I.

ABRAHAM MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory by Abraham Maslow, which puts forward

that people are motivated by five basic categories of needs: physiological, safety,
love, esteem, and self-actualization.

Key Takeaways: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

 According to Maslow, we have five categories of needs: physiological, safety,

love, esteem, and self-actualization.
 In this theory, higher needs in the hierarchy begin to emerge when people feel
they have sufficiently satisfied the previous need.
 Although later research does not fully support all of Maslow’s theory, his
research has impacted other psychologists and contributed to the field of
positive psychology.

What Is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

In order to better understand what motivates human beings, Maslow proposed that
human needs can be organized into a hierarchy. This hierarchy ranges from more
concrete needs—such as food and water—to more abstract concepts such as self-
fulfillment. According to Maslow, when a lower need is met, the next need on the
hierarchy becomes our focus of attention.

These are the five categories of needs according to Maslow:

Physiological

These refer to basic physical needs, such as drinking when thirsty or eating when
hungry. According to Maslow, some of these needs involve our efforts to meet the
body’s need for homeostasis; that is, maintaining consistent levels in different bodily
systems (for example, maintaining a body temperature of 98.6 degrees).

Maslow considered physiological needs to be the most essential of our needs. If

someone is lacking in more than one need, they’re likely to try to meet these
physiological needs first. For example, if someone is extremely hungry, it’s hard to
focus on anything else besides food. Another example of a physiological need would
be the need for adequate sleep.

Safety

Once people’s physiological requirements are met, the next need that arises is a safe
environment. Our safety needs are apparent even early in childhood, as children
have a need for safe and predictable environments and typically react with fear or
anxiety when these needs are not met. Maslow pointed out that, in adults living in
developed nations, safety needs can be more apparent in emergency situations (e.g.
war and disasters), but this need can also explain why we tend to prefer the

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familiar or why we do things like purchasing insurance and contributing to a
savings account.

Love and Belonging

According to Maslow, the next need in the hierarchy involves feeling loved and
accepted. This need includes both romantic relationships as well as ties to friends
and family members. It also includes our need to feel that we belong to a social
group. Importantly, this need encompasses both feeling loved and feeling love
towards others.

Since Maslow’s time, researchers have continued to explore how love and belonging
needs impact well-being. For example, having social connections is related to
better physical health and, conversely, feeling isolated (i.e. having unmet belonging
needs) has negative consequences for health and well-being.

Esteem

Our esteem needs involve the desire to feel good about ourselves. According to
Maslow, esteem needs include two components. The first involves feeling self-
confidence and feeling good about oneself. The second component involves feeling
valued by others; that is, feeling that our achievements and contributions have been
recognized by other people. When people’s esteem needs are met, they feel confident
and see their contributions and achievements as valuable and important. However,
when their esteem needs are not met, they may experience what psychologist Alfred
Adler called “feelings of inferiority.”

Self-Actualization

Self-actualization refers to feeling fulfilled, or feeling that we are living up to our

potential. One unique feature of self-actualization is that it looks different for
everyone. For one person, self-actualization might involve helping others; for
another person, it might involve achievements in an artistic or creative field.
Essentially, self-actualization means feeling that we are doing what we feel we are
meant to do. According to Maslow, achieving self-actualization is relatively rare, and
his examples of famous self-actualized individuals include Abraham Lincoln, Albert
Einstein, and Mother Teresa.

How People Progress Through the Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow postulated that there were several prerequisites to meeting these needs. For
example, having freedom of speech and freedom of expression, or living in a just
and fair society, aren’t specifically mentioned within the hierarchy of needs.
However, Maslow believed that having these things makes it easier for people to
achieve their needs.

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In addition to these needs, Maslow also believed that we have a need to learn new
information and to better understand the world around us. This is partially because
learning more about our environment helps us meet our other needs; for example,
learning more about the world can help us feel safer, and developing a better
understanding of a topic one is passionate about can contribute to self-actualization.
However, Maslow also believed that this call to understand the world around us is
an innate need as well.

Although Maslow presented his needs in a hierarchy, he also acknowledged that

meeting each need is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon. Consequently, people don’t
need to completely satisfy one need in order for the next need in the hierarchy to
emerge. Maslow suggests that, at any given time, most people tend to have each of
their needs partly met—and that needs lower on the hierarchy are typically the ones
that people have made the most progress towards.

Additionally, Maslow pointed out that one behavior might meet two or more needs.
For example, sharing a meal with someone meets the physiological need for food,
but it might also meet the need of belonging. Similarly, working as a paid caregiver
would provide someone with income (which allows them to pay for food and
shelter), but can also provide them a sense of social connection and fulfillment.

