Part 1

Good morning everybody. A key issue in the area of productivity is motivation. The reason for this is that
motivation can affect productivity, both positively and negatively. As we know, a measurement of the
productivity of a company is, in fact, a measurement of its efficiency. Or in other words, the size of its
output in relation to its input. Of course, a company can improve its efficiency by investing in more
modern quipment. But that’s not my concern today. A company’s most valuable resource is its
employees. And so, in the next two lectures, I want to consider how the management and behavior of
employees can impact on productivity. One way to achieve productivity gains in a company is by
somehow getting people to work harder or in better more efficient ways. So today, we’ll consider two
different theories, which try to explain how people are more motivated at work.

Part 2

What makes somebody do something? What drives people to work to the best of their ability? Do you
work because you enjoy it? All because you will get some benefit from doing it. Perhaps, for example,
you will get some money or someone will admire you. Abraham Maslow – A famous American
Psychology – believe that we do things because we have needs and that these needs drive our behavior.
What are our most basic needs? The things we need before anything else. Clearly, our most basic needs
is physical. That is, we need food, warmth and shelter. Maslow pointed out that we generally try to
satisfy these needs first, before we consider doing anything else. In the 1950s, Maslow developed a
hierarchical model of motivation in which physical needs are the bottom of the hierarchy. You can see
this model in figure 1. Once we have enough food, shelter, etc. We can start to think about ensuring our
safety needs. Safety here means being in a safe and secure environment, where no worries or anxieties.
If we feel safe and secure, then our attention shifts to our social needs. People are social beings and they
want to be able to socialize and communicate with other people. They have friends and a sense of
belonging. In addition to this people need a strong sense of self-esteem, which means that things like
confidence, status and recognition for their achievements are important. Finally, at the top of the
hierarchy of needs, comes self-actualization. By this is meant achieving your full potential, developing
and learning so that you become a skilled and as capable as you can be. How do these ideas work in
business? Well, physical needs are met by the pay received for work and the actual working
environment. Pay is turned into accommodation and food for example, safety needs can be seen as
things like having job security, having a job description, having a clear structure of accountability. In
other words, safety here does not mean safety just for now, but for the future, too. Social needs are
satisfied in the workplace by aspects such as communication, working with others in multi-disciplinary
teams, socializing after work. Self-esteem can be achieved in the workplace through recognition for
echievements, through having power over others or being trusted by others. Finally, self-actualization
occurs when people develop new skills or take on new challenges, thereby increasing and developing
their capabilities.

Part 3

In the 1950s, an American Psychologist called Frederick Hertzberg, carried out some research into job
satisfaction and he came up with a two-factor theory of motivation at work. First, there are the aspects
of work which contribute to job satisfaction. There are achievement, recognition for achievement,
interesting work, responsibility and advancement. The last one means not just promotion but a sense of
progressing. It is important to note that these things are about the job itself, not the material rewards
for the job. These job satisfaction elements Hertzberg said were motivators because they improve
people’s motivation at work. However, some aspects of work can make people unhappy. Hertzberg
called these – the hygiene factors. These are basically concerned with the working environment and
consist of the following. Company rules and policies, supervision, pay, interpersonal relations and
working conditions. The hygiene factors don’t motivate people but they can cause dissatisfaction and
have a negative impact on motivation. For example, low pay makes people angry and frustrated. On the
other hand, what really gets people to perform better is not so much better pay which people quickly
get used to, but job enrichment. To motivate people, you need to give them interesting work or
responsibilities which challenge them. People need to be allowed to feel and control of their work.

Part 4

So let’s summarize Hertzberg’s ideas then. There are two factors which managers need to bear in mind.
Firstly, there are motivators which actually encourage people to achieve more. Secondly, there are
dissatisfiers which are those aspects of work that cause people to become demotivated. Herzberg called
these hygiene factors because he saw them as aspects, which have to be cleaned up before we can
expect people to be motivated. They are not motivators in themselves. Nobody would say I love my job
because I get a lot of holidays, but they may well complain if they don’t get much holiday. That’s enough
for now. Next time, we’ll have a look at the way in which management systems can improve people’s
performance. In particular, I want to talk about a concept known as management by objectives. So,
don’t forget to do some research on this topic before you come.