A HYBRID STRATEGY FOR EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION BASED ON TWO CONTENT THEORIES

Employee motivation has become very critical for all organizations and the theme is considered as one that discussed most at current environment situations to enhance the motivation of the employees as well as get the best out of them. The content theories in motivation are mainly focused on the needs of the employees and the humans which I focused on ERG Theory and McClelland’s Theory of Needs as well as the possibilities to develop a hybrid motivation strategy for an organization to motivate their employees.

What is motivation

According to Hunter et al (1990) the difference between superior and standard performances are based on the level of the motivation of an employee. Arnold et al (1991) argues that the deciding factor of a better outcome of what he tries to do, the degree of effort he puts and for how long he keeps trying will depend on the motivation level of an employee for a said duty.

Hence motivation is very much important to a company since the high motivation will deliver a higher result and highly motivated staff is always a competitive advantage to a company.

 

ERG Theory

As per Alderfer (1972) all humans have need to satisfy where the needs can be separate for three prime categories. Existence needs such as hunger and shelter, relatedness needs such as interacting with other humans, and growth needs where people looking for opportunities.  Further he says that people are highly motivated in order to satisfy those needs.

This theory can be used in organizations in the form of incentives, rewards, working conditions and rules in order to motive employees. Rewards and other opportunities can be awarded based on the performances to satisfy their needs if perform up to a certain level of expectation. This will be a motivation factor to perform since such rewards will lead to satisfy their needs. Attractive salaries, fringe benefits, commissions, and rewards can be motives for the satisfaction of existence needs. Acceptance, confirmation and recognition can be used as a motive factor for those who look to satisfy relatedness needs. Finally, proper evaluations, talent management, and promotion opportunities can be used to motivate the employees with a satisfaction need of growth.

In practically, it is very impossible to identify the different needs of the people since different people have different needs and even same person might have different needs at a given time with different priorities. Further, even for same need people might have different wants in order to satisfy same. The challenge is to identify those differences and come out with common satisfaction motives.

 

McClelland’s Theory of Needs

Based on a study of managers, McClelland argues that there are three (03) main and most important needs of a manager which he tries to satisfy. Need for achievement where the need of the manager is the competitive success. Need for affiliation where the manager is motivated warm and close relationship with others. Need for power where manager need to have more controls and influence over others (Armstrong, 2009).

In different levels of the management the managers may motivate to fulfill different levels of needs where the operational level managers’ motivation is to satisfy the need for achievement and middle level managers are more concern to satisfy affiliation needs whereas the strategic level managers’ motive is to satisfy the power need. Hence this theory can be used to identify the need motive of the manager in order to offer opportunities for such satisfactions based on performances.

But since the needs are always personal, the equal level managers might have different need motives based on the personality, perception and career targets. Further, the changing environment may lead to shifts in need priorities.

 

Proposed Hybrid strategy for Motivation

Both theories are content (Need related) theories where needs are a basic part of human character and people always try to satisfy those needs. Further, I believe that all the motivation theories are based on satisfying a human need in different manners and those needs have been focused as levers of motivation.

The ERG theory discusses the general motives of need satisfaction of human and these needs can be considered as motivation factors. Further, McClelland’s theory specially discusses on needs of managers and proposed "hybrid strategy" will consider all the needs of employees and especially on managers since the demand for such talents in the market is very high and the scarcity of such talents. 

The existence and relatedness need which are discusses in ERG theory which contains working environment, salaries, and acceptance etc. represents most of the hygiene factors of Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory and the growth needs represent some of the Motive factors. Hence the application of ERG theory is very critical and advisable. 

Further, the growth and achievement needs are considered in both theories which can satisfy through career development where the same can be considered as valence factor which discussed in equity theory.

The ultimate objective is to full fill the demand for needs of the employees from the contribution of the organization in terms of income, benefits, status, and career etc. whereas the company demands in terms of organizational goals, departmental objectives, and job tasks etc. to be full filled by the contribution from the employees in terms of knowledge, skills, abilities, and developmental potentials.

 

References

Alderfer, C. (1972), Existence, Relatedness, and Growth, New York, The Free Press.

Armstrong, M. (2009), Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resources Management Practice, 11^th Edition, London, Kogan Page.

Arnorld, J., Robertson, I.T, & Cooper, C.L (1991), Work Psychology, London, Pitman.

Hunter, J.E., Schmidt, F.L., &Judiesch, M.K. (1990), Individual Differences in Output Variability as a Function of Job Complexity, Journal of Applied Psychology, 75 (01), 28-42.