Testing Maslow’s Theory

In the time since Maslow published his original paper, his idea that we go through
five specific stages hasn’t always been supported by research. In a 2011 study of
human needs across cultures, researchers Louis Tay and Ed Diener looked at data
from over 60,000 participants in over 120 different countries. They assessed six needs
similar to Maslow’s: basic needs (similar to Maslow’s physiological needs), safety,
love, pride and respect (similar to Maslow’s esteem needs), mastery, and autonomy.
They found that meeting these needs was indeed linked to well-being. In particular,
having basic needs met was linked to people’s overall assessment of their lives, and
feeling positive emotions was linked to meeting the needs of feeling loved and
respected.

However, although Tay and Diener found support for some of Maslow’s basic
needs, the order that people go through these steps seems to be more of a rough
guide than a strict rule. For example, people living in poverty might have trouble
meeting their needs for food and safety. However, these individuals still sometimes
reported feeling loved and supported by the people around them—meeting the
previous needs in the hierarchy wasn’t a prerequisite for people to meet their love
and belonging needs.

Maslow’s Impact on Other Researchers

Maslow’s theory has had a strong influence on other researchers, who have sought
to build on his theory. For example, psychologists Carol Ryff and Burton Singer
drew on Maslow’s theories when developing their theory of eudaimonic well-being.

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According to Ryff and Singer, eudaimonic well-being refers to feeling purpose and
meaning—which is similar to Maslow’s idea of self-actualization.

Psychologists Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary built on Maslow’s idea of love and
belonging needs. According to Baumeister and Leary, feeling that one belongs is a
fundamental need, and they suggest that feeling isolated or left out can have
negative consequences for mental and physical health.

Sources:

 Baumeister, Roy F., and Mark R. Leary. “The Need to Belong: Desire for
Interpersonal Attachments as a Fundamental Human Motivation.”
Psychological Bulletin 117.3 (1995): 97-
529. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7777651
 Kremer, William, and Claudia Hammond. “Abraham Maslow and the
Pyramid That Beguiled Business.” BBC (2013, Sep.
1). https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23902918
 Maslow, Abraham Harold. “A Theory of Human Motivation.” Psychological
Review 50.4 (1943): 370-396. http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1943-03751-001
 Hopper, Elizabeth. “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Explained.” (February 25,
2019). https://www.thoughtco.com/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-4582571

4
 II. HERZBERG’S MOTIVATION THEORY – TWO FACTOR THEORY

Herzberg’s Motivation Theory model, or Two Factor Theory, argues that

there are two factors that an organization can adjust to influence motivation in the
workplace.

These factors are:

 Motivators: Which can encourage employees to work harder.
 Hygiene factors: These won’t encourage employees to work harder but they will
cause them to become unmotivated if they are not present.

Note

Herzberg’s Motivation Theory model goes by a number of different names,

including Two Factor Theory, Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory, and Duel
Structure Theory. We will use these terms interchangeably in this article.

Frederick Herzberg developed the model in 1959. He did this by interviewing over
200 professionals. The interviews delved into when the interviewees were at their
most and least happiest with their jobs.

Other motivation theories you may want to learn about include Equity Theory and
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

What is Two Factor Theory?

Herzberg’s Theory of Motivation tries to get to the root of motivation in the

workplace. You can leverage this theory to help you get the best performance from
your team.

The two factors identified by Herzberg are motivators and hygiene factors.

1. Motivating Factors

The presence of motivators causes employees to work harder. They are found within
the actual job itself.

2. Hygiene Factors

The absence of hygiene factors will cause employees to work less hard. Hygiene
factors are not present in the actual job itself but surround the job.

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The impact of motivating and hygiene factors is summarized in the following
diagram. Note that you will often see motivators referred to as factors for
satisfaction, and hygiene factors referred to as factors for dissatisfaction.

Examples of motivating and hygiene factors are shown in the following diagram.

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 Motivating factors include:
 Achievement: A job must give an employee a sense of achievement. This will
provide a proud feeling of having done something difficult but worthwhile.
 Recognition: A job must provide an employee with praise and recognition of their
successes. This recognition should come from both their superiors and their peers.
 The work itself: The job itself must be interesting, varied, and provide enough of a
challenge to keep employees motivated.
 Responsibility: Employees should “own” their work. They should hold themselves
responsible for this completion and not feel as though they are being micromanaged.
 Advancement: Promotion opportunities should exist for the employee.
 Growth: The job should give employees the opportunity to learn new skills. This can
happen either on the job or through more formal training.
Hygiene factors include:
 Company policies: These should be fair and clear to every employee. They must
also be equivalent to those of competitors.
 Supervision: Supervision must be fair and appropriate. The employee should be
given as much autonomy as is reasonable.

