that the work char- acteristics associated with dissatisfaction were quite different from those pertain- ing to satisfaction, which prompted the notion that two factors influence work motivation.
Exhibit 8.5 illustrates the two-factor theory. The center of the scale is neutral, meaning that workers are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. Herzberg believed that
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EXHIBIT 8.4 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
CHAPTER 8MOTIVATION AND EMPOWERMENT 231
two entirely separate dimensions contribute to an employee’s behavior at work. The first dimension, calledhygiene factors, involves the presence or absence of job dissa- tisfiers, such as working conditions, pay, company policies, and interpersonal rela- tionships. When hygiene factors are poor, work is dissatisfying. This is similar to the concept of deficiency needs described by Maslow. Good hygiene factors remove the dissatisfaction, but they do not in themselves cause people to become highly sat- isfied and motivated in their work.
The second set of factors does influence job satisfaction. Motivators fulfill high-level needs such as needs for achievement, recognition, responsibility, and opportunity for growth. Herzberg believed that when motivators are present, workers are highly motivated and satisfied. Thus, hygiene factors and motiva- tors represent two distinct factors that influence motivation. Hygiene factors work in the area of lower-level needs, and their absence causes dissatisfaction.
Inadequate pay, unsafe working conditions, or a noisy work environment will cause people to be dissatisfied, but their correction will not cause a high level of work enthusiasm and satisfaction. Higher-level motivators such as challenge, responsibility, and recognition must be in place before employees will be highly motivated. Leaders at Mars Incorporated successfully apply the two-factor the- ory to provide both hygiene factors and motivators, thus meeting employees’
higher as well as lower needs.
EXHIBIT 8.5 Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
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NEW LEADER ACTION MEMO
You can evaluate your current or a previous job according to Maslow’s needs theory and Herzberg’s two-factor theory by answering the questions in Leader’s Self-Insight 8.1.
232 PART 4THE LEADER AS A RELATIONSHIP BUILDER
Hygiene factors the first dimension of Herzberg’s two-factor theory;
involves working conditions, pay, company policies, and interpersonal relationships Motivators
the second dimension of Herzberg’s two-factor theory;
involves job satisfaction and meeting higher-level needs such as achievement, rec- ognition, and opportunity for growth
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IN THE LEAD
Paul Michaels, Mars Incorporated
President Paul Michaels and other leaders at Mars, maker of candy such as M&Ms and Snickers and pet food such as Pedigree and Whiskas, seem to meet all the need categories in terms of both hygiene factors and motivators. Mars Incorporated, the third-largest private company in the United States, is intensely secretive, but an interview byFortuneafter the company was named to its “The 100 Best Companies to Work For” list for the first time in 2013 revealed some interesting tidbits.
Once people get a job there, they rarely leave, reflecting that hygiene factors such as pay and benefits are good and working relationships are solid. Compensation is very good
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