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 Relationships: There should be no tolerance for bullying or cliques. A healthy,
amiable, and appropriate relationship should exist between peers, superiors, and
subordinates.
 Work conditions: Equipment and the working environment should be safe, fit for
purpose, and hygienic.
 Salary: The pay structure should be fair and reasonable. It should also be
competitive with other organizations in the same industry.
 Status: The organization should maintain the status of all employees within the
organization. Performing meaningful work can provide a sense of status.
 Security: It is important that employees feel that their job is secure and they are not
under the constant threat of being laid-off.

The Four Stats

In a general sense, there are four states an organization or team can find themselves
in when it comes to Two Factor Theory.

1. High Hygiene and High Motivation

This is the ideal situation and the one which every manager should strive for. Here,
all employees are motivated and have very few grievances.

2. High Hygiene and Low Motivation

In this situation, employees have few grievances but they are not highly motivated.
An example of this situation is where pay and working conditions are competitive
but the work isn’t very interesting. Employees are simply there to collect their salary.

3. Low Hygiene and High Motivation

In this situation, employees are highly motivated but they have a lot of grievances. A
typical example of this situation is where the work is exciting and really interesting
but the pay and conditions are behind competitors in the same industry.

4. Low Hygiene and Low Motivation

This is obviously a bad situation for an organization or team to find itself in. Here,
employees aren’t motivated and the hygiene factors are not up to scratch.

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 How to Use The Model

There is a two-step process to use the Two Factor Theory model to increase the
motivation of your team.
1. Eliminate job hygiene stressors.

2. Boost job satisfaction.

1. Eliminate Job Hygiene Stressors

The first step to enhancing the motivation of your team is to ensure that the hygiene
factors are not causing dissatisfaction.

Each person will examine hygiene factors through their own unique frame of
reference. Because of this, it’s important to work with each member of your team to
understand their specific perspective.

Some common steps to remove hygiene stressors are:

 Rectify petty and bureaucratic company policies.

 Ensure each team member feels supported without feeling micromanaged. You can
do this by using servant leadership or a democratic leadership style.
 Ensure the day to day working culture is supportive. No bullying. No cliques.
Everyone treated with equal respect.

 Ensure that salaries are competitive within the industry. Ensure there are no major
salary disparities between employees doing similar jobs.

 To increase job satisfaction and status, aim to construct jobs in such a way that each
team member finds their job meaningful.

2. Boost Job Satisfaction

Once you have removed hygiene stressors, the next step is to boost the job
satisfaction of each team member. We can do this by improving the actual content of
the job itself. Again, a unique approach for each employee will be required.

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 Three techniques which can be used to achieve this are:

a. Job Enrichment

Job enrichment means enriching a team member’s job by giving them more
challenging or complex tasks to perform. These more complex tasks should make the
job more interesting.

b. Job Enlargement

Job enlargement means giving a team member a greater variety of tasks to perform.
This variety can also make a job more interesting.
Note that with job enlargement the variety of tasks is increased, but not the difficulty
of those tasks. If difficulty increased then that would be job enrichment.

c. Employee Empowerment

Employee empowerment means deligating increasing responsibility to each team

member. This can be done by slowly increasing the amount of responsibility you
delegate to an employee.
Learn more about how to delegate.

Limitations of the Theory

Some common criticisms of Herzberg’s Motivation Theory include:

 The theory only applies to white collar workers.

 It doesn’t take an individuals situation or perception into consideration. We have

attempted to address this above by applying the theory at an individual level.

 The theory focuses on improving employee satisfaction. That doesn’t necessarily

translate into increased productivity.

 There is no objective way to measure employee satisfaction within the theory.

 Two Factor Theory is subject to bias. For example, when an employee is satisfied
they will give themselves credit for that satisfaction. Conversely, when they are
dissatisfied they will blame external factors.

Summary

Herzberg’s Motivation Theory model, or Two Factor Theory, provides two factors
that affect motivation in the workplace.

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These factors are hygiene factors and motivating factors. Hygiene factors will cause
an employee to work less if not present. Motivating factors will encourage an
employee to work harder if present.

To use the theory within your team, start by getting any hygiene issues resolved.
Once you have done this, you can boost motivation by putting in place as many
motivating factors as practical.

SOURCE:

https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2018/04/herzbergs-two-factor-theory/

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III. MCGREGOR THEORY X AND THEORY Y

What do you think motivates your people to come to work each morning?

Do you believe that they get great satisfaction from their work and take pride in
doing the best possible job? Or do you think that they see it as a burden, and simply
work for the money?
These assumptions about your team members can have a significant influence on
how you manage them.

In the 1960s, social psychologist Douglas McGregor developed two contrasting

theories that explained how managers' beliefs about what motivates their people can
affect their management style. He labelled these Theory X and Theory Y. These
theories continue to be important even today.

This article and video will explore McGregor's theory further, and we'll look at how
it applies in the workplace.

Understanding Theory X and Theory Y

Theory X and Theory Y were first explained by McGregor in his book, "The Human
Side of Enterprise," and they refer to two styles of management – authoritarian
(Theory X) and participative (Theory Y).
If you believe that your team members dislike their work and have little motivation,
then, according to McGregor, you'll likely use an authoritarian style of management.
This approach is very "hands-on" and usually involves micromanaging people's
work to ensure that it gets done properly. McGregor called this Theory X.

On the other hand, if you believe that your people take pride in their work and see it
as a challenge , then you'll more likely adopt a participative management style.
Managers who use this approach trust their people to take ownership of their work
and do it effectively by themselves. McGregor called this Theory Y.
The approach that you take will have a significant impact on your ability to motivate
your team members. So, it's important to understand how your perceptions of what
motivates them can shape your management style.

We'll now take a more in-depth look at the two different theories, and discover how
and when they can be useful in the workplace.

Theory X

Theory X managers tend to take a pessimistic view of their people, and assume that
they are naturally unmotivated and dislike work. As a result, they think that team

12
members need to be prompted, rewarded or punished constantly to make sure that
they complete their tasks.
Work in organizations that are managed like this can be repetitive, and people are
often motivated with a "carrot and stick" approach.
Performance appraisals and remuneration are usually based on tangible results,
such as sales figures or product output, and are used to control staff and "keep tabs"
on them.
This style of management assumes that workers:

 Dislike their work.

 Avoid responsibility and need constant direction.

 Have to be controlled, forced and threatened to deliver work.

 Need to be supervised at every step.

 Have no incentive to work or ambition, and therefore need to be enticed by

rewards to achieve goals.

According to McGregor, organizations with a Theory X approach tend to have

several tiers of managers and supervisors to oversee and direct workers. Authority is
rarely delegated, and control remains firmly centralized. Managers are more
authoritarian and actively intervene to get things done.

Although Theory X management has largely fallen out of fashion in recent times, big
organizations may find that adopting it is unavoidable due to the sheer number of
people that they employ and the tight deadlines that they have to meet.

Theory Y

Theory Y managers have an optimistic, positive opinion of their people, and they use
a decentralized, participative management style. This encourages a
more collaborative , trust-based relationship between managers and their team
members.
People have greater responsibility, and managers encourage them to develop their
skills and suggest improvements. Appraisals are regular but, unlike in Theory X
organizations, they are used to encourage open communication rather than control
staff.

Theory Y organizations also give employees frequent opportunities for promotion.

This style of management assumes that workers are:

 Happy to work on their own initiative.

 More involved in decision making.

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 Self-motivated to complete their tasks.

 Enjoy taking ownership of their work.

 Seek and accept responsibility, and need little direction.

 View work as fulfilling and challenging.

 Solve problems creatively and imaginatively.

Theory Y has become more popular among organizations. This reflects workers'
increasing desire for more meaningful careers that provide them with more than
just money.
It's also viewed by McGregor as superior to Theory X, which, he says, reduces
workers to "cogs in a machine," and likely demotivates people in the long term.

Theory X and Theory Y in the Workplace

Most managers will likely use a mixture of Theory X and Theory Y. You may,
however, find that you naturally favor one over the other. You might, for instance,
have a tendency to micromanage or, conversely, you may prefer to take a
more hands-off approach .
Although both styles of management can motivate people, the success of each will
largely depend on your team's needs and wants and your organizational objectives.
You may use a Theory X style of management for new starters who will likely need a
lot of guidance, or in a situation that requires you to take control such as a crisis .
But you wouldn't use it when managing a team of experts , who are used to working
under their own initiative, and need little direction. If you did, it would likely have a
demotivating effect and may even damage your relationship with them.
However, both theories have their challenges. The restrictive nature of Theory X, for
instance, could cause people to become demotivated and non-cooperative if your
approach is too strict. This may lead to high staff turnover and could damage your
reputation in the long term.
Conversely, if you adopt a Theory Y approach that gives people too much freedom,
it may allow them to stray from their key objectives or lose focus. Less-motivated
individuals may also take advantage of this more relaxed working environment by
shirking their work.

If this happens, you may need to take back some control to ensure that everyone
meets their team and organizational goals.

Circumstance can also affect your management style. Theory X, for instance, is
generally more prevalent in larger organizations, or in teams where work can be
repetitive and target-driven.

In these cases, people are unlikely to find reward or fulfillment in their work, so a
"/community/BookInsights/CarrotsAndSticks.phpcarrot and stick" approach will
tend to be more successful in motivating them than a Theory Y approach.

14
In contrast, Theory Y tends to be favored by organizations that have a flatter
structure, and where people at the lower levels are involved in decision making and
have some responsibility.

Warning
Your assumptions and how you assess your people's needs and wants will likely be
the biggest influencers on your management style. However, it's important that you
challenge your assumptions and review your team members' individual
requirements regularly. This will allow you to adapt your approach appropriately.

Key Points
The concept of Theory X and Theory Y was developed by social psychologist
Douglas McGregor. It describes two contrasting sets of assumptions that managers
make about their people:

 Theory X – people dislike work, have little ambition, and are unwilling to take
responsibility. Managers with this assumption motivate their people using a rigid
"carrot and stick" approach, which rewards good performance and punishes poor
performance.

 Theory Y – people are self-motivated and enjoy the challenge of work. Managers
with this assumption have a more collaborative relationship with their people,
and motivate them by allowing them to work on their own initiative, giving them
responsibility, and empowering them to make decisions.

Though your assumptions about what motivates your people will likely have the
biggest impact on which of these two approaches you take, your choice can also be
shaped by several other factors. These include your organizational structure (tiered
or flat), the type of work that your people do (repetitive or challenging), and their
skill level (amateur or experienced).

Source:

The Mind Tools Content Team. “Theory X and Theory Y: Understanding People's
Motivations.” https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_74.htm

15
IV. COMMUNICATION IN HUMAN RESOURCES THEORIES

Human Resources Theories

PLEASE NOTE: This book is currently in draft form; material is not final.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Define and understand the differences between human relations vs. human
resources.
2. Identify key people in human resources theories.
3. Discuss and learn about motivation theories.
4. Discuss and explain Douglas McGregor’s Theory Y and Theory X.
5. Analyze Rensis Likert’s Participative Decision Making Theory

In the previous section, you were introduced to the research of Elton Mayo and Kurt
Lewin under the banner of human relations theories. In this section, we’re going to
further our understanding of theory in organizations by examining those theoretical
perspectives that fall into the human resources camp.

The notion of human resources as a general category for a variety of management

related theories was originally proposed by Raymond Miles.Miles, R. E. (1965).
Human relations or human resources? Harvard Business Review, 43(4), 148–157. First
and foremost, Miles’ human resource theories posits that all workers are reservoirs
of untapped resources. Miles believed that each and every worker comes into an
organization with a variety of resources that management can tap into if they try.
“These resources include not only physical skills and energy, but also creative ability
and the capacity for responsible, self-directed, self-controlled behavior.”Miles, R. E.
(1965). Human relations or human resources? Harvard Business Review, 43(4), 148–
157, pg. 150.

Under this perspective then, managers should not be focused on controlling

employees or getting them to “buy-in” to decisions, which are the hallmarks of
scientific management and human relations. Instead, the primary task of

16
management should be the creation of a working environment that fosters employee
creativity and risk taking in an effort to maximize and tap into the resources
employees bring to the job. As such, communication in this perspective must be
constant and bi-directional and participation in decision-making must include both
management and workers. Miles explains that his human resources model
“recognized the untapped potential of most organizational members and advocated
participation as a means of achieving direct improvement in individual and
organizational performance.” Miles, R. E., & Ritchie, J. B. (1971). Participative
management: Quality vs. quantity. California Management Review, 13(4), 48–56., p.
48. To help us understand human resources, we are going to describe how human
resources differ from human relations and discuss some key people in human
resources.

Human Relations vs. Human Resources Theories

To understand the notions of human relations and human resources is to understand

Raymond MilesMiles, R. E. (1965). Human relations or human resources? Harvard
Business Review, 43(4), 148–157. original ideas on both concepts. Miles, as explained
above, articulated a very clear theoretical perspective that was high on
communication, high on tapping into employee resources, and high on employee
input in decision making. These ideas were not his, but he did create a clear
categorization scheme where he delineated between two groups of researchers
whom he labeled human relations and human resources. While Miles believes these
two groups exist, he also admits that these groups exist primarily in how managers
interpret and apply various pioneers of the field of management, so the researchers
who fall into the human relations camp often discuss concepts that seem to fall
within Miles’ own human resources framework. Table 3.2 "Human Relations vs.
Human Resources" provides a list of the major differences that Miles believed
existed between human relations and human resources.

17
Table 3.2 Human Relations vs. Human Resources

Human Relations Human Resources

While workers need to belong, be

Worker Workers need to belong, be liked, and be respected, workers also
Needs liked, and be respected. want to creatively and effectively
contribute to worthwhile goals.

Workers really desire to exercise

Workers really desire to feel
Worker initiative, responsibility, and
as though they are a useful
Desires creativity, so management should
part of the organization.
allow for these.

If worker needs and desires

Management should tap into worker
are filled, they will willingly
Outcomes capabilities and avoiding wasting
cooperate and comply with
untapped resources.
management.

When employees feel that they have

When employee needs and self-direction and control and are able
Job
desires are met, they’ll be to freely use their creativity,
Satisfaction
more satisfied. experience, and insight they will be
more satisfied.

When employees feel that they have

Job satisfaction and reduced
self-direction and control and are able
resistance to formal authority
Productivity to freely use their creativity,
will lead to more productive
experience, and insight they will be
workers.
more productive .

Managers should help employees

Managers should strive to
discover hidden talents and ensure
Management ensure that all employees
that all workers are able to fully use
Goal feel like they are part of the
their range of talents to help
team.
accomplish organizational goals.

Decision Management should allow Management should allow and

Making employees to offer input on encourage employees to freely

18
 Human Relations Human Resources

routine decisions and be participate in the decision making

willing to discuss these process with all types of decisions. In
decisions, but management fact, the more important the decision
should keep important is, the more the manager should seek
decisions to themselves. out his employee resources in the
decision making process.

Information sharing is vital for

Information sharing is a
effective decision making and should
Information useful tool when helping
include the full range of creativity,
Sharing employees feel like they are
experience, and insight from
part of the group.
employees.

Management should allow Management should encourage

teams to exercise moderate teamwork and continually look for
Teamwork
amounts of self-direction and greater areas where teams can exercise
control. more control.

Source: This table is based on Mile’s models of participate leadership. Miles, R. E.

(1965). Human relations or human resources? Harvard Business Review, 43(4), 148–
157, pg. 151.

Key People in Human Resources Theories

As we see in Table 3.2 "Human Relations vs. Human Resources", there some key
differences between human relations and human resources theories. These
differences can be broken down into two basic categories: motivation and decision
making. The rest of this section is going to both of these areas and the key people
who researched these phenomena.

19
Motivation Theories

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Many other theorists tried to explain the importance of the human resources
approach. One of these individuals was Abraham Maslow.Maslow, A. H. (1943). A
theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370–96. He is widely known
for his creation of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. In order to get employees to work,
he tried to understand what motivates people. He came up with five needs that need
to be satisfied at one stage before moving on to another stage. Malsow felt that needs
vary from person and person and that individuals want their need fulfilled. One
must determine what is the motivational factor (Figure 3.1 "Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs").

Physiological Needs. The first level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is psychological,

which means that physical needs such as food and water need to be met before
moving to the next level. If workers do not make enough money to buy food and
water, then it will be hard for them to continue working.

Safety Needs. The second level is called safety. Workers need to be in a safe
environment and know that their bodies and belongings will be protected. If
workers don’t feel secure, then they will find it hard to work efficiently. Think of the
many occupations that are highly unsafe. According to an article on the CNN Money
websiteChristie, L. (2011, August 26). America’s most dangerous jobs: The 10 most
dangerous jobs in America. In CNNMoney [website]. Retrieved
from http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/pf/jobs/1108/gallery.dangerous_jobs
/index.html, the top ten most dangerous jobs in the United States are as follows:

1. Fisherman
2. Logger
3. Airplane Pilot
4. Farmer and Rancher
5. Mining Machine Operator

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 6. Roofer
7. Sanitation Worker
8. Truck Driver/Deliveryman
9. Industrial Machine Repair
10. Police Officer

According to Maslow’s basic theoretical premise, these individuals will have a

harder time worrying about needs at the higher levels unless they can overcome the
inherent lack of safety within these jobs.

Love, Affection, and Belongingness Needs. The third layer is called love, affection, and
belongingness needs. Maslow believed that if an individual met the basic
physiological and safety needs, then that individual would start attempting to
achieve love, affection, and belongingness needs next, “He [or she] will hunger for
affectionate relations with people in general, namely, for a place in his [or her]
group, and he [or she] will strive with great intensity to achieve this goal.”Maslow,
A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370–96, pg.
381. Maslow believed that organizations would have better worker retention and
satisfaction if they kept their employees in a cohesive environment. Furthermore, if a
worker feels isolated or ostracized from their environment, then he or she would feel
less motivated to work, which will lead to a decrease in overall productivity.

Esteem Needs. The fourth layer is called esteem, and is represented by two different
sets of needs according to Maslow. First, individuals are motivated by the “desire for
strength, for achievement, for adequacy, for confidence in the face of the world, and
for independence and freedom.”Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human
motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370–96, pg. 381. Maslow goes on to discuss a
second subset of esteem needs, “we have what we may call the desire for reputation
or prestige (defining it as respect or esteem from other people), recognition,
attention, importance or appreciation.”Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human
motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370–96, pg. 381–382. While Maslow originally
separated these two lists from each other, they clearly have more in common than

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not. If employees do not feel that their input is valued at the organization, they will
seek out other places of employment that will value their input, because humans
have an intrinsic need to be appreciated for their efforts.

Self-Actualization Needs. The fifth layer is called self-actualization, and it is the

hardest to attain. Self-actualization “refers to the desire for self-fulfillment, namely,
to the tendency for [a person] to become actualized in what he [or she] is potentially.
This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is,
to become everything that one is capable of becoming.” Maslow goes on to explain,
“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he [or she]
is to be ultimately happy. What a man [or woman] can be, he [or she] must be. This
need we may call self-actualization [emphasis in original].”Maslow, A. H. (1943). A
theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370–96, pg. 382. Maslow felt
that if individuals can have their needs met in order of the layers, then they would
be both motivated and seek opportunities to excel.

All in all, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs helps us understand how to motivate

workers to strive for more in the organization. Hence, communication is very
important, because we need to understand what our employees need in order to
motivate them to work more proficiently and productively.

Figure 3.1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Frederick Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory

Another researcher to enter into the fray of human motivation was Frederick
Herzberg. Originally trained as a clinical psychologist, over the course of Herzberg’s
career he switched focused and became one of the first researchers in the growing
field of industrial psychology. The original notion of Frederick Herzberg’s
Motivation-Hygiene Theory was that traditional perspectives on motivation, like
Maslow’s, only looked at one side of the coin—how to motivate people. Herzberg
and his original colleaguesHerzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. S. (1959). The
motivation to work. New York, NY: Wiley. theorized that what ultimately motivated

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individuals to work were not necessarily the same factors that led to demotivation at
work. In Herzberg’s worldview, motivation on the job should lead to satisfied
workers, but he theorized that satisfaction and dissatisfaction were not opposite
ends of one continuum. Instead, he predicted that the factors that lead to positive job
attitudes (and thus motivation) were different from the factors that lead to negative
job attitudes (and thus demotivation). For the purposes of his theory, he called the
factors that led to positive job attitudes motivators and those factors that led to
negative job attitudes hygiene factors. In Table 3.3 "Motivators and Hygiene
Factors" the basic motivators and hygiene factors are listed. Notice that the
motivators are all centered around ideas that are somewhat similar to the esteem
needs and self-actualization needs of Abraham Maslow. On the other hand, the
hygiene factors all examine the context of work.

Table 3.3 Motivators and Hygiene Factors

Motivators Hygiene Factors

Achievement Policy and administration

Recognition Micromanagement

Advancement Relationships (Supervisor, Peers, & Subordinates)

The work itself Job security

Responsibility Personal life

Potential for promotion Work conditions

Potential for personal growth Status

Salary

Upon looking at Table 3.3 "Motivators and Hygiene Factors", you may notice that
Salary is centered between both motivators and hygiene factors. In The Managerial

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Choice Herzberg reversed his previous thinking that salary was purely a hygiene
factor, “Although primarily a hygiene factor, it [salary] it also often takes on some of
the properties of a motivator, with dynamics similar to those of recognition for
achievement.” Herzberg, F. (1976). The managerial choice: To be efficient and to be
human. Homewood, IL: Dow-Jones-Irwin, pg. 71.

Decision Making
Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y

As we discussed earlier, the classical perspective felt that leadership should control
and order subordinates. Then, in the human relations approach, we learned that
superiors need to cultivate and support their employees. Douglas
McGregorMcGregor, D. (1960). The human side of enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill.,
a management professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1950s
and 1960s, felt that there are two different perspectives, which he termed as Theory
X and Theory Y. These theories were based on assumptions that managers have
about their workers.

McGregor defined a Theory X manager who believes that most people do not like
work. Workers are not smart or creative. People do not care about the organization,
and will adequately work when there are promises for rewards and potential
punishments. Moreover, Theory X manager believes that people want to have
direction in order to evade responsibility.

On the other hand, Theory Y managers feel that people want to do what is best for
the organization and can direct themselves under the right conditions. Table 3.4
"Differences between Theory X & Theory Y" illustrates the differences between
Theory X and Theory Y.

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Table 3.4 Differences between Theory X & Theory Y

Theory X Theory Y

People dislike work and find ways to avoid People perceive work as natural and
it find it enjoyable

Workers want to avoid responsibility People want responsibility

Want direction Prefer self-direction

Wants to work toward organizational

Resists change
goals

Not intelligent Have the potential to develop & adapt

Not creative Are intelligent

Managers must control, reward, and/or

Are creative
punish employees to maintain performance

Work conditions need to be set to

achieve worker & organizational goals

Rensis Likert’s Participative Decision Making Theory

The last major theorist we are going to explore related to the human resources side
of management theory is Rensis Likert’s Participative Decision Making (PDM)
Theory. Likert originally explored the idea of how organizational leaders make
decisions in his book The Human Organization.Likert, R. (1967). The human
organization: Its management and value. New York: McGraw-Hill. Likert’s ideas were
based in the notion that supervisors with strong worker productivity tended to focus
on the human aspects of subordinate problems while creating teams that
emphasized high achievement. In other words, these supervisors were employee
centered and believed that effective management required treating employees as
humans and not just worker bees. Likert further noted that these highly productive

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leaders also tended to involve subordinates in the decision making process. Out of
this basic understanding of productive versus unproductive management, Likert
created a series of four distinct management styles.

System 1: Exploitive Authoritative. System 1, exploitative authoritative management,

starts with the basic issue of trust. Under this system of management, the manager
simply does not trust subordinates and has no confidence in subordinate decision
making capabilities. Because of this lack of trust, all decisions are simply decided
upon by people at the upper echelons of the hierarchy and then imposed on the
workers. Communication under these leaders is typically unidirectional (from
management to workers), and employees are motivated to comply with
management dictates out of fear.

System 2: Benevolent Authoritative. System 2, benevolent authoritative management,

starts with the basic notion that decision making should be situated with those in
managerial positions. Because managers believe that decision making should be
theirs and theirs alone, managers believe that workers will simply comply with
managerial dictates because of the manager’s legitimate right to make decisions. This
type of management almost takes on a master-servant style relationship. As for
communication, subordinates are not free to discuss decisions or any job-related
matters with their superiors. Ultimately, employ motivation to comply with
managerial dictates is done through a system of rewards.

System 3: Consultative. System 3, consultative management, starts with a lot more

trust in employee decision making capabilities. However, the manager may either
not have complete confidence in employee decision making or may have the
ultimate responsibility for decisions made, so he or she does not allow workers to
just make and implement decisions autonomously. Typically, the manager seeks
input from workers and then uses this input to make the ultimate decision. Under
consultative management, communication, decision making participation, and
teamwork is fair, and employees tend to be more motivated and satisfied than the
previous two styles of management. However, consultative management can be very

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effective if, and only if, the input process is conducted legitimately. One of the
biggest mistakes some managers make is to use pseudo-consultative practices where
they pretend to seek out input from subordinates even though the actual decision
has already been made. Pseudo-consultative decision making is just a different
flavor of benevolent authoritative management.

System 4: Participative. System 4, participative management, is built on the goal of

ensuring that decision making and organizational goal attainment is widespread
throughout the organizational hierarchy. In these organizations, organizational
leaders have complete confidence in worker ability to make and implement
decisions, so workers are constantly encouraged to be very active in the decision
making process. Under participative management, communication, decision making
participation, and teamwork is good, and employees tend to be motivated and
satisfied.

These four different systems characterize many of the classical theories discussed in
this chapter. For instance, System 1 is similar to the scientific management approach
t and System 4 has characteristics from the human relations approach. Likert
believed that an organization’s performance is based on the systems or structures in
place for the workers. Thus, Likert believed that organizations could incorporate
some aspects from the scientific management approach, human relations, and
human resource approach in order to maximize organizational outcomes.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 Human Resources encourages an environment where employees have the

ability to be creative and take risks in order to maximize outcomes.
 Human resources places an emphasis on more communication than human
relations.
 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs help us to understand what motivates people in
organizations.
 Herzberg’s theory focuses on what motivates individuals to work and he also
focused on what factors lead individuals to demotivation at work.

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 McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y are assumptions that managers have
about their employees. They differ in the type of communication involved as
well as the expectations of workers.
 Rensis Likert’s ideas were based on the idea that supervisors are employee
centered and to treat all employees as unique humans rather than just another
worker.

Source:

https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/an-introduction-to-organizational-communication/s05-03-
human-resources-theories.html

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